After a rough launch last year, SimCity has spent 2014 fixing its flaws (namely, the always-online requirements and cramped cities) and once again becoming gaming's pre-eminent metropolis-building franchise. With a developer as experienced as Maxis and a publisher the size of EA, that probably should come as no surprise. Meanwhile, the sales figures for SimCity show that the world still enjoys simulations like this, and newcomer Cities: Skylines might prove that you don't need a huge team to build a big city.

“ Cities: Skylines might prove that you don't need a huge team to build a big city.

“ Colossal Order is building modification support into City Skyline so that the game can grow even further after launch.

Developer Colossal Order claims two key differentiators from EA’s genre stalwart: freedom and control. The former manifests itself with Skylines' openness to modification. While the small team has built a hearty city-builder, Colossal Order is building mod support into Skyline so that the game can grow even further after launch. (SimCity encourages most forms of modification, but doesn't have an official modding tool.)That same marquee tool can be used to designate specific districts within your city, so if you see that there are definitive wealth divides, you can change the taxing zones with a simple click and drag. Again, while I'm not a person who sweats the small things, I thought Skylines' ability to customize the name of every citizen and automobile on the map was laudable.In total, while Maxis has more than proven its prowess as city-builder-builders, I couldn't help but marvel at the work Colossal Order presented to me during my Cities: Skylines demo. Despite a team size that barely tops a dozen (13, to be exact), Colossal has spent the last half-decade aiming to create the next big thing in the genre. When they knew it was out of reach during the dev's early days, they created a series of well-received mass transit simulations that laid the groundwork for what will ultimately become Cities: Skylines. Now that they're on the precipice of unveiling this city to the public, it should be interesting to see if it can become a true metropolitan of the genre.

Dave Rudden is a former editor for Official Xbox Magazine and GamePro, and a current freelancer extraordinaire. If you want to chat about pro wrestling or commiserate about how his beloved Mets, Islanders, and Knicks are doing, you can follow him on Twitter @daverudden