Stock Market Crash 2

Stock Market Crash 2 is a trading game from solo developer CartoonDan, who describes it as his first release on Steam. Players watch stock prices, try to anticipate their movement and sell before a stock blows up. Each stock behaves in its own way, reacting differently to weather, to the Bull and the Bear, and to neighbouring stocks exploding. Weather acts as an indicator: ice cream tends to do better in warm conditions, skis rise in the cold, and wartime stocks such as bullets and spam perform better during thunderstorms.

Three characters appear on screen and can be clicked. The Bull represents rising prices and kisses stocks to boost them, although some, such as missiles, may crash in response; clicking him sends him away. The Bear throws bombs at stocks and can be clicked to stop him, or directed towards a chosen stock bar to remove a weak performer, and certain tougher stocks benefit from his explosions. The IRS Man takes a portion of the player’s cash if he reaches it, unless he is clicked first.

There are four modes. Career gives the player two years as a day trader, with three goals each month that award star points for upgrading their living conditions, from a closet and oatmeal up to a private island with a personal chef. Quick Money challenges players to earn as much as possible in five minutes, Race to a Million times how long it takes to reach $1,000,000, and Free Play is an endless mode without limits. Each mode has its own high score list shared with other Steam players. The game includes 28 achievements, seven per mode, along with some hidden ones, and the developer has stated plans for frequent updates. It currently has 5 user reviews on Steam.