The Official City Journal Critics Thread Archive

[patriots_1228 51]

o god i forgot i owe a review.

republic of rahuim this saturday

sorry for the delay

[beachfrontproperty 0]

i like beebs canal thingies, there awesome, adn the little boats

[Hanson784 165]

Originally posted by: patriots_1228 hmm sounds like someone wants his own review...............im only a pm away *hint hint*

lol good review hot dogs! nice and colorful.quote>

Who me?

I'm not sure my CJ is ready to be reviewed yet. I need to fill out Manhattan and get it ready for some glamour shots.

[connor_v 3]

Oooh, jeez, I've been gone awhile. Anyways, I'm back. Has some one been taking care of the new CJ's every Friday thing I had started way back when? Because if not, I'd be happy to continue that.

-Connor

[Dark_Jedi06 13]

Take your time Patriots, if you have more pressing matters to attend to then by all means postpone my review. I'd rather have it well written then rushed.

[GreekMan 246]

what about the trixe watch?

[patriots_1228 51]

D'OH! lol maybe sunday or monday.

[patriots_1228 51]

its all yours!

[patriots_1228 51]

i dont think ive ever written a review in the reply box but wut the hey! 

---

The Republic of Rauheim
by Dark_Jedi06



Many times, i find historical CJs boring. there is often too much text, and the photos are dull and discolored. however, one historical CJ has broken this trend. The Republic of Rauheim, a monthish old CJ(more like 2 months) by Dark_Jedi06 contains both the in depth history/politics for all the political simtropolians, and the fun exciting pics for the lurkers. Theres more funfacts then a Super Bowl broadcast, and the city making is spectacular. DJ (im making that your official nickname!) does a great job of getting leaders, flags, and other aspects that make a political journal great. The map is fabulously terraformed, The region is fictionous but contains RL items like the Baltic sea. 


The presentation of this CJ reminds me of Shadow_Assasins journals. There are heavy shadow effects but at the same time bright colors. The border text is very imformative and detailed. The City making is spectacular, Featuring a large variety of STEX buildings, great road networks, wonderful mass transit, and just an all around A+ city making job. The cities have a great combination of new and old, with both shiny glass towers and brick W2Ws. This journal is the polar opposite of vanilla(triple fudge chocolate chip). Many of the pictures do not have one maxis building! The news paper is colorful yet realisitc. The text is interesting, the newspaper is broken into sections just like a RL paper, and the presontation is fabulous.

DJ uses everything availible, making everything from busy ports to spectacular airports. He has all kinds of great custom flora, ranging from sorchin to jjeronj and everywhere in between. The water texture is also good, it looks very nice with the custom flora DJ has selected and the terrain chosen by DJ. The cities are very green and spaced out, and the transit is incredibly complicted and realistic. at this moment i have reached the speechless point, were the journal is so great i start blabbing about random things. this has only happened 3 times since i started reviewing, so congrats to DJ! OOO! somthing to talk about! An aspect you rarely see in any journal, DJ has an actually naval fleet, not at pegs base, but out at sea! showing some pride he photoshops some spectacular fireworks. This is just one example of how special this journal is. keep up the great work DJ!

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

ANKARA [reloaded]

by Yoman3

A review by Ilikehotdogsalot

On January 3rd, Yoman3 began a much awaited sequel to his journal, Ankara. The first update has detailed facts about the war-tanks and goodies Yoman will be using throughout his journal. Yoman works side by side with xiziz to produce these wonderful updates. The journal begins with a story about the MS Karolina, with a very nicely photoshopped picture of the ship passing through the heavy rain. The text is mastefully written, better than a novel! The next update continues with a story about an Air-Mission, Yoman3 shows off his new model-airplane he is batting, once again, the text is extremely interesting.

On the third update, Yoman begins showing off his newly-designed Ankara through Simcity 4. There are color-full rowhomes, trees, flowers, everything a beautiful Turkish city would have, very eye-pleasing and inspiring, A great way to unwine

As we head into the 4th update, We begin to see the towering skyscrapers present in Yoman's old Ankara, showing us where the Ankarians head to work everyday. The contrasts of the large towers with the small rowhomes is just wonderful. The details are just amazing, with wonderfully placed plazas all around, heavy trees along the streets, and rowhomes that compliment the next.

