Blue-News

First Look: Gridrock City

// October 29th, 2009 // Cities

Gridrock City has been accessible for about a week now, giving everyone a fair chance to explore and have fun checking out the various places around the Gridrock City valley.  While it’s in an early stage, it’s still a good place to check out with many easy to remember landmarks to help guid friends to your secret meeting place.

The theme of Gridrock City is based on a colony created by descendants of Nikola Tesla.  Though you won’t see any stray bolts of raw electricity anywhere in the city, it still has an interesting, science-y feel about it, and the tower above the city proper resembles a Tesla coil.

Upon arriving, you’ll “float” out of a pod and land in front of a giant billboard explaining your situation.   From the welcome area, there is an amphitheater to your left that has an interesting sculpture in the middle.

Behind where you first land is the main area of Gridrock City, the city center, if you will.

There’s not much there other than some buildings and lamp posts, along with the “moon jump” that will take you to Tesla Tower, but it’s still a nice little cluster of civilization.

There’s also a camera tour that will fly you over the city and the back lot, which is an interesting place to explore.  It’s kind of like a museum of all the props used in Gridrock City, and some that haven’t been used yet and aren’t even textured!

The backlot is split up into a few flat little islands, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around. However, it does take some work to get to the back lot, and the easiest way is to take a walk through the ocean.

If walking through the ocean isn’t your thing, then perhaps a bit of spelunking suits your taste?  Yes, there’s a cave in Gridrock City, and it’s dark and scary.

When we were testing it out, we weren’t able to get very far because of the darkness, but we would love to know where it leads to (comment if you know).

If you don’t like the dark and cramped quarters of the cave, you might want to take a trek up to the A/C creek for some “swimming” action.  If you enter the waters here, you’ll be swiftly swept away towards the waterfall; don’t worry, you won’t go over unless you really try.

If you really aren’t into any of all that, you can stick to the city proper and check out plenty of things.

For one, you can take the “moon jump” up to Tesla Tower, climb the stairs, and enjoy the view.  There are some interesting props on the top floor, and you can look out the windows and catch one of Gridrock City’s stunning sunsets.

You can also check out the mud huts that are very interesting to look at and are nicely situated on the bank of the river leading to the sea.

Though Gridrock City has only been around for a short time, it’s already a fun alternative place to explore along with the other cities that are presently in Blue Mars.  In time, Gridrock City will grow to be an exceptional destination with plenty of things to do and see, as well as many fascinating people to meet!

If you get lost, be sure to check out the official city map here.