Drill Deal - Oil Tycon - Review

Forget your ecological conscience, as Drill Deal - Oil Tycoon lets players build, operate and manage their own oil rigs. In this review of the game developed by A2 Software and published by Manager Games, we take a look at what this simulation game has to offer.

One of the first important points in our eyes is that you start the game with a tutorial that is very unclear and, above all, has some event bugs. For example, we found it impossible to place the first building on Nintendo Switch. On PS5, we found it difficult to continue, as the bugs were so present. We therefore preferred to move straight on to the missions, removing the prerequisites for a smooth start.

The campaign mode offers progressive difficulty, and each mission has its own objectives. These missions allow you to discover the game's mechanics as you progress. However, you won't be able to continue the mission once you've completed it.

As you progress through the game, you'll unlock the sandbox mode, in which you can manage your operation without any constraints. In this mode, you'll have the same kind of challenge as in the campaign, but you won't have the limits to expand your drilling rig and revenue.

If you don't have a great deal of experience of management games in general, then this one may require you to redo the missions several times in order to fully assimilate the game's mechanics. After a while, however, you should quickly get the hang of it. At first, you'll find it hard to keep your employees happy and execute the various objectives.

Employees need special attention if you don't want to lose reputation points through resignation. So avoid placing generators or other negative buildings next to the dormitories. Buildings are specially designed to meet the workers' needs, such as cinemas, games rooms and Jacuzzis. The employees you hire have specialities that make them more efficient in certain types of tasks, so you'll need to have a good grasp of the different sectors of activity to optimize your operation.

As you set up your various production buildings, you'll obtain different products that you can sell. These sales are made by signing contracts with firms. You'll have several choices, from multi-day contracts to one-off contracts at a fixed price. To prevent your stockpiles from filling up too quickly, you'll need to manage your ships and construct buildings to avoid losing money.

Visually, Drill Deal - Oil Tycoon isn't necessarily a success, but it's not a failure. The textures aren't always very impressive, but they don't detract from the gameplay. The management system, on the other hand, is well thought-out, and it's relatively easy to find your way around the various menus. There are plenty of animations and events to keep the game from becoming monotonous. As far as audio is concerned, one major drawback is the repetitive and unpleasant soundtrack.

The game offers enough content to keep you entertained for dozens of hours. The game also brings an interesting side to an industry that is little-known by the general public and seems to conform to what is being done on the platforms.