Intellivision

Utopia

Utopia pre-dates Sim City and it's "similar in many ways. Certain items, like factories and fishing boats earn cash every round. Others, like the school and hospital increase the productivity of other buildings. The only action you'll have to deal with is the fishing itself, which is just like it is in real life - slow, dull, and completely controlled by the willingness of the fish to be caught. In Utopia, the fishies drift off of the screen, but your boats don't. You have to lug it all the way over to the other side or look for a closer school of the little bastards.

This is a likeable little game that's like an early version of Warcraft. In Utopia, you are given some money to develop a little island, and you can construct housing, factories, boats, schools, and other structures. If you play against a friend, you can even deploy rebels to mess up the other person's island. Rain storms and hurricanes randomly cross the screen, and schools of fish and pirates appear in the seas. You can set the number and length of rounds, and between each one you are presented with an update of your progress. These updates are given in terms of points, so you'll need to play a few times to tell if you're actually doing a good job. Besides building structures, there's really not much to do except move your boats around. This lack of action may turn off some people, but strategy-minded players will appreciate this highly original game.