PC Game Review Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year

I had a blast playing Build-A-Lot and couldn’t believe it when I heard another was on its way. The game even hooked my “rarely plays games” husband. The game was innovative and original. So how do you make a great game better? It’s possible as Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year proves it.

The real estate development game not only gets rid of one of my least favorite features in the original (taxes), but also adds enough new features to enhance the game rather than make it more of the same.

To refresh memories and introduce those who have never played it, Build-A-Lot contains various types of towns (western to desert) where you — as the build — work for the mayor of the town. You work for the town for a few levels with each having different goals from building x number of homes to earning x number of dollars.

Meet all the goals before the gold ribbon clock runs out and you earn a gold ribbon. But as long as you satisfy all goals before time runs out, you can move on.

As expected, we build new types of buildings including parks, shops, and a recycling center (the game goes green — bonus points!). The best feature — worker efficiency training. It costs $75,000, but it’s worth it because building, upgrading, and maintaining activities move faster.

Like the original, you work in different towns for a few levels each and meeting their goals. Build homes from the little bungalows to the ginormous palaces, and start collecting generous rent money or sell them for big profits so you can build more.

A new element enters the game: the appeal rating. Not only do you care about making enough money and building enough homes, but they must appeal or no one will buy them. This resembles real life where homes near problem areas such as airports and factories tend to sell for less because they have less appeal.

Meeting high appeal ratings creates a enjoyable challenge — much better than dealing with taxes and that awful sound effect that boomed whenever it was time to pay taxes. As if we don’t have enough problems with taxes in real life.

This time we get to paint houses, which boost the appeal of a home as do having houses next to the park. In addition to changing the look of the houses with a little color, we also get to do landscaping. The landscaping looks the same for most homes, but it’s a nice way to change the outside of a house and gain more appeal points.

The buying and selling part of the game now comes with the opportunity to lowball or asking for a lower price on a house. So far, using this strategy has failed me. The mayor quickly reminds me of what it takes to low ball or buy a house for less, but it never works out.

The shops and parks need help on occasion. They post a “Help Wanted” sign or show a broom letting you know the park needs a clean up. You lose a crew member whenever you fill the job. If you don’t … down go those appeal points.

Most of the money you earn comes from rent money and selling homes. This time, you can also earn profit share from the shops and oil on a monthly basis. The variety of profit potential and interaction with the houses and shops keeps the game from ever feeling monotonous. The best games — including the original — can fall into the monotonous trap, but this one doesn’t.

Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year has a learning curve and it tries to ease players in by starting with small tasks and building up. A new mode appears in this one — Sandbox mode — for building freely in any town. Newcomers to the game might try this before jumping into campaign mode.

If you haven’t played Build-A-Lot and start with this one first only to find yourself wanting more, playing Build-A-Lot 2 won’t feel like a step backwards as many original games do once you play the improved sequel. So go ahead and start with the second one, and you should still enjoy the first one. Just be ready to become more annoyed with taxes.

Whether real estate interests you won’t affect your feelings for the game. I’ve got zero interest in real estate (except for my own roof and envying beautiful homes) and I stay up past my bedtime just to play this game.