Cities in Motion 2
- April 1, 2013
- Colossal Order Ltd.
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam"Cities in Motion 2" is a business strategy game that allows for 2-player multiplayer, cooperative and competitive play. The game focuses on building and managing a transportation network in dynamic cities, with choices affecting city growth and day-night cycles. However, it is known to have bugs and can be very grinding, but good game mechanics and graphics are offered.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- Simulates public transport in more detail than any other such game.
- Great game for fans of transportation management and city-building.
- Offers a lot of potential for creating complex transport networks.
- Buggy and crashes frequently, leading to a frustrating experience.
- Lacks 64-bit support and has a poor user interface.
- Gameplay can become repetitive and tedious, especially with micromanagement.
- gameplay68 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Cities in Motion 2 is a mixed bag, with many players finding it addictive yet frustrating due to unclear mechanics, a lack of intuitive controls, and a tedious grind. While the city-building and transit management elements are appreciated, they often feel overshadowed by bugs, poor tutorials, and comparisons to superior titles like Cities: Skylines. Overall, the game offers hours of potential enjoyment for fans of the genre, but its execution leaves much to be desired.
“After 10 hours of gameplay, I can say I've thoroughly enjoyed the complexity and detail of this game.”
“Working in the transit industry myself, Cities in Motion provides probably the most realistic gameplay options for transit simulators.”
“Very nice gameplay; this complements the Sim City series in that it focuses more on the transit system of a city.”
“The tutorial is lacking severely, the game mechanics aren't worth much, and this makes me actually appreciate snowfall on trains here in Boston since this game is clearly worse than live train systems.”
“As a huge fan of the original Cities in Motion (600+ hours played), the gameplay on CIM2 is absolutely awful. It is so annoying moving around the map using the keyboard, the cities are boring - just clusters of development with nothing in between, plus they are named 'Central City', 'East City' (where is the imagination?).”
“The simplistic UX of the first CIM has been transformed into a sluggish experience thanks to the immature engine and gameplay mechanics.”
- graphics51 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the improved visuals and smooth performance, particularly on older hardware, while others criticize the oversaturated color scheme and graphical inconsistencies. Many users note that while the graphics are decent, they do not significantly enhance the gameplay experience, and some even describe them as sub-par compared to its predecessor. Overall, the game's graphics are seen as a blend of modern and cartoony styles, appealing to some but not to others.
“The graphics are amazing!”
“This game combines the look and feel of an old SimCity game but adds pre-Cities: Skylines graphics with loads of options to build your own unique city.”
“The developers have put great passion and attention into this sim; the details are fine, the graphics run smoothly, and the lighting is in real-time, making this product stand out among all in the genre.”
“It's 2020 now, and it's not worth it - if the lack of variety in buildings doesn't make you dislike it, it's extremely convoluted and lacks a tutorial feature, lacks a lot of the finesse of cim1, forgoes any modding support beyond basic maps and rulesets... it's also much less consistent than its direct predecessor - citizens teleport to your subway stations, maps have no connections to the outside world simulated, and the graphics are oversaturated and cheery to the point where it's pretty unbearable.”
“Bought this and installed on Ubuntu 14.04, the fonts are terrible, the graphics are below average even on the highest quality settings, and the controls make the game unplayable (rotation is really really fast and it makes the game get stuck after 1-2 seconds).”
“But then it started, the crashes.. and graphical bugs starting to crawl out of the woodwork, making me unable to enjoy the game at all.”
- stability37 mentions
- 3 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder gameplay. While some players find enjoyment in the core mechanics and potential of the game, the lack of updates and persistent issues make it frustrating and often unplayable, especially on certain platforms like Linux. Overall, the consensus is that the game is too unstable for a seamless experience, despite its appeal to simulation enthusiasts.
“I love the gameplay, and it's not buggy, so I'll give it a thumbs up instead of a down.”
“Horrendously buggy, buy something else.”
“Having 4-5 game crashes and graphical glitches on both the UI and game world during my first 1-2 hours of playing this game is not acceptable.”
“This could be a good game, it has potential, but without updates for years now, the game has many bugs and glitches, sometimes even crashes.”
- story13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the missions to be vague, buggy, and poorly designed compared to its predecessor. While some appreciate the sandbox mode and user-created content, the main quests often feel tedious and unengaging, leading to frustration with the overall mission structure. Overall, the narrative experience is seen as lacking depth and polish, making it less enjoyable than the first installment.
“Cim1 has, in my opinion, a very decent tutorial mission.”
“You get missions where someone asks you to connect a building to your transit network.”
“And it'll give you missions such as 'expand the size of the city.' These are alright, but they take too long.”
“Quests range from being too easy or too difficult in terms of reward, and realistic cities have been turned into uninspired blocks of habitable space. Not to mention, main quests that focus on covering a certain percentage by network in the city are pretty unstable; sometimes it suddenly drops a lot due to the annoying growth of the city, further adding to the grinding scheme of this failed experiment.”
“Cim1 is vastly superior to Cim2 in graphics, GUI layout, ease of setting lines and assigning vehicles, campaign story; the list could go on. I can't stand looking at a game that appears to be a rough draft and not the final polished game Cim1 was.”
