$19.99Cities in Motion Run a century of city transit
Build bus, tram and metro networks across four European cities and keep a growing population moving on time.
Is Cities in Motion worth it?
Cities in Motion is worth it if…
- you like slow, careful planning more than fast reflexes
- you have ever grumbled at a real bus timetable and thought you could do better
- you enjoy tycoon games where the money matters and the pace stays calm
- you want a management game you can play in short, unhurried sessions
- you liked the routing puzzles in Transport Tycoon or OpenTTD
Screenshots
Four cities, one hundred years
Vienna, Helsinki, Berlin and Amsterdam are yours to untangle, each recreated in 3D with more than 100 detailed buildings. Time moves from 1920 to 2020 across four eras, so the streets, the cars and the commuters change around you while your network has to keep up. The tram that carried office workers in the thirties will not be the answer in the eighties. Each city has its own geography to work with: water to cross in Amsterdam and Helsinki, a sprawl to tunnel under in Berlin. A campaign of 12 scenarios walks you through it, and sandbox mode opens up all four cities with no goals but the ones you set.
Running the network
You lay stops, draw lines, pick vehicles and set them loose on a living city where every commuter has a home, a job and somewhere to be in the evening. Buses, trams, metros, water buses and helicopters, over 30 vehicles based on real models, each with its own strengths. A metro moves crowds fast but costs dearly; a bus line is cheap and flexible and clogs the roads. Then the economy shifts, and you adjust wages and ticket prices while watching whether the queues at your stops grow or shrink. When it clicks, a whole metropolis flows on routes you drew.
A tycoon's ledger
This is a business, not a charity. Ticket prices are a dial you keep turning, since too high and commuters walk, too low and your platforms drown in people. Profit is the score, but the commuters judge you too, and an angry city stops riding. The campaign scenarios hand you short-term objectives and rewards, which makes it easy to find your footing before you start chasing bigger schemes.
Building without building the city
Calm, mostly. There is relaxed music under everything, no timers breathing down your neck, and much of the pleasure is simply watching the city move: following a commuter from home to work, or seeing your metro platform fill and empty. Bankruptcy can sneak up on you if you overspend, but the game itself never rushes you.
Questions you might have?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game through and through. The campaign of 12 scenarios, the sandbox mode and the map editor are all built around one planner at a desk, and there is no pressure from other players, timers or leaderboards. You set a line running, watch the city respond, and stop whenever the tea gets cold.
Is it hard to learn?
The basics come quickly: place stops, connect them into a line, choose vehicles, press go. A good tutorial walks you through the first steps. Planning a network that actually turns a profit is another matter, and that is where the game keeps its depth. Expect a few failed attempts before your first genuinely good city.
Can you make your own cities?
Yes. The map editor lets you build a city from scratch and then run its public transport, and the modding community around the game is active, so player-made maps and fixes are easy to find. If the four built-in cities ever run dry, there is more to play.
