[h1]Overview:[/h1]
[i]Bargain Hunter[/i] is a casual game presented in the first person (yet not a simulation) of trying to make money by poking around for treasures and if valuable enough, put under the gavel at auction. If the player is lucky enough (or reloads the game enough times until they find worthwhile items to sell) to thrive, earning money can unlock new locations, then money can be spent on upgrading one's car (it's unknown at this time if improved cars provide any benefit to the player) or one's own sad home, but more often than not, money is going to be spent on food, gasoline, and the occasional bill which could ruin the player if they haven't found enough worthwhile items to put under the gavel.
[h1]Graphics and Sound:[/h1]
The graphics in [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] are above-average for a casual game, but aesthetically pleasing enough to make [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] an enjoyable experience as the player repeatedly goes bankrupt. (Depending on how one plays.)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1565756753
The sound in [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] surpasses the standards of other games of comparable value. The various Lounge music tunes that differ from location to location perfectly suit the mood, but this author prefers to just kill the music and play the music of the band [i]Riverboat Gamblers[/i] instead. The voice acting utilizes male and female voices that fit the characters. (The English accent by the auctioneer does sound fake.) Although there is a lack of emotion to the voices (especially the female voice actress) when one get's onto a seller's nerves from examining or haggling too many times.
[h1]Positives:[/h1]
If the player has any interest in TV shows like [i]Pawn Stars[/i] and [i]American Pickers[/i], the player will certainly enjoy going places and (depending on their tolerance level for repetition) buying undervalued "junk" to put under the gavel. (Items can also be found scavenging the beach with a metal detector. It's unknown at this time if any other scavenging locations exists, but the player is unlikely enough as it is to unlock the [spoiler]flea market[/spoiler] before they go bankrupt.) The thrill of finding objects (be it through purchasing or scavenging) that qualify for the grand auction is an excitement that cannot be described through mere words.
[h1]Negatives:[/h1]
Are you one of the people who played the game [i]Freight Tycoon Inc.[/i] and made it far enough to that one mission that's impossible to beat and makes the player wonder if the developer even playtested the game? That's exactly what [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] feels like. The only consolation is that [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] is in it's early days and the developer is a great person who gives inference that they truly care about the product that they've created, which is one good reason to either tolerate replaying a single day until an expensive item is located, or tolerate repeatedly going bankrupt until changes are made to where [i]Bargain Hunter[/i] is possible to at least just survive on finding the cheaper items.
The tutorial serves as nothing more than an introduction, and doesnt educate the player on what to look for and how to go about getting it. The developer did go back and add some instructions to the metal detector missions, except the [b]W[/b] and [b]S[/b] keys do nothing at the time of writing this review.
Did you find an object that qualifies for the grand auction? Great, but if you also have items to sell at the general auction, you're just going to have to spend an entire day going back to the auction house to get your cheaper items approved when the time would be better spent scavenging on the beach or poking around the thrift store. (You better hope you don't wake up the next day to another $23.44 grocery bill, $5.71 gas station bill, and the possibility of a $64.37 water bill!)
Since the player makes their livelihood through auctioning off items, [i]American Pickers[/i] fans may feel discouraged that the game doesn't allow for selling items inside of an antiques store to gullible shoppers... And you certainly don't get any help from a cutie like Danielle!
[h1]Conclusion:[/h1]
[i]Bargain Hunter[/i] is addictive much in the same way [i]FTL[/i] is addictive in that a player will repeatedly play no matter how much the game kicks the player's behind all over Steam. Hopefully the developers will get the point soon that all sorts of changes can be made. Expenses could be either less frequent or less severe. Auctions can allow for more than five items to be sold at a time. (This only ASSumes that the player bought at least five items that were approved.) Valuable objects worthy of being sold at the grand auction could be more commonplace... Any combination of these changes (or possibly even just one) would make the game far more likely for the player to sustain a career in antique picking. Depending on a player's code of ethics, (it's in the opinion of this author that if it doesn't put a big, nasty VAC Ban on one's Steam profile, then it isn't cheating!) a player will either be repeatedly playing individual days until a worthwhile object comes their way, or the player better get used to looking at the two screenshots featured below:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1565634676
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1565635813
[h1]The honest word of Il Pallino... OR ELSE![/h1]
This review made possible through the generosity, consideration and contribution of [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/11739878-ReviewExperts/]Review Experts(REXnetwork)[/url] and the developer/publisher.
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