Hey, how's it going, Internetz?
Nathan from ThisAndThatTech.com.
Today we are taking a look at
the Natural Disasters DLC for
Cities: Skylines, which was
developed by Colossal Order and
is now available for $14.99 on
the Steam Store.
It's important for me to note
that this review is all without
additional mods and also I
received a review code, so just
wanted to put that out there.
So let's get right into it,
shall we?
The first thing you'll notice is
that this game actually has a
scenario editor.
It's something everybody's been
asking for, for a long time.
It's actually free as well.
If you're just getting an update
to Cities: Skyline, you'll
actually get this portion for
free, so that's really good
news.
With the scenario editor you can
create game objectives, place
specific disasters or triggers
on a save map, which could make
for some unique experiences.
And you can even share those
scenarios on the Steam Workshop,
so that's especially useful if
you have a God complex and you
want to destroy a lot of things.
Next we have the radio, which
again is free for those who just
have the base game.
It's honestly been a long time
coming for Cities: Skylines.
Before, the easiest method was
to just play your music in the
background, but honestly that's
not very intuitive.
And look, when you compare
Cities: Skylines' music to games
like Civilization, one can't
help but notice the lack of
awe-inspiring music that gives
your actions in the game a sense
of weight, gravitas.
We just need something that
evokes emotion.
Thankfully, that's not a problem
anymore, especially when you
hear Crusader Kings' and Europa
Universalis' tracks creating
that ambiance that was sorely
missing.
See, see, look at that.
I built a carousel park and a
botanical garden and with that
background music I feel like a
badass purveyor of happiness,
conquering the lands on my noble
steed.
There are four radio stations in
all.
You have Cities: Skylines, which
is the regular gameplay music,
Cities Radio, which appears to
be Paradox Interactive titles.
The list is somewhat anemic
right now.
I've noticed a lot of songs
repeat, but I'm hoping they add
more to that, but they're quite
good.
Classical music for a jaunty
vibe, if you will.
And Gold FM, that has more
mainstream songs on it, usually
covers.
For example, "Wild Thing"
played.
Now one thing I wanted to
mention when you first initially
download the DLC and open the
game up, you're gonna get this
pop-up and it's gonna tell you
that some of the radio channels
have licensed music and cannot
be used when streaming.
The channel they specifically
have listed is Gold FM, so
something to keep in mind if
you're a streamer or a content
producer.
Now commercials on the radio are
also amusing and worth a listen.
They add a bit of life to your
city.
[RADIO COMMERCIAL PLAYS]
"It's Super Salmon Days down at
Fish Brothers.
For a limited time bring in any
fish and get a child salmon
entrée free.
You heard right, bring in any
fish, and get a free child
salmon entrée.
And I mean ANY fish."
The only thing missing, though,
out of these is the ability to
switch tracks.
The only thing you can really do
is switch channels and it resets
to something new, but you can
never really control what's
coming in next in your queue.
It's important to also note that
the radio is intuitive enough
that an emergency broadcast,
which I'm gonna get into more
later, will interrupt your radio
programming and seamlessly warn
you of an impending disaster and
then also seamlessly transition
back to your music without
missing a beat.
I fully expect some clever
modders out there to add the
ability to play their own music
collection directly in game.
That's gonna take it to another
level.
Who knows, maybe we'll even see
integration with Spotify,
Pandora, Google Music, et
cetera.
All in all, a noteworthy
addition to City: Skylines that
adds to the replayability
factor.
And like I said earlier, it's
free for everybody.
[BROADCASTER: An earthquake is
occurring.
Don't panic and wait for help if
you are in the affected area.]
So the big one, let's talk about
natural disasters.
By default you can set them to
random, but in this instance for
the review I'm actually gonna
trigger them on my own just so
everybody can see them.
You're gonna go under
landscaping and you're gonna see
a new word, disasters.
Clicking on the disasters tab
will bring up an array of
disasters ranging from tornados
that travel from one edge of the
map to the other, earthquakes
that turn buildings into rubble,
which by the way, the
earthquakes can even create
tsunamis if the epicenter is
located in the water, so
something to consider there.
