It was only a matter of time before
one of the world’s largest franchises spread into the videogames industry.
Playboy, the company of famous rich old Hugh Hefner, went from magazines to film
to TV to the Internet – and, with the advent of other recent “naughty” games
like Eidos’s Singles, it only seems natural that Playboy: The Mansion has
been released on consoles and PC. The game puts you in Hefner’s shoes at the
beginning of his career, hiring staff, throwing parties, publishing magazines,
and getting your name out there. Over the course of 12 missions, you’ll turn a
small house into a mansion and a small name into a very, very big one.
Or so the developers hoped. And to
be honest, the game isn’t bad. More or less, though, it’s full of things that
could have been better than they are, and as a result the game isn’t as engaging
as, say, The Sims 2. Nonetheless, it is certainly a simulation game, not – as
some might have suspected – a simple excuse to slip some breasts into
videogames.
The game plays out roughly like
every other simulation-type game on the market.You get to control a character,
in this case Hef himself, by pointing-and-clicking his way around the
environment. By clicking on certain objects or people, you are presented with
options, and it is your duty to make the best of these objects and persons.
Before you can get wrapped up in Hugh’s love life, or an extravagant photoshoot,
or a new addition to the mansion, you’ve got a magazine to begin to put
together.
An issue is published every month,
so you’ll get to create multiple issues. Making them is both a glimpse at
creativity and a bit of a letdown: you get to choose multiple articles by
different authors, pick a cover photo and a centerfold photo, and do a few other
simple things like change the font color on the front of the issue. While that’s
all dandy and good, that’s about all there is to it – aside from acquiring the
photos (which I’ll get to a bit later), all of the articles consist of no more
than a title, an author’s name, and a star rating, to place a value on the
quality of the piece. Granted, getting “better” editorials is subjective, and a
five star system is the only way it really works in context of the game, but
still, only seeing the titles of the articles is rather disappointing – not to
mention boring, after a short period of time.
Of course, you’ve got to meet
people, first, and that’s where throwing parties comes in. At these parties, any
number of things might happen. You might meet a new girl that eventually becomes
one of Hugh’s girlfriends, or perhaps the next cover girl for your magazine. You
might witness some people getting in a fight, and have to attempt to separate
them by distracting them with other people in different rooms. Or you might
simply get bored, set the game on fast-forward, and try and end the party as
quickly as possible. In any case, you’re going to want to set up a photoshoot,
as this is the most fun part of putting the issue together.
Once you get a photographer and a
lady that’s willing to model, you have to set up a location and have them both
in the mansion together. From there onward, though, the camera is in your hands;
you get to shoot her from a first-person-perspective until your roll of film
runs dry. With a tap of a button, you can ask her to pose for you, or change her
clothing on the spot.
Perhaps surprisingly, the game
carries only an “M” rating; more surprisingly, and more disappointingly, is that
the women in the game are far less titilating than one might have hoped. Aside
from the fact that the women’s heads are a bit larger than their bodies call
for, creating an unsettling cartoony look, they just aren’t all that enticing.
While they animate nicely enough, they don’t really call any particular
attention to their bodies or clothing. Changing their clothes is just that –
bringing up a menu with a large selection of skimpy clothes – or none at all –
and seeing the results instantly. There’s no seductive bra removals or anything
of the nature, and it startlingly brings you out of any engaging situation you
might have been in. Besides that, all clothing – or nudity – is available right
from the get-go. Although swimsuit collecting was a hassle in Dead or Alive
Xtreme Beach Volleyball, it felt a lot more rewarding when you finally saw your
girl in a suit than in this game where you’re basically open to everything in
the first photoshoot.
And that’s basically how the game
plays out. You put together a magazine, throw a party, meet some people, and put
together another issue. It’s fun – for a while. After getting tired of seeing
only titles of articles, and doing the same old photoshoots over with slightly
different looking girls in different spots, the only thing left to do is unlock
the bonus goodies the developers included – which, admittedly, are pretty neat.
You rack up bonus points throughout the course of the game, and you can use them
to unlock cheats, Playboy covers from the past, or Playboy centerfolds from the
past. It’s really a nice addition, adding some much needed replay value and a
real reason to keep playing.
Graphically, the game is adequate
but not very impressive. While the whole affair moved at a nice framerate for
me, the character models proved to be decent, but never great, and the mansion
seemed a bit too blocky, generally. It just lacked a real visual flair. While
there were some nice additions, like disco rooms and so forth, it all seems very
been-there, done-that. It’s not so much bad as it is unexciting.
Soundwise it fares a bit better.
While the characters speak in a dull “Simlish” tongue, which seems to be the
norm nowadays, the music selection is much more interesting. There’s a mix of
pop, rap, rock, and so forth that is actually pretty fun to listen to, and gives
the game some welcomed personality.
Overall, Playboy: The Mansion is
something of a mixed bag. It’s great to see that the developers didn’t just bank
on the license to sell the game – there’s real gameplay here. Unfortunately,
there’s not much to it, and what is fun generally gets old quick because there’s
little room to grow. The bonuses help, but don’t entirely justify spending more
than a few hours of playtime. But if you enjoy The Sims-esque games, and
Playboy, you’ll probably have a good time – so give it a look if you fall under
those two criteria.
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Gameplay: 6.5
A pretty run of the mill Sims-type affair with some short-lived but fun
photoshoots.
Graphics: 6.5
Not bad, not great; the models don’t do much to stir up excitement, but they
look all right from a distance.
Sound: 8.0
Definitely a better area of the game, the soundtrack includes a variety of cool
tunes.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 7.0
I can’t say it’s an entirely novel concept, and this isn’t even the first game
to do nudity like this (Singles even had full frontal nudity, and wasn’t
limited to females) – still, it’s relatively fun and not just a licensed piece
of junk.
Overall: 6.8
Playboy: The Mansion isn’t a bad game, but it could have been much more. It’s
fun to play for a while, though it grows old quickly, and the only real urge to
keep playing is to unlock historical Playboy covers and centerfolds. If you
think that’s worth your time, and you enjoy both simulation games and Playboy,
then give it a go – otherwise, you might be better off sticking to The Sims 2.