The 5th update is one of the journal's best yet. Yoman gives us more beautiful pictures of his city, and like all his other pictures, the details are just wonderful. We see more dense rowhomes, heavy flora, and bicycle paths throughout this update. At the end of the update, We see the dense skyscrapers Ankara is known for, with the rowhomes peeking through the cracks.

In the end, Ankara [reloaded] is a great sequel to Ankara, The pictures are detailed, high quality, and simply inspiring. Every update makes you want to go 'More please'. I hope Owen continues with this journal, I think you'll enjoy it, Check it out!

[ccecill 52]

Sorry, I just read my review. Thanks sooo much for doing it Special Eddie. Thanks for the other comments too guys.

[bat 6]

all reviews are wonderful! Also the CJs!

bat

[Yoman3 5]

Thanks for that nice review Daniel Very inspiring

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

fantastic review for a great journal! great job to patriots for the great review and DJ for the great journal

[homeandaway 1]

stunning and imformative reviews!!!!

[Amerikaner 42]

ahh neat reviews makes me want to go visit them right now...i guess i will lol ohh good job on the reviews patriot and ilikehotdogs

[Cleaner475 150]

great advice - i have read it all - wqell the post improtant parts anyway

[SpecialEddie 3]

Capporth City

There can be many issues with running an animated CJ. First of all, not all ST users will be able to view the .gifs and slideshows with their current web browsers. The second issue that arises includes speed. Animated CJ's usually lag, due to the intense file sizes used to view the images. Quality also decreases in the images, as slideshows tend to compress pictures. Bat, however has a done a good job keeping his CJ, Capporth City, simple and efficient. 

Bat provides seperate links to his slideshows (showcasing a vast amount of pictures from his cities) to help decrease lag in his CJ. This strategy works, but it means opening a new window to view the show. This may discourage viewers from clicking the link in the first place. It all has to do with internet attention span (IAS). IAS is what keeps CJ readers from reading entire updates of story, and what makes them rush through a large amount of images in a CJ. Clicking links to outside websites fall under the IAS category. However, if the reader summons the energy to click the slideshow links, it proves to be worth the effort. 

Bat's cities are simple in their own design, but incorporate settings that are wholly unique. One update showcases numerous images of a river weaving its way around a cold, winter forest. The subtlety of the pictures gives a sense of calm and peacefulness. A soundtrack of a rushing creek in the background would perfectly complete the sensory onslaught. 

Capporth City will cater to all tastes. Rural...urban...suburban. You'll find it all here. From quiet forests to high-rise downtowns, bat's cities will please any reader (long time viewer or casual passerby). Speaking of passerby, don't forget to take a look at Capporth City. Make the effort to click the slideshow links and wait patiently for the images to show. Because it's definetely worth it.

[bat 6]

Thanks for reviewing my CJ, SpecialEddie!

bat

[scififan68 23]

awesome review! I just had too see it!!

[CarmineHilton 6]

Nice review! It made me visit the CJ.. haha!

[CarmineHilton 6]

Thanks for the review ilikehotdogsalot!! Looks fantastic..

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

United Nations of Movia by CarmineHilton

A review by ilikehotdogsalot

CarmineHilton, a full member of the SCJU, began his journal on February 25 of this year with a spiffy introduction of the newly discovered country, called The United Nations of Movia, a nation with a resemblence to many asian cities, including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing and Dubai.

The first update shows us around the very well built up Shun-Hing City. The custom content is great, including the Hong Kong Style and Dubai Style Towers. The city looks busy, well planned, and beautiful with many trees and parks, and great building techniques...Great job on it Carmine!

Something that really impressed me was Carmine's ability to design amazing looking newspapers, like the one shown above, It is a great little read on your free time, and the article about the Shun-Hing World Financial Centre is just incredible!

Update 4 is where Carmine gives his first try at making a mosaic, wonderful effort at that, but the photoshop filters and effects aren't really one of my favorites. The second mosaic is much better, clearer, and shows one of Honolulu's [city's name] most wealthy neighborhoods.

Update 6 brings us back to Shun-Hing, and a lot has happened since the last picture of the city. Many towers were demolished, and many larger, taller ones, have taken its place. The airport has also moved its location [but I still don't think it's that safe to have an airport that close to downtown ], also, the marina has been totally terraformed and new seawalls have been added.

