Summary
Lukewarm title.
The Good
Powerhouse's strongest element was its inner competition between companies. Often times (at the begining) you would find yourself racing to search a newly opened sector for the best terrain. The progression of the game was fair and some of the tech tree advances were interesting.
The Bad
This game was just plain bland. The FMV bites that were shown at the end of the year were horrible. These shots were hazy, lame and usually the exact same thing they showed the last time. After a while you could just use a certain type of power and never build anything else. You could have wildmills everywhere while your competition still used the worst type of power. Because of this there was basicly no competition after a few turns. After you controled most of the world you got plain bored. There were so many sectors to control that I just got tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Sometimes I would not move into a newly opened sector just so that my competors could take hold and give me some fun. Most of the time to my shock they didnt even move in or if they did they were so stupid about it I would just shut off the computer in anger. Powerhouse does have some good points like spy's and protection but they are not used to their full potential.
The Bottom Line
At first Powerhouse can provide a hour or two of fun but after that it's like trying to read a mutual fund prospectus. It will put any one asleep.
