My Life in New York
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| My Life in New York

Given that Gameloft has spent the last few years serving up a series of 'life simulators' – the firm's much-favoured 'Nights' series appearing in multiple cities and on platforms aplenty – it's hard to fathom how anyone involved gets any work done.

Gameloft's office must be full of people talking about puppies, telling self-deprecating jokes, dancing on the spot for endearment, and tentatively asking their colleagues for their phone number before lightly pecking them on the cheek.

Yes, the French firm has gone all Cilla again, serving up a franchise that focuses on fixing you up both with the love of your life and with the kind of career most of us could only dream of.

New in town

My Life in New York, besides a slight visual upgrade – crisp, clean lines replacing the somewhat cuddly approach of said Nights games – offers much the same package as its predecessors, giving you the opportunity of starting out afresh in the Big Apple as you look for both a significant other and significant earnings.

Much of the game boils down to one thing: the art of conversation. While there are set challenges to undertake and even jobs to take on, everything you do is linked to your ability to talk with folk and make things happen.

As with the Nights series, whether you come across people who like or hate you is something of a lottery, though My Life In New York seems to take that approach to the extreme.

Love soup

While you can do everything from discussing the day's issues to telling jokes or even sneaking in a snog or two, your ability to connect with people comes down to a number of set elements: quite logically, your self-esteem and confidence can be an issue, but somewhat more bizarrely your health dropping below a certain point can also impact on how people respond to you.

As a concept, that's absolutely fine – there's certainly nothing wrong with focusing on the lighter sides of life. My Life In New York is unashamedly superficial, with characters of either gender happily dismissing you if you happen to lack sex appeal, for instance.

The problem is, one duff conversation can have far too much of a bearing over all your other relationships. If you happen to fall out with one person – physical fights, quite amusingly, a possible end result - you'll find it increasingly difficult to connect with anyone else.

Relationship woes

Even if those you look to befriend later have no connection whatsoever with your foe, the impact such a fight can have on your personality means most others will look to avoid you like the plague.

My Life In New York's structure simply doesn't hold water as soon as things start to go wrong.

Most damning of all, however, is the fact that My Life in New York is little more than a refinement of a model Gameloft has flogged for all too long now.

If you've tackled New York Nights and co., there's no reason to make a return trip here, given its take on life in the big city feels like a tale we've been told so many times before.

My Life in New York

A slight refinement on New York Nights and the like, My Life In New York feels too disjointed and ultimately too familiar to make its mark
Score
Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.