Hot Dog King

As our regulars know, I’m a big fan of tycoon games. Be it theme parks, wildlife, or railroads, the thought of a long session of financial micromanagement makes my heart beat a little faster. Because of this, I walked into Hot Dog King with high expectations.

By the title alone you can guess the premise of the game. Players start with a nominal amount of capital and work to build a vast fast food franchise empire. Biting into the details of this yummy, artery-clogging sim, players pick from one of three cities to conquer and then drop into a competition-filled map with a few thousand dollars. Each campaign has different victory rules, and the title includes a number of “pre-built” scenarios to test the mettle of any level of player. Most of the goals, of course, fall back on global fast food domination.

Buy a building, hire “franchise” staff, setup equipment and inventory, and you’re in the hot dog selling business. Once you’ve spent a few virtual days fine-tuning your inventory, you can spend the rest of the time waiting for the money to roll in so you can buy a vast wardrobe of skimpy outfits for your staff members. We’ll avoid the moral obligation to complain about the racy outfits, suffice to say that we wouldn’t play Hot Dog King with our grandmother.

Hot Dog King is a technically sound title and covers all the core components of a simulation game without failing any. Our only serious complaint is that the title plays itself after the first hour. It’s our belief that the developers may have recognized this, as they strategically break the game up with a few jazzy mini-games. Killing rats, hunting aliens, and fending off virtual pirates makes for a nice break between raking in money and buying bikinis.

Hot Dog King was developed by Fuzzy Eyes Studio and published by Meridian4, both independent companies making solid titles without a sea of big budgets and marketing hype. The price is very reasonable, and because it’s not going to cost you much we can clearly recommend it. If you’re looking for a new tycoon title that looks good, runs smoothly, and tosses in a few mini-games for fun, then Hot Dog King will serve you up a tasty weekend of fun for your 20 dollars.