City Life

Continuing the very long tradition of city-building games started by Will Wright's Sim City series in 1989, City Life represents the genre's first clumsy steps into the 3D era. But unlike Sim City which has been sinking deeper and deeper into tedium with each version due to excessive micromanagement, City Life brings back accessibility to the fore and adds a unique twist to the classic formula, making it a worthy alternative to its elder rival for both newcomers and veterans of the genre alike.

Gameplay

At a quick glance City Life does not stray too far from the classic formula: you start with limited finances and the goal is to lay the foundations of a flourishing city by ensuring the well-being of its virtual inhabitants, and of course to manage it effectively. However, unlike all other games in the genre, the people themselves play a much more important role in City Life, which adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay.

The population of a city is divided into six distinct socio-economic groups, which in the game are depicted in a circle, much like the color wheel in Magic the Gathering - clockwise from the top are the Elites, Suits, Blue Collars, Have-Nots, Fringe and the Radical Chics. Each group gets on well with the two adjacent to it but cannot stand the other three and downright despises the opposite one, which means if you stick wrong groups too close to one another you can expect anything from abandoned buildings right up to arson or even full scale riots. Their height on the circle indicates their position in society, which translates into the income generated by businesses focusing on them - the higher classes are important sources of revenue but considerably more demanding -, and various communities can eventually evolve and reach the social upper strata by means of education.

At the top of the chain are the Elites, the wealthiest and most demanding segment of the population. They enjoy the proximity of Radical Chics, the well-off creative types, with close ties to the cultural world, and the high income Suits, managers of businesses who move in the industrial circles of the city. The Fringes are artists with moderate incomes whose high interest in cultural activities makes them get on well with the Radical Chics. Blue Collars are the working class types, who favor the proximity of the Suits that usually employ them, while Have-Nots are the poorest of the city's inhabitants, who prefer to live close to Blue Collars and Fringes and generally resent the upper classes.

When a city is founded the first to settle there are the Fringe, Blue Collars and Have-Nots, and the rest of them are attracted by providing good conditions for the groups immediately inferior to them on the afore mentioned circle, so to Fringe in case of Radical Chics, to Blue Collars in case of Suits, and to both Radical Chics and Suits in case of Elites. The interesting aspect is that all groups depend on each others' services even though some can't stand one another, which turns running your city into a delicate balancing act. Well, this would be the case unless you chose to segregate the population by creating ghetto-style self-sufficient mini-cities for each of the groups, only connected by roads and having mutual services in the middle, as unfortunately there are almost no consequences for this kind of approach. This removes the challenge almost entirely, which is a shame, really.

Next to the social juggling, the game's economic model is very simplistic and way too forgiving. Everything works on the healthy principle "more is merrier", as you get an incredible amount of revenue for the excess capacity. To put it simply, the key to your financial success is having extra of everything, which might feel like a lump in the throat for the more pretentious ones out there.

Another thing that makes City Life unique amongst all other city-building games is that you're no longer limited to building on a predefined grid of squares. Both roads and structures can be built at an angle now, which, even though not terribly precise, gives you more flexibility when building your cities and makes them a little more natural looking to boot. For some reason the game does not have any terrain editing tools whatsoever. The developers may have wanted you to spend less time managing the landscape and more time managing your actual city, but I found this aspect much too limiting. If it's precision you're after or you want to put your wackier ideas into practice you're out of luck.

Besides the traditional Sim City style "Free mode" in which you have no goals other than those you set for yourself, you can take on one of the many scenarios in the game, spread over five different regions: temperate, tropical, sunny, canyon and mountainous, each with their own challenges and goals to accomplish. Completing these objectives is rewarded with opening up additional, more challenging scenarios, which goes a long way to keeping the interest level from dropping.

The interface could have been a bit more intuitive but it does its jobs pretty decently overall. There's a wealth of information available via tooltips, and the game also has a tutorial which, although rather basic, does provide enough information to keep you going. The manual goes into more detail about the game's subtleties and is worth checking out as well.

Video and audio

The graphics of City Life are merely decent even though it boasts reflection mapping, dynamic shadows and all the good stuff. The camera can go from panoramic view right down to street level, and you can even enter the "immersion mode" which allows you to admire your creation from a first-person perspective - not that there's much to admire anyway, as the objects are pretty blocky when viewed from up close and everything looks the same, but it is rather fun to be able to stroll on the very streets that you yourself laid out. A nice aspect is that every tidbit of information is provided by visual clues, and a quick glance in the bird's eye view is enough to reveal any problems that are in need of your attention.

The only good thing about the music is that it can be turned off (thank goodness!) and you are given the possibility to put in your own music. I shudder at the though of having to listen to that thing for hours on end.

Conclusion

City Life might lack the "depth" of Sim City, but this might actually be one of the game's strong points. Instead it shifts focus from tedious minutiae to the people themselves, adding a breath of fresh air to the genre. All in all, it's the best city-building game in a long time and definitely worth checking out.