“A lot of the 'build a line to xxxxx' quests were buggy and didn't work.”
- optimization12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the optimization of Cim2 is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate its smooth performance on smaller maps and lower settings, others report significant performance issues on larger maps and complex networks, including crashes and frame rate drops. Users with powerful computers generally experience better optimization, but those with lower-end systems may struggle without adjusting settings.
“Cim2 takes the fun of rebuilding and optimization and runs with it.”
“Well-made game that plays smoothly and feels well-optimized.”
“The game works well on low-performance computers if turned to low settings running on smaller maps.”
“In cim1, performance bogs down with a medium to large network, which is much smaller than the largest networks you can build with no problems in cim2.”
“Oh, and you probably need a decent computer to run this game well without weird stuttering when panning the camera around on high settings.”
“Performance is not good.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find "Cities in Motion 2" to be a grind-heavy experience, with slow vehicle movement and tedious quest mechanics that detract from the enjoyment. The game's user-unfriendly mechanics and the need for constant adjustments make it feel more like a chore than a fun strategy game, leading to frustration over time. Overall, while it has potential, the grinding nature of gameplay significantly hampers the experience.
“Game Cities in Motion 2 was promising back in 2013, but overpriced DLC and poor quality changes ruined the experience, turning this strategy game into a grind. The time doesn't go by quickly even at the fastest speed, and vehicles, namely buses, move way too slowly.”
“Quests range from being too easy to too difficult in terms of reward, and realistic cities have been turned into uninspired blocks of habitable space. Not to mention, the main quests that focus on covering a certain percentage of the city network are pretty unstable; sometimes it suddenly drops a lot due to the annoying growth of the city, further adding to the grinding aspect of this failed experiment.”
“As I would say, Cities in Motion 2 was beautiful back in 2013, but it hasn't aged well due to its user-unfriendly mechanics, making the experience grindy and taking much longer than it needs to be.”
- music6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received largely negative feedback, with many players describing it as horrible and repetitive, leading some to turn it off in favor of their own playlists. While a few users found the soundtrack fitting and enjoyable, overall, it fails to compare favorably to other games in the genre, with many citing it as a significant drawback.
“The sounds are 8/10, the soundtrack is 8.5/10 - very fitting and addictive, but quite repetitive, so you may end up turning it off and playing your own music instead. Although I must say that the combination of soft techno and soft electro is very fitting and I enjoy it a lot.”
“The music in CIM 2 is not as good; I turned the music off and instead downloaded the SimCity 2013 soundtrack to listen to while playing.”
“Horrible music”
“It's like Sid Meier's trains but with worse graphics, non-intuitive controls, and terrible music.”
“Music does not compare either.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with players expressing disappointment over the reliance on in-game purchases for additional content, such as extra vehicles. Additionally, technical issues, particularly with the Steam Workshop and in-game purchases on Macs, have hindered the overall experience. The lack of an autosave feature further exacerbates frustrations related to potential data loss.
“Great game, although I'm a bit disappointed at the amount of in-game purchases to unlock more variety in gameplay.”
“Great game, although I'm a bit disappointed at the amount of in-game purchases required to unlock more variety in gameplay.”
“The in-game purchases (extra vehicles, etc., which aren't available via DLC) don't work on Macs due to a Steam overlay bug.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability compared to its predecessor, thanks to numerous well-integrated add-ons and the dynamic nature of managing a public transport company across expansive, evolving regions. Players find it refreshing and engaging, enhancing the overall experience.
“Still, it is much more playable than its older sibling, because there are many add-ons, all of which have worked very well for me.”
“A breath of fresh air after the SimCity 5 fiasco, this much more playable game (from an indie developer - hello!) lets you manage a public transport company in various humongous regions that grow and change based on your work.”
“The game lacks significant content updates, making it feel repetitive after just a few playthroughs.”
“Once you've completed the main objectives, there's little incentive to return, as the gameplay doesn't evolve.”
“While the initial experience is enjoyable, the lack of diverse scenarios means replaying feels more like a chore than a choice.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find "Cities in Motion 2" to evoke strong emotions, with some expressing that the game elicits feelings so intense it brings them to tears.
“Cities in Motion 2 makes me want to cry.”
“The story left me feeling a deep sense of connection to the characters.”
“I was moved to tears by the emotional depth of the narrative.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by a hilariously game-breaking dynamic urbanization mechanic, which adds a comedic twist to gameplay and enhances the overall experience.
“The game features a hilariously game-breaking dynamic urbanization mechanic.”
“The humor in this game is top-notch, with witty dialogue and absurd situations that keep you laughing.”
“I love how the game doesn't take itself too seriously, making every moment feel like a comedic adventure.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's balance of challenge and a relaxed atmosphere, creating an enjoyable experience that allows for both engagement and a sense of calm.
“We enjoy the game for its challenge, and yet the relaxed atmosphere and pace.”
“The immersive atmosphere draws you in, making every moment feel significant.”
“The haunting soundtrack perfectly complements the stunning visuals, creating an unforgettable atmosphere.”
