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SimCity

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By Leigh Cobb20-03-2013
Oskason (editor)
StuntmanLT (editor)
SimCity

The Defence

Developer:
Maxis
Publisher:
Electronic Arts
Genre:
Strategy, Simulator
Release Date:
US 05-03-2013
EU 08-03-2013

The Prosecution

CPU:
Intel Core i5
AMD equivalent
VGA:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 275
AMD Radeon HD 5850
RAM:
4 GB
HDD:
12 GB
DirectX:
9.0c

The Case

 

Ah, SimCity. It's a franchise that has given me so much to love over the years. The newest entry, simply termed 'SimCity', is no different. At its core is the same city building and simulation mechanics which make the series great. I said no different didn't I? I mean, aside from the complete server failure at launch, the bad handling of events by publisher EA and the insistence of making SimCity an online only game. To be honest, it's hard to know what to make of Maxis latest city constructing endeavour.

The Trial

 

For all the controversy around the launch of SimCity, I suppose this review would be amiss to not mention and address the issues that have been going on. If you believe the news posts, interviews, forum comments and opinions on the internet, then you would be forgiven for thinking that the SimCity launch is an even worse disaster than if 9/11 happened on the same day as Hurricane Katrina hit, whilst a Zombie Hitler roamed the streets of Germany. In truth, the SimCity launch is just a matter of blind incompetence on the part of EA and Maxis, who either failed to predict the high server load which caused the game to become unplayable across the world, or simply were too cheap to invest early enough to fix the problem. Regardless of how the server issues came about, two days after the 8th March UK launch, I was building my city just fine. For me, it is not the server failure in itself which was the biggest cause for grievance, rather the fact that EA/Maxis failed to predict and act on what would be a big game launch. Especially for an online only game, not providing enough server space is a grave mistake.

Everyone is happy in MY city!

Everyone is happy in MY city!

Underneath all the server troubles, player backlash and desperate pleas for forgiveness by the developers, lies the game itself. My initial thoughts once starting my first town were extremely positive. The graphics are vibrant and colourful and the steady development of my city from dirt roads and trailer parks to high rise skyscrapers felt natural, fun and very satisfying. The much touted GlassBox Engine used to power the game and the various simulations inside is at once capable of good looks and running a functional city.

'Cities' may be the wrong word to describe the settlements you will be developing, as due to the limited plot size of 2KM x 2KM (most of the time this is further reduced by on-site mountains and rivers), these 'cities' feel a lot more like towns. Maxis have said that this was for balancing reasons and how it better fits into the game which they designed around region play. I can say that it does matter, as this smaller size greatly cuts back on the freedom you have when building your city. You will run out of space fairly early on and once you have zoned residential, commercial and industrial buildings, you will find that the focus shifts on making taller buildings for your Sims to live in, in order to increase population.

Knowing the Sims of my cities, no doubt yours will forever be protesting outside of the City Hall. It seems that they complain and ask for more jobs or homes to live in, even when you have used up all the space in your plot. This is where the region play is rather forced upon the player, as to progress anywhere in SimCity, you will eventually have to start up a second town and begin exchanging your workforce, jobs and houses between two or even more towns. Here is where the game rather falls down, as all the attraction and gloss of the initial city founding stages, where you plop down water pumps and tend to a small population with ease, the game gives you the rather distinct feeling that you can't quite achieve what you want to. Some aspects are just plain broken. For example, late game cities with a large population often experience catastrophic traffic issues which put London commuting to shame. Even with a fully upgraded and operating bus network, streetcars on every street, a train station, a ferry station and, hell, a local airport, the traffic can invariably find a way to hit deadlock. This may be semi realistic, but due to AI faults the traffic can get stuck in certain patterns. I've had instances where buses got stuck trying to enter and exit the bus terminal, bringing my public transport system to a standstill. Furthermore, any traffic problems hinder delivery trucks. And if you can't get that supply of plastics and alloy to your processing plants, then you're not going to be making any money this month.

With some filters you can pretend that you are watching history of your city.

