The Official City Journal Critics Thread Archive

[patriots_1228 51]

Thanks everyone. It could have been better, if there were any actual planning, instead of me waking up on saturday and deciding that we should do somthing and then rushing to get everything done in 30 hours.

[dadyrghluv 8]

Happy B-DAY to this topic. very useful and friendly place to see wonderful cj's. 

Let the party begin

[Zelgadis 638]

Happy birthday. And here I thought this wasn't going to work, and here it is a year later. Many congrats at succeeding where others have failed.

ISF

[panthersimcity4 162]

yay!

Where's the cake?

[suplado! 23]

happy anniv...congrats on all the great review...hope to see more

[Deever 23]

Awesome! Congratulations and happy birthday! What would the CJ section do without you.

[KingTitan 6]

<<>> Happy Birthday.....Happy Birthday....happy Happy Birthday to you. YAY!

[patfirefghtr 160]

Hey congrats on a year of being critics lol....

[Cockatoo 2,257]

Oh Wow! I just looked into this thread and noticed that Hong Kong got a Trixie Watch!?!??!.... Wow- Thankyou very much (But I'd never have a chance to beet Hotdogs for a photoshoping category lol!) And a big HAPPY B-DAY to this thread to! I've been a long time lurker here but never really spoke up...

Congrats to all the other CJ's who got mentions too!

[patriots_1228 51]

Replies for comments on birthday celebration

The CJ critics table of contents is a mess. Is there anyone willing to rewrite the ToC? The first 60 reviews are done for you, and patriots promises he will updated it once you finish, instead of forgetting like he did last time. Anyway, seems like we have a larger following then I thought, but they only comment when its a major chance to kiss our....Who said that?  certainly not patriots! joking aside, thanks for helping this idea come to live guys!

MrCinatit-thanks!

frogface-thank you sir *****sworth of ta RundTble

Special Eddie-yep...amazingly Nice workin with ya on this

Godzillaman-lol , I don't know where that word came from, but im pretty sure critique is not a word. It probably is, and im just stupid, but i think it started by austrianu who wasnt sure what to call a review. thanks!

hotdogs-Sooner the better . Nice job and good workin with ya

tomdapom-thanks

jacky-THANK YOU

penguin-thanks will

teeparex-thank you

mike the mayor-danke schon

Greekman-lol that will take 4 years. thanks. 

dsrwhat-thanks

dadyrghluv-thank you

zelgadis-lol...i cant beleive it made it. thanks for the support!

cleaner-thanks

granto-too much baseball for a canadian boy. it will make you american. Watch hockey. Thats very unamerican jk thanks

panthersimcity-i was gonna give it out but special eddie wolfed it down (just kidding)

suplado-thanks!

KingTitan-You smell like a monkey, and you look like one too! thanks

patfirefghtr-thanks, although I dont get the lol part (please explain )

deever-thanks! it would do yoga and trade yughio cards.

IDS2-OMGZ Lik U SpeL Lik A NEWB lol thanks review coming ...1...2...3...

cawkatoo-yes you can bEEt him, just simply eat your daily does of beets! now beating him, you definetely have a chance. i'd say you two are even. thanks.





CANDYLAND-by IDS2

a review by patriots_1228

CandyLand, by IDS2, is a journal of suprises. Who knows what we will find inside? Pinwheels? Talking fudge? Willy Wonka? Gingerbread people? Micheal Jackson?  While it doesn't contain the level of candy that eyecandy greats like iCandy (aka eyecandy by hotdogs) or Hong Kong do, Candyland is a fun and interesting journal, thats a very nice read. Like the board game, Candyland runs on gasoline made out of imagination. Supertall Supertall's tower over the beautiful maps of Candyland, but unlike

[belfastuniguy 18]

Sorry for the late birthday wishes, I was away for the weekend.

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

[IDS2 3,428]

0mgZ I d0 n0t sp311 l31k a n3wb!

WOW! Thank you pats! I really enjoyed reading that. And thank you for all the suggestions, I was really looking for something that I could improve on. (and thanks for BATting that football stadium and arena) Thank you for being honest, and especially thanks for making the table. I am immediately going to go into some of my "mosaic eligible" cities and throw away the Maxis trees and replace them, and you're right I should use streets more as I do use roads way too much, even in my suburban areas. (and thanks for using the sample mosaic--that's the most recent one I've posted though I took it on june 18) Overall thank you SO MUCH for the review! And hopefully it may draw a little publicity. It's not the best journal, but like you said it's getting better! Thanks again!

