SimCity PC review
It's the first SimCity game in a decade, but how does it compare to its predecessors? James finds out...
Call it SimCity 5, call it SimCity 2013, call it anything you like. It's the original city simulation game, and it's back for its first major instalment in ten years. But what's it actually like?
It's impossible to talk about SimCity right now without addressing the elephant in the room. "Nelly," I say, "how do you feel about the fact that inadequate server support has left thousands of paying customers unable to properly access SimCity for days following the launch?"
Unfortunately, I don't speak elephant, but it's clear from all the stamping and trumpeting that no one, person or pachyderm, considers this an acceptable situation. And while EA has been sufficiently humble regarding their failures, they've only addressed the botched implementation of the mandatory online component – the fact that it exists at all could provide enough fodder itself for an entire article.
But let's accept that one day (probably quite soon) the servers will have the capacity to support the game and all of its features for every player. And let's assume that if you're actually interested in playing the new SimCity, you're okay with online DRM. From that vantage point, what do you actually get when you play SimCity?
The answer is a good SimCity game. One that both looks stunning and has a deeper level of simulation than ever before. When you see traffic build up, you're seeing actual traffic. When people go to work, you see them actually going to work. In a way, it's almost too finely detailed: who can find the time to care about one guy's trip to the shops when there are commercial land value problems to worry about?
One of the more frequent complaints from hardcore SimCity fanatics concerns the limited size of the city maps - but don't be worried, you quickly adjust. Nor is it the restriction it might seem, for while cities are small, the "regions" system allows multiple cities to trade and share resources. Play a region alone, and you'll have acres of space to build on and manage as your own. No foul.
But further than that, the thing that SimCity wants isn't for you to relentlessly pursue your expansionist dreams, but to fine-tune your construct. This is a SimCity game for the Limited Resources generation, where every scrap of land demands to be carefully managed. You can precision-place everything from flagpoles and signs to extensions on the mayoral mansion. Roads can finally – finally! – be drawn curved, leading to more interesting design possibilities than ever. The fun of SimCity was always in sculpting your own slice of suburbia, and this game takes that to heart.
It doesn't get everything right: the big problem is that your citizens are always eager to whine, but only ever do so in generalities. Finding solutions to their problems is too often down to guesswork and frustration. When a Sim complains about the lack of shopping (and they do, frequently) it could point to a lack of spending opportunities, poor access to the existing ones, or even just the wrong type of shopping. You'll never know until you fix the problem – assuming it doesn't just disappear as part of the game's natural churn, which can't ever be ruled out.
But most of our criticisms are still aimed at what features they left out rather than any they got wrong. The lack of subway transport is disappointing. The inability to turn off disasters (except in the restriction-free "sandbox" mode) is irritating, especially when Godzilla turns up and smashes your most expensive building into rubble mere minutes after you bankrupt yourself constructing it (true story). And the single-track of music, which starts off jaunty, atmospheric and evocative becomes a brain-chewing mutant earworm after a few hours through sheer lack of alternatives. But none of these things ruin the experience; they just make it a little bumpier than it could have been.
It's easy to praise SimCity's technical achievements as being the most impressive and ground-breaking yet, but the game itself only lands somewhere around "good". It's fun, fascinating and addictive in equal measure, and the online components (once they're straightened out) should prove acceptably transparent. It's easy to get into and endlessly rewarding. But it doesn't do anything sufficiently new with the game. That said, after the disaster that was SimCity Societies (the 2007 "reinvention" of the franchise) it feels like it's on the right track, and if you can stand to play it for half an hour you'll be hooked. It might not be the best SimCity, but at least it's worth of the name.
SimCity is out now on PC.
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Thanks for the information about the game. I may end up holding off until the server issue gets resolved.
Where are you based? I've been playing since Friday in the UK and haven't really had any problems, except once when the server I was playing on with my brother was too full to let me log in for about 10 minutes.
I get the distinct impression this is a game destined to be the brunt of Internet Gamer Ire(tm) for many months to come. The always online thing... well, to be fair, at least there IS a design reason for it so this isn't purely a DRM issue (though of course it's personal opinion as to whether or not you agree that reason is valid). There's clearly server problems to sort out that really should have been anticipated and I'm not entirely sure why they've gone for a model that puts your saves on a specific server rather than a general access platform. Oh, and I'm almost positive there will be a LOT of DLC for this one which will further raise the annoyance factor for certain folks.
Of course that doesn't really matter as it's going to find an audience anyway and, I suspect, a fairly large one. As much as some will rail against the always-online requirement they're almost certain to be in the minority and it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see this model come in more and more. You do have to wonder if Maxis look at this as one half of a SimCity / Sims 4 package, certainly it seems fairly compelling to have your Sim walk out the door of their house in Sims 4 and straight into your SimCity.
