SimCity 1.7 Fixes Traffic
Good news for SimCity players, a long term issue affecting traffic and AI routes which could cripple larger cities, has been addressed in a 1.7 patch, according to Maxis. Not a moment too soon, as these same traffic issues were something I picked up on in my SimCity review.
Specifically, Maxis have made it so that the AI can make decisions better about what road to use, so that they no longer clog up busy intersections, leading to a much more realistic situation. In addition to this, emergency service vehicles which would previously get stuck in traffic, causing deaths and the burning down of buildings, now have priority and will choose empty lanes over busy ones. Lastly, this patch addresses performance for low spec machines and is adding an Asia 2 server later today.
SimCity, now that the launch problems are behind us, looks a lot more playable by the day. It still remains to be seen whether potential new players can stomach the always online DRM and reduced city size however.
Posted 21-03-2013, 16:28
*sigh* EA... Why they don't just add an offline mode or make the DRM less intrusive, I do not understand... As it is they already have Origin, which is a form of DRM. Why do they need two freaking DRMs on a single game. Reminds me of Ubisoft games purchased through Steam, they have 4-5 different DRMs including Steam itself. Even if not purchased through Steam they still would have 4 different DRMs. Completely insane.