CJ Review Thread

[Evillions 552]

After seeing the original CJ Review thread dead, I decided to revive it so that a newer generation can have their CJs reviewed. The idea and rules are basically the same as the original, nothing needs to be changed.

Rules:

1. Do not flame

2. Reviewers must give constructive criticism and honest opinions

3. Do not rate, review

Reviewers:

Evillions

TekindusT

Table of Contents:

Auburn Metropolitan Area

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I am not taking any more requests at the moment. I do not want to be piled with so many CJs and ending up reviewing one. Hope you will understand...

If you want to become a reviewer, you must PM me.

  Edited December 18, 2011 by Evillions  

[GreekMan 246]

ill try it first....

Auburn Metropolitan Area by myself

new CJ section

thanks

[Ion_Cannon 677]

I haven't produced any entries in a little while, but I hope to restart my CJ soon, would be interested in your thoughts.

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/journals/2871-the-spire/

[Terring 6,473]

Eden: The New Frontier

[MandelSoft 2,769]

How about my CJ Schellingen-Stadt?

[jakehh 52]

Moorwich by myself.

[Evillions 552]

CJ Review by Evillions

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The Auburn Metropolitan Area city journal, opened on May 15, 2011, features an American themed region that progressively expands. The author is attempting to build a very large region while retaining realistic features. At the moment, the author published twenty-two updates.

While viewing each update, I realized that the cities were decent, but nothing special. For example, the road networks were too grid-like and the sprawl was more wealthier than an average American suburb. The suburbs in my opinion require a significant amount of lower-class housing and businesses as I only saw high-wealth offices and services along with decent sized houses and mansions adjacent to each other. Realistically, the amount of wealthy people are much less than the middle-class / low-class citizen. If the author used more custom content, this would have been much better, but I have a feeling of too much Maxis.

In addition to the road networks, most suburbs have developments or less-grid like networks. The only time grids are acceptable are urban centers. Beyond that, the road network needs to be more curvy and unique. However, the author stated that he used grids for its simplicity and less abandonment problems. This could been solved by no-abandonment modifications.

Centering into the city centers, the author does much better in this department than the suburbs. In fact, the ritzy sections of each city were pleasing. However, some of the city centers are somewhat flawed. For instance, they were too utopian as EVERY section were high-class. I would love to see some slums or deteriorated buildings in the outer section of a city center. Besides this, some of the city centers were lacking seawalls. For example...

On a whole, the cities need a slope mod because the roads and bridge slopes were too steep.

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Despite these flaws, its a solid city journal because I find the captions to be interesting and that Glenn Harbor was very eye-catching. Besides this, the author did not suddenly changed his playing style in order to gain more attention. The author retained his style while hording loads of followers.

I really would love to see more work done on the cities themselves instead of focusing on completing the region. With more polished cities, this would have been a favorite city journal.

[SAVAGExPHOENIX 955]

It would be great if you could review the Illium CJ. It's been sadly neglected by high-profile viewers.

I'd much appreciate it!

[GreekMan 246]

hmmm interesting take...loved it and ill take everything you said into account...

yeah it is very utopian-like...i don't like to show $ homes but i can make some getto areas of my town...

thank you very much!

[emperordaniel 1,281]

I really liked your first review Evillions!

I'd also really be grateful if you could review The Sovereign Royal Planet of Boneila in the CJ section, done by me

[Evillions 552]

Guys, no more CJ requests right now, I do not want to be piled with CJ requests and end up finishing a few. If anyone is willing to sign up as a reviewer, please do so.

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Greekman: Thanks for taking the time to read it. I am glad that you liked it.

  Edited December 17, 2011 by Evillions  

[SAVAGExPHOENIX 955]

I'll review

[Follarch 326]

Yeah, I'm surprised at the number of people wanting a review. It wasn't this demanded before. We should try to get the other original reviewers on board as well.