Top shelf magazines have adorned the shelves of many if not most newsagents in this country and have been there for as long as I can remember. As a child I remember there being an element of mystery surrounding the content of those top shelf magazines not necessarily because I couldn’t reach but maybe because there was an element of fear perhaps? Who knows, and who really cares because as an adult male, one, like many can always appreciate the female forms on display in top shelf magazines.

Playboy is probably the most well know soft pornographic magazine available in the world today and whilst it surely does feature naked women it also features a whole lot more content to perhaps rival other non pornographic lifestyle magazines. You can argue that most people buy it for the nakedness and whilst that might be true you cant ignore the fact that at least Playboy tries to add a little more depth.

Well many years after its first release and after much profit in the pocket of its founder, the famous Hugh Heffner; Playboy has entered the world of video games. It seems Heff isn’t content with luxury property, private jets, fancy cars and of course loads of aspiring women all eager for fame and fortune. Enter Playboy: The mansion, a game which aims to put players into the driving seat of one of the adult entertainment industry’s major players.

Gameplay:

Playboy The Mansion can be played in two ways, and after the fetching intro players can select if they wish to play in mission mode or freeform mode. Mission mode and freeform modes are very similar in that the overall goals are the same; however mission mode gives you more objectives and has a lot more random story based events going on. Freeform mode allows players to essentially start from scratch and build up the Playboy Empire more at their own pace.

Playing Playboy: The Mansion is very much like The Sims. You can build your mansion piece by piece starting with the walls and their respective coverings to various floor types and finally the pieces that make a home a home. What is more, players are encouraged to build a 2nd floor which will house the magic that is the Playboy offices. The Playboy offices are the central hub of operations and effectively are the heart of the Playboy magazine. It is here where players begin the journey into the Playboy lifestyle and here where they will build the magazine to the standards that consumers expect.

Once a staff desk has been purchased and suitably placed, players can then start to make progress. Throughout the game you take control of Mr Heffner as he can freely wander around the mansion you have created or the default one on offer. It is you that makes the overall decisions and therefore your first port of call is the hiring of suitable staff.

Using the games menu system (accessed via the d-pad) players can view all facets of the Playboy Empire including consumer reports, stats, mission objectives, available celebrities and of course available staff for hire. Each person within the game has a fame rating (represented by stars) the higher the rating the bigger the impact on the magazine. This works for both staff and celebrities; however more fame means more cost, as the staff will need payment every month (although you can hire and fire staff at will).

So the main objective of the game is to procure decent content for the magazine which in turn means you are going to need a photographer, a journalist, a celebrity for the front cover, a centrefold model and a feature article. Whilst your on hand staff can provide some content such as pictorials, articles and centrefolds the interviews and cover pictures need to feature a celebrity. With a quick look at the target audience and what is popular at that given time will reflect what content you should aim for, so if sports or music is a popular theme during that month then as editor you should try and find suitable sports and music content. Maybe getting a famous female musician to appear on the cover might do the trick. It seems that in order to get the celebrities interested you need to throw a party (complete with the famous bunnies). However due to your own fame rating will determine whether the celebrities decline your invitation or not. Once a party has started it is simply a case of networking with the celebrities and getting good relationships going with your staff and those who you want them to work with. So for example if photographer A has a good rapport with celebrity B then a better photo shoot will be possible.

Once content has been gathered as the boss you can view the quality of the content and decide if you wish to include it or not. What is more, during the photo shoots for the centrefold and the front cover you can actually take the pictures yourself. This involves you deciding on the models clothing/accessories, which to be honest shouldn’t be much considering and then taking various shots of the model as she poses for you topless or wearing underwear. Once you have used up all the film its then up to you to choose which picture is best, although the overall quality of the shoot is decided for you.

Once all content has been gathered then you are ready to launch your issue, however before this you can set the pricing and level of adverts to appear in the magazine which obviously will affect your projected sales figures for that month. This is the essence of the game and obviously with the money gained from sales means that as Hugh you can buy more stuff for your ever growing mansion.

Graphics:

The graphics in Playboy the Mansion are adequate and not really as detailed as they perhaps should be on Xbox. The character models look human in every way however their general animations are a little limited, even if the more adult ones are amusing for about 5 minutes. Also the female models required for photo shoots and whatnot do tend to look very similar due to a lack of variety in the models used. Whilst some have big breast and others bigger, the general look on the faces is limited, although there are a fair number of clothes items to add that much needed variety. What is good is that once your fame increases you are able to tweak the look (and names) of the characters in the game to suit your own tastes. Want to have sex with Brittany Spears? Then this is possible.

Sound:

Sound comes in two main forms here which are music and speech. There seems to be a wide variety of music tracks to play ranging from techno to jazz or even hip hop which should hopefully please fans of the genres listed. You can always turn the music off at any time should you desire, or even have different music styles in each room if it pleases you. Generally the music is good enough here especially as you can add your own custom tracks as well.

The speech is very similar to The Sims where speech is gibberish to avoid sounding repetitive. This works well for this type of game and considering speech bubbles appear to indicate what is being said makes this easy to listen too, despite some of it sounding like a cheap 80s porn flick.

Longevity:

Playboy The Mansion is quite a long game and in effect has unlimited replay value due to the freeform mode which lets you build whatever you desire (within reason). The general pace of the game is quite slow but leisurely enough for you to take it at your own pace, which is good. Whilst there is no multiplayer option available, the game simply works using the single player option. As with all sim type games they do require a lot of time investment to get the most out of them so impatient players might want to look elsewhere. There are also a number of un lockable items to gain as you play more are unlocked or you can spent gained points on various pictures from real Playboy Magazines, although don’t expect any full frontal nudity as this is not an “Adult” rated game.

Overall:

Playboy the mansion is much like the real Playboy magazine in that it is simply more than a cheap gimmick of pert breasts and tight peachy buttocks; which lets face it, is not something that is arousing to most men due to them being crude polygons and no substitute for the real thing. So as an attempt to be different I think the management aspect of the game does add that playability factor and works to the credit of the game. However with too much time spent here its clear to see that the game play is rather formulaic, repetitive and supporting of some very unrealistic moments. Whilst maybe not being as involving as The Sims for what it is Playboy the Mansion is a pleasing foray into management gaming and a brave move by the developers as they try and use sex to sell a video game; although they are certainly not the first to do so and definitely wont be the last either. Rent this game first before you buy.