April 16th, 2008 by PCG

Game Review: Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year

I admit, I was worried that a sequel to Build-a-lot could not recapture the ambience of the original game, which I truly love. However, developer HipSoft managed to keep all that was good about the first game and add some fantastic new features that only increase the overall enjoyment. Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year really delivers the goods. (Or is that materials? Ha! A little Build-a-lot humor there...)

For those who have not played Build-a-lot, let me explain a little about how the game works. The story takes place in a series of towns where the locals want to expand and improve their properties. As a contractor, you'll spend time in each town completing assignments that meet the requirements of the local leaders in order to progress to the next level. Completing the goals quickly earns a gold ribbon.

In this real estate development simulation, the local leader of each town will give you a set of goals to accomplish as well as a time limit in which to complete the level. Goals can include building certain homes, raising the town's appeal rating, earning significant amounts of cash and more.

You will build various houses, buildings, shops and parks according to the goals of each level. The houses range in style from small bungalows to giant palaces, featuring brand new designs from the first game. You can earn rental income from the homes you build, or sell them for huge profits.

Support buildings, such as workshops and recycling centers, can help you along the way, providing deep discounts for training new construction workers and super cheap building materials. Other structures, like the coffee shop, can give you an added income. A variety of parks, including a play park for the kids and elegant Zen parks, increase the overall appeal rating of your towns while providing lovely scenic touches.

You will need to learn how to manage your cash carefully, since you'll have to spend money to make money. Materials can be expensive but there are several ways you can earn income. Selling homes that you own can give you quick financial boosts, but leave you short on properties in the end. The bulk of your income in most levels will come from the rent you collect from your homes. Shops, like the coffee shop, will pay you every month with the new profit sharing feature and banks can dish out significant amounts of interest. Finding the right balance for each town can be challenging.

Build-a-lot 2 boasts several new features and improvements over the original game. You now have the ability to custom paint any homes you own or build. This may not sound like much, but I found that it really broke the monotony that can set in when building several homes all in the same style. Painting the houses also gives you a nice bonus to your town's appeal rating, increasing the overall value of your properties...

I think most of you have at least tried the first title of the series - Build-a-lot. And most of those who tried couldn't stop playing. Well, for me it was like this. So I am really happy to tell you about the sequel to our favorite strategy game - Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year.

This time the Mayors of 8 towns taking part in the Town of the Year competition will invite you to complete their projects and help them get the towns ready for the contest. From Maple Creek to View Haven - you are welcome to build the town of your dream! Surely, each Mayor has his own plans and vision of his kingdom development, so your tasks on each level will be absolutely different. But all of them challenging, that's what I can say without doubt!

The game play is basically the same as in the first part - you draft blueprints, construct or buy houses, upgrade them (meet a great new feature - paint the houses in any colour you wish to increase social appeal of the vicinity), repair if necessary, than sell them for profit or demolish if they are no more needed - whatever you like. You will also build parks, shops and other buildings making every neighbourhood much more attractive for citizens...

Late last year HipSoft released Build-a-lot, a casual real estate tycoon sim where you buy and construct houses, raise their value, and stack piles of cash behind your desk. The successful paring down of a complex subject matter was a huge hit, and we learned just how fun it can be to have the power of bulldozers and million dollar incomes at our disposal. The sequel, Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year, has just been released, and a critical question immediately came to mind: why not call it Build-a-lot-more? Ok ok, so I'm no marketing genius, but according to this game, I might be a real estate whiz.

The over-arching theme of Build-a-lot 2 is to improve each town's value by meeting goals set by each area's mayor. Tasks range from building a number of houses/buildings to earning a set amount of cash or increasing rent income to a certain level. All the while you must manage three things: cash, workers, and materials. Money rules them all and is used for every action you take. With money you must ensure you have enough materials to build new houses or upgrade and repair existing ones. Workers are necessary to carry out your plans, and the more you have the more jobs you can undertake at once.

Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year doesn't deviate much from the formula established by its predecessor, which is a very good thing. With a few simple mouse clicks you travel from town to town buying up empty lots and building houses in their stead. After drafting the right blueprints you can build several types of houses, each requiring more upkeep, materials and resources to construct. Bigger houses bring in more rent, and in order to meet each level's goal, you'll have to rake in as much cash as you can...

It’s quite amazing that our review of the first Build-a-lot game immediately took place after we transferred here at Casualicious dot Com (coming from Blogspot). And now, I guess it’s just like an anniversary as we get to review HipSoft’s much awaited sequel to the real estate Time Management simulation game. So without further ado, I now present the Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year game review.

The Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year game, as well as the first Build-a-lot game gets you to fill in the shoes of a real estate developer, whose task is to satisfy construction requests from your local clients. And on the case of this game, your clients are the mayors of each of the town you get to have projects on, themselves. Fulfill the requests, learn the ropes of real estate planning, and of course, earn money and reputation in the process. And if you’re good enough (or fast enough since this is a Time Management game), you get to have some of those shiny badges too for all your efforts...