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I had no idea that Metropolismania had a sequel, I saw no marketing, no articles on it...and then one day I just stumbled upon it. Like the original game, this one was also found in a bargain bin for $10.00.
The first game was so unpopular that nearly anyone I mentioned the game to looked at me like I had two heads. 'Metropolismania? What is this game you speak of!?'
When I came across Metropolismania 2 I was estatic because I assummed that the game would fix all of the annoyances that the first game came packed with. I figured it would have beefed up the graphics, and made the game even more enjoyable, and less repetitive than the last.
God was I wrong!
To better put it, Metropolismania 2 is straight up laziness on the developers part, and frankly I was baffled at why they would even release this one.
The game starts off in nearly the exact same manner the first one did. The same type of music is heard on the start up, but clearly something had been done to further destroy the graphics. I didn't think a part 2 of a game could present graphics worse than an original, but Metropolismania 2 clearly took 2 steps back in the graphics department.
Instead of playing with cartoon like animation characters, the characters instead looked like pencil drawn Japanese anime...and not the good kind!
Besides this difference there was one more different, and ONLY one more difference. This time I got to choose from a small selection of characters. In the last game I was stuck with one tacky yellow suit wearing cheeseball. Regardless of the new addition of selection, the vhoices were small.
Now that you have a character you assign it a name. Next you are plopped into a deserted mass of land. Your job is to basically build the town from the ground up.
The first thing I built of course was roads. I was a little mad though that they took away the use of the chalk pen. In the original your character would run through the land and could draw in roads using a piece of chalk.
In Metropolimania 2, the chalk was gone. Sniff, sniff!
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Instead I got to use this ridiculous birds eye view while placing down my roads. I hated it! One of the funnest things about the game originally was the way you could build the roads. They call this new birds eye placement easier, so you could see where your roads were being placed. I admitt it was much easier, and took up way less time, but in a sad way, it took away a fun element the original game had.
Alright so, we have a new character to build the town, new downgraded graphics and a new way to place the roads. I figured the game would present a slew of other new things to it, only it didn't.
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After building roads, I was presented with the same type of building cards I got in the original game. These cards are residents looking to move in to the newly built town. You have businesses, residents, offices, and factories all looking to claim a plot of land in your town. Just like in the first game.
The dissapointing thing about everything was how every single challenge presented to me in the game were the exact same replicated challeneges the original game offered.
Residents filed the same complaints, their dialog was even all the same. A few new exceptions in dialog did take place, but they were small and limited additions.
The same went for individuality in the towns characters. There was a small group of different residents, yet they all would look the same. Old people all looked the same, young parents looked the same, and teens and children all were the same. It was like a freaking stepford community, and the lack of visual stimulation eventually got really old, really fast.
The levels were all presented in the same manner as well. The game would start of simple, with a few complaints about my residents wanting a school, or a bar, or a factory. I pretty much knew the strategy on how to keep them happy because the game was nothing more than the last game packaged into a new look. It presented no challenges that I didn't already know how to complete.
