[h1]A gradually addicting simulation game in which you bring your city to life via roads and bridges. XD[/h1]
[h2]Introduction[/h2]
[i]Jammed[/i] is a strategy, simulation game developed and published by Szaloki Sandor. You're presented with a map and given two districts in which you can place them anywhere that the map allows. Then you have to connect these two districts using roads and/or bridges, all while making sure that your placement won't cause traffic disruption. You're then given another district, and like before, you place roads and/or bridges. This pattern is the same until the game indicates that you passed the level (with the minimum passing score being 70 out of 100). Then the next map is unlocked, with similar objectives. Each unlocked map will become more challenging in the way of rivers (in which you need bridges) and forests (where you can't build anything on them). There are a total of 10 maps, and the first map gives a brief tutorial on the gameplay mechanics. Several Steam achievements are available, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is out of "Steam is learning about this game".
[h2]Review[/h2]
I received a review copy of this game ahead of release, and as I haven't played this kind of game before and I like to try new things when I can, I wanted to give it a try. ^^
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]
Since the gameplay is the sole focus of [i]Jammed[/i], I'll highlight on it. Even though there is a brief tutorial that explains the gameplay mechanics, it felt quite short and not enough explanation since I would have liked a bit more guidance. However, this may not be the case by the time this review is out since I played an early copy and feedback was still being taken into account. In particular, I was confused by how to place the bridges, as the game kept giving me an error about them. Although I was able to figure it out by looking at an animated screenshot on the store page, I thought that it wouldn't hurt to make bridge placement easier (and I noted as much in feedback, so this may very well be a non-issue now). I'll admit my frustration at not getting the hang of this game right away, but after I figured out all the mechanics, I found it addictively fun. Even though I haven't played many strategy games (well, it's probably obvious by looking at my curator page which game genres I tend to play XD), I found [i]Jammed[/i] to be very fun. Despite it being challenging at times since you have the chance to run into traffic jam issues, I just wanted to try again and figure out how to better place my roads and/or bridges. Both windowed and full screen mode options are available, which I like since I tend to prefer playing games in windowed mode. As for achievements, I was able to obtain them all. There was one achievement that I had difficulty getting, but it's since been tweaked (the developer is very good at responding to player feedback, which I like ^^), so I was able to get it.
[h3]Art and Music[/h3]
The art style is simplistic, but it serves its purpose. The districts are marked in circles and have various colors, and the roads and bridges are defined enough. I would have liked an option to draw straight lines, but that's just because I'm terrible at art. lol Anyway, I liked looking at the cars, which are ovular shaped, as they drive on the roads and bridges, hoping that traffic would flow smoothly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3755518477
With the music, there's just one track, regardless of which map you're on. I would have liked a couple more tracks to add a bit of audio variety, but the track that's in the game feels light and pleasant to listen to. Of course, you can adjust the music volume and such in the settings option in the main menu.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Would I recommend [i]Jammed[/i]? If you're looking for a short but fun strategy simulation game that challenges you to connect districts in your city while avoiding traffic jams (yes, I know that's highly specific lol), you like comparing your scores to other players on the leaderboards, and/or you enjoy getting all those Steam achievements, then it's worth a look. Overall, I had fun playing this game, and I'd love to see future maps and challenge myself.
Finally, I'd like to thank Szaloki Sandor for the review copy. [i]Jammed[/i] is such a fun game, and I'm happy that I got a chance to be introduced to this kind of strategy, simulation genre. ^^
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