Capitalism Plus
DOS version
One of the Greatest Strategy & Simulation Games of All Time
The Good
One of the great things about Capitalism Plus, imo, is that it has a great tutorial (to help you get started). Like, for example, another review implies that when one of your locations is losing money, that the game doesn't give you enough information to figure out WHY (and hence correct it): This is false, as it is clearly stated in the Tutorial that Consumers will base their purchasing decisions on Price, Quality, & Brand. And since you can review products sold by competitors, you will know whether you need to increase quality, decrease price, or invest in advertising.
The Bad
There are only a few minor flaws in Capitalism Plus:
First is that good, quality farmland is hard to come by and there's no way to invest in fertilizer that will increase the quality of your crops.
Second is that there aren't a huge selection of Executives that you can hire as your VP. Altho, this is probably deliberate as you will have to choose a VP with the specific strengths & skills you're looking for.
Third, if you're running a large scale operation, with revenue in excess of hundreds of billions of dollars, there is only so much you can compensate your VP before he decides to leave: Which if I remember correctly, is about $2.1 billion.
So, I guess the original developers never conceived of players reaching such a level and so, they thought that the maximum value of a 32-bit integer was good enough. Luckily, total revenue can go well beyond this limit.
Finally, there is a flaw that effects replayability: That is that there exists the best starting product in the game AND there is also the best product in the game: And unfortunately, these two products will never change. So once you figure them out, the starting pathway and mid-game objective will usually be the same.
Altho, the developers have done a good job at addressing this issue with different scenarios: I just wish that there was a little more RNG and variance in this area (for custom games). Like, randomize the market so that these two products are different for each new game.
Unfortunately, there's no option to contract for Market Research services: So, you have do that yourself (which would be a pain with more randomization). Nor will the game allow you to become a Big, Fat Cat DOD Contractor manufacturing Fighter Jets for billions of dollars (or selling screws for $70,000 a piece):
The Bottom Line
But, beyond that, you can let your creativity run wild with how you want to run your business: What to name it. Who to hire as VP. Which products you want to focus on. And different strategies for maximizing profits !!! And also where and how to spend those profits :P
Like, this goes well beyond merely re-investing into your business: It includes your own personal compensation package (via shareholder dividends) as well as the option to invest in stocks and even do hostile takeovers on other Corporations !!!
Truly a phenomenal game, imo !!!
by Nikolai Kalashnikov on March 24, 2025