(OK I think I stated myself about 5 times in that paragraph.)

[IDS2 3,428]

h4pp3 b1rthd4y t0 y00!

Happy birthday to you!

h4pp3 b1rthd4y t0 y00!

Happy birthday to you!

h4pp3 b1rthd4y t0 y00!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday critics! Not not you but the thread! Today isn't your special day!

[penguin007 27]

Thanks for the great review Shingure. Im glad you like the cj alot. I do try to put as much updates as I can but quality comes before quantity and I didnt want to rush anything once started. Gridlines have always been a problem but I need to stop it!!! Thanks again

Will

[Shingure 56]

Cj Review

By Penguin007

________________________________

Have you ever wanted to see a rural Cj with such colorful attributes.Well you have found the right City Journal. The city journal starts out with a rushed beginning that Im glad to say even the writer had to admit to. The introduction it'self isnt bad , Giving a overview of what Ancelstierre is like. The first update shows the town of Chilton Foliat. A very broadly spread town a bit more than 1100 people. Since it's so spread out it gives a rural effect that is so unbelievable that it made my eyes water.The thing that you notice by the 3rd picture is that the grid lines are on. Many Cj'ers find a way to cope with it. But still the picture is beautiful and seems to show just a small town. 

The 2nd Update still with it's beautiful and slightly photoshopped pictures shows the main problem of the Cj in a more wide open and direct way. The grids are appearing through the structures and  the ground. Those who are in the thread commenting gives a word of advice about that. The landscape is also now even more beautiful and more diverse showing a very Euro-style-ness about it. After the second update and some trouble in which the author had to do some unspecified re-installing the ball gets back to rolling on the 4th page in which they show the Private Airport at Lucon. The area is very realsitic and is very beautiful , while the landscape is flawless.Following that is the serene region veiw shot. Which is simply wooing.There is however something that is taking some slight appearance in the pictures previous to the region shot. The grid is still there. Which is becoming a bit of a nuscience , escpeacially to the author and to most or half of the commenters. 

Then the city of Lucon in all of it's beauty comes into veiw and as a person who was watching this Cj, the wait was highly worth it. The city feautres lovely old archetecture which matches well with it's natural beauty and as a city it doesnt seem to be over powering like many are. And so this concludes the CJ Review of Pengiun007's Cj ,Ancelstierre. 

The Good	The Bad
The lovely content and realistic attributes of this Cj makes it a good look and is also one of the few that are worth the wait for development.The achitecture and the creativity of the towns and cities makes you want to live in the game and makes many BATer's proud for their work to be featured in such a serene and beautiful way.	The over photoshopping in some pics causes your eyes to hurt alittle but that isnt that bad. The waiting time is very long but the wait is worth it.As they say " Beauty takes time" And for the final point . Turn off the grids,They will make the experience for some even more interactive.

[Shingure 56]

Im looking for more reviews to do. I want to do 3 more reviews but I cant find anyone to do so.

[Mike the Mayor 51]

A very interesting read of Ancelstierre. I love that cj, very nice pictures, it is a shame about the grids showing through but I don't think that spoils the pictures too much. 

Great work penguin007 and excellent review Shingure.

[patriots_1228 51]

IDS2-no prob. that tis what we are here for. im going to go see the new update right now

[tankmank 853]

Wonderful reviews guys very well done i didn't know there was so many spectacular CJs out there

[Stinkmeaner1 0]

Good Reviews,not great,but good!

[Shingure 56]

Cj Review By Shingure

Beginning August 8th in the afternoon hours this Cj has been steadily growing. It is currently at 25 updates as of November 5th 2007 8:30 pm. This Cj is now in a class of new Cj's in which the actual builiding of the city takes place. As the building of the city takes place the author shows ups around the town which has been brought more to life with the canals. The usage of custom content is seen very early in this Cj , By the 2nd update. This shows that the Cj has expirienced rapid growth. The towns take a suburban outlook for the beginning of the Cj which is very quant and repetitive as with many suburbs to this day. But by the time we get to the more recent updates showing more urbanized areas we see the problems. 

