SimCity BuildIt

 iOS
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 62
  3. Negative: 30 out of 62
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  1. fence1247
    Jun 28, 2016
    9
    To enjoy the game, the secret is NOT paying money. When following this advice, the game becomes a fun game of trading and revenue from building, demolishing, and time management. With money, the game becomes one of instant gratification and only visuals - which takes all the strategy out of it. I recommend saving up for those large items like you would in a non paid game. It I think theTo enjoy the game, the secret is NOT paying money. When following this advice, the game becomes a fun game of trading and revenue from building, demolishing, and time management. With money, the game becomes one of instant gratification and only visuals - which takes all the strategy out of it. I recommend saving up for those large items like you would in a non paid game. It I think the most frustrating thing is dealing with those taunts from the game trying to get you to spend money, but you get used to them.… Expand
  2. MarcusNYC
    Jan 9, 2015
    3
    Let's face it. EA is doing whatever it can to wreck this franchise. None of the game mechanics and strategy that made the original versions of Sim City so compelling are at work here - instead it's mindless completion and timers, and the resources are timed and dependent on each other in a way that it's virtually unplayable without forking over cash.
  3. libor0711
    Jan 12, 2015
    2
    Nothing to do with the PC versions of SimCity! Just another Farmville clone with most effort put into how to squeeze a lot of money from desperate "players". Yes, you can "play" free, if your idea of "playing" is wait an hour doing something else - open iPad, click 15-times and go away do something else again. Perfectly timed "needs" of the population make you short of cash all the time,Nothing to do with the PC versions of SimCity! Just another Farmville clone with most effort put into how to squeeze a lot of money from desperate "players". Yes, you can "play" free, if your idea of "playing" is wait an hour doing something else - open iPad, click 15-times and go away do something else again. Perfectly timed "needs" of the population make you short of cash all the time, so the main thing you do in this game is.....wait....wait....and....wait again. Or pay :-(... Trading hub does not work for me most of the time - if I find the item I need, 90% of time it's either not there when I click or it's already been sold, so the other thing you do in this "game" is click on the trading hub a 1000-times every hour. Terrible game.… Expand
  4. Hypnopoison
    Mar 21, 2015
    8
    Having previously played Sim City on PC, I have to say I am enjoying this version. It's rather addictive and even though there are In-App purchases which I can't stand within mobile games, they aren't too in your face and you can progress the game easily enough without them. Good fun, nice graphics.
  5. Earix
    Sep 7, 2017
    1
    The game is mainly designed to promote in-app purchase. The market, the storage limitations, every single action in this game will scream "BUY NOW".
    This is a problem when the game is made progressively unplayable on purpose if you don't spend real money. Definitely not what I was expecting from a SimCity. Not worth a minute of your time.
  6. Mobilegamehater
    Feb 29, 2016
    0
    one sentence. Boring, repetitive, uninspired, lack of city building options(wheres the land deformations, highways) boring, boring, free, free, free, free, free ,free free, free2pay, no other way to make money other then to wait 1 hour for a few (120) simaleons. WaITiNg TiMeRs.
  7. ajyto
    Nov 14, 2017
    2
    No no no... It's not Pay 2 Win people... it's Pay 2 Fun. But, since city building are done better in large screen. P2F for city building game becomes moot.
  8. kuniva
    Nov 22, 2019
    3
    My nostalgia kicked in when I saw the app on google store and wanted to check it out. The game starts quite slowly but very soon, after less than 30 minutes the game already feels like a grind. I know it's a freemium game but seriously... seriously??? Too bad about the shinny graphics that are overshadowed by the grindy mechanism behind the game... too bad.
  9. mrjbones
    Mar 8, 2015
    0
    The fatal flaw is the terrible market. As you grow, you need to expand your storage capacity and land. In order to do that, you need certain items but, for each, there is an item that is rarer. For storage, storage bars are the rare item. For land, dozer blades are rare. That's when the market become indispensable... but the market *sucks*... You have to tap to see the market, scroll toThe fatal flaw is the terrible market. As you grow, you need to expand your storage capacity and land. In order to do that, you need certain items but, for each, there is an item that is rarer. For storage, storage bars are the rare item. For land, dozer blades are rare. That's when the market become indispensable... but the market *sucks*... You have to tap to see the market, scroll to see all the items that are available, With rare items, 80% of the time, the item isn't available and you have to leave the market and re-enter it to get a new selection. If the item you want is available, you tap on that and wait while it loads the city where it is located. With rare items, 95% of the time the item you want is not available any longer, so you tap to exit the market and start all over. If the item appears to be available, you tap on it and, for rare items, 99% of the time you get a message saying it is no longer available!!!! It's ridiculous. It is no exaggeration to say that it can take hundreds and hundreds of tries to get the item you want.… Expand
