TOWNSMEN

Some games are worse in the eyes of the players on the starting start line. Just look at the name, and you're already saying that it's just another cheap mobile phone or something similar. Exactly the same is true for this game, but to a certain extent, it is also necessary to admit a certain degree of truth. Townsmen is a new addition to the series, which is currently growing under the guards of THQ Nordic, who along with the brand took over the authors of Handy Games. It is a well-known series that connects players with mobile gaming, especially since it has been here since 2003 and on mobile even before the era of smartphones.

Later on, she got on a PC, where she did not bring it up yet, but her domain is still mobile. But if you thought the current Switch part was just a mobile port, you would be damning the game. At the same time it is not a 2 year old PC version. Well, of course, it's not a completely new game either. It's such a bastard of everything that tries to be as tightly tailored as possible to the Nintendo's hybrid console. Sometimes it works better or worse, but it's ultimately a game that you should not look at through your fingers, because even if it's not perfect with it, it can decide to reach the right price.

Maybe you did not have that honor in the years. In that case, know that Townsmen is, has been and will probably be a series aimed at the occasional building of a medieval town, the governor of which will be right at the beginning. It's not totally casual, but it's not even Cities: Skylines. The game is somewhere in the middle so that virtually everyone can easily get it just by going through the tutorial. Experienced guys will not surprise you, newcomers within the genre can expect an interesting challenge. Well, in the first place, there's a lot of content you can dive into.

At the same time, the tournament itself provides a nice piece of content that you can spend two hours, depending on how you will be able to learn the different game systems. In front of you, you have clear goals and it is up to you to meet them. But here you are not alone and help your court members who tell you not only what is expected of you but also indicate how to achieve it. It just starts, you have to learn to get resources, because without them the city can not prosper. There are several sources here, from water to timber to raw materials. Then you go deeper and deeper in order to master all professions and types of buildings that you have to learn to manage.

Well, and most importantly, without your citizens there would be no city, so take care of their satisfaction and the city will prosper. But if you do not be careful, there will be neither the satisfaction nor the money in the city treasury, so you will eventually just pray that there will be a couple of golden gorges that will pour out the decaying buildings. Finally, it turns out that even though the game is more casual within the genre, it still contains pretty deep mechanisms that you have to acquire and which you have to devote to, which is actually the work of your work, so you will not stop. And if you happen to stop, make time to get faster, for example, until the trader comes to the city to sell him surplus goods.

The tutorial itself has only 6 missions, but it will actually teach you all this, and then it's up to you. In addition, you can choose from two play options, depending on what suits you best. If you've got the tutorial with your clear goals, you can choose a scenario mode where 26 missions are ready for you. Each has a pre-prepared city and a storyline you have to meet. This may be the preparation of a royal wedding or an election where you have to take care of the welfare of several different groups to choose you again (no, unfortunately, the power can not really be kept in power). Well, there is also no real challenge when your city is plagued by one disaster after another.

The different scenarios differ in several respects. Of course, there are different maps, but the maps differ in size, not just in their character. It is best for your government to keep the city as crowded as possible, but if the scenario requires great growth, the big map fits well. But this also raises the demands of management. Then there is the very difficulty of this mission, which is gradually growing with every other scenario. Well, and finally, there is the fact that some missions are also focused on fighting beyond traditional management. Your cities can be the target of bandit attacks that you have to defend by putting barracks and guard towers in town so that you have the best possible coverage of all corners.

But these are not the only challenges you have to deal with when playing. The main thing is the city management mentioned above, so that everyone is happy and your city thrives, not ruined. If you do not, you can even end up with the people leaving you and there will be no one to work. Besides, there are also fires where you have to cover the city with a network of fire brigades. You also have to deal with the weather traps (for example, avalanches) as well as the seasons that alternate in the game. In winter, you do not go out a lot, so you need to stock it. Well, it would not be a midday, if you did not risk black death. The plague can come to you too, which really makes a huge mischief.

Well then there is another mode without which no building strategy would be complete - sandbox. It offers 24 maps that are different in nature and weather, so you get your castle and the rest is up to you. There is no specific goal, the limitations are only your building and management skills. You can also set it to attack bandits, but it will cause you more problems than you would like. Well, what's important is that much of the content in the game is a lot, but it steals its stereotype, either in scenarios or in this sandbox. It's a bit of a bit to this game, but you would like to see a bigger expansion, especially when you have a nice "couple of hours" in the game.

Well then there is another bigger problem with this game, which is the interface and control. You can control the game with the controls or touch the screen, which works better. And the driver can get used to, but many parts of the game is odsunutúch the various sub-menu, where although the thumb quickly preťuknete, but when playing on TV would you hand appreciated the mouse and keyboard, because all these items are something that you you prefer to hover over keys or keyboard shortcuts. Authors have tried to control the Switch ratios as best they could, but there is no fluency and intuitiveness here compared to the PC version.

The Audiovisual page is no longer the same and it's exactly the same as you know it from other Townsmen games, but the acuity is much stronger than the older one. It's a simple 2D but with a surprising amount of detail. Even though the game would not cost the game, it does not look bad at all. Its style is simple, but thanks to the cartoon stylization it has not kept it, and whether in handheld mode, or on TV it looks good on it. The sound is simple, whether it's effects or music, but it sits like this and complements the overall impression.

Townsmen on Switch is a better game than you would expect (much better than a pretty unsolicited PC version). But it will be very difficult. Although it is quite catchy and accessible, but also increasingly complex, but it has its faults, that it can be pulled down and finally because not quite the ideal interface and control the Switch eventually end up overwhelmed by problems. Well, then there are more strategy games that may soon get your attention, whether it's a more complex game in the form of the Cities: Skylines port or the recent Civilization VI.