Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents is a follow-up to a game I reviewed a few months back called Fix-it-up: World Tour HD, only this is actually a prequel where we get to see how the business started with Kate's parents. Kate's dad, Frank, tells Kate the story of how they got the car business going and as the story progresses, so do the levels, beginning in their home town and moving to various areas including the barrens, the suburbs, the city, Chinatown, the forest (swamp), the seashore, and finally back home. The aesthetics are lots of fun since the 80's was a very colorful time. There are a couple of characters who help out in the business like a girl named Alex with wild color streaks in her hair, a guy named Ted who looks like he belongs in an episode of Miami Vice, and Mr. Lee, a young boy who reminds me of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It's fun stuff. There are also cars from that era, although the names are cleverly altered such as Yoogo and Caddi.

The music in Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents is really fantastic and feels like it was ripped straight from decade of bad hair, torn clothes and hair bands. It's all very catchy and will have you tapping your toes along to the beat, while your fingers tap in-game. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more background comments made by the passers-by, like there were in Fix-it-up: World Tour HD. Some of those were really funny and enjoyable in the last game, but instead, they opted for re-hashed "hellos" of different types from the previous game, depending on which customer drives up. It's nothing bad, just not as humorous as the previous game.

Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents is part simulation and part time management, where you'll be presented with a list of goals to meet in order to complete the level. These can be anything from buying, selling, painting and tricking out certain types or numbers of cars, to expanding the business by hiring a certain number of employees or experts, to having enough cars in the parking lot to earn a certain amount of rent, to even building new facilities to take on additional customers. They've even added certain goals from time to time like customizing a yacht or building a parade float. You have to read the goals carefully because some require you to retain the cars that you modify in the parking lot, whereas others just want you to accomplish the goals. For instance, if a goal says buy 7 cars, it's just that - buy the cars. If a goal tells you to have 4 completely upgraded Caddis, then you can't upgrade, then sell them because they must be on-hand or the goal still shows as needing to be completed.

You will be buying, selling, repairing, insuring, painting, modifying, tuning and waxing a number of cars. You will also be deconstructing certain cars that are low in value, but yield a decent number of parts. This feeds into your need for spare parts, which are depleted every time you make a repair or a modification to a car. Clicking to buy spare parts takes some time, so if you can buy a cheap car and deconstruct it every once in a while, you can keep your spare parts supply full. Aside from the Campaign, you can also play each level you have opened in Free Play.

Of special note are the cleverly introduced iconic 80's characters that pop up from time to time to get car repairs. I don't know how they got away with some of these, but I loved it each and every time one made an appearance. There was Doc who needed help with his Delorean, a Ghostbusting group who needed help with their vehicle, the "B Team" whose van was in disrepair, and finally a set of Shaggy and Scooby clones who needed help with their van. These were lots of fun to see.

I did come across a glitch that presented itself twice, once almost costing me the completion of a level. The way the game plays is that a customer will pull up in each of the two lanes in front of the car lot and greet you. They have a car to sell and when you click on them, you are presented with a green check or a red X and an amount to buy the car. To buy it, click the green check and to refuse it, click the red X. You'll also notice a thumbs up or down symbol indicating if the car is a good deal for you or not. Well, I clicked yes to buy a car and then dragged the car to the repair shop. I noticed that the yes or no signs and the price were still present, even though I had clicked yes and already moved the car. Without thinking, and just to make it go away, I then clicked no and the game then wouldn't recognize that I had purchased the car that was now occupying my repair shop. I had to find a way to complete the level with the car sitting there because I could no longer do any repairs and because I "didn't own the car," I was unable to move it anywhere. Fortunately, I was able to buy enough working cars and accomplish the monetary goal by renting the cars out, but the game should not have allowed me to move a car I didn't own, since it apparently didn't recognize the fact that I had clicked to purchase it. This happened twice in-game, but the second time, I made sure to click the green check again and make sure it went away before I moved the car and got myself stuck again. Hopefully, a patch will come out to address this issue.

The difficulty level in Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents is right on target, with the goals being just challenging enough, but not to where you couldn't reach Gold or Silver status on almost all of the levels. Some were more difficult than others and some were almost like a puzzle where you had to figure out exactly which cars and what mods were needed in order to hit the correct amount of rent. However, I never found myself frustrated with the game and this version actually seems a little easier (or rather, the goals were more reasonable) than the last version. Overall, it was spot-on in this department.

Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents has very simple mechanics and they all involve the finger tap and swipe. You'll tap to acknowledge a customer and see the cost of their car, tap to either accept or reject the offer, then swipe the car from the street to the repair shop, paint shop, waxing station, tuning station or modification station. When it is ready to sell, you can move it to an empty space to collect rent, which constantly accrues, or to a selling spot out front in the hopes that a customer will want to buy it. You have certain customers walking down the road with specific cars in mind and you'll see a small icon of that desired car design over their head. If you happen to have a matching car on the lot, it will fetch a lot more money from this customer, so watch for those guys.

You can also collect Trophies for accomplishing certain goals in-game, and there's also a Diner that you will earn points towards fixing up with things like décor and a jukebox machine. Of course, it's in a very 80's style.

Overall, I really loved Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents and was sad when it came to an end. Aside from that one little glitch, I loved everything about it and can highly recommend it to any fan of simulation/time management games. Fix-it-up 80's: Meet Kate's Parents is lighthearted fun with a challenge. Check it out for yourself.