Urban Empire

 PC
  • Publisher: Kalypso
  • Release Date: Jan 20, 2017
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 39
  3. Negative: 13 out of 39
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  1. Stephenicus
    Jan 25, 2017
    0
    After spending the last week playing this game, 42 hours in total, I have found the game to have some serious issues. The game economy is completely unbalanced. The infrastructure, like electricity, for example, has no positive net value in the long run and costs way too much. You end up spending way more money on infrastructure upkeep than you get back from benefactors (like industry) inAfter spending the last week playing this game, 42 hours in total, I have found the game to have some serious issues. The game economy is completely unbalanced. The infrastructure, like electricity, for example, has no positive net value in the long run and costs way too much. You end up spending way more money on infrastructure upkeep than you get back from benefactors (like industry) in return so the game forces you to increase taxes which kills city growth. The game also has issues with zone density. Increasing the density of a zone should not cost any money or have any upkeep, but the game developers decided that rezoning a district from light density to medium density should completely wipe out whatever funds you have saved up, with an upkeep so high that by the time the area develops with medium density and money is flowing again, you're in the hole 3 or 4 thousand (which is a lot in this game), and you're not making a whole lot more than before the rezoning. So the incentive to increase city density (which should be really fun to do), isn't there. In fact, it's the opposite. You avoid rezoning to higher densities, and that to me defeats the purpose of a city building game. I do not recommend this game unless the developers fix these disastrous game-play issues.… Expand
  2. Fishersam
    Jan 25, 2017
    3
    For a more detailed review, find "LordMalloc's" review but to summarize, the game's concept has potential but it was poorly executed. The game does a poor job explaining itself. It is as if they failed to test the game with actual gamers before releasing it. Anyone testing their "finished" product would realize that a lot of the concepts are poorly explained. Explaining the concept is veryFor a more detailed review, find "LordMalloc's" review but to summarize, the game's concept has potential but it was poorly executed. The game does a poor job explaining itself. It is as if they failed to test the game with actual gamers before releasing it. Anyone testing their "finished" product would realize that a lot of the concepts are poorly explained. Explaining the concept is very important for a game that is basically a new genre.… Expand
  3. LordMalloc
    Jan 21, 2017
    2
    This game is great in concept, and poor in implementation. I have played 3 games now, trying to work out various strategies and can say this:
    1) This appears to be based on some designers idea of how politics work. Choices you make may or may not do what you think they do, and there is no information denoting what the overall effect might be. I don’t need the game to let me min/max, but I    This game is great in concept, and poor in implementation. I have played 3 games now, trying to work out various strategies and can say this:
    1) This appears to be based on some designers idea of how politics work. Choices you make may or may not do what you think they do, and there is no information denoting what the overall effect might be. I don’t need the game to let me min/max, but I would like to at least understand who supports various initiatives, and what they are likely to vote for. It feels like there is some formula, but it is very unclear what that is. This makes every decision very frustrating.
    2) When information is presented, it is done in an awkward and confusing manner. For example there are lots of stats about each district available, but none of them cover “what does this district need?” or “How do I address problem X?” So even when there is info available, it is still frustrating just trying to make sense of it.
    3) The engine designer must have done the UI also because the way things like bonuses are presented is horrible. “Sales Bonus! Demand -10%!”. Even if the engine calculated a bonus as -10% for something, why in the world would you present it like that. Its just backwards.
    4) Citizen desires, which they call The Wheel of Life are presented as offsets to the current era target. So you have a hard time understanding how much better you need to make things. They should just show it as “11/15” instead of “-4”. Even then, once you learn to understand what it means, how to solve that issue is unclear.
    As I said, this game could be really good and after playing it a few times I can see where they were going with it. But the developer just did a very bad job of putting it into action in a way that makes sense to most people. Sure you can learn how to read their numbers, but I should have to work at learning the strategy, NOT at figuring out how to read their statistics.
    This is a $10 game with more polish than you would expect from that price range and a big publisher.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 20
  3. Negative: 1 out of 20
  1. CD-Action
    Mar 6, 2017
    60
    In Urban Empire the worlds of politics and economy collide in an interesting but moderately successful way. [03/2017, p.70]
  2. CGMagazine
    Mar 4, 2017
    75
    While exploring the many intricacies can be downright frustrating, and the political game can get difficult, Urban Empire is a game unlike any other in its genre. I’ve never played a sim that actually follows the rules of the democracy we have today. That alone makes it a unique enough title to at least try out. I just wish there was a little extra polish or at least a more thorough explanation on how the smaller intricacies in the game work.
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  3. Games.cz
    Mar 3, 2017
    50
    Untraditional conception of building strategy promised many, but instead of that, it delivered dys-functional game mechanics and botched gameplay. Urban Empire stands between the two genres, and takes the worst from both – limited building is combined with dysfunctional political part of the whole game.
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