Before:

After:

On Update 7, Carmine uses a terrorist bombing as a way to demolish an outdated Multiplex to make room for a brand spankin' new Music Hall, which looks great, I might add

------------------------------------------------

In Conclusion, The United Nations of Movia is a great journal to visit, The city building and planning is almost spot on, The Newspapers are always a great read, and the tall skyscrapers in the Central Bussiness Districts never end to amazing and spark up and imagination. UNOM is def. a journal to check out, as there are new updates coming up every day

[patriots_1228 51]

interesting ideas, but, if we deserve our own section, what about the SCFL, or NEBB ? or any other group on ST. The only reason some groups(like BSC or NDEX) have there own subforums is because their thread was overflowing with posts. This thread, obviously, isnt overflowwing lol.

- Everyone can post a review -not gonna happen. If you would like to become a critic you can pm

- The reviews are listed and can be searched through-try the link labeled, Table of Contents.

[pipishere 3]

Great reviews...a very nice read!

[aking88 7]

Hi everybody!

I was thinking, cant we have a dedicated section of this website for city journal reviews. It would work as following:

- Have its own link in the main navigation bar (top) after or before the donate button

- Everyone can register their City journal their with a link to the thread. And thus get it listed in the section

- Everyone cant post a review to a city journal similarly like the news posting function

- The city journal list can be searched thorugh and ordered by number of reviews or by rating

Alternatively we could have it without the ity journal posting/listing

- Everyone can post a review

- The reviews are listed and can be searched through

Also it would be benificial if we could also comment on the reviews.

Thanks! I hope we can do soemthing like this.

It would give a better overview and i believe make the whole thing with CJ's more popular and easier to do.

THE CJ/review list could look something like this:

http://www.gamereactor.se/recensioner/

and be categorised depending on if its a fantasy region, real world model, simmars and so forth

[dmscopio 225]

what a great way to enjoy mixes of CJ pictures. Thank you for doing this!

[Mikeaut1 261]

Wow great review Ilikehotdogsalot! That looks like an interesting city journal!

[patriots_1228 51]

review on joerggs Cj tanguire today/tommorow, then tommorow/sunday CWL's cj!

[patriots_1228 51]

   Tangaire

By Joerg

From the person behind ST1000 and some excellent BATs comes Tangaire, by Joerg. A beautiful Mountainous region, Tangaire is "the tale of a wild west adventure". It has fantastic terraforming, and incredible nature. Joerg uses everything from plopable rocks to custom flora to create a perfect nature scene similar to those of  Paridise Falls, by jacqualina. The region is full of beautiful valleys covered with snow and green evergreens. And after reading Joergs region discription, you will find out how spectacular this region really is. He has 1 mountain whoms summit fills up a whole tile!

On to the city making. Joerg makes nice small towns, but there is a clear lack of custom buildings, despite the nature being pure Custom Content. Joerg makes beautiful curving railroads which almost make up for the lack of CC. He makes good road networks, with minimal use of the grid. My favorite shot on page one is definetely a spectacular shot from the air of a railway going through a narrow gorge(right word?). This is just one example of the incredible railways Joerg makes, and looks fantastic with his amazing nature. Most of the first update (or second, i forget) is filled with these fantastic rail through nature pics, making this my favorite update. A tiny little detail that i really enjoyed is the fact that Joerg places plop rocks around the poles of his bridges. This may be a tiny detail but is very realistic and good looking. Moving along, i have found yet another stunning example of Joergs nature. In update (3?) we see a beautiful pic featuring a mixture of green trees near a foggy beach. Yet another example of the insane nature in this journal. Another foggy coast pic, this time of a lighthouse, allows me to pretty much sum this CJ up in two syllables. Na-Ture. The road networks are just as amazing, like the railways, they twist and bend through the beautiful nature. Ive never really mentioned this in a review, but i just realized how well Joerg varies the type of bridge he uses. Odd for me to notice that, eh? As we see a second small town, it is much better than the first, the town is surrounded by farms and trees this time instead of open grass tiles. The road networks are even better, and this makes for some very interesting farms. Joerg also has built some fantastic rivers, with rapids, waterfalls, and dams. How ever, the citys themselves remain dry of custom content. The only obvious CC ive seen is Somys fishing peir, but since it is such a great BAT, we will count it as 2 CC's Also he makes an unSimcitylike fire, must be photoshopped, but it looks extremely realistic!

To sum it up, Tangaire is a beautiful humungous region full of spectacular nature and transit. The city making has improved dirastically since update one, but the only thing that needs improvement is there needs to be more custom buildings (the nature is full of custom content!)