Cities: Skylines is a pretty awful name for a pretty good city builder. It can be said that this is the baseline for any city builder to meet, as it does everything that you would expect of this genre. You begin with a plain plot of land and develop it into the city you want. To successfully pull this off, careful management of the city's many requirements is needed. I say that this is the baseline, because I believe more could be done with this genre, however I haven’t played many of this type of games, so I can’t say this with certainty.
If you like city builders or resource management games then I recommend it, if you don’t then well why are you here?
Story
One can imagine that a city builder won’t have a story.
One would be right.
Mechanics and gameplay
Everyone knows that every good city begins with an empty plot of land and a convenient 6 lane highway right next to it. At least that’s how it happens in Cities: Skylines. With the starting money you are given you have to build your own city. At the beginning it will be small and humble, but overtime the more people settle in, you will begin to unlock more buildings and services. They will allow you to fulfil more of your people's needs and thus expand your city further. This is the main incentive in Cities: Skylines – expand, unlock, expand more.
There comes a time however where there is nothing more to unlock and that’s where this game lost me. My city was built, it had flaws, it had room for optimization, but I felt that I didn’t have much of an incentive to perfect it. Perhaps a different person, one who obsesses with perfection and optimization would find it enjoyable to maximize their city, but that’s not me, so I just stopped playing.
Graphics/Artstyle
The graphics are alright, good enough given the release year and the genre of the game. Close up it can look like plastic, but a nighttime vista of my city never disappointed, so I can’t complain.
Atmosphere/Immersion
There isn’t much of an atmosphere or immersion, not that there has to be. It’s a city builder after all.
It is kind of weird how you are projected as the mayor. It is more like you are a god who after enough offerings (taxes) by its followers (residents) will shape the land in their image (add another roundabout).
Soundtrack
I almost never listened to the ost of Cities: Skylines, simply because this is a perfect podcast game. I turned off the in-game music and put on whatever I wanted to listen to. Due to this I don’t have a favourite part of the soundtrack.
Final Thoughts
Cities: Skylines is a bad name, because why the colon. City Skylines or something similar would have been perfect, but no got to have the random colon.
If you like city builders or resource management games then I recommend it, if you don’t then well why are you here?
Story
One can imagine that a city builder won’t have a story.
One would be right.
Mechanics and gameplay
Everyone knows that every good city begins with an empty plot of land and a convenient 6 lane highway right next to it. At least that’s how it happens in Cities: Skylines. With the starting money you are given you have to build your own city. At the beginning it will be small and humble, but overtime the more people settle in, you will begin to unlock more buildings and services. They will allow you to fulfil more of your people's needs and thus expand your city further. This is the main incentive in Cities: Skylines – expand, unlock, expand more.
There comes a time however where there is nothing more to unlock and that’s where this game lost me. My city was built, it had flaws, it had room for optimization, but I felt that I didn’t have much of an incentive to perfect it. Perhaps a different person, one who obsesses with perfection and optimization would find it enjoyable to maximize their city, but that’s not me, so I just stopped playing.
Graphics/Artstyle
The graphics are alright, good enough given the release year and the genre of the game. Close up it can look like plastic, but a nighttime vista of my city never disappointed, so I can’t complain.
Atmosphere/Immersion
There isn’t much of an atmosphere or immersion, not that there has to be. It’s a city builder after all.
It is kind of weird how you are projected as the mayor. It is more like you are a god who after enough offerings (taxes) by its followers (residents) will shape the land in their image (add another roundabout).
Soundtrack
I almost never listened to the ost of Cities: Skylines, simply because this is a perfect podcast game. I turned off the in-game music and put on whatever I wanted to listen to. Due to this I don’t have a favourite part of the soundtrack.
Final Thoughts
Cities: Skylines is a bad name, because why the colon. City Skylines or something similar would have been perfect, but no got to have the random colon.