Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year [rating: 3.5/5]
I was never a huge fan of time management games when I first played the original Build-A-Lot but it won me over pretty quickly and so when I found out that Glu Mobile were coming out with a sequel I was eager to find out if and how they had taken it to the next level.
If you haven’t played the original Build-A-Lot for iPhone then here’s a quick overview of what’s in store for you. You take the role of a Real Estate Agent and single handedly it’s your task to buy aBuild a nd sell homes to improve 8 unique towns and impress the town mayor.
The mayor is not easily pleased though and in addition to buying and selling homes you’ll also need to turn your hand to renovations of the homes and adding parks and a range of shops to ensure the towns curb appeal is up to standard.
The main two items that you have to balance are money and materials. Money is pretty straight forward, if you don’t have the money to buy a home you can’t buy it and if you don’t have the materials to build a house, which you need money to buy, you aren’t going to be able to build one either!
The curb-appeal factor is one of the changes from the original game while the various building types have also had an upgrade. The graphics, sound and overall game-play while solid and polished are not a million miles away from the original although this is probably more to do with the strength of the original game rather than anything lacking in Build-A-Lot 2.
The game starts with an excellent tutorial that bridges the gap of stating the obvious and leaving you to your own devices perfectly. Even after spending hours playing the original game I found that the tutorial provided a nice refresher rather than teaching me to suck eggs!
As you move through the 8 towns in in campaign mode each mayor will set you a number of challenges that need to be fulfilled before you can move and while theses challenges are relatively structured to begin with you will soon be left to your own devices and that is where the game really comes into it’s own as you are left to make decisions as two whether to build a new Villa, upgrade your parks or add some shops to your town.
As you complete the levels in campaign mode you unlock them to play in casual mode where the goal is simply to fulfill two goals as quickly as possible and those are to reach a certain curb appeal and a given level of money.
While this adds some longevity to the game the lacking of any scoring system or leader boards will limit the urge to come back again and again once you’ve played through the two available modes.
Build-A-Lot 2 – Town of the Year feels more like a 1.5 version rather than a full sequel. However, those who liked the original Build-A-Lot will certainly enjoy this follow-up, just that it’s a little lacking on any major new features that takes it to a whole new level.
Pros
- 24 campaign levels
- 8 casual levels
- Well balanced game play
Cons
- Adds only a lick of paint to the original classic
- No leader boards
- Limited replay value
Price: $4.99 (App Store)
Category: Games
Updated: Jul 16, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0.1
1.0.1 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 19.1 MB
Language: English
Seller: Glu Games Inc
Copyright © 2010, HipSoft LLC
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.