My thoughts on the Soundcloud App

What's up guys, I'm back! Today, I've got another app review for you, today I'll be reviewing the Soundcloud app, which is an app that lets anyone upload their music for free. And you know, this might actually be my all-time favorite music app for android. So without further ado, let's get started!

So, when you install the app and first load it up, you'll find that there's a nice-looking and clean interface with material design, so that's a pro right off the bat. There's a home icon which takes you to your stream, which is music from artists/people you follow and music that's recommended for you. You can also explore using hashtags, which is a pretty cool feature for a music app. Basically, I think of soundcloud as a 'social media' of music, which is what makes it unique!

The main thing that sets soundcloud apart from other competing music apps like Spotify and YouTube Music, however, is that you can listen to all music completely for free. It strikes me as a startup that is purely focused on letting people enjoy their music without the hassle of subscriptions, which is awesome. Another thing worth mentioning is that you get basic features for free that YT music and Spotify make you pony up for. For example, Spotify won't let you play whatever song you want, and YT music denies you the ability to play music in the background. That's right, people. Anyway, the point is that soundcloud doesn't make you deal with any of the crap that other apps do, and that's so nice to have.


Other than that, you'll find features that are pretty standard for a music app, like creating playlists and sharing them with your friends, and suggestions based on what you listen to.

There's not really a whole lot more to say about this app, it's a very simple tool for listening to your favorite music, and that's where it stands above all the other music applications, along with the fact that it doesn't restrict critical features to a monthly subscription. My final score for this app is a fantastic 9/10!

Pros: Tons of free music, clean and easy to use interface, best feature set for a free music app

Cons: No offline listening (even though that would pretty much go against the point of soundcloud anyway)

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this review, and be sure to check out my review of YouTube Music as well. Please leave a like if you enjoyed, it really helps this blog to grow and helps me to create more awesome content!

And with that, I'll see you guys later! 

Youtube Music: First Impressions

Hey guys, how's it going? Well, today I'm back with another post for you to enjoy from Jb3ast's TechnoBlog! Today I'll be giving my thoughts on the new Youtube Music app, which just dropped today. I've been using it a lot so far, and I'm not super impressed by this app in the time that I've had it. So without further ado, let's get started!

As I'm sure you've already heard, there have been multiple spin-offs of the standard YouTube app, including Youtube kids and Youtube gaming. Basically, Youtube music is just the normal youtube app, except it cuts out anything that isn't music. That's it. It seems really underwhelming and half-baked to me, as if Google didn't even bother to add any new features.

I mean seriously, just try to name at least one feature that YtM has that the Youtube app and Google Play Music couldn't do before, I guarantee it's impossible. This app is so disappointing in my opinion, because at this point I've come to expect far more from the likes of Google, especially considering all the excellent apps that they've conceived in the past.

Let's talk about what's 'different' about this app though, what little of that there is. First of all, you've got a darker material design look in the menus, which honestly looks a lot better to me than the normal youtube app, which is definitely a pro. The app also creates daily endless mixes based on what you listen to, which is kind of cool. That's all the stuff that's different in YouTube Music. And there's one more thing I've got to talk about...

Why do we have to pay for YouTube Red just to be able to play music while we're in a different app or if the screen is turned off? Literally every other music app in existence lets you do that without paying for a subscription (soundcloud, spotify, google play music, etc.) What is this then? Why are you charging us for a feature that I could easily get for free with one of the other music providers? Sure, you do get the ability to watch and listen to videos without any ads which is nice, and you get to download videos and watch them offline, although I doubt I would do that very often, especially considering how little I'm actually out of range of a Wi-Fi network.

If they don't add some revolutionary new features that totally knock my socks off, I'm not going to be using this app in the forseeable future. I'll just stick with Spotify and Soundcloud.

Goodbye YouTube Music, it was nice knowing you.

RIP

Sincerely,
Jb3ast

"Agency" map returning in next CS:GO operation?

Hey guys, I'm back with some exciting speculation about the upcoming operation for Counter Strike Global Offensive! I'm not totally sure when this new operation will drop, but I'm guessing that it'll be in the next month or two. Anyway, let's get into the topic!

