Playboy: The Mansion for Xbox

Imagine being Hugh Hefner. Living his life. Living THE life. A life full of sex, money, and more sex. Playboy: The Mansion gives us a small glimpse into what the lifestyle is all about - from getting and maintaining girlfriends and business associates to publishing a magazine featuring naked women. Well, half naked anyway.

Being such a fan of all the Sims games, I had to get this. Shawn had told me about it late one night and I sent him to the store to buy it. He was a little curious as to why I, a straight woman, would want a Playboy game, but when he realized that he, too, would benefit from this game, he hopped in the car to go fetch the game.

To my amazement, I actually like this game more than Shawn does. He played it a few times then lost interest. Maybe it was the lack of articles for him to read.

In Playboy: The Mansion you can play mission style or a free form. In the mission mode, you are given goals to complete. After completing different levels and missions, you unlock hidden items and different areas of the mansion. You even get points to use for cheat codes. Yes, Playboy: The Mansion comes equipped with its very own cheat codes that you do not even have to search for on the Internet. In the free form you can play freely, without having goals to complete.

A Playboy Mansion definitely needs a staff, so you must hire some people to get your empire going. Playboy Bunnies are needed for the parties you throw. They walk around, look pretty, serve drinks, and greet and entertain your guests. It is good to have at least one on your staff list. Playboy Playmates are used for the centerfolds of your magazines. You must hire them to do your photo shoot. After you publish your magazine, they will no longer be one the staff list. Their new title becomes Published Playmate and they move to your Celebrities list. Journalists are required to write articles for your magazine and to do interviews with Celebrities. For every journalist you hire, a staff desk is needed in your office. Photographers are needed to do pictorials and, of course, to do the photo shoots with Playmates and cover shots. Starting the game out, I found it best to hire one person from each category, then add to the staff list as needed. Everyone comes with different salaries, and before you start publishing magazines you can go broke paying your staff.

The Celebrities list is the list you go to when you need to throw parties. It grows throughout the game as you pass missions, and sometimes people seem to disappear from the list. After you invite celebrities to a party, you can build up a relationship with them and invite them to your Inner Circle. You can invite people in the Inner Circle over by calling them and do not have to throw a party to get them there. Your girlfriends also become part of your Inner Circle, too, but they move into the mansion, so they will always be there. As you play the game and increase your fame level, you can have many girlfriends.

Your first magazine already has a few of the tasks done, so this one is the easiest to get published. The rest are completely up to you, though, to get done. Each magazine has six tasks before it can be published.

The Cover Shot is done with your photographer and a celebrity. Throw a party or invite someone from your inner circle (or use a girlfriend if you have one) and build a relationship up with them. Then you request a cover shot, and if they accept you choose where to put them to do it. You can buy backgrounds to place throughout the mansion or just use things you already have. You can change their clothing, jewelry, and other accessories. You can even make them topless. Sorry boys - they always have panties on. The girls will move through different poses, and you can take pictures whenever you want. For better ratings it is best to change their outfits a few times, and take pictures when they are winking or raising their eyebrows. You get to take eight shots, then select the photo you would like on the cover.

The Centerfold is done with a photographer and a Playmate. Everything else is done just like the cover shot. You can only use Playmates once for the centerfolds, then you have to hire more. They will pose on some of the chairs, couches, and beds that you can have in your mansion.

An Essay is done by a celebrity or girlfriend. You simply build a relationship with someone and request an essay from them. If they agree, you get to choose a subject for the essay. Match the subject with the persons interests, or the task you are trying to complete. Themed issues get the best results, so try to keep the subject consistent throughout that issue. Each person will ask for different amounts of money to do it - the more fame they have, the higher the price will be. They will leave the mansion and a little bit later the game will let you know that the essay is complete.

An Interview requires a journalist and a celebrity.
If you have a theme for the magazine, try to get an interview from someone related to that theme. Like if you have a sports theme, get an interview from a football or tennis player. If you are trying to get an interview during a party, make sure to invite a journalist to the party or you will not be able to do the interview.

A Pictorial is done by the photographer. Just match the subject you would like with the photographers interests to get the best results. All you have to do with this one is find a photographer and request a pictorial. Try to make sure they are in a good mood, though. If you do not like the results you can always delete it and send them out again. This one costs, too, and the costs vary depending on what you want.

An Article is done by the journalist in much the same way as the pictorial. After requesting an article, the journalist will go to the office, sit at a desk, and write one. Again you get to pick a subject, so try to match the journalist to the subject. If you do not like it, delete it and try again.

After you get all six tasks done, you can publish your magazine. There is a screen that lets you change the price of the magazine and how much ad space is in the issue. Also you can see what groups of people the magazine is attractive to and view sales information from issue to issue. After twelve issues, you get to choose a Playmate of the Year.

You can make Hef have casual, professional, or romantic conversations with people. Sometimes you will only have to have one type of relationship with someone, sometimes you will have to have casual and professional relationships with one person. A casual relationship allows you to invite that person to your inner circle, you cannot do that with the others. To get girlfriends, you have to have strong romantic relationships. And when you want someone to sign a contract with you, build up that professional relationship.

The controls for Playboy: The Mansion are pretty easy to use once you play for a little while. One big problem with the controls is that you cannot look around the mansion unless you move Hef. So if you are trying to find a certain person and Hef is talking to someone, you have to wait until he gets done talking, then move him until you find who you are looking for. And during the photo shoots, many of the things in the mansion get in the way, making it hard to get the shots you want.

All the characters in Playboy: The Mansion look the same. They all have almost the exact same face and just have varied hair types and skin tones. Oh, and some of the girls have bigger boobs than the others. With some of the cheat codes on the game you can even give all the girls implants or massive implants. It looks pretty funny. Too bad I cannot make my boobs bigger when I need too (such as those times when pulled over by a cop).

The background music in Playboy: The Mansion is mildly entertaining. The stereos you can buy, and need to help keep guests entertained, play eight different "stations", each featuring a different type of music - such as hip-hop or rock. Though a wide variety of songs are played, they do get repetitious. The talk of the characters is undistinguishable slurred talk. Pop-up balloons above their head give a clue as to what exactly they are talking about. The only understandable noise they make are moans and groans heard occasionally, and then no pop-up balloons are needed to know what they are thinking.

Overall, Playboy: The Mansion is great for a while, but does get old. The mission mode can be beaten rather easily and after that there is no desire left to play. Just like in The Sims, there is the annoying gibberish talk. But unlike in The Sims, you do not have to waste time making Hef go to the bathroom, wash his hands, eat, shower, or sleep. None of that here. You can buy beds and toilets and things for your mansions, but Hef just never sleeps or pees. And why would you want to waste time, being Hugh Hefner, doing things like that when you can have sex with beautiful Playmates all day long?