Do you like to govern a city? Do you want to be a master in transportation? Paradox Interactive has released Cities In Motion 2 and Distrita reviews this game for you.
Have you ever played Transport Tycoon Deluxe? A similar game, which lets you build trains, busses, and trucks to transport passengers, oil, coal, and farm things. Well, Cities In Motion 2 is a bit like that game, just that this game focuses only on public transportation.
In Cities In Motion 2, you take control of the metro, tram, trolley, and buses. Your task is to make different routes and give these timetables. You buy different vehicles and the game begins. As in Transport Tycoon Deluxe, you can build rail tracks, tram tracks, trolley tracks, and roads. This game is for you who really likes building and connecting type of game.
Installing the Game
I used Steam. A gaming portal from Valve. You can easily make an account there and then buy this game. The price is low. Installing it on OSX is easy. Once downloaded, just move it to Applications or anywhere else where you have your apps stored.
Playing the Game
Starting the game is easy. Just click on its icon. After few seconds, you have to enter your Steam id and password. Then the game start, and here is a little note for Valve. If you are online, you cannot play the game in offline mode. I have to unplug my internet connection to be able to do so. Also, when I have wifi on but no Internet connection is found and want to start the game, I cannot enter the game. I need to be totally connected or totally disconnected to be able to play the game.
A great thing that Paradox has fixed is that you now can multitask. Before there was a bug that prevented you to be able to go back to OSX while playing. Good, it’s fixed.
When the game has started, it is quite fast. Then it is up to you to choose sandbox, story mode, or multiplayer. I like to play the story mode part, as it gives some progression in the game. It is interesting to build something towards a goal.
After the load screen, the game itself starts. Now you build depots, tracks, and roads. Then build where the different lines should go and you might get hooked. I have. I love these sorts of games, and especially what I like is that you have such freedom to build where you want. Even in the story mode.
A little nice thing in this game is that it must be one of the first games, to actually have a trolley. I’ve never seen a game, where you can build trolley busses. That is so awesome. The trolly is bussed with overhead power wires. They take less space than trams because they can drive on the road. A good option to have. Also, another neat thing in this game, is that you have access to roads with bus lanes, so the bus routes can be built so they’re not stuck in traffic jams.
Cities In Motion 2 got lots of types of building options for all types of transportations, with some minor flaws. Metro can run over streets, on bridges and underground. Trams can run on tram tracks on streets, but can also use Metro rails. Trams can also run on pedestrian roads without no traffic. But trams cannot stop on Metro stations and if there is a longer tram section, Metro wont run on tram tracks. Only on crossing the street. In many countries you have trams and metros sharing tracks and same stations. Like in Brussels (Belgium) or in Essen (Germany).
Graphics
I like the graphics. They aren’t the best and not the worst. I play this game, because of its fun and not only because of the graphics. I play lots of games and must say that for the price I’ve paid for the game. Cities In Motion 2 got great graphics.
Sound
Nice sound effect. Music is getting a bit repetitive after a while. I just play something else while playing, but keep the sound effects on.
Gameplay
The frame rate is good. You can zoom in and out without problems on a MacBook Pro Retina. The game can feel a bit jerky if you have lots of things going on at the same time. On my iMac i7, the game crawls in the highest resolution. I had to put the settings a bit down. Once you have settled the settings for graphics, and the game plays well. You will be playing with a good frame rate. Just play a little with it, if the game got low frames.
Game-time
Once you start to play this game, you will never leave if you are interested in such transportation games. But if you want action or something more. I think some might get disappointed. This game is for those who remember Transport Tycoon Deluxe. This game is for people interested in public transportation and how this works.
Conclusion
I could write several pages about this game, but I want you to try it out if you like Transport Tycoon Deluxe type of games. It is amazing for the price you pay. It is a game for Mac that deserves more love from Paradox Interactive. The game got some glitches here and there. The game isn’t perfect, but it is very playable.
There are things that you will be irritated over, and there are things you will love about this game. All in all, you will be positive to see such a product be here as a small competitor to Sim City 5. This product is freer, and it does have lots of people in the streets. But it lacks the building of house, industrial and commercial zones. In Cities In Motion 2, the city only gets bigger if you build certain types of roads.
If you want to build highways, nothing will be built. You need to build roads with pavement roads to make the city grow. Cities In Motion 2 is a game that is worth every penny for its price. The flaws are really not a stopper. The paradox is improving the game all the time. That is dedication and that is something which Distrita agrees on is very respectful for gamers who have bought the game. Kudos to Paradox. Great work.
Distrita gives this game an overall score of Distrita Cool Game Reward!
Source:
citiesinmotion2.com