  10. Kimmer04
    Oct 22, 2015
    2
    4I liked game at first. Now the game purposely will not allow me to acquire items needed via trading. It is NOT FUN to try and try without success. If the item is not available the item should not be presented by the game as being available! The game needs to be upgraded to allow success so the game will be fun. There is no skill required to click on an item over and over just to be4I liked game at first. Now the game purposely will not allow me to acquire items needed via trading. It is NOT FUN to try and try without success. If the item is not available the item should not be presented by the game as being available! The game needs to be upgraded to allow success so the game will be fun. There is no skill required to click on an item over and over just to be told it is sold or the dreaded message about inventory mess up. That is a bunch if hooey! If it is not available do not pretend it is!… Expand
  11. Lomandal
    Jul 21, 2016
    1
    Only with cash, you can have little fun. To have some fun, you'll have to spend more than BRICKS. So I must say, when I visited those HUGE cities, I didn't admire them. And when I deleted this game even after I paid some, I won't regret.
  12. Angelo0001c
    Apr 10, 2015
    1
    This is Simcity? This is Cityville!
    It is free but it pay to win and i am generous to define p2w because if you don't pay it is unplayable.
    Simcity 2013 is a commercial **** but this is the maximum of theft.
    99,99€ for 8500 cash? No thanks, Cities: Skylines costs 28€. I said all.
  13. TheLooseHunter
    Jan 9, 2015
    2
    A franchise which had one of the best simulation experiences of all time turned into a giant cash grab!
    + Easy to uninstall from iPad/iPhone
    - Slow gamepace
    - Paywalls and you just can't play without paying microtransactions
  14. sarasmith
    Mar 17, 2015
    0
    The game sucks. It has potential to be a lot of fun but although it says Free you end paying TONS of your own money. I think I spent almost $100 on this stupid game just to be able to get anywhere with it. All the Sims do is complain, there is never enough money or time to build new services (unless you spend real money), and it kept freezing. When I took the advice of troubleshooting byThe game sucks. It has potential to be a lot of fun but although it says Free you end paying TONS of your own money. I think I spent almost $100 on this stupid game just to be able to get anywhere with it. All the Sims do is complain, there is never enough money or time to build new services (unless you spend real money), and it kept freezing. When I took the advice of troubleshooting by saving to my Facebook account/uninstalling/reinstalling it never saved a darn thing! All that work and MONEY into the game for nothing!!… Expand
  15. Zrypt
    Dec 18, 2014
    9
    This is the first Simcity game that I have ever played and I gotta say it is quite fun.
    The it's nice to be able to create the city you want, although there aren't a lot of customization for the individual buildings, it's not bad for a mobile device that is free.
    Only downside is editing my city. If I wanted to recreate my city or slide a couple of house down one block to make more    This is the first Simcity game that I have ever played and I gotta say it is quite fun.
    The it's nice to be able to create the city you want, although there aren't a lot of customization for the individual buildings, it's not bad for a mobile device that is free.
    Only downside is editing my city. If I wanted to recreate my city or slide a couple of house down one block to make more space, it is a pain since you have to do it individually.
    But overall definitely fun to play for the cost of $0.    … Expand
  16. CenkAlp
    Jan 3, 2018
    6
    Hikaye = -
    Oynanış = -
    Grafikler = -
    Sesler = -
    Keyif = -
    Atmosfer = -
    Süre = -
  17. lemans81
    Dec 28, 2014
    5
    Graphically this is a good game, it plays smoothly and for a grind style game is very good. The bad is pretty much everything else, when trading its a live deal so my experience has been 1 out of every 50 attempts to trade actually work, the other 49 I get a message saying the item is already gone.(I am using a Galaxy S4 and 30mb down/10mb up internet, so I doubt its the phone) If youGraphically this is a good game, it plays smoothly and for a grind style game is very good. The bad is pretty much everything else, when trading its a live deal so my experience has been 1 out of every 50 attempts to trade actually work, the other 49 I get a message saying the item is already gone.(I am using a Galaxy S4 and 30mb down/10mb up internet, so I doubt its the phone) If you don't trade you can expect a lot of days to make zero forward progress.… Expand
  18. prabhu
    Sep 13, 2018
    2
    I wanted to make a city with limited number of inhabitants. An eco-friendly, lots of trees, small lakes and so on. I wanted to have education, and also the city to be sustainable by profits from rich food production than plastic, metals than anything else. For me that is a way more beautiful than having modern fancy skyscrapers, fancy technology stuff.