Sinkholes that make landmasses
disappear along with whatever
inhabited it.
Those can be filled using the
shift terrain feature and
utilized again.
Thunderstorms which travel
across the map and set buildings
and forests on fire, which it
looks spectacular at night with
dynamic weather, I might add.
Forest fires can also spread,
which spreads into buildings and
creates problems.
We also have building collapses,
structural fires, tsunamis, and
the granddaddy of them all, the
meteor strike, which you've
probably seen a lot of this
before because they've been
pushing it with different
trailers for it.
Now, how do we mitigate these
natural disasters?
Well, just like in real life, we
utilize an Emergency Broadcast
System to warn the citizenry of
impending doom and to seek
shelter.
This is accomplished by building
early warning buildings like the
earthquake senor, tsunami
warning buoy, weather radar,
deep space radar, most of which
help you predict where the
disaster will take place and
preplan accordingly.
We've only scratched the
service, though.
First, we need to a way to warn
the citizens and that's
accomplished through the use of
short and tall radio masts,
which can be hindered by
terrain.
We still need places for
citizens to go, though, so we
have to create small and large
emergency shelters to give our
citizenry a place to stay as
well as create an escape route
for them.
Think of it the same way in
which you set up transportation
routes for optimal traffic flow,
except this time it might save a
citizen's life.
Assuming we have the
aforementioned things built, we
can then go up to the top left
corner and click on the
evacuation mode button, which
alerts the citizens over the
radio waves to seek shelter.
Is this completely fool-proof?
Absolutely not.
Lives will be lost and some will
even end up trapped and unable
to make it to a shelter without
a disaster response unit.
This building sends out
helicopters and trucks to clean
up debris and rescue survivors.
After the disaster has subsided,
any homeless survivors can stay
in a shelter until they find new
housing.
So you're essentially insuring
against massive population loss.
So it's time to see some
disasters, baby.
The tornados are definitely one
of my favorite and arguably the
most devastating.
Earthquakes are problematic
depending on where that
epicenter is located.
I've had some of the earthquakes
that happen far enough away that
it just didn't make a dent on my
city.
Sinkholes don't seem too bad as
long as there isn't multiples
and you have enough coin to fill
the holes and rebuild.
Thunderstorms, these are
probably one of my favorite.
They're stellar eye candy at
night, especially coupled with
the dynamic weather.
Forest fires can create havoc if
you're unprepared for them.
Fire watchtowers are the way to
go here.
They're rather helpful.
[BROADCASTER: A forest fire is
raging in the area.
Leave campsite and tree houses
immediately.]
Structure collapses aren't
extremely exciting to me, but I
guess it's a little variety to
the mayhem.
The tsunami looks devastating
and maybe even competes with
tornadoes for favorite natural
disaster, if that should even be
a category...
[BROADCASTER: The Coast Guard is
warning of a tsunami approaching
the area.
Residents should avoid roads and
waterfronts.
The tsunami has struck the city.
Take caution and avoid roads and
waterfronts until...]
All right, last but not least,
we have the meteor strike, which
is very impressive to watch.
[BROADCASTER: A meteor strike
has occurred.]
So what's the verdict here?
The scenario editor and radio
stations are actually free
updates, so really your $14.99
is going to the natural
disasters and catastrophe
management buildings like radar,
radio towers, et cetera.
Now for me personally, I find
the update more interesting than
the previous expansion, After
Dark and Snowfall, and I think
it's a worthy addition if you're
getting tired of some aspect of
your city stagnating and then
finding a workaround.
That can get repetitive and this
breathes some new life into the
series, so definitely worthy of
your 15 bones if you're a Cities
fanatic.
All right, that's the end of the
review.
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Thanks for watching, everybody.
Have a good one.
[BROADCASTER: Meteorologists
have issued a severe tornado
warning for the area.
Residents should seek shelter
immediately if any is
available.]
