This could be the revived MicroProse’s breakout hit: Car Park Capital, a retro-style sim in which you manage car parks!
It’s not often I come across a game that I instantly add to my wishlist, but if this had been around in the 1990s, I’d already own a boxed copy of it. (I had quite a few MicroProse games, from Solo Flight to Civilization, and of course, Project: Stealth Fighter!) Car Park Capital could have been designed and programmed just for me, and I absolutely cannot wait to play it.
From the people at MicroProse, Car Park Capital puts you — you’ll be astonished to learn — in the role of a car park development mogul.
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Car Park Capital synopsis and trailer
Here’s what it is about:
You’ve been hired by Big Auto to unleash the Freedom of Car Dependency on unsuspecting townsfolk!
Design the slickest parking lots ever seen, then convince citizens they absolutely need them.
Spread glossy pro-car propaganda, outsmart those pesky anti-petrol protesters, and transform quiet neighborhoods into your parking empire!
It’s time to drive up car sales and oil consumption! For profit.. but mostly for freedom!
As you can see in the trailer, it also has a bit of a 1950s/Disney’s Cars vibe:
This is a real-time simulation, with construction elements, citizen opinions, statistics, and even rival organizations. Car Park Capital is also moddable!
More detail on those features:
- Real-time simulation with hundreds of vehicles and (bald) citizens.
- Buy land, demolish homes, and build the parking lots of your dreams: Endless flat seas of asphalt or build into the air using the 3D construction tools.
- Read anyone’s thoughts: Are they embracing cars yet, or annoyed by your ever-increasing parking fees and the sight of your oil drills?
- Use pro-car propaganda to turn everyone into a carbrain. Place shiny statues, billboard posters, and blast catchy slogans from megaphones.
- Keep the people somewhat happy: If traffic is a mess, distract them with a ride on your glorious Ferris Wheel for cars!
- Control the anti-car protests before they shatter your reputation.
- Track everything in the Stat-o-matic: A true tycoon loves watching numbers go up.
- Drill for oil. A full tank is a full heart.
- Rival public transport: You don’t want trains or walkable towns, you want every space flooded with cars!
- Moddability: Content and scripts can be altered to some extent if you understand Lua.
If you’re as excited as I am about Car Park Capital, wishlist it on Steam now!
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.