Life is a struggle. The rat race that is life is a long and arduous task where we strive for excellence in a numerous amounts of ways. Whether it is a successful career, social status, fame, fortune or another endeavor; all will be a complex and intertwining process to go through.

Kudos 2 is a life simulation that takes the complex aspect of living to heart. It bombards you with statistics and intersecting aspects, much like all other games created by Positech Games. Starting you off at the brink of adult responsibility, your character will fight its way to success in any way you choose it. Your goal is to accomplish as much possible within a ten year lifespan, while upholding a rich and meaningful social life. You start off as a lowly waiter, but can later excel in many a profession, such as acting, science, journalism, law and so on.

Advancing in general isn’t easy though; in fact everything is quite challenging. You only have the option to do 1 activity outside your workday and balancing the things you will want to do become a hard choice to make. Weekends will give you 2 activities, but still then you’ll need to form a decisive strategy of the goal you set out for yourself and try not to fan out too much. This difficulty gets amplified due to your social responsibilities. If you don’t reach out into the world, your character will become bored and stressed out and that will affect your performances elsewhere. There is a large correlation between all facets of your existence and thus every step you make will have to be thought out; no dwindling here!

Kudos 2 Statistics Overview Screen

You can choose to educate yourself, look for employment, hang out by yourself or mingle with your friends. Especially the social aspect is very thoroughly worked out and the numerous things you can do offer a wide variety of interaction. You can simply head out for a nice game of soccer, but you can also go shopping and choose from a large selection of goods to buy. But there are also various mini-games scattered throughout the activities, which really take the strain out of just clicking the next thing all the time. For instance, if you buy yourself a console you’ll be able to play games within your game, ha!

Your success rate in these activities will affect your statistic outcome, so it is wise to choose things carefully. Also, you can’t expect your friends to just hop along, as they have very specific tastes of their own. In addition, most social activities cost money and employment generally doesn’t offer a lot of lenience on that part. In fact, the balance between the money you make and the money you spend isn’t all that optimal and more times than necessary your financial status will lead to frustrations. Although, that is also true to life. It doesn’t help you one bit that you can and will get mugged, resulting in losing large portions of your hard earned cash. You can buy a burglary system, but it costs a fortune in itself and it can’t even guarantee your safety. Life is supposed to be frustrating, but they did go overboard on it.

Kudos 2 Female Class Night
Kudos 2 Class Night

In all, the difficulty curve won’t allow your character to become as successful as you might expect from other life simulations. Chances are a lot bigger you’ll end up a mere cog in the system, rather than a trend setter. Keeping up with all your friends is even harder and setting up meaningful relationships don’t seem to offer you a lot of benefits. They do help you advance with specific stats, but most of the time it is only good to help you relieve boredom. Again like in real life, you’ll learn to use your friends as collateral, merely for your own personal gain.

Viewed from the realism point, Kudos 2 is therefore a game that works as it should. It’s a cold and calculated life for most of us working stiffs and that makes small achievements seem a lot more grand. I was over the roof once I advanced enough to buy myself a small car, only to see my house ransacked the next day. But I did keep that car; that baby was mine now! That feeling of achievement does come back often enough to keep you entertained. For instance, succeeding a job application boosts not only your virtual confidence, but you’ll actually feel better in real life! It’s like some sort of Wii meditation game. Meditation is also applicable in your virtual character’s life; it’s all meshed together!

Kudos 2 is also a game that looks simple, but efficient. The visual aspect of the game is in simple cartoon drawing, but elegantly portrayed nonetheless. In what I liked to call “Myspace graphics” you’ll always get a clear overview of any stat you need and believe me, that’s a lot of them. But even the simple details are quite appealing, such as the dirt surrounding your screen when your house gets dirty or the eerily realistic flies when you need a bath. I must’ve touched my screen a dozen of times thinking my house was actually suffering from pests. That will make you feel a little stupid, but it does commend the game on its realism; it’s really a nice touch. Small sound effects such as cycling, wind or rain create an additional synergy to create an appeasing environment for you to play in.

In conclusion, Kudos 2 is a realistic life simulator and should be treated as such. As long as you know your limits and stick to your guns, it should offer you a lot of enjoyment. But don’t forget that life is a challenge and it should be approached as such! Now, back to work!

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed.

Kudos 2

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Kudos 2