Anyone who's played csgo during operation bloodhound between April 27 and October 1 will know that Agency was by far the most popular map out of all the new maps available during the operation. It had the perfect mix of close-range firefights and long-range lines of sight, which made it a great map overall. Agency was also one of the only maps in bloodhound that was a hostage rescue instead of bomb planting, which made it somewhat unique compared to the others.

On the official CS:GO website it actually allows players to vote for which maps they want in the upcoming operation. And so far, it looks like Agency is the #1 most requested map! If you want to check it out I'll post the link here. The page also shows what some of the other potential maps could be so you'll have an idea what to expect in the future!

Well, that's it for this post, be sure to leave a +1 if you enjoyed!

And with that, I'll see you guys later!

Dirty Bomb "Containment War" update released!

Hey guys, I'm back with another post! I'm sorry it's been so long since my last one almost a month ago, but the wait for something new to read is over! This week, the developers of Dirty Bomb released a major update for the game, called the Containment War update.

First and foremost, it includes three new maps, which is something that the game has needed for a long time and arguably since the open beta was released. I haven't played them yet, but I'm sure they're pretty awesome! We're also getting a new merc called Stoker, whose abilities are mainly centered around fire. I don't really know a lot about him since I've never actually got the chance to play as him. If you want to check him out though, I'll post his "Merc Role Call" video here!

Also included in the update are some new loadout cards which look pretty cool, although your chances of getting them in cases are probably pretty slim.

Finally, there's the new game mode Execution, which some of you have may have already played when it was in testing. In this mode, one team is trying to plant a bomb and the other team is trying to stop them from doing so. A team can also win by eliminating every opposing player. Sounds a lot like Counter-Strike to me, but I've never played this mode so I don't know what it's like.

That's it for the new content, but in this update the merc Phoenix has been made free to anybody who plays the game within a week of the update, which means there's still a few days left to claim your free merc!

Well guys, that's it for this post, and remember to Play Dirty!

Amazon's "Actually Free" Program is Awesome!

What's up guys, I'm (finally) back with another post! Today I'll be discussing Amazon's "Actually Free" program and how it's way better than the free app of the day, which it replaced. So without further ado, let's get started!

As you might know, the amazon appstore used to have a thing where they made one app free every day. Well, now they've scrapped that and added a new one called Actually Free, which is far better. The major difference is that instead of one free app a day, it gives you about 100 apps for free, which you can download for a limited time. They're calling this whole thing ultimately "Amazon Underground". There's also a new amazon app that is marginally better than the one that they had before.

Some of the apps that are on there are free, but actually free makes every in-app purchase in them completely free of charge. For example, yesterday I was playing jetpack joyride, and I bought 2 million coins for the grand total of $0.00!

There are far more (and better) apps on there than jetpack joyride though. I think I even saw Monument Valley on there with the expansion! That's crazy awesome.

I'll leave this here in case you want to check out some of these deals!

Well, that's it for today's post, and with that, I'll see you guys later!

A quick update post...

Hey guys, I'm really sorry that I haven't made any posts for a little while on here, and I decided to make this little post to explain why.

So, my schedule just changed recently and I'm a lot busier now, so I don't have as much time as I used to for blogging. Because of this, it's likely that the frequency of posts on this blog will go down dramatically.

Despite this, I hope that you guys will continue to like and support JB3ASt's TechnoBlog, it means a lot!

Sorry that I don't have anything major for you right now, but I am working on a Planetary Annihilation review and a Black Ops 3 beta review, so if those aren't out in the coming days then just know that I'm working on them whenever I have time to. You can probably expect the BO3 beta stuff to be out sometime in the near future.

Well, that's it for this update, and with that I'll see you guys later!

Discussing Warface, Crytek's disappointing F2P shooter game... (Rant)

Hey guys! Today, I've got another post for you to enjoy, and this time it'll be me discussing the game Warface, which is a free-to-play shooter on steam that was developed by none other than Crytek, the creators of Crysis. Unfortunately this game did not in any way live up to my expectations, just wait a bit and I'll explain exactly why this game is garbage...

