Build-a-lot 4: Power Source - Watch Your Power Meter!

Your strategy skills are up to a new challenge - and a serious one this time! The new

installment of Build-a-lot series (the fourth already) is out - with all the fun and amazing new twists!

Blackouts? Not in this towns!

As in the previous games, in Build-a-lot 4 you'll act as an architect helping mayors make their towns more comfortable and attractive to their citizens. You are given the choice of Campaign and Casual modes (needs to be unlocked), and in the Campaign mode you can decide to play the Tutorial Campaign that will lead you through the basics of runing a vicinity, or to start with the main Campaign and the real challenge. Once you complete the Main Campaign you'll unlock the Challenge one, which will be followed by the Expert Campaign for genuine Build-a-lot addicts.

The main principles of the engaging game play familiar to the series fans are preserved in the fourth part, though there are some new twists. For example, now you don't have to acquire blueprints for the buildings you need to construct - the buildings are just unlocked level by level. But the main innovation in the game is the power concept.

Now each building has its level of power consupmption which is reflected in the Power Meter showing the ratio of your town's energy supply and use. If you build too many houses and not enough power stations, you'll end up in a blackout when your houses will stop bringing you income. There are two ways of avoiding the situation - adding Energy Savers to your houses and constructing Power buildings, starting with Wind Farms and up to Nuclear Stations. To add Energy Savers you'll need to train the necessary number of Technicians (those act apart from Workers you are already used to), and then you can add up to three Energy Savers to each house you own (provided you have enough materials, of course). Those are very similar to Upgrades present in all the previous games. But as your town grows Energy Savers are not enough, so you'll have to build some Power Stations.

Tip: watch the Power Meter and try to plan the energy consumption and supply beforehand, otherwise you might get to a dead end.

All the other aspects of running a town like uprgading, painting, repairing, buying and

selling houses, workshops and garden centres, as well as recreation facilities, curb appeal and rent amount and whatever else I forgot to mention are here as you might expect.

Well, enough talking, I have a couple of Duplexes and a tennis court to construct. And you?

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