Ever wonder what it would've been like to be Henry Ford? Building a small automobile company into an empire? If so, DETROIT is for you. The classic designs of cars from the 30s, 40s, and 50s drew me to this game, as anyone with even a passing interest in the American automotive industry will be drawn.
You begin by selecting your difficulty, ranging from very easy to very hard. The choice you make will determine how much money you're going to have to start your company.
Ever wonder what it would've been like to be Henry Ford? Building a small automobile company into an empire? If so, DETROIT is for you. The classic designs of cars from the 30s, 40s, and 50s drew me to this game, as anyone with even a passing interest in the American automotive industry will be drawn.
You begin by selecting your difficulty, ranging from very easy to very hard. The choice you make will determine how much money you're going to have to start your company. The year is 1908. The car is overtaking the horse as the American mode of travel. Toggling through various buildings (i.e. Administration, Manufacturing, Development, Marketing) you control how many factories, offices, and employees you're going to have. You delegate jobs
and you're up and running.
The most fun you’ll get in DETROIT is designing and testing cars. Through the years you get to select your cars' individual look and style, running through a checklist of accessories including bodywork, fuel mileage, seats, upholstery, air conditioning etc. Each of these (except for the paint scheme), costs money -- so you have to be careful not to overspend or to at least spend in the right places. You name your car, and test it; watching as a few crash-test dummies board your vehicle and take it through a number of tests (ironically, no crash tests here). But the computer will give your car a rating based on its handling, braking, etc.
As years pass, styles change, and you have to keep an eye on all the buildings and staff in your employ to make sure new technologies and advancements are going into your autos and your company as well. You are provided with monthly reports, spreadsheets and bar graphs representing profits and losses, model comparisons, reviews. So while designing and testing is the fun part, some strategy is also important. Because there are three other companies in direct competition with you. And while you can decide whether they're controlled by another player or the computer, you'll most likely be up against AI seeing as the game-play can get rather long. That said, computer AI is never much of an obstacle if you're keeping an eye on your business (even at the "very hard" level).
The object is to make money, keeping your company competitive, efficient, and up-to-date. With a successful business, you can outdistance your competitors and take your company from 1908 all the way to 2008. (A note here: Every time you begin, you have to start at 1908 -- so far as I know, there's no way to adjust this... and no matter how many improvements you make, your office buildings look pretty much the same).
Still, there are pretty cool details in DETROIT, car designs and yearly improvements aside. When it comes to marketing for instance, you aren't able to use radio or television until they've been invented. The monthly reports can be tedious, but in true-to-history periods like the Great Depression or in the midst of labor issues, they are an invaluable part of the game.
As a primer in the automobile industry DETROIT is a little soft... there aren't any stocks or recalls, lawsuits or takeover attempts for instance to liven things up. So after a few decades, game-play can get repetitive. But as a broad look at the 20th century American automobile industry, DETROIT is pretty darn good.