OK, first off the most major thing that's wrong with Warface is that it lacks any sort of unique personality. I literally can't list a single thing that I noticed while playing that makes the game stand out when put next to other f2p FPS's like Dirty Bomb and Team Fortress 2, which actually do a good job with their unique art style and game mechanics. Overall, I just found everything about the game incredibly bland and generic, and found myself wanting something different in terms of visuals or gameplay elements. Remember the nanosuit in the first Crysis game that came out in 2007? That was incredibly cool, wasn't it? The suit added a totally new element to the multiplayer that no other game had come up with yet, and added a large amount of diversity into the game. Fast forward to Crysis 3 in 2012, and the nanosuit has been stripped down from four modes to only two in the name of simplicity for "modern" gamers. Fast forward again to Warface in 2013-present and the game has NOTHING new to offer us? This really saddens me because Crysis was really awesome and I was definitely expecting more from Crytek at this point.

The multiplayer is pretty awful and the main letdown with this game. First of all, the fact that when you buy a gun in the store, you only have it for about a day, and then you have to pay for it again just to continue using the dang thing in MP matches. There is a way to buy the gun permanently, but it's so expensive and you earn credits so slowly that you're inevitably going to have to spend money to get that weapon forever. The fact that it takes so long to unlock anything really makes the balance of the game take a hit, because the higher-level players and the people who have spent hundreds of dollars will have access to the best guns in the game, and the normal players like me will be left in the dust. This is also why in other F2P shooters like TF2, everything is instantly unlocked forever so anyone can use it at any time, and it's very viable to just play the game and earn different weapons and other items. If you really want balance in your game, that's the best way to do it in my honest opinion.


But soon you'll realize that it's not just the pay-2-win and therefore imbalance that rear their ugly head. The map design is also horrible, with maps that don't flow and just don't offer any varying tactical situations. In most FPS games such as Call of Duty, you're presented with a map that consists of three lanes, and you have the option to flank and ambush an unsuspecting player or two from a different angle. Let me just say, if that kind of thing is what you like, then you'll be incredibly disappointed with the game, to say the least. I really feel like the maps promote camping to a huge extent, because after all there's only one real way the enemy can approach from. This makes it super easy to just aim into a doorway and kill everyone that tries to move through it.

You're probably also wondering what the gunplay is like. Well, my experiences have not been good, just like with everything else in Warface. Combat feels really lifeless and static, without the fast-paced flair that games like Halo have going for them. Naturally, since the game is set in the present day, the guns will be no different from anything you've seen in other modern shooters, which definitely doesn't help this game create a likeable and memorable identity.

Also, the graphics. They're not the worst I've ever seen, but definitely don't take the step forward that the Crysis games took forward in their respective time periods. I didn't notice anything stand-out about the graphics, but maybe that's just because I've been running them at the lowest setting (my laptop isn't super powerful). Maybe the reason why the graphics in Crysis looked so stunning was because games in 2007 weren't very good looking, and Crysis 1 just totally blew them away. Today though, there's plenty of games on PS4 that really steal Crytek's graphics crown, like The Order: 1886, which is probably the best looking game to date on any system. The issue with that game is that it had hardly any substance to it, the game was incredibly short and packed with QTE. Anyway, let's stay on topic...

In addition to competitive multiplayer (which is what I played), the game also has a co-op mode where you supposedly have to cooperate with three other players, which will be a lot easier for you if you are playing with friends. But just like the rest of the game, the co-op missions felt totally bland and uninteresting.

Well, I think I've talked about everything that I wanted to. The final verdict for Warface on PC is a...

3/10

 

TLDR: Warface is an awesome-sounding FPS from a well-known developer that fails to impress in pretty much every way imaginable. Awful AI, Co-Op missions, Map design, Graphics, and irritating Pay-2-Win format make this game a total waste of your time. Go play TF2 instead. 

 

Well, that's it for today's post guys, sorry for the rant but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! My next post will probably be a Planetary Annihilation review, so yeah...

And with that, I'll see you guys later!

New surprise Planetary Annihilation expansion released!

Hey guys, I'm back with some awesome news! The first expansion pack for the RTS game Planetary Annihilation just came out a few days ago, and it looks really cool from what I've seen so far. But what are all of my thoughts on this? I'll explain down below!

So you're probably wondering what the expansion includes. Well, the biggest thing that the standalone expansion includes is the Titan-class units, which are similar to the huge experimental units that you could research and then build back in Supreme Commander, the spiritual predecessor to PA. There are six Titan units,  and from what I've heard they're all unique and super powerful. I don't actually know the names of them or what they do, but I'm sure these units are totally awesome!