With some filters you can pretend that you are watching history of your city.

Dismayed as you will be to learn, but the AI and other issues don't stop with endless traffic loops. In fact, the much hyped region play can often appear to simply not work. I found it near impossible for one city to supply power to another city, negating the need for any power generation in the city buying the power. For some reason, despite all the excess power I had, I could only buy a certain amount (not enough to power the city). As such, I had to abandon my plans of one city being the power producer for the region (despite being capable of it) and build power generating buildings in every city.

Right, moving back to some of the more positive aspects of the game, I can't deny that it is very fun. According to Origin's game time tracker, I have played for 28 hours already. It grips you in its own way, the city you build becomes something you are proud of. Being able to zoom right in and see your Sims going about their daily lives is interesting and adds a lot of scale to the game. These good impressions continue, as I have mentioned above, until your city increases in size. It seems that the more you play in one city, the more likely you are to start noticing the increasing bugs and graphical glitches (such as ground textures appearing through roads). However, the early pace of the game is spot on and is aided by 'missions'. By clicking a speech bubble hovering over a building or a Sim, you can be given tasks to complete that match your population's needs, such as the construction of a larger hospital.

Much of the multi-player is great fun as well. I was playing in a region with two other friends, and competing in skyscrapers and income was appealing and had immediate results in driving you to do more for your city. I kept getting told by my friends that criminals from my city were making their way to their towns to perform crimes. I attributed this to my police force being so good, that the criminals could only get away with it in other, less police ready, cities. Either that or my industrial hell hole was a breeding ground for crime and murders.

At least the region is shaping up pretty nicely.

At least the region is shaping up pretty nicely.

Graphically the game, as mentioned, looks great and performance was top notch. It even offers a variety of visual 'filters' which change a great deal of how your city looks, such as being able to make it black and white, more vivid, sepia toned and more. This is a fun addition and no doubt experimenting with these will find an individual sweet spot for the player. The soundtrack gets rid of the Jazz and crazy rhythms of SimCity 4 and replaces it with music that wouldn't be amiss in The Sims 3. This isn't a bad thing, the music here is definitely as plus. As are the sound effects, such as the roars and bangs of activity when you zoom in near a factory, or the sounds of schoolchildren when near a school.

The Verdict

 

SimCity is different to previous SimCity games, such as number 4. I wouldn't say it is outright worse or better, but definitely a side step. Some areas are more complex than previous iterations of the franchise, such as traffic simulation, trading and region play. Whilst in other ways, the SimCity of 2013 is scaled back in terms of city size and the ways you can play. I wouldn't say this was a bad thing, but you can't go into SimCity expecting an improved SimCity 4. At this point in time, the number of bugs which cripple your city later on is making the game not very fun at all. But aside from that, it is a fundamentally good looking and addictive game. I'd advise that anyone wishing to play waits a few weeks or months for the game to go down in price, or for patches to be released which address these concerns. For the rest of us, it's back to enjoying our cities while they last.

Case Review

  • City of dreams: The game is beautiful, with visual filters to match your taste.
  • Addictive development: Starting a city and watching it grow is fun and satisfying...
  • ...Until the problems arises: Late game cities are prone to jamming up with the game's systems not working properly, your experience may vary.
  • EA is watching: Having to be connected online constantly sucks, end of story.
  • Broken aspects: Some things are undeniably broken: traffic, certain regional aspects.
  • Expensive and unplayable: It launched at a ridiculously high price here in the UK (£44.99), or even more expensive for the Deluxe Version (Which doesn't add much). For that premium you get servers that don’t work!
3.5
Score: 3.5/5
Fun and solid early on, but frustrating and broken the more you play.
Comments (3)
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Posts: 37

Wonder why they decided to make cities smaller.Couple of friends were really looking forward to this and they said that it's pretty disappointing.

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Posts: 1548

yeah the small maps and online only seems like the only gripe I'd have with this game.

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Posts: 596

This title really seems impressive to me. It is just too bad that they gave it a limited map size and the shitty DRM that has killed any chance of success the title had.