In my last review for Virtual City 2, I mentioned that I was disappointed that their release of Virtual City Playground for the iPad had not been released for the Android.  Well, it seems that the incredibly awesome folks at G5  had a surprise in the works (just for me?) and have just released the ported game on the Android Market.  Not that it matters much to us that have upgraded to the Android, but an iPhone version is being released as well.

Virtual City Playground gives the Android platform the “sandbox” mode that Virtual City 2 does not provide (yet?) when it comes to the Android.  And it does so in a way that reminds me of the freemium model of FaceBook games like Zynga’s Farmville – through in app purchases.  Real currency can be used to purchase in-game currency.  If you don’t want to wait until you have the funds for new buildings or expanded territory, you can purchase those credits (money) or “invest points” from the market.  Since the market aspects of the game were not available as I gave the pre-release version a test spin, my progress was slow.  As such, a lot of the things I discuss in this review refer to the iPad HD version from which this is ported, and not actual experience in the game on the Android.

The game also adds something new that greatly changes the game strategy.  You not only have to have enough money to build something once you have gained enough investment points to unlock it, but you also require energy.  This new dynamic really adds a nice depth to the game though.  As your city grows, you obtain more energy necessary to build new things and/or expand.  And the energy is tied to time.  So this app adds the time element that I was also suggesting in the last review.  You can’t directly purchase energy, but you can purchase (if you wish) investment points and city credits which allows you to build new things like new  famous landmarks that are kind of like the “wonders” you see in other games.  These items then, in turn, increase energy over time.  And this isn’t just game play time, but over time even while the game is minimized.  In essence, it is like a live city.  It runs even while you sleep.

One piece of advice for those new to this title.  At least for the first few levels, concentrate on the goals given to you and getting the complete pie product chain (complete with some customers to the mall via bus) as soon as possible.  If you spend your money early on expanding or clearing your territory, for example, you may have some money issues later and, like I did, end up re-starting the game from scratch to do it right. :)

The game has no real “levels” like its predecessors, but does a wide selection of 95 new achievements and 90 new buildings to be used or achieved while playing 85 different optional quests.  And, like it’s FaceBook rivals, Virtual City Playground connects to FaceBook to let you share your exploits with your friends there – sometimes even rewarding you for doing so.  And this “feature” brings me to my first suggestion for the game.  I would love to have an option to turn these prompts off entirely and/or automatically post these achievements to my wall.  Particularly at the beginning when goals are reached quickly and before you run out of energy, these prompts are frequent and distract a bit from the game.

I understand the marketing goals of frequent posts to entice your friends to jump into a freemium model game, but it is this freemium model that, to me, is one of the drawbacks of the game.  You see, in the other titles, you got more money from your deliveries and buildings cost less to build.  With this model, they have hit you on both of those fronts.  Buildings not only cost more, but you also get paid less for every truck load of goods delivered.  This means that you are going to have to play this game a whole lot longer in order to get ahead, or end up purchasing a lot of city credits and investment points from the market.  Folks like Zynga have gotten rich off that model, but I’m afraid that I will tire of Virtual City about as quickly as I have with other freemium games when the time required to achieve something diminishes the return on investment of the enjoyment that you have to play the game in the time you have to do so.  While you can gain money and points by achieving goals, the goals often require building new things – which require money and points.  And unless you purchase them, you obtain them so slowly that I think many folks will grow tired of it and switch to some more fast-paced game that gives more instant gratification.

I really loved the “live” aspect of the game.  I loved the new monuments and buildings.  I love the open sandbox mode.  I love the accumulation of energy in the game.  And you can’t beat free for a price tag.  But I would prefer having a freemium trial version AND a paid version that offers all the features of this game along with the delivery earnings and building costs of the other Virtual City games.  Or, at the very least, if you could purchase “upgraded” revenue and construction discounts within the freemium model to achieve the same things, I think this game would be really sweet.  As it is though, I’m more likely to play the original Virtual City or Virtual City 2 than I am this one even though Virtual City Playground has come really nice new features that makes it, in some ways, superior to those other titles.

If you would like to see the game in action, check out the YouTube video.  Nothing will compare to taking it for a spin on your own though, and, since it is free, there is no reason not to do so.