As you would expect from an expansion, there are also around 16 new units that seem varied and really cool, like hover tanks and nanobot swarms. Although these units look different than the existing units in PA, they probably won't function that uniquely when put next to other units.

Although them adding more units is cool and all, that's not the main thing that I like about this expansion from what I've read. Titans offers different levels of terrain, which blocks off movement and allows units on high ground to fire at units on low ground without the latter being able to return fire. You'll also be able to change the terrain levels of a planet in the System Designer, which is another cool thing that I think will make custom player-created planets much more diverse.
Another new addition to the game is the Bounty Hunter mode. I'm not sure what exactly this mode is, but by the look of it the developers are trying to broaden the game experience beyond the typical planet-smashing annihilation matches.

So, there you have it! Of course, I don't own Planetary Annihilation Titans yet, but it looks like a really interesting upgrade to the already awesome PA gameplay with a handful of new units, a new tutorial (forgot to mention that), and a new game mode. The game is free for kickstarter backers, $14 for owners of PA (like me), and $40 for everyone else.

I hope you guys enjoyed this news-based post, and be sure to keep checking this blog for my Planetary Annihilation full review!

Here's the link if you're interested:

And with that, I'll see you guys later!

New Battlefield game confirmed for 2016... *sigh*

Hey guys, today I have some news that might be controversial with you if you're a fan of the battlefield franchise. It was recently announced that a new battlefield game is coming next year, which could possibly be Bad Company 3 or BF5. You're probably wondering why I make this out to be a bad thing, so here's why.

As you probably remember, a new battlefield game only used to come out every 2 years (2007-2009-2011-2013-2015), which meant a 2 year development cycle to make a good game. However, now that it's been confirmed that a new battlefield is coming in 2016, DICE only get one year to make an awesome battlefield title. I think this is downright ridiculous, because if EA and DICE were smart, they would look back at what netted them the most success, which was the 2 year cycle. And to top it all off, DICE is developing and releasing Star Wars Battlefront this November! With Halo, Bungie and 343 had 3 years to make a new game, and heck, even Call of Duty somehow manages to give their games 3 years of development time due to their multiple developer strategy. The only foreseeable solution is to hand over the development process to Visceral Games, the creators of Hardline. The only problem with that is that Hardline totally sucked in my opinion, and didn't capture the battlefield essence at all.

Even though I hate this new trend that's now being put into action in the franchise, maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. After all, it would appear that EA takes well-loved franchises and adds in new "features" that totally ruin the game. Here, this is because they just want to compete with CoD by putting out a new game every year. In fact, the reason that Battlefield 4's launch was one of the worst in history is that EA pushed it out the door before it was ready to fly, and therefore Siege of Shanghai crashed every time a skyscraper collapsed, along with countless other irritating bugs and glitches.

So please EA, consider your customers and what THEY want out of the game, rather than what saves and earns you the most money. We don't want a battlefield game every year, just look at what CoD is today. Do you really want this franchise to sink to that level? Also, while we're at it, 20v20, lack of space battles and lack of clone wars in SW Battlefront is incredibly lazy, especially considering that its predecessor had all three of these things in 2005. I don't understand why you can't just make the game like SWBF2 with some new gameplay mechanics and way better graphics. This really isn't cool, fix it NOW.

Sincerely,
JB3ASt

Hearthstone: Android App Review!

What's up guys, JB3ASt here and welcome to another android game review! This time, we'll be reviewing hearthstone, the addictive card game from blizzard. The game was originally on PC, but released on iOS a little while later and then on android tablets in December 2014. It just made it onto android phones in April, but I don't personally see how you can play a game like this on such a small screen. Anyway, let's get on with the review!

What Is Hearthstone?

Hearthstone is a free-to-play card game from Blizzard, the creators of Starcraft, Warcraft and Diablo. The game's setting is inspired by the Warcraft universe, which makes sense considering that digital card games are (way) cooler with a little magic. Isn't that right, Magic the Gathering? Anyway, if you've played Magic then you already pretty much know how the game works. You can buy packs of cards in the in-game store for 100 coins or about $1 each, but you can also earn coins to purchase them by just playing the game. 

