City Life

"Think Simcity 3D"

Remember back in the good ol days (1989) when SimCity came out. Was that a good game or what. It was so unique, fun, and challenging, that the game was an instant hit. Almost twenty years pass, and already, SimCity has had three sequels. While some were better than other, SimCity sequels lacked something…a more modern feel and updated visuals. City life fixes all that and more. While it's not from the makers of SimCity, City life gives a fresh new take on a classic game.

There really is no story in City Life (Nor in SimCity.) Make your own story.

Graphics- 8/10
As I said before, SimCity needed more modern graphics and a more atmospheric feel. City Life manages to fix all that. The game looks great. The game allows players to zoom in much further than SimCity did and there's even a first person view mode where you can explore your city street by street. The detail done to the city is great and some of the other touches like the smoke, water reflections, etc are also cool looking. Everything looks very well polished and gives a nice feel to the game. The only real point where the graphics feel dated is the character models. Most, if not all of the character models look very dated and there's not much animation to them. Other than that, the visuals are good overall.

Sound- 7/10
The sound is mostly good on the whole. The majority of the sound effects however, take place when building the city or clicking on a certain building. There are some sound effects that also take place when in first person view mode such people beating up other people, fire trucks putting out fires, police breaking fights up, etc. While there is hardly any voice acting, there's also hardly any music. There are maybe only a few tracks that can get a little annoying over time and drive some people crazy. Still, the sound is decent overall, just nothing too spectacular.

Gameplay- 8/10
Just think SimCity in 3D. That's basically what this game boils down to. First, you place the City Hall building which serves as a command center for the city. Then comes the time to start building the surrounding neighborhoods. Unlike SimCity, there are no separate residential, commercial and industrial areas. Instead, there are separate neighborhoods where every zone comes together in one package. There are six different social culture groups, each who are looking to have great influence on the city. What culture takes over what neighborhood, is completely up to players. By placing the culture's businesses and recreational building in the neighborhood, that will determine what culture takes over what neighborhood. For example, if someone wanted the Blue Collars to take over a neighborhood, all he/she would have to do is place their businesses and recreation activities in that spot and the Blue Collars would take over shortly after that. However, a few Fringes might move in and that creates Cultural Conflict. This happens when two opposing cultures move into the same area. The two cultures start harassing each other and that can soon lead to riots. The conflict may even lead to a point where the SWAT team may have to come in and settle things the hard way. Therefore, it's important that players keep the peace moving along. However, some cultures may like each other and won't mind if another culture moves in. As for power, water, etc, players won't need to add all that fancy stuff in. Instead, all they really need is power and waste management. It's also a good idea to put the power plants next to a neighborhood where the building offers jobs, as only certain cultures work in certain power plants. This goes with every building that is not specifically dedicated to a certain culture. Some places like the grocery store and police station allow multiple cultures to work in the same building. It's really cool to see how different the social behavior is in this game. Other needs of the people include parks and playgrounds to support the surroundings needs, schools to support education and help the higher cultures come into the city, and hospitals and medical offices to support the healthcare need. Unlike SimCity where if two circles overlap the satisfaction of the need will increase, players need many types of whatever the peoples need may be in one area for the satisfaction of that need to go up. For example, if two hospital circles overlap, it will make no difference in satisfaction. However, if a hospital and a medical office are in the same area, that will boost the satisfaction. Players can also buy land to expand the city, and can also receive keys to unlock more land.

Problems are minor. The game really lacks no challenge once players get the hang of the game, and the game really loses all of it's challenge when players figure out how to solve the problems. A single plan for success fits almost every map, and there's really no diversity in solving problems.

Overall, City Life is really “a fresh take on a classic genre.” “Computer Games Magazine”

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/07