PC Games Review: City Life: World Ediiton

Not many simulators can competently compete with Will Wright’s nearly unrivaled Simcity series. However, Monete Cristo and CDV publishing has done just that. In its second outing, City Life continues to challenge the throne of Simcity, and there’s a lot present in City Life: World Edition that certainly justifies that rivalry.

City Life offers gamers a different take on the world of simulating city management. Instead of always seeing things from the birds-eye view, or only getting feedback from the population via letters, or picture-in-picture diagrams, City Life is a simulator that lets players get right down into the heart of the city. Citizens who inhabit a player’s metropolis-wannabe, will actively venture around town as if it’s just another day in the city. This is also actively represented as a way for players to find out what’s going on in the concrete jungle, and how people are reacting to the overall development of their beloved city.

But before getting into the details of the city’s townsfolk, I should point out that City Life: World Edition offers more than just simulation and management. The game is extremely deep, insofar that players will manage electricity, waste, population growth, economic sustenance and other city ventures. Not only that, but for gamers who somehow can’t find a building to their liking, out of the total 300 structures in the game (100 of which are new to World Edition), there’s the gamer-daunting utility to create a building.

Now the building editor utility is, and isn’t, quite as extensive as you might think. While you can mix and match parts, textures and edit the structure’s foundation, you can’t architecturally design your own building. So for al you geeks out there who wanted a corporate HQ shaped like your jock-strap, you'll have to think again. While it’s a minor quip, it certainly doesn’t stop World Edition’s powerful utility from preventing creative, inspired gamers from making nearly limitless forms of different structures and buildings. From simple signs, commercial businesses, various residential houses or industrial factories...the options are simply vast. However, gamers who aren’t patient, or who don’t like reading hand-booklets thoroughly (and you know who you are), will find it difficult to effectively create anything in the building editor.