[b]city limits[/b] rides similar waves as [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1046030/]islanders[/url] or [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1722100]sky tale[/url]. it's an endless score attack puzzler where you're placing building after building on tiles to create combos until the island is filled, so it's also kind of a matching game.
there's a tutorial for the controls and the basics, completing it unlocks leaderboards and various game modes. [i]classic[/i] has 4 buildings and basic mechanics, [i]advanced[/i] has 12 buildings and more mechanics. you can also choose the shape of the island (square, shaped, random). a [i]free build mode[/i] was patched in after release, pretty much pointless, but you can place whatever you want wherever you want.
it's [b]completely mouse-driven[/b] and looks very simple, but there's some depth to it. the wheel or left click selects a building from the right, on the left you can see combos for the current building (or whatever, it can be a patch of grass), left click to place them on a tile, right click to mark a tile (not sure to what end, possibly to remind yourself to put something specific there if possible).
islands consist of squares, and even though they're rotated for a more isometric feel, the main thing to grasp is [b]diagonal placement usually doesn't do you any good[/b]. lines and columns are the way to go, placing two buildings like that (as shown on the left) will do something to the tile or tiles between them, like create a different type of building.
there are, however, [b]special placement combos to aim for in advanced mode[/b], shown in the bottom left corner. those might want you to put buildings next to each other in a way that doesn't create anything, but [b]they unlock special buildings[/b]. you'll be offered a choice and have to pick one of the currently available ones on the right to replace them. they can be wild cards, buildings that clear tiles around them, etc.
islands can get quite busy after a while, but there's a button that puts some space between tiles if you want. [b]undo is available, limited to 3 per run[/b], better than the nothing most of these games offer. [b]spikes are mostly out of your control.[/b] by default they spread after every turn and destroy buildings that aren't part of a combo, but luckily, their next targeted tile is always highlighted. you can also set your spike preferences before each run, going with timed spread or no spikes disables the leaderboard.
simple pixel graphics, unintrusive sound effects, really nice music. settings-wise it just about has the basics, available from the main menu and while playing. a windowed mode toggle for a non-resizable but much smaller window, a toggle for sound effects, volume setting for music and a button to change the background color.
I don't have the patience for proper city management games anymore, but [b]these simplified, more puzzly variants are always fun[/b]. as they are random/endless, they will never hold my attention for more than a few hours (or less), but that's more of a me problem. or would be, but I don't mind shorter experiences these days.