    Simcity buildit depends more on    I wanted to make a city with limited number of inhabitants. An eco-friendly, lots of trees, small lakes and so on. I wanted to have education, and also the city to be sustainable by profits from rich food production than plastic, metals than anything else. For me that is a way more beautiful than having modern fancy skyscrapers, fancy technology stuff.

    Simcity buildit depends more on its default vision, it cares about itself and EA's business than you.The buildings, hundres of thousands of inhabitants, its premium blocked contents, its intentional inability to block most necessary requirements all of those are nothing to either make money by selling your data, showing you ads, or making you purchase items. There is nothing you can do to set your pieces on your own way to build your city than waste your time to make the fancy Daniel's City.    … Expand
  19. jazzfunk907
    Apr 8, 2015
    0
    This game sucks, plain and simple. there's no creativity, it robs you of every cent, and just awful all in one.
    not to mention it's not even funtional.
  20. Hypolite
    Mar 31, 2015
    7
    I've got to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by SimCity BuildIt. I clearly wasn't hoping for much after SimCity Social and the reboot of SimCity, but it turns out that Electronic Arts sort of learned their lessons since Dungeon Keeper Mobile. Every single classic pain point of freemium games (delays, item availability) have been circumvented one way or another, making for a veryI've got to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by SimCity BuildIt. I clearly wasn't hoping for much after SimCity Social and the reboot of SimCity, but it turns out that Electronic Arts sort of learned their lessons since Dungeon Keeper Mobile. Every single classic pain point of freemium games (delays, item availability) have been circumvented one way or another, making for a very respectable game time before being constrained by the building area.

    And the graphics are truly marvelous, so much that it makes my phone heat and melts the battery. Fortunately, it's a game that can and should be played in short sessions separated by 5-10 minutes of IRL living (I know, booooring), so it's not so bad.

    And in all, a solid game that allows for much creativity in the city layout and permit stingy players to enjoy most of the game without bumping too hard on a paywall.    … Expand
  21. Oolongsouchong
    May 25, 2015
    5
    I found this really fun up to the point I didn't.

    It's quite a departure from the normal Sim City model but you soon get used to the farming aspect of gameplay instead of the strategising and resource management. It's perfect to pick up and play for 30 minutes a day or so and you can actually get pretty far without paying, right up until the point you can't. I don't expect developers    I found this really fun up to the point I didn't.