As for gameplay, it's pretty much a simpler and easier to pick up version of magic. A match consists of two players and their heroes, which come equipped with unique special abilities that can be used in a pinch.  You draw a hand from your deck, and you have cards that you can play as long as you have enough mana crystals in that turn, which are shown in the bottom right of the screenshot over there. Mana crystals also replenish automatically each turn. There are also two different types of cards- a deck consists of spells and minions. As you probably know already, a spell is a power that can be used to heal your hero or your minions, and a minion is just a card that resembles an entity, which have differing abilities and attributes from each other. For example, there's a minion type called taunt, which basically means that any of your opponent's minions must attack that specific minion until it's dead. Each minion has a certain health and attack rating, which shows how much damage they can deal out in a turn and take before they're killed. One quirk with the minions is that they cannot attack the turn that they're played, but another special type called charge allows these specific minions to attack the turn that they are put into action. Whenever a minion attacks an enemy minion card, that minion takes counterattack damage equal to the attack rating of the enemy minion. 

There are 9 playable classes, each with their own unique cards and aspects. For example, the warlock has cards that focus on sapping the life from enemies, while the priest utilizes restoration-based cards to win the day. When you start out, you can unlock a certain class by beating it in a match, either against the inkeeper (AI) or another player. When you play a certain class enough, it will level up. Continue to level up that class to unlock more cards that can be put into a deck. 

Speaking of which, you can create custom decks from the cards you've earned from leveling your classes. It's important to balance your deck by adding lots of different types of cards and choosing an equal number of minions and spells.

How does the Game work on Android?

The port onto android is actually pretty dang good. The graphics, gameplay, sounds, and expansions are all here and exactly the same as what's in the PC version currently. I think the touch controls are really great and a perfect fit for mobile, although the game does take a few seconds to open up whatever it is that I wanted to open after I press the button. 

One major complaint I have with the app is that it still lacks even a basic offline mode. Because I'm on the go a lot, I would love to be able to play this game while I'm not at home and continue to progress while I'm on vacation or whatever. Other than that, The android version of Hearthstone is great and I highly recommend that you try it out! Like I've said before, it's totally free to play so if you don't like it you won't have lost anything. I'm guessing that you'll like it though!

Download Hearthstone here!

Well, that's it for my Hearthstone [android] review (android and PC versions are identical)! I'm also working on a review for the also free-to-play team based shooter game, Dirty Bomb, so look out for that in the future!

And with that, I'll see you guys later!

More Dirty Bomb Mercs in free rotation this weekend!

Hey guys, I hope you're having an awesome day so far! I know it's been more than a week since my last post, and I'm sorry about that. However, I do have some awesome and exciting news for all you Dirty Bomb players out there!

In case you didn't know what Dirty Bomb is, it's a team-based free to play shooter game on steam that is purely objective focused, although I really think they should diversify the playable modes. Since it's in beta though, more gamemodes are almost a given for the future. I'll have a full review ready in the coming weeks, so you've got that to look forward on my blog!

It's just been announced on steam by the developers of Dirty Bomb that 8 out of the 12 mercs in the game will be in free rotation throughout the weekend of July 31-August 2nd, and this means you'll most likely be able to use all the loadout cards you've received through cases that you weren't able to use before! Because of this, you'll learn exactly which mercs you like, and be able to buy them with credits later!


I'll just put this here in case you want to give the game a try:




Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the post, a like would be stellar. See you online! ;)

"Agar.io" Web Game now on Android!

Hey guys, how's it going? Well, I've got a new post for you! But before we get into it, I want you to tell me if you prefer long posts like the ones I've been doing in the past, or short ones like the one I posted yesterday. This way I can make all the best content for you to enjoy, thanks for your time! Anyway, today I'll be 'reviewing' the popular web browser game "Agar.io", which was released in April 2015 to massive popularity. Although it's been on browsers since then, the android version just launched a week or two ago, and the funny thing is, I actually like the mobile game BETTER than the PC version!

So if you don't know what the game is, it's a multiplayer game where you spawn into the game as a small cell and have to eat smaller yet pieces of food scattered about the map to grow bigger. The more you eat, the higher your score gets. Once you get to a reasonable size, you can start to split your organism and absorb other player, and this is where the real fun begins!

A full list of the different skins available, if you're interested in trying
any of them.

It's also important to mention that the smaller you are, the faster you move. When you're small, you can also hide in little viruses to avoid the bigger players. When you get big however, try your best to avoid the viruses, because they split you apart into lots of little cells, which other sizeable players can ingest to grow and become more dangerous to your 'main' cell.

