Playboy: The Mansion Preview

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run one of the most successful magazines in American history? Or have you ever wanted to plan and throw extravagant parties and meet lots of famous people?  Have you at least ever wanted to be filthy stinkin’ rich?  If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then Arush Entertainment may have just the ticket. Er, well, they have a videogame in the works that allows you to do all these things and more.  In Playboy: The Mansion, you play as Hugh Hefner, the quintessential ladies’ man and publishing mogul.  As Hef, you must not only run all aspects of Playboy magazine, but also organize parties, schmooze with famous people and raise your status to become a success all in the veritable Zanadu known as the Playboy Mansion.

Playboy: The Mansion feels slightly like the Sims, in that you must guide Hef through various social interactions with people in order to proceed in the game.  In setting up the magazine, you must arrange and take photos during shoots, edit pictorials, as well as set up the overall content of the magazine, like articles and interviews (because people really do read it for the articles).  When doing photos, it is necessary to be mindful of interactions not only between you and the models, but also your photographer’s ability to connect with them and make the photo shoot a comfortable experience.  You’ll end up doing a lot on the business side of things throughout the game, like purchasing office utilities, hiring photographers and writers and finding models.

However, the life of Hugh Hefner is not all business.  You must also throw kickin’ parties in order to establish yourself.  These parties serve as your chance to meet new people, like models or interview subjects or writers, and also as a means to form crucial business and social contacts.  As you complete a variety of different challenges, you will also unlock various items with which to decorate your mansion, much like purchasing furniture in the Sims.  You can also unlock extras like pictorials and centerfolds from Playboy’s long history.

Playboy: The Mansion will also have a host of real life celebrities for you to interact with, with people like Carmen Electra, Tom Arnold and Jose Canseco showing up at parties here and there.

The graphics are nothing to get excited about at this point, but serve their purpose.  The character models are pretty decent looking sporting a nice cartoony look, but lack overall detail.  The Mansion itself is the same, without a lot of detail, but otherwise well presented.

The sound effects are about the same as you’d find in one of the Sims games.  Characters speak to each other in a language similar to “Simlish,” as spoken in those games.  The game also features some voice over work from people assisting you through the missions in the game, giving you hints and otherwise providing tutorials.  The music is a blend of licensed songs from various genres, with artists like Petey Pablo in the mix.  However, if the game’s music doesn’t strike your fancy, then you are free to use custom soundtracks.

The gameplay in the preview build of Playboy: The Mansion felt a little redundant, but showed a surprising amount of challenge and complexity.  While the game is currently not rated, it is expected to receive at least an M rating due to nudity and sexual themes.  Look for it this January.