$19.99Constructor Plus Landlords, Liars and Rent
Constructor Plus is a city builder about becoming a ruthless property tycoon, not a kindly mayor. You raise shacks into mansions, casinos and skyscrapers, keep fussy tenants paying rent, and send hippies, thugs, hit men and giant mutant cockroaches after rival landlords.
Is Constructor Plus worth it?
Constructor Plus is worth it if…
- you like city builders with rivalry, sabotage and dark comedy
- you enjoy heavy micromanagement and juggling tenants, crews and repairs
- you played the 1997 original and want more maps, missions and buildings
- you like learning tricky systems until a city finally runs smoothly
Screenshots
From wooden shacks to tycoon towers
You start with nothing and build your way up, one rent cheque at a time. Simple wooden shacks come first, then better houses, then grand mansions, casinos and towering skyscrapers, across more than 147 buildings. With 65 pre-built city scenarios plus story missions, countryside plots and even the moon, there is always a new patch of land to fill.
Pick tenants for each house, match them to the right home and garden gear, and keep them happy enough to pay and produce your next workers. Add monuments and grand commissions to sweeten the neighbourhood. Fail to keep the city up to scratch and the Housing Authority steps in to give you the boot.
Tenants, thugs and dirty tricks
This is a city builder with elbows out. Rival developers want your streets, and polite competition is optional. You can play it straight with good management and smart building, or call in the mob and its cast of undesirables.
That means hippies squatting where they should not, thugs leaning on the neighbours, hit men settling arguments, and giant mutant cockroaches making a property suddenly unliveable. You breed and direct different work crews to build, repair, defend your headquarters or take over enemy assets. It is hectic, demanding and often funny, with a thick streak of dark British humour running through the chaos.
A retro remake with a lot to manage
The look is isometric and deliberately old-school, now cleaned up with higher-resolution buildings and little animated clips that give each house its own character. Underneath sits the 1997 design, with all its suffocating micromanagement intact.
Expect a steep learning curve in the first hours as you learn what each tenant type wants and how rival attacks work. Missions often run on time limits and want things done to the letter, so careful planners should start without computer rivals and learn the ropes. Once the system clicks, packing tenants in just right and juggling building, repairs and sabotage becomes absorbing.
Good to know before you build?
How is this different from a normal city builder?
You are a landlord competing against rival developers, not a mayor serving citizens. Alongside houses, services and monuments, you manage tenants by type, breed work crews for building and defence, and use undesirables to damage rival property. Winning means getting rich and meeting your objectives before rivals run you out or the Housing Authority intervenes.
What can you build and where?
Over 147 buildings, from wooden shacks to mansions, casinos, skyscrapers and monuments, plus outdoor furniture that keeps specific tenants happy. You can play 65 scenarios with different objectives, story missions, a classic mode for traditionalists, and maps set in town, countryside and on the moon. A design mode lets you create your own maps.
Can you play it solo?
Yes. It is single-player, with scenarios and missions played against computer-controlled rivals. If the full scrum feels like too much at first, leave the computer players out while you learn building, rents and tenant demands, then add rivals back when you want sabotage, mobsters and mutant pests in the mix.
Is it hard to learn?
Yes, the opening is demanding. Tenants ask for a lot, rival attacks come from several directions, and missions can fail if you miss their exact goals or run out of time. Save often, since there is no auto-save, and expect a restart or two while your street plan comes together.
