2001 · Media Factory · City-building · Real-time strategy

MetropolisMania

PlayStation exclusive

The best cities are built on friendship, not concrete! Everybody wants to live in the best city in the world! That's why you're a Metropolismaker, a well-connected urban planner who creates the most popular places on the planet. Of course com of your citizens have other ideas, so you'll have to work extra hard to keep everyone happy.

Released: 27 September 2001
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Genres: City-building Real-time strategy Simulation Strategy
Developers: Media Factory
Publishers: Winning Entertainment Group Media Factory
Series: Metropolismania Simple 2000 Series
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: First person Bird view / Isometric
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB T USK 0
Entry: #1 in Metropolismania

About

Metropolismania (known in Japan as Machi-ing Maker) is a city-building game developed by Indi for the PlayStation 2. It was released for the Japanese market in 2001 and internationally in 2002. The object of the game is to interact with NPCs in order to populate various towns. , titled Metropolismania 2 (Machi-ing Maker 2: Zoku Boku no Machi Zukuri in Japan).

The title was released on August 28, 2007 in North America and in Japan on July 13, 2006 by D3 Publisher. Another sequel, Machi-ing Maker 3, was released for the PlayStation Portable by D3 Publisher exclusively in Japan which also contains a minigame in collaboration with the Japanese gameshow Run For Money. Machi-ing Maker 4 was released November 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Keywords

management

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

There are various goals to complete in each of the five main scenarios. Goals always involve growing the town to a given population, and often ensuring that a percentage of the buildings are of a certain type, i.e. businesses, farms, or amusement facilities. There are also side stories that occur within each scenario, sometimes including bizarre instances involving smuggling rings, a cult, and even aliens. When all requirements for the scenario have been met, the player's boss will call to congratulate them and send a letter of resignation, allowing the player to move on to the next scenario.

Gameplay also centers heavily on interaction with the in-game characters. Each character has a friendship meter that increases or decreases based on interactions such as "gossip" and giving gifts. Relationship statuses are: "stranger," "know the face," "acquaintance," "friend," and "best friend." Introducing new citizens or solving complaints is often based on good friendship status with these characters.

Reception

Metropolismania received "mixed" reviews, while its sequel received "unfavorable" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. GamePro said that the former game was "worth a visit for anyone whose ideal night of TV involves [a] The Simpsons episode where they go to Japan followed by two Iron Chef episodes back-to-back. It is, however, potentially baffling to anyone else." In Japan, Famitsu gave the latter game a score of one six, two fives, and one four for a total of 20 out of 40.