Global warming had been the most dominant theme in the media for a long time, until the banking crisis stole the show. Plan It Green, another addition to the lately prospering resource management genre, sets the record straight by enabling the player to rebuild all the districts of Greenville, a city suffering from heavy pollution, in an eco-friendly, yet profitable way. Do you have what it takes to put the "green" back into Greenville?
As the new Mayor of Greenville you promised to make the city cleaner, healthier and more prosperous. Supported by your lifelong friend, city manager Alicia Green, you will visit eight different districts such as the suburbs, an industrial area or an urban neighborhood in the course of the game. Each district looks totally rundown and polluted in the beginning, but hopefully by the time you're finished with your renewal they'll look like a green paradise.
Eco friendly green technology and living are the way forwards, and games like Plan It Green are designed to encourage this philosophy - but does the game live up to its price tag?
Plan It Green seems like a smashing game - and the concept of a "green Sim City" is certainly an attractive one. Available from the National Geographic website, Plan It Green comes with a free 60 minute trial for you to try out some of the early missions. This is a great feature and one which is becoming increasing common among independent video game producers. It's great for giving a good flavour of the game and determining the difficulty level, and wIth a relatively small 53 MB download it gives a great sample of what Plan It Green is all about.
Pros
• Different sorts of environmental challenges to work out.
• Serves as a teacher about green/environmental issues
• Thorough tutorial
• Missions and an endless mode included
Cons
• Some weak character design
JIG:
"It may fall short of presenting the ultimate in eco-friendly building, but Plan It Green does its part to raise awareness. Beyond its message, however, is a great-looking casual building sim that shaves off frustration and easily competes with the well-established franchises already on the market."