If you want, you can also enter specific names for your cell to give it a particular look. Here's some examples:

• Facepunch
• Canada
• Doge
• Mexico

I also found that with the android version, people were putting emojis in that were showing up on their organisms, so you can also try that if you want!

As for my thoughts on the game, I think Agar.io is really addicting and I definitely plan on playing more in the future. The android app is a perfect port of the web version and is totally free on google play.

If you want, you can download here!

Thanks so much for reading guys, and be sure to drop a like, it would really make my day!

And with that, I'll see you guys, in the next one...

Cortana Mobile Assistant APK Leaked!

What's up guys, Jbeast here and I've got something a little different for you all today! You know the Cortana Mobile Assistant for Windows phones that's coming to windows 10 and android too? Well, the APK just got leaked and shared by Android Authority on their site, so I'll link you to the article down below!

As for what Cortana can do, she can set reminders for you, tell you the weather, perform web searches, all stuff like that. Cortana is in beta and this is an early APK so it's definitely not as good as google now, but that's not to say it isn't worth a try.

If you want, download the Cortana APK here!

And if you want to learn more about what it can do, check out this article.

I hope you guys enjoyed this (short) post, and be sure to drop a like. Have an awesome saturday everybody! :D

Pic Credits: The Verge

Clarity Keyboard Beta: Android App Review!

What's going on guys, I'm back with another awesome app review! Unfortunately I still can't put pics into my posts on the blogger app, so I'll add them the next time I get my laptop onto WiFi. Today, I'll be reviewing the clarity Keyboard beta, which is a fantastic keyboard so far to say the least. So without further ado, let's get into it!

What is Clarity Keyboard? Well, it's a keyboard (durr). But why should you use this one over any other keyboard like swiftkey? Read on to find out!

If you couldn't tell already, I love this keyboard. In fact, I'm using it to type this post right now!  It's got some awesome features that SwiftKey doesn't have and probably never will, and it's also coincedentally made by the developers of swiftkey. For example, clarity will be able to correct entire sentences when the grammar isn't correct, but that isn't the best part of this keyboard app. That spot is reserved for the ability to simply press backspace to undo whatever the autocorrect put in that you didn't want. I can't tell you how awesome and convenient this feature is, it means autocorrect will [almost] never annoy you again! It's also worth mentioning that the comma key is located to the left of the space bar, which is also kind of nifty and definitely saves time going to the numbers page and looking for it. You will still have to do this with exclamation marks and question marks, however.

The Keyboard has a minimalist gray look with white for letters and a green design for the action keys. Its not the prettiest keyboard I've ever seen, but it looks really good regardless.

The only major issue with this app is that it doesn't let you customize your Keyboard at all, use flow or keep track of your stats like swiftkey does, but since it's in beta that's definitely excusable. It would have been nice to at least change the color of the labels on the icons though. Another minor issue I have with this app is how these new features couldn't have just been implemented into the original swiftkey app instead of making a whole new app, maybe there was some problem with the code that prevented them from doing that, I don't know for sure.

Clarity Keyboard beta is free to download on Google play and the app store (I think). Plus, since it's in beta you can send feedback and get involved with development!

Thanks so much for reading guys, and a follow and/or a like would make my day. I'm planning to do a "free app of the week" series sometime in the future, so definitely look out for that!

And with that, I'll see you guys later!

Cities Skylines: What I think so far

What's going on guys, Jb3ast here! I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in almost a month, but I spilled some water on my keyboard and it doesn't work properly, so I'm typing this with a wireless keyboard hooked up to my laptop. I was also on vacation and away from Wi-Fi, so I couldn't post. To make up to you guys, I'll be putting extra effort into this post, so enjoy! :D

But before you get into it, I'd love it if you guys could give me some feedback on my posts and tell me if you still enjoy these types of posts or if they're getting old and worn out. This ensures that I'll be able to provide the most interesting and awesome content possible, thanks so much!

I'll also be using some of my own screenshots from the game, so you'll get to see firsthand how the game looks on my computer.


So let's discuss the game. Cities Skylines came out on March 10 this year, and it was well received by players because of it's crisp graphics, great single player mode and steam workshop modding community, none of which Simcity 2013 had. But you're probably wondering where I stand with my thoughts on Cities Skylines (CS from here on). Well, you're about to find out!

