SimCity : Cities of Tomorrow Expansion Pack Review
Developer Maxis
Publisher EA
Platform PC & MAC
Release Date Out Now
Welcome to the Cities of Tomorrow the latest expansion pack for SimCity which adds a lot of additional content to your base game, and adds considerably to the enjoyment overall.
You would be forgiven for initially thinking that Cities of tomorrow was nothing more than a re-skinning of existing buildings but you would be wrong. It contains a lot of new fresh content that works on top of your current game. So even if you think you have built up your city to its absolute limits this gives you a chance to redesign it completely. Or of course you can start a fresh with a completely new city, either way is just as much fun.
The core new additions to the game are broken up into three main categories with each category adding its own unique twist to your city.
The Academy is your new “University” for developing futuristic green technologies. Whenever we imagine the future we think of environmentally sound technologies and the Academy is where they are developed. The Academy itself is a very large building so if you are adding to a existing city you might need to clear a substantial area.
Omega Corporation are the new commercial force. In the future a new wonder product has emerged called Omega and it is OmegaCo who will promise huge revenue steams for your budget’s bottom line but at what cost? They expand relentlessly throughout your city. They will ravage the natural resources in the environment to create Omega (Omega is made from mixing Oil and Ore and lots of it). Omega pretty much does everything, factories will use it, shops will sell it and residents will become dependent on it. Factories will turn into franchises to maintain their supply, all of which yields further profits for your city. OmegaCo will also go on to produce the first of the unmanned drones that will help alleviate issues of traffic congestion, even ones created by the game!
The final additions are the Megatowers. If you can’t build out you certainly can build up. Each tower is eight massive stories high and your city can hold eight of these giant tower blocks. You can choose how they function on a layer by layer basis. You can build commercial floors for the shoppers, office space for high income workers, and residential apartments to hold your citizens. It is up to you to use them to your advantage, they again have a large footprint but do house a lot of people to make the loss of land worth the investment.
Within each of the three new categories are further building options to explore, with each option taking your city in a new direction. Sadly the cities are still limited by the amount of land that is available to build on. Although the new additions allow you to expand you city’s population by building up you quickly find yourself having to go down the multiple cities route to explore everything available in the game.
Cities of Tomorrow is visually appealing the crisp clean white and turquoise buildings mix nicely with the futuristic dark and neon to create a believable looking futuristic city. You can even decide to mix old with new and build your very own Blade Runner style city.
Overall: A very positive return for SimCity after a less than amazing start. Many of the problems have been resolved, but the big problem of city size still holds the game back. If you enjoyed SimCity and want to make a return then this pack is well worth the investment. It certainly has done a great job of re-igniting my love of city building and I found myself getting lost in the game for hours and hours all over again.
SCORE 3.5/5
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