City Life Game.

In the past years Maxis, the creator of one of the biggest success stories in the game industry, the Sims and SimCity series,

has enjoyed an unrivalled monopoly over the simulation genre. Monte Cristo with its newest creation City Life hopes to give them a run for their money.

City Life cleverly adopts all the positive aspects of. SimCity, combines them with its own new ideas and tosses in a three dimensional (3D) graphics engine with it that lets the player get up, close and personal with the metropolis. The basic aim of this game is quite simple; create a huge and prosperous metropolis with the resources at hand. The game's tutorial consists of a crude sequence of picture and arrows and the absence of a live tutorial seriously hamper the learning curve of the game. Then again it may not be such a problem for regular SimCity players. The map comprises of five zones, each having its own climate and land type. These zones are further divided into scenarios. Although most of them are locked in the beginning, they are unlocked as the game progresses.

The game starts with the establishment of the City Hall, the basic structure of the city. All the structures of the city must be connected to the City Hall via a road network that is automatically laid out in the game. The beginning as always is on a small scale with little residential plotting and business setting. One of the unique aspects of the game is the type of people living in the city. Unlike SimCity in which everybody is equal, here the people are divided into seven classes namely the elites, the suits, the radical chics, the blue collars, the fringes and have-nots. Each require a different building for accommodation and other needs, in separate neighbourhoods. Non-compliance to these demographical divisions leads to riots and mob fights. Hence the player is required to do some serious planning keeping in focus the future expansion plans of the city.

There is a gradual upgrade to every building, for example a grocery store or clinic can be later replaced by huge sprawling malls or full research labs. The utilities are limited to electricity and waste that needs to be managed but can prove to be quite challenging when it's supposed to be balanced with the income of the city. Pollution has its own effect on the mood of the people so the player has to be really careful when and where to construct the power plants and the waste disposal industries.

The presence of a small live help feature acts as a constant messenger between the player and the city. It displays all the events as and when they happen in the city thus keeping the player updated. Monte Cristo seems to have done a fairly good job in replicating a city. The buildings represent their occupants and have emergency signs on top to highlight any problem at hand or deficiencies of the area surrounding it. There is also an option for a first person view but it is unpractical from the governing aspect.

 The soundtrack is mediocre with the background score of the game become annoying after a while. All in all the game is not wholly innovative but is rather a remake of the traditional Maxis blueprint. Nevertheless, it's worth a shot for fans of this particular gaming genre who simply want to have another go at this game.

_{source Spider Mag.}