    It's quite a departure from the normal Sim City model but you soon get used to the farming aspect of gameplay instead of the strategising and resource management. It's perfect to pick up and play for 30 minutes a day or so and you can actually get pretty far without paying, right up until the point you can't.

    I don't expect developers to work for nothing and I'm happy to pay for games, but this just develops into an example of Freemium at it's worst.

    You quickly run out of land, which necessitates items to get more land. These can only be purchased with in game currency, or traded in the market, or doled out by the game as you play. Forget about the market and the amount of free play you would have to do to get the items is impossible so I worked out what it would cost me to add about 20% to the size of my city.

    Probably around $100 with no end in sight to the paying. I'm giving it 5/10 because it was a lot of fun to play for a while, and it EA ever offer an upfront one off fee, I'll likely be back. But not like this.    … Expand
  22. SadlyLacking
    May 26, 2015
    5
    Not bad and I paid the minimum and got my money's worth. For a fan of the classic, this is Simcity flavoured Candy Crush. It beats the latter hands down as a mobile app, but isn't anywhere near addictive as the original PC game.
  23. maybethisweight
    Jun 8, 2015
    7
    I've been a SimCity'er since playing the first one on my sister's Apple IIC. I remember SimCity 2000, in its full color glory, and then from generation after generation, I kept losing interest. The charm wore off, and it just felt clunkier, more graphics heavy, and excuses to incorporate The Sims or other aspects that I was never interested in.

    This is the first SimCity that I've gotten    I've been a SimCity'er since playing the first one on my sister's Apple IIC. I remember SimCity 2000, in its full color glory, and then from generation after generation, I kept losing interest. The charm wore off, and it just felt clunkier, more graphics heavy, and excuses to incorporate The Sims or other aspects that I was never interested in.

    This is the first SimCity that I've gotten re-addicted to. The game is still not what it used to be, about collecting money, keeping citizens happy, and figuring out how to balance R, C, and I zones. The focus is now on farming commodities, and strategic placement of Police/Fire/Hospitals, or the city will just die. The commodities themselves can be sold or used for other achievements in the game.

    I think it's fun initially as you are unlocking new resources and a few new challenges (like the shipping dock, the HQ's for buying/selling, etc.)... each "level up" introduces new resources to gather. But after a while I started to dread the level up, which would tend to unlock things that I couldn't afford, add on resources that meant more work, and then also citizens would begin to expect new services, become picker about traffic etc. etc. The game progressed from novel to feeling a bit burdensome.

