An attempt at a different way to view a city building sim. Lack of real challenge and annoyances makes this game flat.
I bought City Life in 2006 and was completely disappointed. With that being said, I'm trying to look at this game as non-biased as possible.
This game is more-or-less an expansion pack. Inside the game you will find both City Life and City Life 2008 edition.
To start off, the tutorial system is basically non-existent and the in-game help is vague at best. It would seem that the whole objective of the game is to balance out your different social groups. SC Societies has a similar approach but took a different stance on it. While the whole idea of social management instead of real city management is intriguing this game fails to deliver because all you do is end up building mindlessly to even numbers in the most simple fashion possible.
This game might be better if the player had been given a little more direction on game-play. I spent most of the time scratching my head trying to figure out what all the information meant that was displayed for me. The in-game graphics are just ok. The HUD is rather basic and seemingly didn't get enough attention from the developers - the same can be said about the interface as a whole.
I wanted to have something good to say about the game but I'm sad to say I do not. The game needs good amounts of polishing and months of refinements.
Perhaps their isn't as much interest in social management as perceived. I'm perfectly happy plopping down zones and water towers and spending days constructing my transit systems. If you like a vague social building sim - and not a good one at that, play this game. If you are looking for city management like SimCity 4, you'll have to keep waiting for Maxis to take the reins on the SimCity name again.