Liftboy Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

You can't blame the bellboy for this one.

Handy Games will always have a soft spot in our hearts. They were one of the first to bring us God games in the Townsmen series and the are always looking to push the barriers with titles about streakers (Flitzer) or running a porn empire (Porn Manager). With all these great titles you have to expect the odd poo poo to drop out. Liftboy does come pretty close.

It's not a bad game as such, it's just a very weird concept that doesn't quite succeed. You are Liftboy who unfortunately doesn't possess any superhero powers - he is a boy and he works in a hotel lift. You have a daily challenge to work the lift and take your passengers to their chosen floor. The trick is to try and keep them happy so that you can earn a few tips and also avoid any complaints to the manager. Too many disgruntled guests will lead to your P45 and you will get the sack.

The easiest way to keep your guests chirpy is by getting them to their floors as quickly as possible but if things are running slow you can always spark up a conversation. Standard stereotypical rules apply, talk to men about sport and money; talk to women about babies, love and obviously money. There are a whole range of topics to choose from but you don't have too much time to pick before you have reached the next stop.

That's all there is to the game and it probably sounded like a great concept but it does just lack a killer feature. All the individual parts are decent enough; the graphics are cool with the trademark Handy Games sprites (Flitzer and the Townies make occasional appearances). The sound is particularly good with funky piano tunes to enforce the 1930's feel.

The controls in Liftboy are simple in design but awkward in practice. Up moves the lift up and down moves it down; that part is fine. The problem is when you want to start a conversation. They can only be selected while the lift is moving so you had better be quick in your selection. Press the left soft key to bring up the topics menu and then scroll along until you find the topic you are after and do it all before you reach the right floor. It would have been a lot easier if there were assigned shortcut keys for at least some of the topics. The game can turn too frantic to bother with any chit chat and that's only by the seventh level.

Most games usually have some underlying agenda that should improve aspects of your everyday life (at least that's our excuse for playing games) such as improved memory or coordination/dexterity. I am struggling to find the benefit to playing Liftboy. The game will stress you out very quickly. There is a sense of achievement when a level is completed but it just means the next one is going to be even harder and longer.

The game does have it's funny moments. Watching everybody sing along to the lift music did bring a smile to my face. The passengers themselves are cool with nuns, pimps, beershooters and even famous people (not that I could spot them) thrown in.

I really wanted to enjoy Liftboy but even I am not quirky enough to fully appreciate the nuances of elevator management.