Joose wrote:ORLY? Out of interest, which ones specifically? The city building genre is one that has always massively interested me *in theory*, but everything ive tried outside the Sim City franchise has left me cold for one reason or another. Ive not by any means made an extensive search though, so if there is something good out there that ive missed I would very much like to un-miss it.
Well, I actually didn't like the original
Sim City all that much, so the more
unlike it the better for me - it's more the general building/running of a city
idea that I like.
Having said that,
CitiesXL is virtually a copy of it with the better graphicals and bendy roads. I like it in small doses, but always end up messing up when the city gets bigger or I've made the roads
too bendy.
There was of course, the
City Building Series which while old, and set in past civilisations, are still very good. A modern example that I enjoyed would be
Grand Ages Rome, reviews are mixed, though that may be down to early pro reviewers getting what sounds like a horribly bugged version compared to the one I play. They have a small combat element, which is usually optional.
An off-the-wall title I really enjoy is
Tropico, where you build a city in a banana republic whilst trying to quash revolutions amonst your ungrateful citizens by building a 50ft statue of yourself on top of their hovels. Take that, rebels! I've reviewed the last two versions, I think.
The
Anno games are city builders at their core, with a little bit of combat thrown in, and are all pretty damn good.
Some of the Settlers games are quite enjoyable, but do usually have quite a bit of combat as you progress, moving into the RTS genre a little bit.
You know the transport-based ones, I'm sure, where instead of building cities themselves, you're happy to manage the transport infrastructure and perhaps let the town grow around you.
OpenTTD and the
Railroad/Transport Tycoon games are classic examples, with a pretty decent modern version being
Cities in Motion, free if you fill out this survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ParadoxSurvey
Beyond that, I think they start to get a bit more combat-heavy, or have other things going on that aren't just about building. I reviewed
The Guild 2, which while it has the vibe of a city builder, is more about building a career, a family and a legacy, and I can't finish without at least mentioning
Towns.
at the price.
