First Impressions:

It happened with Doom, Dance Dance Revolution, and EA’s Lord of the Rings games; whenever a game causes a sensation it is imitated by other developers. Now, it has happened with The Sims. British independent developer Positech Games has taken the “life simulation” genre and given their own spin on it with Kudos. While it would be easy to write this title off as a cheap imitation of arguably the most famous game of the last decade, savvy gamers will find that Kudos offers its own set of features and unique game engine that makes this less of a copycat and more of an inspired work.

Graphics:

Positech doesn’t have the massive budget of EA, Activision, or SCEA so Kudos is not all about glitz and glamour. Gamers need not expect Hollywood-like visual effects in this game, but gamers would be wise to not confuse quantity with quality. Kudos has a very clean, user-friendly interface that is menu and icon based, and unlike most real-time strategy games or dungeon-crawling “point and click” RPGs everything is easy to understand. The menu is well-organized and presents all of the information the player needs at a glance. There are some stills for the various in-game characters (a few full-body shots of the player-character and portraits for the NPCs) and while they may not be fully-animated they are on par with the graphics for big-budget games. There a few graphical embellishments despite the lack of fully-animated environments; for example, on a rainy day a rain animation plays over the interface. When your character’s home gets a little on the “lived-in” (meaning dirty) side, brown smudges appear on-screen. Plus, a graphic accompanies all of your character’s belongings (such as books, musical instruments, and modes of transportation). So while there’s a distinct lack of flash and bang, the developers have put their creative skills to good use and found ways to break the monotony that a menu-based game lacking full animation could present.

Sound/Music:

Music that sounds like something you would hear on hold when calling the customer services department of an insurance company plays constantly in the background, and sound effects accompany many of the game events (whenever a friend calls you a phone rings, on a rainy day you hear thunder and lightning, when the character reads a book the sound of pages turning can be heard, etc.). There is no speech so you have to read all of the dialogue, which is less painful than it sounds. While it would’ve been nice to change the background music, gamers that get wrapped up in the game play will not miss the lack of a full voice-over cast or the sound effects that big-budget games provide.

Game Play:

The meat of any game is the game play, and Kudos proves that rich graphics, a fully-orchestrated score, and 128-player death matches do not a great game make. As stated before, Kudos owes much of its format to The Sims, but that does not mean it is a copy of the already well-established game. In The Sims, the player ostensibly played as God, creating social environments for virtual characters to interact with each other in and then interfering to varying degrees with those characters “lives.” There were no player-characters in The Sims (though there is an option to turn the free will of the characters off, thereby making every character a PC). In Kudos, the player assumes direct control of one character and retains control of that character throughout the game using a turn-based format. You begin the game by choosing your character avatar and naming them, and then are told via a short narrative that you are fresh out of school with no work experience and a single twenty-year old. Each turn begins with your character getting off of work for the day, leaving you to decide how to spend your free time. The main game play element is social activities. The gamer begins the game with a few close friends, and they can also interact with those friends’ close friends. However, only the close friends directly affect your stats. By hosting social events, such as a night of bowling, taking a trip to a museum, or hitting a few pubs around town, you build your relationships with your friends. If your friends enjoy the event, then you gain kudos. The more kudos you have, the more your stats (Kudos uses levels in categories such as happiness, health, tiredness, and even how cultured your character is) will improve and the more likely you are to make new friends. If your relationships grow too weak with your friends, not only will you lose friends but you will also lose kudos. Your stats will decrease as well. Instead of hosting a social event, you can also spend time alone reading, taking a class, cleaning your apartment, or exercising. These activities affect your stats (which further enhance your mood) and also help you build skills such as driving or acting. Another way to spend time alone is to go shopping (books and musical instruments can be used to boost your stats) or to find a better job (it takes money to throw parties and go to the movies, after all). Employers look at your stats and kudos as well; it’s possible to get turned down because you lack confidence, for example. Of course, if your new job is too far away from your apartment, you’ll need to invest in a bike or a car. And you never know when you might want to go out and the cost is too rich for your friends, or you meet someone new that would rather hang out with say, a person is a bit more refined or doesn’t have that drinking problem (yes, your use of alcohol is monitored in this game). It’s also important to keep in mind that you can only do one activity each turn. In short, Kudos boasts game mechanics that are far more complex than some of the most popular mass-market game on the shelf at your local gaming retailer. And if all of this seems just too overwhelming, fear not: a hands-on tutorial explains everything and helpful hints show up whenever encountering something new in the main game.

Enjoyment:

Fans of fast-paced games focusing on big explosions and massive fire fights will be turned off by Kudos. While shooters and action games demand a degree of strategic thinking, they are still based deeply in thinking on-the-fly and reacting to the environment. Kudos requires a slower method of thinking involving planning ahead and considering outcomes. For example, if one of your relationships is weakening you might want to take advantage of a good mood and have some friends over, but you might also have a class that night. Your new job might also require a certain skill or higher degree of concentration, so some reading may benefit your character. Of course, your apartment is looking a little dirty and your health isn’t too good, so some house-cleaning and exercise is necessary. Trying to determine in what order you should do these tasks can be difficult, and it’s important to keep all your stats as high as possible to reap the most benefits from your activities. Gamers that enjoy this kind of strategizing will find themselves playing this game for hours on end.

Multiplayer:

Kudos lacks a multiplayer mode, and only gamers that have a complete lack of real-world social skills will be disappointed.

Overall Impression:

Kudos is a complex game with a simple interface and nearly limitless options. It may be an underdog, but with big name games becoming more and more like copies of each other gamers need to start rooting for the underdog to see an increase in quality gaming experiences. And if this title offers nothing else, it is a quality gaming experience.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

The player may choose a female character avatar, and many of the NPCs are female. None of the female characters are presented in a sexualized way (they have realistic body shapes and wear clothing you would expect to see on women in the real world as opposed to being cartoonish fantasy figures in breast-and-belly-baring attire). Most of the opportunities for sexism come in the makeup of the NPCs, and the developers have done an admirable job of avoiding stereotypes. The game engine does not discriminate on participation in activities based on sex; while each NPC has their own “personality” in the activities that they enjoy, it’s just as likely to find a female interested in sports as a male interested in cultural activities. Also, while the NPCs are measured on their attractiveness, this seems to have no sexual or physical connotations, but is a measure of just how much one would want to be around the character. All in all, this game is very friendly to gamers of all sexes.

Web Sites of Interest:

Official Web Site—read more about the game, download the demo, or purchase the full version—straight from the developer.
You Tube—watch a trailer of the game.
Cliff Harris Interview—an interview with the owner of Positech Games from GameProducer.net.