Startopia is one of those games where you have to put rooms in the right places so that you have a nice layout and you can make money.

The problem is that there's nothing here that hasn't been done better in another game. Want a game about placing rooms in a space station that has a wacky sense of humour and some combat elements? Space Colony does it better. Want a serious challenge when it comes to arranging rooms in a game? Theme hospital is still the best. Want a business sim or trading game? There's nothing here that hasn't been done at least this well in a zillion other games. Don't be fooled by the screenshots with the pixellated boobies, this isn't as sexy as The Sims (the first version, the one that wasn't sexy at all).

Startopia is a perfectly compentent game that doesn't get much wrong, it's just that it doesn't have anything that says "I'm a really cool game, keep playing me."

In Startopia's campaign, you are charged with rebuilding and running a series of derelict space stations. There's a brief tutorial that introduces the basic game mechanics, but it's in the campaign that you'll really learn how to play. The game follows a simple formula: You set up basic facilities and some moderately profitable ones and hire some aliens to run them. Then you make some money, build more-elaborate facilities, increase your income, promote/replace/fire employees, and repeat. There are numerous ways in which you can earn energy (the game's currency is also your stations' power source), and the 10 campaign missions slowly introduce you to the game's variety of tasks. In one, you'll learn how to build sick bays and heal injured and infirmed travelers. Another will introduce you to the game's simple but fun trading system. Others will teach you the basics of setting up the pleasure deck, which features shops and attractions to please guests and employees alike; and the biodeck, a strange area where you can control the climate and landscape to please the variety of aliens who'll visit your station and even harvest alien plants for tradable goods.