In CityVille 2, players are once again cast in the role of a fledgling township's mayor. In what would have been a genuinely surprising twist if it hadn't already been spoiled by the media, the player's mayoral estate is blown up shortly after the game begins. Much of the game's overarching storyline consists of working alongside two colorful "cop" characters to investigate various local residents and uncover the mystery of who was responsible for the attack. These "investigation" quests crop up at fairly regular intervals as the player progresses through the game, but it's not possible to "rush" through them.

As the player expands into various new districts, each district gains experience and may eventually be assigned a "specialism" — either residential, commercial or industrial. Residential districts generate shoppers more quickly, commercial districts increase the payout from businesses and industrial sectors are quicker at crafting special items using collected resources.

Despite these issues, though, CityVille 2 is off to a solid start, and its future looks bright. If Zynga can work on resolving the few problems the game has, they'll have an excellent social game on their hands. As it stands, the name and brand alone are likely to make CityVille a huge success at least in the short term, but it remains to be seen if the game will stand the test of time as well as its predecessor.