Gear City is an interesting name for this international tycoon simulator. It could easily have been called “Gear Planet”. The object is to start off in the year 1900 as the CEO of a small upstart auto manufacturing company. As the decades of the 20th-century progress, your goal is to make it to the year 2010 as the world’s leading car company.
As a boss, you spend most of your time in your office, managing the day-to-day happenings of a car business, and actually, this could be any business. You create ledgers, as well as manage income and expenses. You build factories worldwide and hire people to run them. You must also train your factory managers in the intricacies of project management and deadlines.
There is also an interesting part of the game where you can get your hands dirty working with blueprints and actually build the bodies of the cars themselves. Now in the early 1900s, body styles are very simple. But you still have to position headlamps, door handles, etc. correctly…which is kind of an odd thing to do, considering you’re the CEO of the company. Usually, someone else does that. As the century rolls on, however, designs get more complex and so do your business decisions.
Worldwide, you have competition. Other car companies are building models, seeking out demographics, and trying to make their products cost-effective, just as you’re trying to do in your home city. This makes the game both incredibly challenging and brutally realistic. With so much going on, you’re certain to gain much respect for those fearless leaders of the industry. If you’ve played any medieval rulership games, then you already know what’s expected of you!
All in all, is this game worth checking out? Indeed, Yes. I have always had a penchant for these types of sims, and this game is among the best. There are a couple of elements that could be improved, however:
1. The game does not allow you to play as characters other than the boss. It would be great to take the role of middle-level manager, or perhaps conveyor belt worker striving to impress their superiors and work their way up the corporate ladder. In this regard, Gear City could look to Crusader Kings II and other giants of the genre for advice.
2. As of this review, there is no multiplayer option. All your opponents are AI controlled. While it’s a great challenge to allow these competitors, the game does become exponentially slower with each added AI. To be fair, the developer has stated that multiplayer may be added in the future.
If you like cars or business sims in general, you’re sure to like Gear City. Happy motoring!
-Chris Roberts-
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!