I was super keen to review Cities: Skylines – Green Cities having played the original two years ago when it first dropped on the gaming radar I thought I could dive into gameplay and provide insightful information pretty quickly. This has not been the case. This is our Cities Skylines: Green Cities Expansion Review.
Cities: Skylines deserves a lot of attention and it got it from me promoting itself as you being the Mayor of your own square in the world to turn into a teeming metropolis but really you’re a mad scientist, perhaps even an over-ambitious magician if you are lucky – who can see into the future.
Every move means something. Sure you can bulldoze whatever you choose but it’s all about budget, taxes, costs coming in and out on top of providing essentials to keep your citizens happy, or in my case – alive. No denying here that I went over budget in less than fifty moves at least twenty times before I got my Mayor groove in sync with the bigger picture of how to start this game. Start small (ie) don’t race all the way to the water to get that waterfront penthouse like I do!
The name of any Cities: Skylines game is to micromanage level via tiers that are based on the number of citizens you have with rewards unique to each tier, adding the services some buildings provide and the opportunity to take out bank loans.
PAINTING THE CITY GREEN
Paradox have published three other expansions and three DLC’s, as well as Ship simulator with Finnish developers Colossal Order. Green Cities is all about building eco-friendly towns implementing recycling plants, turbine power, electric vehicles and organic shops.
There are over 350 new assets and how much you go green is completely up to you!
A KIWI BIRDS EYE VIEW
Like I have already mentioned, it took me a few quits to the main menu to begin really leveling. Apparently, water and sewerage placement can kill your citizens quickly and send you bankrupt real fast if you aren’t concise about these decisions from the beginning which can be frustrating.
It’s also very helpful to zoom in often, let things develop now and then to get a sense of the direction you want to take ensuring all amenities when you get them as you level because I found out real fast ignoring the fire and police stations gets you in a hot burglary ridden mess!
My approach to Green Cities was without any mods though I headed to Steam Workshop to check them out and was surprised (gobsmacked to be more precise,) by how many brilliant player made mods there are. So much so I am also curious how many of these clever additions were added to the actual game.
Without mods I still got to work out traffic flow, directing roads over and under, implementing bus routes and strategically placing parks not only as happiness but also as noise barriers to combat noise pollution. Further gameplay saw clumsily placed retail outlets in mass zone blocks, turn into woven boutiques throughout neighborhoods in consideration for their future upgrade to skyscrapers. Then, what I fondly refer to as “pixel crush creep” slowly worked its way into my gameplay. I had started reading every billboard or shop sign, wondering what life would be really like if we all walked that fast and turned my bulldozer into my Cities: Skylines best friend next to Chirper bulldozing zones so I could ensure decisions like placing schools on quieter streets so little kiddies wouldn’t get run over.
I went from feeling like a mad scientist to an environmentally and citizen friendly design strategist!
Global warming and eco-friendly living are also often in the news today so once your drains are working properly and you get over the fact that if a giant wind turbine were to fall over you might kill a lot of people, you start to feel like you could also make impactful decisions out here if you aren’t already which is a bonus to playing Cities Skylines: Green Cities. I came back to this game with faint memories of why I never really got into playing it to becoming a recycled fan!
Now I can’t wait to explore the Asset Editors which have been put in to the game officially so you don’t even have to use Steam Workshop but who am I kidding?! Have you seen all the mods over there? So amazing and in fact I may have to also try every other DLC and expansion, really sink my strategy into every possible skyline because the possibilities with this game are excitedly endless and I have only scratched the surface without any mention to half of this game’s features including the fact you can name all your streets along with your city! Be warned though this may not be a cool idea as I dedicated my first city to my puppy “Olliewood,” naming streets after his favorite foods then feeling devastated when all the citizens died, quickly exiting and purposely not saving that mistake. Sorry Ollie!
My gradual enjoyment aside I don’t find Cities Skylines very beginner or user friendly, playing without mods. I should be able to situate myself within a game without as much frustration I experienced. Mobile games with a similar approach are also actually as much fun without mods so that is what you are paying for to play on PC, Xboxone and Playstation 4 – to use mods. This incredible building stimulator has also been made with separate DLC’s/expansions and once again perhaps there are mods that can do this but not being able to use each expansion within one zone is a huge loss. That would be the dlc I would want above all else to see what I could build if I had everything in one city. Beautiful organised chaos!
This game has so much to offer the economist, builder and proactive decision maker in all of us! Do you agree? Does anyone have any recommendations of what DLC or expansion I should play next? I’d love to know more about other players skyline developing adventures but enough writing! Happy Chirper building!
Note: Our review was done on PC with a code provided by the developer.
