Set in the 1920’s US prohibition era, you must buy and sell alcohol while avoiding the long arm of the law. Does MoonShine taste great or leave you hungover? Read on to find out.
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MoonShine is essentially a trading simulation, you play as an underworld figure and must build up an empire by buying and selling the various types of alcohol. You start with a few dollars and a run down shack, each day (one turn) you can perform your tasks which are presented in a tabbed like interface.
The day starts with a newspaper which shows an article of interest, not only do they provide some light relief with humorous content, they may give an indication to the current trend of the market or warn you of a police blitz, so it pays to read. The next task is your stock page which allows you to buy and sell any of the seven types of alcohol such as Moonshine, Beer, Rum and Whiskey. Prices can dramatically change from day to day so knowing when to buy and sell is important. The interface changes depending on the building you are currently renting, from a crumpled piece of paper to a ledger style design. Visually it improves as does the information presented with data on price changes, average prices and ratings at your disposal.
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The final daily task is your upgrades screen which allows you to rent new buildings that increase your storage and improves the interface. There are a few buildings to choose from including offices and warehouses, they do add to your daily expenses so keep an eye on your balance or you will end up in debt, they will also increase your police attention. To help keep the police at bay you can purchase some items which reduce their attention level. If the police raid your property you can end up losing valuable stock.
There are a wealth of game modes to choose from and play. These include a Quick Play mode which gives you one month to earn as much as possible. Career gives you 50 days to earn as much as possible, this is the ‘full’ mode which includes the police and items not found in Quick Play. Dollar Dash tasks you with earning $10,000 in as fast as time as possible, while Brewsters Billions is the opposite by losing $10,000. The Survival mode allows you to keep playing to earn as much as possible, but at the end of every week there is an increasing fine which you must pay to continue. The game modes are well thought out and are different enough to give great variety. If you do get bored you can create your own custom game using a simple rules system.
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Presentation is a mixture of good and bad. Some thought has gone into the look and feel of the game with nice touches such as photos and music from the era, the menus could do with a bit of tidying up to make them sharper. Graphically the game is average, despite the interface improvements which do look better when you upgrade your buildings, they still look fairly basic. Music is done amazingly well with authentic music from the period, a total of seven original public domain tunes are included and it sets the scene perfectly reminding me a lot of Fallout 3, top marks there! Several Milestones are available to unlock including earning an amount of cash in game modes and surviving a number of days in Survival mode. They are well spread and tempt you in to exploring the other game modes.
The trial mode is limited to the Quick Play mode which is over fairly fast and does not show the full potential of the game, this is a shame because many (including myself) may get the wrong impression. Once you get under the surface in the full version there is a fairly in depth game and the variety of game modes keep it feeling fresh. While this game genre may not be everyone’s favourite tipple, I think strategy fans will find it a good enjoyable challenge and is great for short to medium bursts of playing time, any longer and it may feel repetitive. Moonshine costs 240 :MSPoints: and it just about justifies the price.
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