The one thing I do find curious is the massive outcry over this game when the same problems hit Diablo 3 last year. Yes, there was the same shouting over not being able to play the game but seemingly nowhere near the level of "it's broken by design" stuff being thrown at SimCity. Can't help but wonder if the presence of EA has something to do with that...
Agreed. I bought on UK release day, initially was restricted from connecting and have only once been delayed in connecting. Since then, no problems.
The European servers seem to be pretty stable from what I've experienced myself and heard and read. Also, EA is giving away a free game as an apology for all the problems, and as far as I understand it that goes for anyone who activates SimCity on Origin before March 18th.
Fix'd >>> "EA is giving away something that costs them nothing to try and make people shut up."
do you want to join my city or add me as a friend plz
There's that weird anti-EA thing again. They publicly admit they screwed up, give everyone affected a free game (I don't care what it is; gift horses and everything) and people still find a way to turn that into something negative. There's just no pleasing some people, is there?
It 's the presence of EA. See RunningCrazy's reply to my post below for that. Without wanting to have a go at him/her, that's exactly what I've seen in the past week all around the internet, this absolute blind rage aimed at EA.
I agree, there is a design reason for the always online. People get upset about that. There will be a massive amount of DLC, and people will get upset about that as well, even though they're given a choice whether or not to buy a pack of European buildings and landmarks or not (and frankly, who cares?). And in a number of years the servers will be closed, and people also get upset about that already (having bought the game anyway). The only thing, for me, everyone is rightfully upset about is how they messed up the first few days because the servers predictably couldn't handle the amount of people trying to log in to the game. EA has admitted they made a mistake, offer a free game to everyone and people still get upset about that. Wait and see the outrage when they're not giving the newest Crysis or something away.
People will find a way to complain about everything, mostly because it's EA, and because this is not the SimCity of ten years ago. It's an entirely new beast and a game best enjoyed being played with friends online. The majority of the people who are complaining seem to be doing it because the series has evolved into something it wasn't before and they feel like they're entitled to something different, namely the same old SimCity 4, only with better graphics. This is not that game, and the sooner everyone realises that and starts treating it like the online, multiplayer game it is, the better.
Is it really too much to expect a game to work when it is released? How annoying would it be to buy a game having spent a lot of money and not be able to play it?
I bought Half Life 2 on release day when Steam was launched and it took 3 or 4 hours to decrypt the files, that was highly annoying but at least I knew that once it was done I would be able to play it, the Sim City fiasco is far worse, people might not be able to play it reliably for days or even weeks.
I'm not defending EA/Maxis on that, and I agree that the launch was a right screw-up, but server issues do usually plague online games. World of Warcraft used to have issues the first few days, and I can't count the times I was thrown off Guild Wars 2 the first week or so. It's a sad thing, but inherent to the online environment of the game.
Of course we can discuss whether it should be online or single-player in the first place, but I really do think that's an entirely separate discussion.
FYI Chaps - I bought this on Friday midday (Bedford UK)
I experienced approx 20 minutes of server down issues, and since then have managed a good 30 hours with no problems. The launch of Diablo 3, from my perspective, was infinitely worse - I had about 3 days before I could play it.
Now I can understand why people are upset about the online connection because it's a chore when it doesn't work. So it just goes to show just how up themselves people with computers are because not one person has reviewed the game with the explanation 'You need to have a computer to play this! I don't have a computer! I always used to be able to play games without a computer, now EA have messed it all up!'
But I digress.
The game itself, for any of you interested, is ridiculously addictive. Stupidly addictive. What Maxis appear to have done is moved in a more Tropico kind of direction, and with good results. It's not the best game I've ever played, but I know I have hours and hours of play ahead of me so it's going to be worth every bit of the £33 I paid for it!
It is utterly and absolutely charming too. The splitting out of maps into smaller segments sounds a pain, and it does limit you in certain respects - but the fact that you link them together with resources adds a whole new level of addiction because when you start a new city, you have a purpose. Rather than just going through the motions.
I started playing on a Region with 12 maps and so far no one else has joined me. Which I am very grateful for! I don't play well with others. But I already have 6 cities on the go, all requiring constant management and redevelopment.
I would recommend this game to anyone.....with an internet connection.
Whereas I wouldn't recommend Diablo 3 to anyone so EA have trumped Blizzard in that respect as well.
Seriously, it's great fun! And from a UK perspective (mine anyway), a successful launch.