Back in 1996, a cousin introduced me to the first SimCity, and it just blew my mind. I
was accustomed to games being fairly linear affairs, giving the player a
lot of tightly orchestrated fun but very little control. In time I
moved my strategy PC gaming from city simulation to stuff like
Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic, in no small part because,
after SimCity 2000, most games in the genre failed to really entice me
in a big way. Cities Skylines, however, managed to rekindle the
proverbial spark, especially because developer Colossal Order seems
hellbent on undoing all the damage done by EA's immensely disappointing
SimCity reboot a few years back.
So
yeah, forget all about that always-online crap, or the offensively tiny
city sizes, or the lack of features. Cities Skylines works because it
doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, instead focusing on the simple stuff
that made those 90's city sims so addictive in the first place. It
perfects several tried-and-true mechanics, such as residential,
commercial, and industrial zoning, as well as the spread of electricity
and sewage/water supply. Almost everything here seems like it was design
to cut the fluff and allow you to focus on the actual fun part of
making your city prosper.
One
of the defining characteristics of Cities Skylines is its focus on
customization. And that's obviously awesome; after all, if I'm building
my own cities, I want them to be unique, with their own structure,
monuments and landmarks. For this purpose, the game features an
extensive set of editing tools, encouraging players to try and bring
their own ideas to life.
If you're not editing-inclined, worry not: it's
extremely easy to browse the Steam Workshop for new assets to add to
your city-building options, from real-world buildings and landmarks
(although, to be honest, I can't for the life of me understand why
anyone would want those things in their custom city; but hey, that's me)
to a large amount of original stuff, including alternate designs for
the in-game assets.
But
that's not all: at this point, savvy creators have already came up with
some very useful mods, allowing you, for example, to better manage your
bus/subway lines, to zoom in and take a first-person walk through the
streets, or even to fly a plane over the city. This process of creation
will obviously continue for as long as the game remains popular, adding
more replay value to a title that already has lots of it.
Of
course, city simulation involves many different variables, meaning some
less-than-polished aspects are bound to show up from time to time.
Sometimes a building will have a crime problem that doesn't seem to get
solved even when you surround it with police stations; other times your
landfills won't send out its truck fleet even with a huge, six-lane road
clearly in front of it; or maybe you'll have a lack of workers on
industries that just won't go away, no matter how many residential areas
you build nearby. These problems can get frustrating sometimes, but
they'll more often be submerged by the sheer amount of stuff that works
great.
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