Cities: Skylines is the latest city management simulator by Paradox Interactive, where you control your very own metropolitan city. Unlike other games in the genre (i.e. think Sim City), Skylines is user-friendly and a lot of fun to play. You also won’t find the same type of gameplay that stumps players every step of the way. The game doesn’t hold your hand, but it does provide an in-depth tutorial system that will help you understand the technical aspects of the gameplay.
In many ways, Skylines reminds me of the indie title Prison Architect because of the available options to build septic, water and power systems to make the environment (or the city in this case) functional.
People who find SimCity frustrating will appreciate Skylines’ refreshing take on building management simulators. Within the world, your citizens will react to how well you maintain and govern your cities. Do something wrong or make a big enough mistake and your citizens will cause problems. The game contains a fully functional social network similar to Twitter, where your citizens will either compliment or complain about your performance.
A grafting-style system is used to design everything from residential areas to business districts; the process is effortless. As your city grows, advanced technology will unlock to help make your metropolitan city flourish. Keeping your city functional is only half of the experience.
You also need to learn how to manage your cash flow so your city doesn’t fall into disrepair. This can be a problem early on, especially if you decide to build a large city from the start. There isn’t enough cash to maintain such a large city early on in the game, and it can lead to bankruptcy. A delicate balance is needed if you plan to succeed.
Cities: Skylines alerts the player when they are doing something wrong. Little icons such as ‘No Power’, ‘Water’ and other emotes will show up above the affected location, indicating that something is wrong. This helps the player fix the issue(s) immediately, taking the guesswork out of city management.
The graphics are simply beautiful with their photo realistic landscapes and breathtaking skylines. Cities: Skylines offers a vast range of different settings that can be turned on or off depending on the power of your gaming rig. For example: if you have an integrated video card, you might want to turn down some of the shading, shadowing and/or even the resolution to get better performance.
Cities: Skylines doesn’t require a high-end gaming rig to function, but the graphics can be a little demanding once your city starts to grow. The music and sound effects are nothing short of amazing with authentic city sounds and a nice, upbeat sound track to keep you busy. This all comes together as a cohesive gaming experience, while you contemplate how to build your metropolitan dream. City management games don’t get any better than this.
James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: PC (Also Available for Mac OSX)
System Requirements:
Minimum:
OS: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 3.2GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 5670, 512 MB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 4 GB available space
Developer: Colossal Order Ltd.
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
ESRB: N/A
Price: $29.99
Cities: Skylines Official Website
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| Beautiful graphics that bring the city to life. | |
| Sound | |
| An upbeat soundtrack accompanied by realistic city sound effects. | |
| Gameplay | |
| Cities: Skylines’ gameplay is easy to operate and fun to play. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Paradox Interactive deliveries yet another brilliant simulator. It gives the player everything they can ask for in a city simulator and then some. | |