There is a sense and presence of custom content. But when the more urbanized areas come into veiw we see that ther custom content has vanished. There is very little custom content and there is a large amount of repetitiveness in the downtown.And that to any Cjer is a pain in the behind and for realism freaks and pro-Custom content it drives them slightly mad. The main problem though is the repetitiveness. Which can be dealt with easily. 

In the end Oswego is a well rounded Cj and has time for improvements. A note to the author is not to rush things. Because ( If you have a lady in your life and not to get off topic) beauty and wonder needs time...

---

The Good	The Bad
There is alot of potential for this Cj , There is also the veiwing of how the city is being built and there is alot of custom content usage at the beginning. There is also a sururban arua about it.	As the more urbanized sections of this Cj come about it is obvious that there is an evident lack of custom content therefore allowing Maxis to come to work and there is a point where repetitiveness becomes a extreme problem ( Like in the pictures of the Downtown Area in the 17th Update. )

[Shingure 56]

Cj Review By Shingure

By Cleaner275

This new Cj began very recently. It began on October 28th and within the past 7 days it has already made it to the next page. For a beginning of a Cj I will have to admit that it is good but as time moves on there will have to be improvements. The first update is the first post and it shows us breifly what the area looks like. At first look it seems very scattered but at the same time interesting. As I read over it it seemed like it was very good start and a very colorful one. There was in the first post a presence of custom content. Which I can highly credit because many Cj's dont have this much Custom content at the beginning. Even though there was some evident problems within the first two updates. 

It was soon found that the quality of the pictures  was something to be desired. They were saturated and also suffered from the compression effects of JPG format. Also the text were low quality making the captions readable but took away from the images. Also the author had requested a Cj review abit too early. In the end I did the best I could with the little amount was given.

The Good  This is a fresh Cj and has the opportunity to grow, There is also a great presence of custom content from the start and the large region makes the possibilities are seemingly endless.

The Bad              There is a low image quality which takes alot away from teh images and captions that would ordinaryly be there.  Also the review was perhaps requested too early and more updates could have been allowed to make the Cj show more 'umph'

[patriots_1228 51]

Shinguire-as usual, a good fair honest review from you. good work.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Ooh, just looked at the last page...

best political journal Sakhaliyan Peoples Republic by el burro

Thanks guys, made my week

I might give one of you a call in a few weeks time to review it if you don't mind... I want to run through a couple of Updates first before I do though

Happy Be-lated birthday too!

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

happy bday, and has anyone thought of doing Parkland? i ran into this cj the other day, and it is the most realistic sc4 city making i have seen. its amazing!

[rossjman1 0]

Thanks for reviewing Pinewood. I wasn't expecting such a good review!

[Shingure 56]

( Youre Welcome bbfan, Man Im on a roll... )

Cj Review By Shingure

Pinewood was started on October 15 12:50 in the middle of the night for anyone on the Eastern Time Zone. Pinewood is a Cj that is Northwest American themed. And the Author , rossjman ,did an awsome the city. The opening update shows the city in it's urban state. Very wide open  and pristene. There is custom content which is a huge plus and it is mixed with Maxis wonderfully.  Also it is evident that there is an anti-grid pattern in the downtown area. Which I can give a handclap to because even some of the best Cjer's struggle to break away from grids.

The only problem though is just a small amount of repetitiveness. But nothing too major.By the time the second update comes in there is a large expanse of suburban like residentital areas. Which makes the downtown look more realistic. The look of the houses are perfect in the area. You may be saying " There Maxis! " But they blend well. Even though we would love to see a couple custom content homes on there. Hey it never hurts, usually.As we advance further along in the Cj we see that Ross has done a fine job of expanding the city and keeping it's Northwestern vibe. We see that is very detailed and accurate. But are there many problems. None that stand out sorely. At this point for a beginning Cj it is at it's prime and I would hope to see it that way for a long time.

At the end of the day there is nothing majorly wrong with the Cj and seems wonderful. I suggest to anyone that loves Northwestern Cjs to read this one. It's a treat.

The Good	The Bad
Just about everything in this Cj is good. I must say that there is no extensive problems. Just some minor ones.	A small amount of reptitiveness. But nothing too major.

[bbfan02 23]

Thanks for reviewing it! I will try to improve the cj every update!

-bbfan02-

[bbfan02 23]

O yea, I just noticed you put August 8th is when I started the cj. Actually, it was September 8th.

[Mike the Mayor 51]

Lovely review there, Pinewood is excellent.