Stop At: Mozartplatz, Mozartpl., 5020 Salzburg, Austria And while the freemiumization of a franchise means it will be free, it does not necessarily mean it will be a better experience.This is a typical itinerary for this product While Virtual City Playground is certainly a competent freemium offering, players of the original game will likely be put off by the severe changes that were made to the core mechanics and gameplay. There is a ton more I would love to learn about the history of the making of these cities now, but that falls outside the scope of this book so now I am hoping for a volume 2 that might dive into such things. It would have been cool to see more insights from developers on a greater amount of the included games and maybe concept art of the city to accompany the stylized renditions. While I have enjoyed my read of Virtual Cities, even the cities from games I don’t play, the whole experience has left me with a few thoughts. The technology and genre of each title have likely played into this viewpoint for sure, but it has been fun to go back and take a second look. A lot of these locations have always been little more than backdrops to me, while others I had no problem as seeing as living places. After reading through a selection of entries all I wanted to do was go and roam the streets of that particular location and take it in from a new perspective I hadn’t ever considered before. A number of these design insights segments have information from their original developers, which is always a welcome read! What I personally think Virtual Cities does best with its selection of cities is make you want to go and visit them. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Complete Collectionįollowing each description is a section on design insights, explaining some of the concepts behind what makes these cities work and function within their respective games. The entries for City 17, Clock Town, Tarsonis, and The Citadel were my first stops, with each offering new takes on familiar locations! Each of the in-universe descriptions is accompanied by Maria Kallikaki’s illustrations to further help convey the information on hand. The full list of cities is covered in the table of contents at the start of the book allowing readers to dive right into their personal favorites. There is such a great range of games covered, spanning 35 years of gaming history from the iconic ZX Spectrum up to the modern-day of Xbox One, PS4, and Switch. Then there are the takes on Raccoon City and Silent Hill which offer a completely unique spin compared to some of the other entries, that being a post-apocalyptic perspective. Virtual City Playground is completely off kilter from the original game.īoth of them have a fun story given to them thanks to Dimopoulos’ writing. While this approach doesn’t seem too complicated for cities like Whiterun from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which has tons of flushed out in-game lore and is fully explorable to players), covering a beat-em-up city like Metro City from Final Fight or racing backdrop Olympic City from Need For Speed Underground are a different story. Each of the 45 cities covered throughout the book is described from an in-universe perspective. If you were lucky enough to get into the crowd-funded version you are getting something that looks altogether different and I am jealous of you all! The information contained within the pages of Virtual Cities is conveyed in an interesting way and one I didn’t think would come off as good as it did. Just a side note here, my impressions are all based upon the retail version of Virtual Cities that is available as of November 10, 2020. Compared to some other hardcover books I have bought recently, Virtual Cities feels very premium, which is exactly how I like all of my video game related items! Cyber Manhunt For this hardcover release, the 214 pages have a good thickness and feel with a strong binding holding it all together. A short bio for Dimopoulos and Kallikaki can be found just beneath this, giving us insight into the minds that brought this book to life. Moving on to the back cover we have a number of illustrations of the cities contained within the book and a nice outline of what it is about. As most of you all hopefully know by now, I love it when a cover gives an excellent representation of what it contains inside and Virtual Cities does exactly that! Virtual City Playground HD proves that not every game should go freemium. The subtext for this being a video game atlas is also proudly displayed along with author Konstantinos Dimopoulos’ name. Yes I know, you aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when it looks good I want to take a minute to appreciate it! The base cover is pure white and accented with a red and black overhead map with the Virtual Cities title taking center stage. Before we dive in, let’s take a moment to look at the overall quality of the book as a whole.
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