    I think if you're willing to play really casually, or you're ready to spend a few bucks to expedite the advanced parts of the game, then this game is awesome. But as a 100% free player who doesn't want to play all day and night to get ahead, it gets too taxing at a certain point. I realize that is probably the goal of the developers anyhow - make it tempting to spend money, or just quit, ya know?    … Expand
  24. SrPepe
    Jun 30, 2018
    8
    SimCity Buildit es un gran juego de celular y la verdad no entiendo las malas críticas, es super divertido con varias horas de jugabilidad.
  25. Mpbpl
    Jul 11, 2018
    5
    Not SimCity worthy.
    I actually want to like this game but ultimately can only feel disappointment. It has all the features of all the SimCities games, but all the features are locked behind population cap, money cap, time cap, materials cap, level cap, which makes you feel like this is an obstacle course and every time you are hitting the bars.
    No longer you need to be wary of taxes and    Not SimCity worthy.
    I actually want to like this game but ultimately can only feel disappointment. It has all the features of all the SimCities games, but all the features are locked behind population cap, money cap, time cap, materials cap, level cap, which makes you feel like this is an obstacle course and every time you are hitting the bars.
    No longer you need to be wary of taxes and costs... there are no police, fireman, public transportation costs, nothing... you get taxes and they are yours, FOREVER. Building are locked into a size, so we are back to Super Nintendo like fixed boxes that destroy customization.
    To upgrade the residence building you need to make materials from industries and then turn them into tools in commercial places. Because of this, the number of industries and commercial places is heavily limited... no longer you need a good Industry/Commercial/Residence balance, build whenever you can.
    Microtransactions are not that much of a grievance, but they are EXTREMELY expensive and their worth is so low, worst cost/benefit I've ever seen... Free game though.    … Expand
  26. KehaD
    Apr 18, 2018
    0
    You can play successfully for free. Do Not spend real money! The graphics are good enough to dazzle many players. Basic concept to intrigue others. It isn’t a mindless game when you stay a step ahead of the game. Figure out what makes the most money for you per minute/hour. Figure out you don’t have to upgrade roads and waste all that money. For some like me who analyze, test, verify andYou can play successfully for free. Do Not spend real money! The graphics are good enough to dazzle many players. Basic concept to intrigue others. It isn’t a mindless game when you stay a step ahead of the game. Figure out what makes the most money for you per minute/hour. Figure out you don’t have to upgrade roads and waste all that money. For some like me who analyze, test, verify and see things differently it could be a good game. One that I wouldn’t mind supporting, but.....the game is rigged. It’s hard to explain this. It’s deeper than just the obvious issues often commented on. It is evident with the mayor contest. They lead you to believe the contests are equal by explaining you are competing with those of same level. That each player has the chance of reaching first place by choosing the right assignments. However the assignments are not equal in any way!!! If ea hasnt selected you to be one of the ones eligible to be at or near the top your assignments will not total up to the top slots. So no matter what you choose, you wouldn’t have enough points to win or even make top 10. I have played for a long time now. I have placed first at least once in all leagues. I’m not a sore loser. When I noticed something strange such as others on the leaderboard within seconds of a contest beginning with totals ending in 5 I started making notes. I needed to be certain, but when I didn’t have anything ending in 5 for most of the contest period I knew something was up. I also kept record of all my assignment totals, even though I normally did the highest assignment available. I do not think it’s fair when it takes a certain assignment average to place at or near the top when 3 out of 8 of your megalopolis (or any league) assignments are 600 and the others way less than the over 2000 average needed. That was an easy way to show how rigged the game is. Now If this next one doesn’t get you to keep your real cash, nothing will...do not expand commercial buildings just because you think it will help you with assignments. Ea merely asks you to do many more. Since each item has to process individually this could take you days longer. Beef at fastest level is 2 hours. They will always ask you for more than the spaces you purchased. So each one you purchase would add another 2 hours, plus 2 hours for each one they ask over your available spaces. You might get a few more points but use only the free sim cash you can get throughout the game if you feel the need to expand. To many more things that are wrong to list. However, if you just want to decorate and forget the possibilities of what the game could be if an intelligent life form worked to make it a good game then it will pass the time while you’re waiting to be called to have all your teeth pulled. And, there are lots of ways to get free sim cash and let it build. Lots of ways to become a millionaire. I’ve figured out how to make simoleons quickly, you can too. Also always try to make, not buy. Find a great club. Our club helps each other with everything. We even had a storage rotation where everyone gives storage items they find to the person whose turn it was. People were upgrading very fast. As rigged as this game is, do not reward them with your real cash. You have to use your mind, not your real money, otherwise it would be a mindless game. (I don’t mind supporting developers, etc. just not when they have no clue how to make a game user friendly. They should encourage players to upgrade. Encourage them to participate in various things. Instead most players just “decorate” their cities because they know it’s rigged. This game could be so much more)… Expand
  27. Arock
    Sep 15, 2019
    10
    Excellent game. Building is intuitive, active community, constant updates and constant challenges to keep you busy. Love it
  28. NotAToy
    Jun 19, 2020
    3
    A good idea buried inside of pay to win mechanics. As someone who likes the SimCity franchise (yes, even 2013) I was interested. Instead, I found a worse-than-usual pay to win mechanic. Cities Skylines costs less than 1/3 of the price of the largest payment here. Just another part of EA's plan to ruin every good game there is. The game's AI purposefully prevents the items you need fromA good idea buried inside of pay to win mechanics. As someone who likes the SimCity franchise (yes, even 2013) I was interested. Instead, I found a worse-than-usual pay to win mechanic. Cities Skylines costs less than 1/3 of the price of the largest payment here. Just another part of EA's plan to ruin every good game there is. The game's AI purposefully prevents the items you need from getting onto your hands by the market. EA, I'm not interested.… Expand
  29. BowLL
    Nov 22, 2020
    2
    this game, no matter what, is an absolute joke.

