Once again, if you want a plain city-builder where you can shape the entire course of your city, then Cities: Skylines is your best bet. There are fires and crime overlay risks, but at least I donвЂ™t have to lose sleep over whether the militarists will incite rebellion. Because itвЂ™s a sandbox city-builder, I donвЂ™t have to worry about massive complications in city-building. ThatвЂ™s what makes Cities: Skylines a refreshing take on the city-builder. IвЂ™m not saying that itвЂ™s easy-in fact, itвЂ™s quite difficult at times to manage the factions in Tropico 6. In its multitude of scenarios, youвЂ™re going to anger a lot of people-so many, in fact, that youвЂ™ll have to watch out for rebellions and build up forces to fight the capitalists. In Cities: Skylines youвЂ™ll never have elections in your city, and your people will be kind even as they gripe about their lack of electricity in their coffee shop. However, 2019вЂ™s Tropico 6 (view on Steam) really gives Cities: Skylines a run for its money. If you want a plain city-building game, then Cities: Skylines might be more geared toward your taste. Because it lacks the multitude of scenarios Surviving Mars has to offer, youвЂ™ll ultimately have to decide which you prefer: science fiction sized dust storms on a planet just now ready for colonization, or a plain green cityscape ready to be molded into a thriving metropolis. In a similar vein to Surviving Mars, though, Cities: Skylines focuses on creating a city-state from scratch. It doesnвЂ™t come with any wild sci-fi fantasy themes, like 2018вЂ™s science-fiction city-builder Surviving Mars (view on Steam). п»їCompetition: Other city-buildersД¬ities: Skylines is a regular city-building game. And because itвЂ™s a sandbox, youвЂ™re the one who has to make these kinds of heavy decisions.ДЇor a base game that doesnвЂ™t come with any scenarios other than the basic sandbox with a handful of maps, itвЂ™s a little frustrating.

ItвЂ™s what makes its reasonably fast gameplay interesting, and fun. To build up a population, maybe youвЂ™ll have to tear out that adorable residential neighborhood in favor of high rise apartments that are designed to attract younger populations.ДЄs much as I wanted to keep that childrenвЂ™s playground right next to the school, building a college campus beside the high school made more sense to build up my education numbers and create high wage jobs-even if the neighborhood released sad faces into the air over the loss. YouвЂ™ll need to decide how much funding to invest into your local education or your garbage disposal (a lot to this last one).

YouвЂ™re going to want to tear out roads and rebuild them.

As weird as it seems initially, this rewards system makes sense.ДЄs with the roads, this game is designed to be in a constant state of construction. I would have been that weirdo who would have spent the original amount doled out to start the city on the Statue of Liberty just because I could. Thanks to amazing local traffic simulations-a quality the game does and should boast of-youвЂ™ll have to build your population up to earn the right to build those highways.ДЄlong with road options, other rewards come as your population grows: parks, commercial districting, industry building, loan options, even the concept of garbage disposal. The game starts out with two roads: one leading into town, and one leading out of it. Thanks to amazing local traffic simulations-a quality the game does and should boast of-youвЂ™ll have to build your population up to earn the right to build those highways. Modern times means that the idea of the modern city grows, too. That was part of the beauty of the 20 hours I spent playing Cities: Skylines, though. As I learned quickly, a lot of thought goes into it-and one lane roads are your new best friend. In fact, I never realized how much thought one needs to put into creating traffic lanes and streets until I became mayor of my cities. They sent out social media blasts praising new parks I put in, and they also made sure you knew if there were traffic problems. My citizens вЂњtweetedвЂќ to me when I forgot to put in sewer lines. Once I got past this bump in the road, though, a modern take on city-building led me to new heights.

Cities: Skylines throws you into the experience headfirst and expects you to succeed.

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