Have you ever wished you could witness a whole city burn to the ground? Have you ever wondered how the surveillance cameras in your city operate? Well, City Eye is the only place to look! In the game City Eye, you can spy on the city’s CCTV to report crimes. The idea that this would be a casual game is intriguing. The idea behind City Eye is likewise very straightforward. Since this comes with so much baggage, many people could decide to leave Strife City as soon as possible.
In a brief introduction to the game, players are shown three different types of cameras that they can enhance. Simple cameras, automatic cameras, and semi-automatic cameras. The player’s new job is taking shifts, installing cameras by clicking on the proper spots, and then viewing each video to check for criminal activity or medical emergencies. An end-of-day report will let you know how many crimes you caught, how well your response was, and how much money you made. Marking targets correctly reduces the crime rate in that area. City Eye uses the WASD keys to pan and zoom with the camera, as well as the mouse to click and point to select certain crimes. There are no complications with the over-map and choosing cameras because you have the choice of using the keyboard to choose between cameras or utilizing a map that shows where your camera is positioned. Intriguingly, while you are on the map, the map will randomly flash various colors without any rhyme or reason.
City Eye falls short in the challenging department and can be very disappointing given how quickly playthroughs are completed. Semi-automatic cameras will enable you to focus on specific crimes by highlighting them in the field of vision. Sadly, after playing for about an hour, you will recognize a pattern. The same building will always be on fire if an auto-cam indicates there is a fire nearby while you are on street x. The same NPCs will be fighting in the same spot on the road if you know the police need to be called. Once you have enough money to upgrade to an automatic camera, there is virtually no work left to be done, and the day shift does not become any faster. It ultimately becomes a memory game rather than something fascinating or involved.
The end-of-day report is another topic that gets missed without much justification. Your report is broken down into perfect, good, missing, and other responses. For instance, it doesn’t actually explain the distinction between perfect and good is. The statistics for each response are not broken down in the game, nor are there any pointers on how to improve on good responses. The game is most engaging when your neighborhood is lined with inexpensive security cameras since it forces you, the player, to actively search for the crime. Fires, drug deals, arson, vandalism, and fainting are only a few examples of crimes or emergencies.
At times, events will happen where certain people have to be located and deemed as suspects. Maybe a drug raid, or a group of arsonists that need tracking down. This would be considered interesting if you could suspect any NPC, but City Eye only lets you imagine the ones that are actually suspect, so if you’re really that stuck you can mindlessly click on everyone until it lets you guess them.
The NPCs are made up of the same eight or so character styles. At times, events will happen where certain people have to be located and labeled as suspects. Maybe a graffiti artist is tagging a building, or arsonists that need tracking down. The game would be way more interesting if you had to find the person based on the information you find on them. Instead, players can endlessly click on any NPC until the report button is not grayed out. Leaving little to no work to be done. The lack of attention from surrounding NPCs does allow a Where’s Waldo effect to occur. From someone being held up to a person lying on the ground unconscious. These folks are made of steel and show no care for their surroundings which leads to some pretty weird encounters.
City Eye has a great proof of concept, turning to franchises like Five Nights at Freddy’s with watching your environment through cameras and giving it the Big Brother twist. However, the shortcomings of the environment not changing, and the not-so-random crimes become more of a memory game, and eventually, let the game roll and become unemployed as the automatic cameras do the work for you. Maybe give the game a try once it goes on sale, but do not come in expecting a game of the year.
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