Experience urban life to the fullest in this cute family-friendly “virtual dollhouse”

Urban City Stories is a virtual “play pretend” game in which you can visit tons of places and environments. You’re able to do a bit of world-building as well, but not in the way you’ve probably been accustomed to.

Here, you have a very high degree of control over things inside the city. Think of it like one of those physical dollhouses of yore (you may know which ones I’m talking about, especially if you were born before 2005). But there’s a caveat!

My first impression when first playing this game was that it was a decidedly barebones experience. You scarcely get a starting menu, as the game takes you almost immediately from the developer logo at launch to the very meat of the action, leaving you on your own for the most part. This means that you have to learn all the basics the hard way!

While I tend to criticize excessive handholding in modern games and this annoying trend of forcing people into long-winded immersion-killing tutorials, it wouldn’t have hurt to have a handy guide easily accessible or tucked inside a menu somewhere.

Nevertheless, I kinda understood what Subara (not to be confused with the SUV manufacturer Subaru, by the way) was going for here. Children at their earliest stages don’t learn things by reading walls of text, but by visual examples. They also wouldn’t want to be tortured with bloated menus. 

Gameplay is likewise very snappy, all things considered. I did run into some trouble when picking up objects and characters too close to each other or that were too small. Perhaps my fingers are just too fat, but swiping over small objects sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t, moving the camera instead. To the devs’ credit, a touchscreen will never replace the feel of grabbing real-life dolls and toys, hence, you should expect some compromises. 

On a more positive note, this game looks absolutely phenomenal. Not only are the graphics amazingly detailed for a mobile game, but the presentation and art style are top-notch and not unlike anything you’d see from the likes of Nintendo. 

In fact, this game could well have passed as a Nintendo release and I might have believed it. Perhaps its strong resemblance with Splatoon might have something to do with it. Just in case, I’m not accusing anyone of plagiarism… just sayin’!

This game also has some really amusing moments. Having cops slurping water at my command can never not be funny to me. Also, you get to see some really funny puns here and there, such as “Broccoli Street”. I mean, what’s not funny about that name? Subaru Subara wins additional points here for originality. Hehehe... broccoli! *Peter Griffin mode off*

Anyways, back to the script. 

Let’s now segway into a very important topic (at least for me): The game’s monetization. In this regard, I truly appreciated what Subara did here.

That said, when you use the game you are basically just getting a demo version in which you interact with basic objects and people on the street.You also get a glimpse of the indoor environments, but you won’t be capable of engaging with all the content therein until you pay for the full version.

I know I’ve criticized games in the past that hid access to certain levels, areas, or features behind a paywall, but this game at least does it the honest way. It’s the traditional “if you like what you see, pay up” approach. The kind of monetization tactics that I generally reproach are those whereby developers artificially increase the game’s difficulty to force you to pay for boosters and perks. This game, thankfully, does none of that. 

The game costs roughly $6, which is not too steep (but not too cheap, either). Plus, you only have to pay once, a very welcoming gesture that I wished other developers made.

Verdict

I could say a lot more about Urban City Stories, but I won’t spoil you with any more details. If you lack a Nintendo console and crave a Nintendo-style game that you can enjoy with your kids and is “teacher approved”, I’d definitely recommend that you check this one out. It will not disappoint.

You can also voice your thoughts about this game or this analysis in the commentary box below!