There’s plenty of good city builders out there but few that have a political management aspect to them. That is what Urban Empire is all about, blending city building with city ruling and being unable to do one without the other.
Starting in the industrial revolution of 1820 you are appointed the mayorship of a new city and your family must lead the city through 200 years of development and technological advancement. Along the way however you must play politics with the various political parties because nothing gets done without that council vote.
New District
Gameplay
Performance & Graphics
Urban Empire is not the prettiest of city builders on the market, nor the most detailed. While there are buildings that look nice and a decent amount of smaller detail, everything in the game still looks dated and at a lower quality than what it could have been. However, the game does run a treat in terms of performance with no hiccups what so ever.
Minimum System Requirements:
o OS: Windows 7 SP1 / 8.1 / 10, 64bit
o Processor: Intel i5-2400 / AMD FX-6350
o Memory: 6 GB RAM
o Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 / AMD HD 6850 2GB
o DirectX: Version 11
o Storage: 4 GB available space
Recommended System Requirements:
o OS: Windows 7 SP1 / 8.1 / 10, 64bit
o Processor: Intel Core i5 4690K / AMD FX8320 or newer
o Memory: 12 GB RAM
o Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / ATI/AMD Radeon R9 290 3GB or newer
o DirectX: Version 11
o Storage: 4 GB available space
Swimming pool anyone?
Additional Thoughts
Urban Empire has a nice perspective on a traditional city builder by adding in its political management. The idea of having to go to a council vote in order to spend public funds is something that can be fun and engaging.
After the initial learning curve, the game does start to lack challenge and council votes can on occasion be too easily swayed in your favor. The city building can also be somewhat tedious at times having to vote on adding new services such as basic schools and clinics.
URBAN EMPIRE VERDICT
Overall, Urban Empire is a solid outing for Kalypso and has a nice blend of city building and political management that players of the genre should find interesting. It has flaws but its new perspective on an old formula is something that can be explored further in the future.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Puling off a tough vote by a margin always feels good.
Let there be light!
Price and Purchase
Urban Empire can be picked up on Steam for $39.99 USD.
Good vs Bad
- Political management
- Solid mechanics
- Tech tree
- Lack of high-quality visuals
- Lacks real challenge
