‘CityVille Holidaytown’ Puts The Merry In Christmas

GaplekNews--It’s the worst thing ever imagined: the North Pole has been destroyed by a devastating blizzard and Santa now needs your help to rebuild it. In CityVille Holidaytown by Zynga, the fate of Christmas is in your hands. Complete tasks and challenges to earn money and purchase various houses, buildings and cozy Christmas décor. With each point and coin earned and each building replaced, the town is slowly restored to its former, festive glory.

Holidaytown is something of a sequel to the original CityVille Hometown. It plays essentially the same but with an obvious sense of, shall we say, merriment? The game’s series of challenges remain as well as Facebook interaction. In order to gain skill and money, various tasks arise. You might find yourself needing to build a holiday bakery to entice the elves to return to the North Pole. This is a simple task involving tapping on the menu, selecting the bakery and placing it within the town. Once built and named, you can watch your skills and funds rise then swiftly move on to the next task. There are also a couple of fields which need tending to grow reindeer food or Christmas holly and must be checked regularly. Before you know it the town is a busy, bustling winter wonderland ready for Christmas Eve.

There are aspects to Holidaytown which are not always opportune. When first downloading and opening the game, it will ask you whether you would like to receive notifications such as when crops are ready for harvesting or if a Facebook friend has visited your town. This can be helpful to ensure your town doesn’t fall by the wayside but can also be a small annoyance. For instance if you’re in a conversation with your boss and suddenly your phone chimes with a message reading, “Your elves need holiday decorations” it may put an otherwise enchanting game into rather harsh perspective.

What is to be enjoyed about this game are the remarkable graphics and attention to detail. The town is positively cute with its winter buildings and elves wandering about and the little holiday bakery making tasty treats. The ability to customize your town and place buildings where you want and decorate as you please creates a sense of personalization and creativity. So if you don’t mind a little merriment interrupting daily life, turn the notifications on and let the holidays begin. apppicker