Cities in Motion 2

 PC
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. 4P.de
    Apr 12, 2013
    73
    The learning curve is steep and if you’re easily frustrated you might consider going back to the predecessor. But if you’re willing to invest time and a lot of trial&error in this mass transit simulator, behind all the glitches and the useless tutorial you’ll find a motivating diamond in the rough that shows a lot of potential and keeps you awake longer than you’d like to admit.
  2. PC Gamer
    May 21, 2013
    70
    Fiddly at times, and cursed with a lousy tutorial, the intricacy and scale of Cities in Motion 2 eventually shines through. [July 2013, p.74]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Games.cz
    Apr 16, 2013
    70
    Cities in Motion 2 offers needed immersion along with a well worked out economic model, and city processes interconnection, which will captivate you so much you are going to ignore the game's visible flaws.
  5. Gamer.no
    Apr 12, 2013
    70
    Cities in Motion 2 is deep and full of possibilities, and really addictive once you get going. But the user interface can be a struggle to work with at times.
  6. Hooked Gamers
    Apr 18, 2013
    65
    The lack of AI, disappointing campaign and overall bland graphics lead to a rather listless gameplay experience. Technically, Cities in Motion 2 is a capable game but there is little joy to be had in a game where all you are doing is setting up new lines and occasionally checking if they still run efficiently. This was somewhat true for the original as well but that game had far more character and pulled it off gracefully. This, unfortunately, does not.
  7. Gamer.nl
    Apr 16, 2013
    65
    Cities in Motion 2 is a true paradise for those who love to plan everything into the smallest details. Other than that it offers too little variation to stay interesting for long, with boring graphics, drab environments and slow gameplay. Cities in Motion 2 is better than its predecessor, but no classic in the sim-genre.
  8. GameStar
    Apr 10, 2013
    60
    The laying of tram tracks and overhead lines is so complicated that I'd rather build five bus lines as a single tram line, even if it's humbug economically.
  9. CD-Action
    May 13, 2013
    50
    The biggest problem with Cities in Motion 2 is that this game is extremely user-unfriendly. Gameplay is sluggish even with the highest time compression and the interface contradicts ergonomics and intuition. [CD-Action 06/2013, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 159 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 87 out of 159
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 159
  3. Negative: 24 out of 159
  1. AlexChis
    Apr 3, 2013
    10
    Oh good God! This game is... AMAZING!
    Let me tell you why this game, from an independent developer took SimCity's 2013 crown as the best city    Oh good God! This game is... AMAZING!
    Let me tell you why this game, from an independent developer took SimCity's 2013 crown as the best city simulator:

    1. This game HAS AGENTS! Just like the new SimCity 2013, don't believe me? Find a citizen on the street (the slang for the term citizen in this game is, ironically.. Cim) and you can follow the Cims in the city. They will do everyday tasks based on a schedule, which i will cover in a later reason why this game is better, they have a STABLE work place, and a STABLE house, not like the Sims in SC2013, who will randomly pick the closest available house and job every day.

    2. The next reason why this game is better than SC2013, is related to the Cims. Since each Cim is interdependently simulated by the game, with its own daily routine, this will create traffic problems. Traffic in this game is way more realistic than the one in SC. The cars will actually park on the street (you have this type of road, which btw this game has more road options than all the SC games and Cities XL combined!). Once the car parks next to the job, house, etc, you can see the Cim GOING IN AND OUT of it! Most Cims have cars, close to SC, they will leave their cars and walk close to their work/home.

    3. The time is more realistic than SC2013. It does indeed have a day/nigh cycle, but it also has a semi-realistic ingame clock. Each minute in the game is a second in real life, so an hour in the game lasts 1 minute in real life, and a day in the game lasts 24 minutes in real life (there are speed options). This does not stop here, there are weekdays, from Monday to Sunday, and the Cims are actually programmed to act according to these days, meaning you will get a huge rush hour Monday morning and Friday evening, but it will be less traffic on weekends, well less traffic between work and homes. Same applies to night hours, you will not see people wondering the streets at 2 AM... The weekend means that Cims will go to leisure places more.

