City Life DS NDS

City Life DS is a pocket-sized version of the economic strategy that originally debuted on personal computers. Monte Cristo development studio is responsible for this edition of the game.

The overall gameplay is similar to the SimCity series. The player creates his own urban agglomeration using the tools assigned by the game. In the production in question, however, more emphasis was placed on showing the development of the metropolis than on the need for efficient budget management.

There are several different modes of play available to the player. Definitely the most interesting is the single player campaign, which was divided into several dozen scripts. Completion of each scenario is possible only after meeting the strict requirements. The objectives of the mission may be to build a certain number of buildings and then to populate them with new residents, or to increase the attractiveness of a poor district of the city. In many cases, a ready-made metropolis is already available, focusing on specific problems. Other attractions of the game include single challenges and Free Play mode, where you can take care of the free construction of the metropolis, without having to cope with top-down orders.

Following the fully fledged versions of City Life, the producer divided the residents into six basic social groups. They differ in their preferences as well as in their earnings. The key to success is to maintain a high level of satisfaction for as many social groups as possible, and in particular for those whose well-being may affect the ability to complete specific missions more quickly.

City Life DS contains about 150 different buildings, but for obvious reasons some of them are not available at first. It may be conditioned by the need to carry out certain missions or obtain the required amount of cash. The player can build many different types of structures, including factories, power stations, single-family houses, skyscrapers and police stations.

The game is largely controlled via the DS touchscreen. The struggles are observed on the bottom screen of the console, using isometric projection. However, the manufacturer has provided an option to zoom in on the image. The game then includes a 3D view, allowing you to take a closer look at the funny residents, reminiscent of Mii characters. The top screen of the console is used, among others, to display statistics, hints or the current map of the city.

Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions regarding this description.

Last updated on 29 July 2008