Kudos is a very interesting life-simulation game by ex-Lionhead Studios coder, Cliff Harris. The game gives players the opportunity to sculpt the life they’ve always wanted, or always dreaded. Regardless, the game has a very addictive catch to its theme. At first the game seems quite simple. But beyond the book-cover gameplay template players soon realize that the game offers some very in-depth concepts for developing and changing the outcome of the selected character.
The game starts with a newly created player character, fresh out of school with zero skills and just waiting to be molded into something spectacular. Players will start with a simple, and very menial job trying to work their way up the ladder of success. At the start of the game there’s hints to help guide players through the process of getting into the life-simulator with ease. The option menus are also very easy to navigate. As a standard, players can see how much money they have available, their social status, and their personal status. The game’s interface is easy-to-use right off the bat; with the learning curve for Kudos just under half an hour so players won’t have to worry about spending huge amounts of time just learning how to play.
The game is turn-based, so players can choose certain activities or functions for that day (if the character has a job, only one activity can be done at the end of day) and then it’s time to click the end-turn button. The game takes place over the course of ten years, and time actually seems to go by pretty quickly. On the weekends players have the option of going shopping to pick up household items, purchase miscellaneous items, or purchase a pet, which requires regular maintenance. Other items include transportation, such as a bike, skateboard or even cars which help to get to work. Otherwise players will have to walk to work via foot. However, distance and weather play a huge factor on the mood of the character by the time they get to their job. Some items help to keep stats such as stress or tiredness down, while other items (e.g., such as a workout set) help to improve fitness and muscle stats. For some skills it helps to increase stats in order to help your character grow.
Skills are separate from stats in that players who excel specifically in a category will improve that skill. Certain skills and stats must be at certain levels to apply for specific jobs. The career category is fairly large, allowing players to go from security officers, to a private bodyguard, an actor, a scientist, a botanist, etc. Within each career category is a sub-category of various jobs with varying titles and requirements. To keep the game’s fun factors and player-interest high, specific skills must be attained by attending college courses. Depending on the character and their stats are determines how fast certain skills are learned and how quickly courses can be completed. The more skills a player has (e.g., cooking, math, etc.,) makes them more viable for a higher paying job. In turn, the more money a character makes the more socializing and fun they can have.
Kudos' real challenge comes in with making (or keeping) friends. Like the Sims, players must put forth an effort to retain a social community. The game has a great sense of strategy and compromise, as players may have to choose between attending a much needed night class or going out on the town to catch a movie or visit a jazz club. Depending on the player’s character, certain stats and their interest will determine how well they get along with other characters and their interests. If a player doesn’t interact or socialize with friends frequently, eventually they’ll stop being the player’s friend. Players receive kudos for making new friends, attending different social events, and trying new things. By abandoning one’s social role players will lose kudos and ultimately lose friends over a course of time. At the end of each year the player’s character is assessed for their accomplishments and specialities until the end of the ten-year mark.
Visually the characters look amazing for Kudos, but the only drawback is that they don’t move much. Still, the characters contain a very clean visual look. The audio is quite good too. Kudos has some catchy music while players make decisions and enhance their character. Every once and a while sound effects will play, but there’s not much reason to have many sound effects. Presentation wise, Kudos' biggest drawback is only in the lack of visual or audio depth. But what is present is still nicely done.
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