Ski Resort Mogul

In Brief

A Time Management game with mini games that includes Hidden Object puzzles.

Installation Issues:

Ski Resort Mogul downloads to a 67.8 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper the set-up file and a read me). The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed if you wish. The installed game is approximately 116 MB in size.

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Ski Resort Mogul

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop; the Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game; the name of which may vary each week can be deleted once the game has been installed. The Themida wrapper may alert your security and even block the installation. There are details in the read me about this issue.

Introduction:

Save your aunt's struggling ski resort from foreclosure by turning a few rickety cabins into a booming getaway complete with ritzy hotels, classy shops and five-star restaurants. Along the way, keep an eye on your bottom line as you purchase supplies, hire and train workers, and acquire land in Ski Resort Mogul! Use your Time Management talents to make money, and upgrade the resort and save the day!

Reference accessed HERE 22nd February 2019.

The Game:

The Mogul series by Alawar games is back with its third installment, Ski Resort Mogul. You’ll still deal with the hotel business, but you’ll follow a new heroine in a setting that’s different from predecessors Hotel Mogul and Vacation Mogul. The good news: this series definitely continues to improve and makes for an entertaining gaming experience.

The plot is your typical “Young-woman-desperately-in-love-gets-to-manage-a-family-business.” In this case we meet Julia who has fallen for Antonio, who in turn unfortunately is only interested in skiing. But luck is on Julia’s side when her Aunt Sue begs her to help with the ski resort. You surely have to start wondering where all those family businesses in time management games and building simulations come from, but I guess that is a secret only known to the game’s developers. The course of the story is predictable and even a tad embarrassing at times, but it’s only the basic foundation for the actual game.

Ski Resort Mogul features 40 levels that take from an average five to ten minutes to be finished, thereby offering about five hours of playtime assuming you won’t have to replay any level. This won’t be the case if you aspire to reach silver or even gold rating for all the levels, which not only looks nice on the level map, but also offers more bonus points — but we will return to this feature later on.

Your aim in every level is to build a small resort, with varying goals and an increasing number of buildings. Goals can include a certain number of specific buildings, upgrades, simply earning money, reaching a specific amount of regular income, or attracting more guests. Buildings have varying effects and are separated by functions. Guest buildings such as cabins or deluxe hotels accommodate guests and provide you with income, depending on the number of upgrades you have done. So-called line-buildings attract guests, which makes them a precondition for the profitability of guest buildings. At last, shops provide you with additional income depending on how many guests they reach. This range can be expanded by upgrading those shops.

New buildings will be introduced every now and then, but the upgrades – which range from 1 to 3 stars for every hotel and shop – have to be purchased actively with the previously mentioned points. For some levels you will have to purchase a certain upgrade to be able to play them (and reach the related goals) at all. Apart from that there are also buildings you can construct and enhance outside of the regular levels which will provide you with permanent bonuses. That includes faster workers, cheaper materials, or more time to finish levels. The construction of those buildings costs bonus points, too, which adds a bit of depth to the already challenging Ski Resort Mogul.

The graphics of the game are delightful, too. You can see your workers constructing the buildings, guests amble along the streets, and every level oozes with charming details. The number of buildings and upgrades is absolutely satisfying, and, even more importantly, Ski Resort Mogul is neither too complicated nor too easy.

The game’s pace can be mostly compared to the Be Rich series. Materials are delivered quickly, the training of workers does not take to long, and the income cycles feels agreeably short. In fact you will rarely find a building simulation that is so well-balanced when it comes to time pressure and the level of difficulty. Some levels are highly complicated, and some even require that you already possess some of the bonus buildings, but the game never gets frustrating. Instead, expect to retry a level a few times to find the right strategy.

Apart from the story, there is not much wrong with Ski Resort Mogul. The mini-games following some of the levels are really boring and seem to be an unnecessary extension of game play, but at least they don’t hinder the player’s progress, and players who enjoy HOG games will have a pleasant aside occasionally :) . Another mode or a few surprising twists would have been welcome, too, but those are quibbles that can be largely ignored. The game sits somewhere in the middle of more difficult titles such as Build-a-lot and easier ones like Plan-It-Green or Wonderburg.

Overall, Ski Resort Mogul should be a blast for all fans of building simulations, and especially for those who already loved the previous parts of this series, because it continues to improve in quality. If you can overlook the shallow and cliched story line and don’t mind a cumbersome hidden object scene every once in a while, this game will convince you with good replayability, the requirement of planning ahead and a fast pace that will keep you on your toes.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by David Becker on Aug 17, 2010, re-posted edited and added to by Whiterabbit-uk 23rd February 2019

Conclusion:

Ski Resort Mogul is a 'low stress' time management game with some nice touches. Despite my usual aversion for TM games I found today's game entertaining and the difficulty well balanced. I usually fail miserably right from the outset when it comes to attaining gold for a level in most Time Management games. My achievements usually amount to a few bronze and maybe even a silver award, but rarely gold; however right from the outset, I managed to get gold for every level except the last two levels I played, which would indicate a generous amount of time is given to achieve all the level goals for each stage. Don't get me wrong, the game can be challenging; as you would expect in this type of game things become more difficult as you progress. I've yet to progress past level 10, so will probably soon lose my gold streak. I even enjoyed playing it; which, apart from the Farm Frenzy games is also a rare occurrence when I'm playing Time Management games. With that in mind I would say today's game giveaway is definitely one to download and play, especially if, like me, your TM game play is at a slower pace.

Little touches like the options menu made to look like a ski lift gondola and for game play enhancements, the ability to gain 'permanent' bonuses that allow extra time to complete levels and worker speed ups added to the positive vibe I had for this game. If I was to score this game I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10 for game play despite my usual aversion for such games. The only thing that spoils this game and the original reviewer agrees was the soppy story-line about the female protagonist and her love for a ski instructor, who shows no interest at the beginning of the game, but love flowers as you progress through the 40 levels. Finally, for those who don't attain all gold levels, there's a lot of replayability because you can replay any level once unlocked via the level map. :)

Videos of Ski Resort Mogul:

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE; and a written walk-through HERE .

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game later, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Ski Resort Mogul to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try white-listing the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Ski Resort Mogul and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Ski Resort Mogul doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums). The free game over at epic games is Thimbleweed Park until March 7th. worth £14.99/$19.99/€19.99. You can also get the non Steam single player version of Welcome to Princeland for free temporarily via Indie Gala (you'll need a free account to claim the game) HERE; the SP/MP version is usually worth £3.99/$4.99/€3.99 and can be found on Steam HERE. Finally, there are some excellent bargains on sale via Steam HERE (over 2200); for example if like me you love breakout games, one I've been playing recently called Ionball 2: Ionstorm is on sale until 25th February 6pm (UST) for only £041/$49/€0.39