This is a fantastic city building game, but if you are looking for the ability to drive around your city as shown in Sim City 3 and up, not quite it. I'm also going to give you a warning that this game may eat away at your hours.

Reading over the reviews, I've seen this game a multitude of times compared to Sim City. The biggest comparison I see is that, this game has been labelled "easier". In some sense it's true, but when you realize how big your city can be and the unique styles you can give to your roads, it can get complicated. The game is about building up a city, but eventually turns into managing one instead of it managing itself.

The gameplay is relatively simple. Everything is laid out for you, and as your city grows, so does your ability to build upgraded or newer buildings. Taxes can be adjusted, budgets can be adjusted (for parks, buses, water works, electricity etc...), and loans can be taken out. Even if you are not extremely familiar how economics work in a municipality, the game does it's best to advise you of everything going on. Placing police stations, fire stations, hospitals, or even schools becomes very easy as the game does an extremely good job in showing which areas are covered. What can drive a few people nuts is putting water pumps near sewage dumps. At first, you may smile as you see water is being delivered to your residents and that the sewage water is far away (especially in the first level with the lake). You'll then notice a lot of water being polluted and eventually making it's way up to your water pumps.

It is imperative that my readers know to build down stream or to use water towers where sewage may be an issue! They also make it easy to see what crime rates are (check the top left of your screen), what your citizens happiness is, pollution, electricity and water availability, natural resources and a few others. The biggest feature in the game to me it seems, is the ability to really architect the roads. In Sim City, you are able to put zones wherever you please. In Skylines, you have only the choice to build near roads. Zoning is made easy and can be done with a fill brush tool or individual squares can be assigned. A huge feature in Skylines is districts. Districts are designed by you and are designated by you as well. Want a forest industry? Want a mining industry? Want a farming industry by residential areas? This can be done through districts. Definitely a notable feature in the game. Bus stops and other sort of transport is available. They try to give you as much control as possible within the game. Bus stops are designated by you and are placed where you'd like them to be. At first it is difficult to control where the bus goes when placing the stops, but choosing the RIGHT side of the road is important for it to work properly!

Visuals and sounds are appropriate. The music is neither condemning or over the top, but the repitid Sounds follow your screen, and you will hear buildings burn if they are on fire. At first glance, I thought traffic was extremely horrible in my city. I zoomed in closer and saw they actually park their cars in front of their house. Good to see the attention to detail put in.

I bought this game on sale and am quite content with the product. I would like to have a feature where I can drive through my city or even go on a rampage with a truck. Maybe it's asking too much from a city builder, but having complete control like this is what differentiates the best from the rest.

RATING : 7.5/10





SCREENSHOT 1

SCREENSHOT 2

Pretty much completed

Not the ideal screenshot of showing off a bridge

I thought the bus stops in my city were crowded

Even emergency vehicles do not pass a funeral procession

This is a fantastic city building game, but if you are looking for the ability to drive around your city as shown in Sim City 3 and up, not quite it. I'm also going to give you a warning that this game may eat away at your hours. Reading over the reviews, I've seen this game a multitude of times compared to Sim City. The biggest comparison I see is that, this game has been labelled "easier". In some sense it's true, but when you realize how big your city can be and the unique styles you can give to your roads, it can get complicated. The game is about building up a city, but eventually turns into managing one instead of it managing itself. The [b]gameplay[/b] is relatively simple. Everything is laid out for you, and as your city grows, so does your ability to build upgraded or newer buildings. Taxes can be adjusted, budgets can be adjusted (for parks, buses, water works, electricity etc...), and loans can be taken out. Even if you are not extremely familiar how economics work in a municipality, the game does it's best to advise you of everything going on. Placing police stations, fire stations, hospitals, or even schools becomes very easy as the game does an extremely good job in showing which areas are covered. What can drive a few people nuts is putting water pumps near sewage dumps. At first, you may smile as you see water is being delivered to your residents and that the sewage water is far away (especially in the first level with the lake). You'll then notice a lot of water being polluted and eventually making it's way up to your water pumps. It is imperative that my readers know to build down stream or to use water towers where sewage may be an issue! They also make it easy to see what crime rates are (check the top left of your screen), what your citizens happiness is, pollution, electricity and water availability, natural resources and a few others. The biggest feature in the game to me it seems, is the ability to really architect the roads. In Sim City, you are able to put zones wherever you please. In Skylines, you have only the choice to build near roads. Zoning is made easy and can be done with a fill brush tool or individual squares can be assigned. A huge feature in Skylines is districts. Districts are designed by you and are designated by you as well. Want a forest industry? Want a mining industry? Want a farming industry by residential areas? This can be done through districts. Definitely a notable feature in the game. Bus stops and other sort of transport is available. They try to give you as much control as possible within the game. Bus stops are designated by you and are placed where you'd like them to be. At first it is difficult to control where the bus goes when placing the stops, but choosing the RIGHT side of the road is important for it to work properly! [b]Visuals and sounds[/b] are appropriate. The music is neither condemning or over the top, but the repitid Sounds follow your screen, and you will hear buildings burn if they are on fire. At first glance, I thought traffic was extremely horrible in my city. I zoomed in closer and saw they actually park their cars in front of their house. Good to see the attention to detail put in. I bought this game on sale and am quite content with the product. I would like to have a feature where I can drive through my city or even go on a rampage with a truck. Maybe it's asking too much from a city builder, but having complete control like this is what differentiates the best from the rest. RATING : 7.5/10 [table] [tr] [td]Gameplay[/td] [td]B+[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Story / Campaign[/td] [td]N/A[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Visuals / User Interface[/td] [td]B[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Sounds / Music[/td] [td]B[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Replay-ability[/td] [td]B-[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Overall [/td] [td]B[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]ScreenShots :[/h1] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=451000081] SCREENSHOT 1[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=448045663] SCREENSHOT 2 [/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=455799370] Pretty much completed[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=496128649] Not the ideal screenshot of showing off a bridge [/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=496128699] I thought the bus stops in my city were crowded[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=497139701] Even emergency vehicles do not pass a funeral procession[/url]