Cities Skylines is a city-building game (duh) where you have to get your city from a tiny village to a bustling metropolis. Of course, you also have to manage your money earned from tax income and spend it on roads and services like hospitals, schools, fire stations, and police stations. You also need to build working power and water grids, and to do so you will need to build power plants and water and sewer pumping stations as well. There are policies that can be put in place, like bans on heavy vehicles to reduce traffic and pollution, or smoking bans that increase your citizens' health but lower their happiness (I think). Basically, if you've played Simcity 4 or any of the ones before it, you'll have no problem figuring out how Cities Skylines is played.

One of the areas where CS sets itself apart from Simcity is the slower pace. It's common to just watch your city grow slowly in this game, rather than slapping zone after zone together in SC4 and making your tax income skyrocket. That kind of thing just won't happen in this game, everything happens very gradually so the fast-forward is really handy.

Planning is also really important. You need to have some idea of how various things will be arranged or your city will be a total mess. Since roads are also much more expensive than in Simcity, you've got to decide whether you want to make low-capacity roads near the highway to save money and rip them up later or spend a lot more and get your traffic situation in order before it begins. Like I said before, planning is key to success in this game! Find what layouts work the best and stick with whatever's the most efficient for your needs.

Another one of the unique features of the game is the steam workshop, which lets players create and publish new content ranging from buildings to parks to even UI improvements! I'm really impressed by this and it will surely extend the game's lifespan significantly to say the least. I just wish I knew how to make custom content for the game, but I'm sure someone has written a guide on the game's steam page to show you how!

As you can see from the picture on the right, graphics are pretty impressive. Everything from the mountains in the distance, to the little details on the buildings, to the way the wind turbines spin is really pretty to look at. Unfortunately, my laptop doesn't run this game well so I need to turn down the graphics all the way and disable shadows for it to work smoothly and without stutter, so this screenshot was taken from my home computer which has a much more powerful processor for gaming. The only thing that I wish was improved in the visual department is the way the ground looks. Just the solid green ground seems pretty boring without any grass or small hills and pits to decorate the landscape. Although this is kinda disappointing, there's another much bigger problem with Cities Skylines that takes some fun out of the game...

Community-made building honoring the developers of
Cities: Skylines!

...The fact that there's no way to change the terrain or even trigger disasters! One of my favorite parts of Simcity 4 was shaping the map exactly to my liking by adding forests, mountains, and rivers to make the game more interesting. That's not here at all, and what we got instead was about 10 different maps with slightly different terrain and looks. Unless there's some way to create your own maps in the steam workshop, this is a huge issue that I just had to bring to light. It also doesn't make sense that the game doesn't allow the player to trigger disasters and annihilate their cities at the push of a button. I can't really express how much fun it was to zap my city with vicious bolts of lightning, bombard it with showers of house-sized meteorites and send 10-story tall death robots to blow up everything in sight. These are things that detract from the experience, although the game is still fun without them.

Cities Skylines goes for $29.99 on steam. It's the only thing I've ever bought on steam for full price, but I can say with certainty that it was worth it!

Final Verdict/TLDR...

I give Cities Skylines an 8 out of 10.

Pros: Good graphics, classic city-building gameplay, steam workshop support, cheap at $30 instead of $60 like simcity 2013, deep strategy and urban planning

Cons: No disasters or map editing

Thanks so much for reading guys, and I'll catch you in my next post! I don't know what that'll be yet but whatever it is it's gonna be epic!

If you want to buy the game after reading my review, you can get it here:


See you later, keep on gaming and stay awesome!

+David Houlding +Jordan A

10,000 Pageviews!!!

What's going on guys, it's Josh here and I've got some really exciting news- this blog just hit 10,000 pageviews a few days ago! This is such a massive number and I never thought I would get to this point when I started, and I'd like to thank every one of you for the continued support, you guys are awesome!

It's really incredible that my blog is now moving into 5 digit numbers, I just can't believe how much it's grown since I started it up in March 2013. As of today, my blog is getting a steady stream of 30+ pageviews a day! Unfortunately I haven't planned anything special for this huge occasion, but I do have a "Top 10 Elite Weapons in my Armory" post in the works, so look out for that in the next couple of days!

See you guys in my next post!