Despite a rocky launch-the price paid for an always-online concept-"SimCity" seems to be living up to reviewers' expectations. Conceptually and technically, the concept of the original "SimCity" is one of gaming's grand designs: Through the ebb and flow of a city, players come closer to controlling something alive than controlling a single protagonist or a group. Based on the reviews, it sounds like the new "SimCity" bring the magic back and builds on it with a streamlined AI and compelling social hooks.
(A Note: Due to the game's deep social hooks and online component, many outlets have held off on reviews or are releasing episodic review-diaries. For the sake of presenting well-rounded opinions, all of the stories cited here are fully-realized reviews.)
The first thing everyone says about building a city is that it's a give-and-take relationship. Success isn't attained by masterful macro-decision making or delicate micro-management, but by giving your people, your sims, what they need. Of course they need the basics, like power and food and water and jobs but playing the game "to win" doesn't always work out so well. A fact which Polygon's Russ Pitts found out the hard way:
"One of my first constructions was the town of West Pittssex, which had come blessed with a preponderance of underground oil. I drilled and used the proceeds to provide my sims with every conceivable luxury, thinking, foolishly, that the boom times would never end... Rampant industrialization led to unchecked disease. Sims died in droves, then the buildings they'd inhabited became abandoned. Raising taxes caused a collapse of the housing market and created a horde of wandering homeless sims."
For his troubles, Pitts gave the game a 9.5 out of 10 rating.
Your ability to give the sims what they need is where the new "SimCity" sets itself apart. Its been ten years since the original game, which means there's lot of room for improvement: A new layered interface makes it easier than ever to examine and solve problems related to ultilities, crime, taxes and natural resources, all of which need to be kept in working order for a city to thrive: "It'd be easy for a game like this to bog you down with spreadsheets and bar graphs, and there are plenty of numbers to peruse should you wish to do so, but the user interface takes pains to make the data relatable," explains Shacknews reviewer Mathew Rorie. "There are dozens of different data filters to scroll through, highlighting areas with poor police coverage, low happiness, no educational opportunities, and so on."
Despite its seeming simplicity, "SimCity" is a very challanging game. While there are plenty of systems in place to tell players that they're on the road to ruin, there's no sim-equivilent of a waypoint to direct them out of trouble. "In this era of games that race to be accessible to everyone, it's a breath of fresh air to not have your hand held," says Mashable's Chelsea Stark. "'SimCity' is more like receiving a box of LEGO paired with a powerful data mapping tools, compared with some modern games that provide much more guidance."
"SimCity"'s most controversial feature, it's social integration, seems to do more good than harm. The game requires a constant internet connection, similar to "Diablo III," so it can effectively group players into "regions" of up to 16 players: Cities in the same region can help each other out as they grow by sharing utilities like water and power, pool resources, and driving commerce to each other. Giving a city context helps to make it feel more alive: The idea of building a "concept city"-a gambling town or center of industry-becomes more plausible when other players can recognize that identity. The downside is, of course, that getting access to the game is contingent on the integrity of EA's servers. There may be issues getting online, especially in the first weeks.
The main complaint about the game seems to be that there isn't enough of it. There is a finite amount of space for a city to be built on. While players only start with a small plot, city-planners with massive ambitions may find themselves stimied by the game's limitations. Many reviewers mention that they built two seperate cities as they played the game for review. As VentureBeat's Dean Takashi points out, the limitation could be enough to make players lose interest: "The patches of ground available to you are limited. That's the case even though you may be staring at some beautiful regional property that you could expand into... This property limitation is one reason why you'll have to start a new city or just stop playing the game."
"SimCity" doesn't sound like its for everyone. It's complex, time-consuming and there's no inherent reward beyond self-satisfaction. For players who enjoy addictive puzzles and established "SimCity" fans, the game seems like a must-buy.