    4. Map size, the thing that in my opinion broke SC2013. I did not have time to compare the maps in this game, which by the way, it has a built in map editor, so people can go crazy and share maps, just like the old SC4 days, think of them as terraforming tools, they do just that, you can morph the terrain, add mountains, rivers, even build a city and use it to make a scenario like the good old Roller Coaster Tycoon days. Back to map size, the map is definitively bigger than the cities in SC2013, but there is a catch, it is a fixed map size, and there are only 6 available cities, different layouts, reliefs but same size, this is also the only available size in the map editor, but as i say, it is bigger than 2x2km, I say, it is somewhere close to 3x3km, I would dare to say that it is as big as the large map from SC4, but don't take my word for it.

    5. City building, personally, I like it more that the city grows around your roads, it takes away the burden of micromanagement, comparing it to SC, which is the point of this review, it is better, not like SC2013 gives you many tools, just plop some zones and based on the road density, buildings plop out, well this mechanism is similar in CIM2, the road density affects the size of the building. There are no government buildings, the game generates them, which I think is better since it balances the services, like schools, police stations, etc. The only drawback here is that the schools, police and the rest of the government buildings do not generate education, security, etc, but they do generate work places for Cims. All in all, this is a much more simple city planning, and since SC2013 became so simple, from the two games, CIM2 has a better one. SC4 is still king at city planning, but we are talking about SC2013 here.

    6. Mass transit. I will not say a lot here... SC2013 gives you bus stations, trains, which you cannot plop rails btw, and that is it... This game however give you buses, trams, trolleys, metros that can become elevated, and "boat buses". Not a lot of options compared to SC2013, but at least you can draw the lines wherever you want, create lines for each type, and not stay helplessly and watch your buses get stuck in a loop because the agent AI is broken...

    7. Most important feature that makes CIM2 better than SC2013... IT HAS MULTIPLAYER.
    But with no DRM. It actually has a fun multiplayer, you can play with your friends, you share a city with them, but the city gets saves on YOUR computer (and YOUR friends if you play it together).... Let me repeat YOU CAN SAVE YOUR CITY ON YOUR COMPUTER..

    So yea, a indie developer destroyed a franchise that ironically, inspired this type of games, but it destroyed itself as well because of corporate greed. Bravo Paradox, you sirs deserve all the internets in the world!    … Full Review »
  2. MusAddict
    Apr 3, 2013
    8
    As a newcomer to this series, and after hearing about the recent disaster of SimCity, I thought that dropping $20 on a decent-looking cityAs a newcomer to this series, and after hearing about the recent disaster of SimCity, I thought that dropping $20 on a decent-looking city simulator would be ok. Got in-game, and very quickly was overwhelmed at the transportation aspect of it. Very complex to pick up, but then again games like this shine with its complexity. So many options you could imagine. Plus, the level editor gives you full reign over the size, shape, and density of your city, which appears to be perpetually successful, at least visually. The main challenge is to keep your city happy with public transportation, which is more fun that it sounds, especially if you've ever enjoyed train simulators, or similar. It definitely has it's flaws, such as movement controls, but I think I will have hours of fun experimenting, building, and expanding with this game.… Full Review »
  3. Gezzer
    Apr 3, 2013
    6
    This looks like it could be a great game but it's really complicated, much more then the first one was. It has a lot of improvements over CiM,This looks like it could be a great game but it's really complicated, much more then the first one was. It has a lot of improvements over CiM, but some of it's drawbacks. It's now gridless, which is good, but the metro lines are like the rail lines in the first editor, very finicky on how they'll link up. So add that to the gridless and I found laying out track very frustrating. The ability to have lines auto resolve (kind of like what Sid Mier's Railway tycoon did) would really help.
    Each line needs a depot, which adds a new element, but connecting depots to all your lines with the exception of the bus, could be a bit of a pain.
    The new elevation system is much more powerful but less intuitive. Instead of simply clicking on a depth icon you use the page up or down to change elevation, which you have to pay close attention to because so far I've seen no way to tell what elevation everything else is. You also will still see all the roads when you go lower which I found a bit weird, it be nice to be able to toggle this behavior.
    I've also found that it's a bit harder to make sure your tram is running in the right direction. The tutorial (so far) and manual don't give nearly enough information and guidance on how everything fits and works together. Like many European games it's really detailed and has a ton of depth. And like many European games it will take a bit of work to really master. For some that will be a challenge to others a PITA. I'm just not sure which one I'll be. If you loved CiM you'l most likely like this one, and possibly love it once it grows on you. If you only liked CiM I'd give it a pass. And if you've never played CiM, I'd give it a shot before this one.
    The one good thing is that with CiM they was improvements made to the game as time went on. Hopefully Paradox will see the area's that need to be improved and do their utmost to fix them.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »