Virtual City
Platform: Download (Windows)
Many time management/casual simulation games, such as the Build-a-Lot series or Be Rich!, challenge the player in different ways, whether it be building or development, services or power. Now, along comes a new player in the field, Virtual City. Created by G5 Entertainment, Virtual City gives us a new and different take on city development: transportation.
Whereas Build-a-Lot focuses on building, and Be Rich! focuses on development and wealth accumulation, Virtual City takes an entirely different route. The player owns not a real estate company or development company but a trucking company. It is up to the player to develop supply chains, garbage hauling, and people transportation as the underpinning to development (or redevelopment) of various levels. You will end up constructing buildings, but your money comes in solely from moving raw materials, manufactured goods, people, and garbage. Whatever you do, don't forget the garbage.
A handy tutorial will walk you through the first few scenarios. Something simple, like, for instance, the shopping mall needs a supply of pies. However, even something as easy as that takes some thought and planning. Wheat needs to be transported to a mill, then the flour needs to be transported to a bakery. The bakery can't make anything without milk, though, so you'll need a third truck delivering milk from a dairy farm. Then, once pies are being made, you'll need yet another truck to transport them to the mall. And while all this is going on, businesses are generating garbage, necessitating the purchase of dumpsters to haul it away. And a recycling plant to handle it. And... well, you get the picture. Each scene has a certain amount of time in which to accomplish all goals to achieve expert status. If you go past that time, the game will continue until you complete all of the stated goals. You can, of course, go back and try again if you want to nab expert in every scenario.
You start small with a few buildings available, but eventually you will tackle much larger projects such as train stations, marinas, and even a space shuttle launch center. Beginning trucks can only haul so much (usually one unit of a material or good) but can be upgraded to larger and more efficient sizes. And everything you do has a measurable environmental impact, as well as a happiness impact on the citizens of your little virtual city. Early on, towns will be small and will fit easily into a screen. Later, as you tackle bigger and bigger projects, the map expands. Move the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen to scroll around, or right click and drag the ground.
Virtual City consists of 50 separate challenges spread across five states, each with their own "flavor" due to the location and climate. California, especially, is a challenge as nearly every town has just survived some sort of natural disaster and needs cleanup and re-establishment of services. Complete a town or two and unlock the sandbox mode for that state, a fun separate challenge where you start with a set amount of money and a vast open space to develop as you please. No timers, no goals, just fun.
Analysis: Despite the resemblance to established time management/casual sim games, Virtual City stands on its own merits. The gameplay is thoroughly absorbing and quite fun as you watch the dance of your little trucks to and fro in the city streets. By shifting the focus to transportation needs, Virtual City has opened up a new way of seeing the world and a whole new skillset that needs to be learned.
Visually, Virtual City is fantastically appealing. Bright, vivid, and minutely detailed, you can spend a lot of time just enjoying the scenery and forget that there are actual goals to meet. Lively music and sound effects are the perfect accompaniment as you get lost in each town's transportation needs. Each state features not only appropriate background scenery, but also accompanying weather systems and other unique problems to the regions. Definitely watch out for the California rounds!
With loads of scenarios to work through, trophies to be won, and the sandbox modes for each state, Virtual City offers hours and hours of fantastic casual gameplay. Fun to play in small chunks or while away the time in immersive gameplay. Not a clone or a knock-off, but a virtual experience all its own, Virtual City is a fantastic wild ride. Just, really, don't forget the garbage. You won't like what happens if you do.
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Virtual City is available to download from these affiliates:
Very interesting twist on the traditional building games. This games adds a lot of new challenges to the "build a XXX" genre.
My only complaint is that I finished a level on "not expert" mode and the game would not let me go back and try it again. If you are into having a full screen of expert flags, beware.
Like all these games, it gets repetitive after a while. Even so, it kept me amused for 38 levels before I moved on.
Hodag -
When you are at the map, simply click in the state you want to go to. When the state comes up, click on the town you want to try again and click play. I did it several times to go back and get the "expert" trophies. So you can go back and replay.
This game reminds a lot of the "Transport Tycoon" which simply is a better version of this game. But sure, I'm enjoying the bright graphics and transporting-fun.
good game, just too short, only 5 states from 51 and dc
Great fun though I'm currently wondering how to attract more people to the city (need 45 but it seems stalled at 22 despite plenty of accommodation).
5/5
Whenever you want population to grow past one per house you must
raise your environmental level above zero.
I am stuck I can't find how you make garbage to produce plastic b/c you don't have any dumpsters please comment
Dumpsters/garbage-plastic
Without dumpster you do not have garbage, without garbage no plastic ;)
You need a dumpster bringing the garbage to the recycling plant and a truck to transport the recycling boxes to the plastic fabric
Greetings, Kayleigh
Hi, could really use some help :)
Im in the city Glendive and the objective says: transport 100 passengers to the Ismay. But I cant drop people of there, only pick them up. What am I missing?
Sandra - Glendive
I'm not exactly sure, which level it is, at the mall and the airport for example you do not have to build a bus station to pick up people there - so maybe it is the same? You pick up and drop the same time?
Greetings, Kayleigh
I've been playing for 4 hours and now want to close the PC - How do you save this game?
Sandra -
When you assign a bus to Ismay are you also assigning it to some of your bus stops? When you do so you are moving people to Ismay.
Matthew -
Just go to the menu button then main menu then exit. The game auto saves when you leave.
hi there i am having a hard time with 4-4 you need to send oil and reciling to the other city but you need 40 oil and you run out at 45.....i feel like im missing something....lol....any help would be soooo good.....thanks
I found it to be quite like SimCity, in a casual game form. For a transport company you might as well be the Mayor. I found setting up transport links to be repetitive, and once you have a dozen trucks on the road, management of the system becomes opaque. The demo never really lets you play the game proper, only some tutorial levels: a shame, I never really got to see the game I would be buying. I didn't like the way the demo ended: it chucks you out of the game without warning in the middle of what you are doing after a certain time. It would be more courteous to have the demo limited to a small number of levels.
when i'm at the level where you build the marina and yacht, i cannot build the marina. I have all of the resources except the last one, i believe it is population 0/200. The only thing is, that i already do have a population of around 500 people, yet it still doesn't let me build the marina! what am i doing wrong?? my envioronment and happiness are high also.
Stephi -
That requirement means you need to transport 200 people to the marina.
steph use the bus to take people to the marina.
I need help with the level where you have to destroy all 4 factories bakery related factories. Im not even close to finishing it on time
Hi plushpuppy. I was having a hard time with this one, too. I found the following and cut and pasted it here. Thanks to efikefi for the post!
*******************************************
Start with using all trucks to deliver all cake materials, don't bother upgrading them. Once u finish and all cakes are delivered to the mall, demolish all cake factories and sell all trucks.
You will have sufficent money by then to buy a bus, a recycling center and a dumpster.
Set the bus to drive from the station you already have to the mall and set the garbage truck's to collect garbage from all houses.
Use all income you get to build 2 more bus stations, each one in the center of 3 houses you already have in different areas, and to buy 2 more busses.
Set each bus to deliver passengers from 1 different station to the mall.
Upgrade your busses and dumpster to the maximum
Build big houses around the green area of each buss station
Upgrade houses with bus station every time you have enough money
Build a theatre and asign a bus from all stations to it - upgrade it fully
You don't need a plaza, you just need to make sure you upgrade anything possible at any given moment, starting from income ofcourse
(for example: When you upgrade a bus station's neighborhood, upgrade the bus accordingly)
If you have both mall and theatre with 4 different fully upgraded busses and enough population to fill those busses, you'll reach the 200 happiness and have a very good chance to expert this level and win your gold cup...
Hope this helps - good luck!
I don't know what level it is, but I am having problems with the appliance level. How do you get gold to the microchip factory?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Please can anyone help :( im stuck on level montana 6. fosyth, i cant get a road to the oil company the entrance to the oil company is where the big hill is and it wont let me do anything and its really doing my head in lol plz plz help. Emma
@Mary: To get Gold, you need to create the Gold factory. Use trucks to transport gold to the Microchip Factory.
I am at the level where we must decontaminate all the houses and cure all the people. I can build a hospital to cure people but I have no way of recycling the garbage. any ideals on how to beat this level. It in the montana state. I can do all the steps except reach the required 300 population as the houses are steady becoming contaminated and the clock runs down before i can finish.
So... who's gonna write the walkthru, already??? C'mon, people! :-)
Does anyone know how to get to 2000 environment for that board?
i am stuck on montana level 1 ... i have upgraded everything but i can't get my income high enough
where is plevna?
need to transport 200 passenger from plevna to entertainment
Need help with California solidad level.
The quest is to deliver 15 appliances but I don't see a way to build a gold plant to supply the microchip factory. Any help would be greatly appreciated because this makes me feel stupid!!!
Never mind....I figured it out and now I really do feel stupid! :)
JIGuest - Build monuments and fountains where ever you can. Upgrade what buildings you can. Destroy the Sawmill as soon as you've harvested and delivered 10 wood. Rebuild any empty forest spaces. Destroying the Sawmill gives you a nice space to build either monuments or fountains.
I've not been able to pass the Cheboygan Michigan (4-7) stage, where you need to restore all abandoned houses, get $5,000 daily income, 350 population and a 600 environmental rating.
I've upgraded all my buses (14 of them) and dumpsters (2 of these) and still can't seem to find a way to hit the income requirement. Any tips? :)
Guys, i need somehelp in California solidad level
i need 15 appliances.. the resources especially the steel mill is actually enough to make a chip but the problem is.. every time i gather the steel.. i end up lacking 1 steel.. could anyone give me some advice :( i couldn't finish the game
What's the point leaving anything on here no-one gets back to you when you do!! i left a post "Please can anyone help :( im stuck on level montana 6. fosyth, i cant get a road to the oil company the entrance to the oil company is where the big hill is and it wont let me do anything and its really doing my head in lol plz plz help. Emma" but no-one seems to know the answer or just ignoring my question!! i know peeps have got past this so why isnt anyone telling me how to get the road to the oil station .
very disappointed
emma.
im having problems with montanna 1 trying to get an income $6000 daily it only goes up for me to 3500 ive built and built houses factorys bus station whatever it allowed me to build i wish it would have gave me more things to build but it didnt so any help to reach that 6000.00 limit please tell me ty
Emma -
All you have to do is demolition the trees around the oil company (on the left and around) and extend the road there. Here's a screenshot of a partially built road around the oil company.
ihLyah -
There should be just enough steel on that level to complete it, are you sure that your trucks are delivering it all to the microchip plant?
Cheyanne -
You've upgraded your buses, but how many people are at the bus stops? For instance, if your bus can carry 40 people (max upgrade) but only 12 people use the stop, then you're not maximizing your money. If there are less people at the stop than the buses can handle, upgrade the houses for more population.
Level 4-7
1. Build the road to connect all buildings to the Garage
2. Construct a Recycling Plant
3. Upgrade the Garage to the 1st star
4. Buy 4 dumpsters and add the buildings from one of the 4 parts of the map to the route of each dumpster
5. Clean the area in the left part of the map at the bottom near the Bus Station and construct a Theater
6. Route buses transporting passengers from Bus Stations in the left part of the map to the Theater
7. Restore all houses near all Bus Stations
8. Add all restored buildings to the route of dumpsters
9. Clean the area from burnt trees
10. Construct Fountains, Monuments to increase the level of Environment
11. Buy a Bus and route it from one of the Bus Stations near the Theater to the Theater
12. Upgrade dumpsters to the 1st star
13. Upgrade the houses near the Bus Stations to the 3d star
14. Upgrade other houses
15. Upgrade the buses to the 2nd star
16. Route three buses in the left part of the map from the Bus Station closest to the Theater to the Theater (to achieve $5000 Income)
17. Construct a Plaza and run a special event (Fireworks)
I'm having the same issue as Kimmie, i.e: I'm trying to get oil to export to the other city (along with recyclables) in order to get string in exchange so that I can complete 10 clothes. The problem I have is that I cannot get anymore oil from the oil derrick. Does anyone know what to do/ what I'm doing wrong?
Like a couple of other comments still pending, I'm not able to reach the income level ($6000) I need for Montana 1. I've upgraded to the max all factories, trucks, buses, dumpsters and have built all houses I can find room for, as well as having a fountain and monument. What am I missing.
Hi,
Im really stuck on 3-1.
I have to reach a goal of $6000 income.
I cant get it past $5000.
I really dont know what im doing wrong, i have upgraded everything i could, yet i cant get this income.
How did anyone else pass this level?
Im even using a walkthrough, and i still cant figure this out.
Can anyone help me please?
Melissa14 -
Do you have both supply chains (furniture and appliances) going at once?
I am stuck on Michigan 3 Troy I have completed all goals but the 6,000 daily income. I get up to almost 5,000 and it drops. I am also having trouble with getting the truck to deliver the recyclables from the one town to the plastic factory and getting the people from both out lying towns to here they need to be I am only getting like 2 or 3 at a time. Please can someone help me
Kathy -
Are both your supply chains running at the same time? That is, are you producing clothes and furniture at the same time?
You should have four buses running: 1 taking folks from the two bus stops to the theater, 1 taking folks from the two bus stops to the mall, 1 taking folks from the two bus stops to the first town where you get thread, the last taking folks from the two stops to the place where you get recyclables.
Make sure all your plants are at three stars, all your trucks are at three stars, and all your buses are at three stars to carry maximum loads. That should get you the income you need.
Michigan 3-1
1. Construct a Steel Mill in the upper part of the map
2. Construct a Gold Plant not far from the Steel Mill
3. Construct a Microchip Factory near the Gold Plant
4. Buy two trucks. Route a truck from a Steel Mill to the Microchip Factory. Route another truck from the Gold Plant to the Microchip Factory
5. Construct a Recycling Plant
6. Buy a Dumpster
7. Add all production buildings to the route of the Dumpster
8. Upgrade the Garage to the 1st star
9. Buy a Dumpster. Add all dwelling houses to the route of the dumpster
10. Construct a Bus Station as close to the dwelling houses as possible
11. Buy a Bus
12. Route the bus from the Bus Station to the Shopping Mall
13. Earn some money and construct Plastic Factory near the Recycling Plant
14. Buy a truck and route it from the Recycling Plant to the Plastic Factory
15. Construct an Oil Derrick
16. Buy a truck and route it from the Oil Derrick to the Plastic Factory
17. Earn some money and construct an Appliance Factory
18. Buy a truck and route it from the Microchip Factory to the Appliance Factory. Upgrade the truck to the 1st star
19. Upgrade production buildings (Steel Mill, Gold Plant, Oil Derrick, Recycling Plant, Plastic Factory, Microchip Factory, Appliance Factory) to the 1st star if possible
20. Upgrade the Garage to the 2nd star
21. Buy a truck and route it from the Plastic Factory to the Appliance Factory
22. Route the truck with Gold from the Appliance Factory to the Shopping Mall
23. Construct a Cotton Farm and a Wool Farm near the Tunnel at the bottom of the map
24. Construct a Fabric Factory close to the Cotton and Wool Farms
25. Buy two trucks. Route a truck from the Wool Farm to the Fabric Factory. Route another truck from the Cotton Farm to the Fabric Factory. Upgrade these trucks to the 1st star
26. Upgrade the Cotton and the Wool Farms to the 1st star
27. Construct a Sawmill and a Furniture Factory at the bottom of the map near the Tunnel
28. Upgrade the Garage to the 3rd star
29. Buy a truck and route it from the Sawmill to the Furniture Factory
30. Buy a truck and route it from the Fabric Factory to the Furniture Factory
31. Buy a truck and route it from the Plastic Factory to the Furniture Factory
32. Upgrade the Sawmill to the 1st star
33. Upgrade the Plastic Factory to the 2nd star
34. Upgrade the Furniture Factory to the 1st star
35. Buy a truck and route it from the Furniture Factory to the Shopping Mall
36. Upgrade all trucks left to the 1st star
37. Deliver pieces of Furniture to the Shopping Mall
38. Achieve Daily Income of $6000
In 4-4 where do I get more wood to finish the furniture...have just 6 of 10
I am stuck on Michigan level 4 saginaw. Does anyone have a walkthrough for this level. I almost get done and then I run out of oil before I can finish it!
I'm stuck on building the train. I can't get any people resources for that. I've build houses and kept the environment up. I just don't know how to get the people there. How do I do that?
Starlitegirl: The reason you don't have people at the train station is because you have to route a bus from the various bus stations to the train station. When you set up the route, you'll click on the bus stations and then see that you can click on the station as a destination. It's not enough to have the bus just pass the train station.
I made it all the way to 5.8, and now Im STUCK. Can anyone help with how to link all the busestops properly? Ive tried all kinds of combinations and even deleted all the buses and started over.
I'm stuck at the Deer Lodge, Montana level where you have to eliminate the "four" chain bakeries. I don't see but ONE bakery. Playing the game, I'm made every goal except to eliminate the bakeries. I did eliminate the one obvious bakery. Where are the rest? I'll appreciate any help on this.
Richard Severino -
When they say the bakery chain, they mean the businesses that make up the whole chain to the bakery, so that would include the wheat farm, the mill, the dairy farm, and the bakery.
Josh, I'd like to help you with the 5-8, but I don't seem to understand your problem. I've just gathered all the stations into chain, except for the upper left - it can be connected to the initial part of the city (where the theater and other buildings are). Hope this helps! If not, could you describe your situation better?
Josh -
All you need to do is assign one bus to all the bus stops.
Duh! Excuse my previous request. It just dawned on me that appliances come from Custer, and I provide the oil and steel.
can anyone help with california level 10 (san diego). i can't seem to be able to get enough trucks to make all the delieveries, and enough busses to deliver people, and enough dumpsters to handle all the trash. any help....please!!!
