


When it gets to nighttime, you’re basically not going to be able to see a damn thing while in portable mode, despite being able to manually adjust the Switch’s screen brightness.City Skylines APK is a great groundbreaking game that gives users a realistic simulation space, now available on Android and brings high quality graphics to serve people in the process of entertainment. That being said, the darkness and contrast settings of this game are so out of whack that I wish I could turn off the in-game clock. I wouldn’t call it ideal (especially not the battery drain), but it beats the heck out of docked play. It looks worse than docked and still isn’t devoid of sluggish framerates, but the game typically performs at a much better click. In a surprise twist, handheld mode does run better than docked play. I’m probably underestimating the amount of work required to bring Cities to Switch, but I’m convinced the Switch was not the right platform for this title. It comes off like a beta version of a product instead of a fully functional, ready-to-sell game. Terrible pop-in, languid framerates, and choppy audio were all on the docket. Using the “Unlimited Money” option, I set out creating a massive city and the end result was just disgusting. This can be tweaked by clicking the “Unlock All Milestones” feature at the start, but then the game will label your save file as “Assisted” and that branding can feel draining. Essentially, this requirement railroads you into playing a game a specific way from the offset. After completing that, you’ll wait around for your population to grow before laying down a bit more housing and repeating the process.

This makes the early goings of each city play out exactly the same, having you focus on optimizing your spending to lay out just enough residential zoning, electricity, and piping to generate more revenue. The game is also hamstrung by its milestone system, which demands you reach a certain population number to unlock further building options. District painting also doesn’t let you add to already established districts, instead creating entirely new ones that can overlap with previously plotted areas. You’ll have to scroll to each individual piece of road or building you want demolished to make room for whatever your plans are. Maybe these are in the PC version (I’ve never personally played that), but batch deleting is impossible when making renovations. That isn’t to say everything is perfect because Cities: Skylines does miss a few key features that would greatly improve the experience.
