Like other titles of this genre, City Life allows players to build roads and provide amenities such as power, entertainment and other municipal services. This aspect, although interesting does not provide a great deal of depth. Other city builders would have you constructing underground services, transport systems and power grids etc. Not so here; city building is the backdrop for the real challenge in the game.

It's hard not to feel the game's developers have a very cynical view on urban life and this is no more evident than in the various cultural groups seeking to reside in your city. There are the Elites, the Suits, the Radical Chics, Blue Collars, Fringe and the Have Nots. The challenge in here is to build a city that will meet the needs of all of these sub-cultures.

However, just as in real life, not all of these groups get along, and unlike other games the choice of where these groups reside may not always be yours to make. Lay down city blocks to accommodate the Blue Collar workers and you may find that the site holds more attraction to the Fringe culture and they will gradually force the Blue Collars out. As a result your Blue Collar factory zone nearby will now find it difficult to attract workers.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as some groups work and thrive happily together, and in fact can complement each other nicely. The challenge is to balance the differing factions by providing housing and services that best attract the ones you want to see prosper. When it's working well, all housing zones are filled and the factories and businesses have all the workers required to operate. When it doesn't go to plan, expect to see businesses struggling and parts of your city potentially spiralling downwards into anarchy and crime.

When crime does breakout there's a possibility that organised crime will take hold and this can begin cutting into your city's revenues. The handy SWAT building is your best option here. These guys can quell riots and deal to organised crime. You need to be careful though as their methods often involve the destruction of any buildings housing the crims. Lack of fire stations may result in a bigger issue than dealing with crime.

The main source of income for your city is through the various factories and businesses, so you need to ensure the right balance is maintained between available work force, work force type and business type. It's not an overly complicated business model, however we found it a real challenge to keep expenditure at a level supported by our revenues. Just when you thought you had it on even keel one sub-cultural group will start upsetting the apple cart. You can observe the mood and wants of your city and its populace via icons that pop up above each of the buildings when an issue arises. The real fun though is getting down and dirty and seeing the conflict for yourself.

What city would survive without the media? Well in City Life you have no choice; they appear on the scene whenever a particular sub-culture reaches a certain size. Each sub-culture has its own media and with their arrival tensions between the sub-cultures become more polarised. Wherever there is a small conflict the media will turn out, and funnily enough they possess the knack of making mountains into molehills.

Within the game there are various challenges that you can undertake, and depending on how you score on each challenge you will be able to unlock more areas and terrain on which to build cities. There is a helpful in-game tutorial system that guides you through the basics, and the game manual covers many more aspects, including providing a flow chart on how to build through the initial phase of the game and dealing with conflicts.

As the city you are building is totally 3D you can zoom right down to street level and observe the action as one of your hapless residents would. You can see the Blue Collar boys pushing and shoving the Radical Chics as they try to wander up to the shopping president. Fringe-driven Combi vans with psychedelic paint jobs whiz past on the way to the work. All of this is beautifully rendered and brings real depth and a sense of life to the city you have built. There are limitations though, with a modest tile and object pallet to chose from. While this is not the crux of the game, we would like to have seen more depth in the city services model and the transportation systems. Even the grandest plans for your city can be restricted by being allowed to build only lesser roads and services in the initial stages of development. This means as your city grows you will be faced with demolishing buildings to make way for bigger roads and power stations.