    this game is literally like a pay to win, and even though i've paid a bit for EA games, it sucks. you'll easily just stop with the paid currency, since buildings are so expensive to build, of course it's made by EA, so EA games will always try to ruin the game and make the game more of a payment, and is absolutely greedy. it's just pay.    this game, no matter what, is an absolute joke.

    this game is literally like a pay to win, and even though i've paid a bit for EA games, it sucks. you'll easily just stop with the paid currency, since buildings are so expensive to build, of course it's made by EA, so EA games will always try to ruin the game and make the game more of a payment, and is absolutely greedy.

    it's just pay. it's JUST pay.    … Expand
  30. joaofera2004
    Apr 20, 2021
    2
    It is one of that games that that are fun in the first months of progress. The sensation of looking proud at your city, and watching its evolution is what makes it great at the beginning, but the pacing gets extremely annoying as you progress, at the point that you have to spend hours just to get to an item, to improve or build something. This feeling frustration is on purpose, so you canIt is one of that games that that are fun in the first months of progress. The sensation of looking proud at your city, and watching its evolution is what makes it great at the beginning, but the pacing gets extremely annoying as you progress, at the point that you have to spend hours just to get to an item, to improve or build something. This feeling frustration is on purpose, so you can spend your real cash to get that initial feeling. The game itself is a giant timewall.
    As timewalls weren't enough, the item system itself is extremely dumb, as you have to be the fastest to choose beetween random items in the HQ every 30 seconds, and the city storage is extremely limited. Sometimes you even get stuck, because you don't wanna throw items away, but you can't obtain more items, because you ran out of storage, so you still have to do it.
    Unique monuments and stadiums are the strongest aspect of the game, since they can change your city's look dramatically, and therefore, give that sense of progression, but they are the items that takes the most time to obtain, since they are held by a giant paywalls, making it a pain to accumulate "Simcash", an in-game currency that can be used to skip times and buy missing materials. These paywalls are directly related with timewalls
    With extreme paywalls, timewalls and horrible item system, the only way you could enjoy this game in the long run is by using hacks or spending some good money on it, as it becomes a pay to fun, with no progress at all. EA's games are ones with so much potential, but are mostly ruined by the company's predatory practices.    … Expand
  31. RavenclawGuy
    Mar 10, 2021
    7
    I used to love this game, but I see now it's not the best. Still, it is very good for IOS, so 7/10.

Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Most Discussed iOS Game of 2014
50
#50 Most Shared iOS Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. Multiplayer.it
    Jan 4, 2015
    45
    Simcity BuildIt is not a game with some timers, it's a huge timer with some bits of a game in between.
    Read full review
  2. IGN Italia
    Dec 30, 2014
    60
    This is the first "real" mobile SimCity and it's a nice game, but it's more Clash of Clans than classic Sim City and the free to play model doesn't work very well.
    Read full review
  3. Modojo
    Dec 27, 2014
    50
    Sim City Build It is a strange mishmash of free-to-play trappings, resource management, and other oddities that don't necessarily make sense within the context of the game as a franchise or even as a stand-alone app. Pass on it and choose something much meatier to spend your time with.
    Read full review
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