MahaloManX -
Make sure the three dumpsters you start with are upgraded to three stars, they should be able to handle the load without adding any additional dumpsters. Only have two buses at the most running as well. Once you get enough deliveries to the marina of the appliances, reassign all the trucks in that chain (plastic, steel, microchips, appliances) to other tasks (furniture, pies, etc.) and you should have enough vehicles to cover everything.
I don't know if others have done this, but I found that when a particular level requires you to make furniture and appliances and autos, or whatever, it's better and more profitable to do each in succession, that is, not to be running two or three chains at once. I didn't make high enough income until I did that.
By the way, is there any way to keep vehicles from breaking down so frequently? I've had times when vehicles were breaking down once every two or three seconds, regardless of how many stars they were.
Richard Severino -
Build some tech stations, you will find them in the build menu under miscellaneous. The cover a certain amount of area and trucks will not break down within that area.
I've completed all 50 levels, got expert in all but two of them. I'm a bit puzzled about the three trophies I'm missing.
3000 population
2000 happiness
1,000,000 saved
Has anyone managed to acquire them? I seem to remember that stopping a level mid-game would trigger a trophy if the requirements were fulfilled. I've tried going back to previous levels and getting my population/happiness up, but that hasn't worked so far (I haven't 'completed' the level with those numbers, though.)
Isis, to win these trophies, you have to complete ANY level with according numbers of population, happiness or money stored on your bank account. Is it that you fulfill the condition, but do not receive the trophey, or is it that you find it difficult to reach those numbers?
@AnnaDark
I'm fine reaching those amounts. I just didn't want to bark up the wrong tree. I had a vague memory of receiving a trophy when I took a break mid-level and tried that with those 3 trophies, so it looks like I imagined that method. Thanks for the info that the levels must be completed for the trophy to be awarded.
Also to contribute to this page, my favorite strategy for making money is
to build a bus station as close to an entertainment facility as possible. The more expensive the facility price, the more money your buses will bring in. The closer the bus station, the more trips you make, the more money you pull in. However... sometimes the bus doesn't move at all. It will show $0 as the income, but this is not true, as your bank account will accrue bus-loads of money. That said, if the game conditions state you need a particular income, these $$$$ buses incomes will not count towards that, so make sure you've got other routes going.
Here is some help for level 4-4 Saginaw
1. Get your trucks working to earn income. (upgrade them to get more income)
2. Build appliances first.
3. Ensure dumptrucks are picking up trash from ALL buildings.
4. NOTE: You only have 35 oil. YOU WILL RUN OUT AND NOT BE ABLE TO FINISH THIS LEVEL IF YOU DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO SENDING ONLY 10 OF THE OIL TO EACH (10 to appliances, 10 to string to make cloth for clothes, 10 to furniture).
5. Do appliances first, get all 10 delivered to the mall, then do the next (either clothing or furniture). when you do clothing, you have to get the polyester thread from out of town, ensure you do not send more than 10 oil out of town, you will not get it back and there will not be enough for furniture.
6. TIP: Upgrade trucks to only green or yellow, this level doesnt require red to get expert. Once you deliver all to the mall, you should have enough time as long as you are on each thing right away.
Thanks AnnaDark and grinnyp for the help. I'm an idiot, and totally missed a bus stop entirely. Once I cut the trees down and connected it with a road and a bus I finished the level. I finished the game pretty quickly after that.
I finish the game but want to earn the stadium and anything after that but don't know how please help
I am having trouble on 3-6...my sawmill will only produce 9 pieces of lumber...and then it stops completely and I need 10 furnitures to be delivered to the mall to pass the level. any suggestions on what i could be doing wrong? thank you!
@christina
do I understand it right that you are delivering both cotton and lumber to the Miles City to import furniture in return?
Could it be possible that one item of the lumber is already delivered, or it is in the process of delivery?
ALso, sometimes it is required to replant the forest around the sawmill, so that it would start producing woods again. Let me know whether this has helped! ;)
@BiggDee
Depending on your level results (environment, population, population happiness, bank account and time) you learn the invest points. You can spend these invest points in the R&D lab - the stadium and other buildings become available to you once you've completed certain levels (don't remember which exactly :)).
Hi everyone! I'm on California 2-5 level, and I feel stupid for not being able to figure this out, but my oil derrick says it has 15 oil when I start out, but then when I start transporting, it only ends up with 14. Anyone else have this problem or know what to do? THANK YOU!!!
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