SimCity

 PC
User Score
2.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4557 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 602 out of 4557
  2. Mixed: 428 out of 4557
  3. Negative: 3,527 out of 4557
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  1. iziqis
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    One thing that I don't get by this publisher is how low they treat us customers that bought the game with our hard earn money, and slapped our face with middle finger by introducing always online DRM, micro transition ramshackle servers, etc. and those who pirate the game are likely to be having the most fun. I give you red.
  2. Zeph
    Mar 17, 2013
    4
    SimCity is finally *playable.* I'm not going to bother with the always-on DRM pros/cons/WTF EAs except to say I don't feel like it helps the game at all. (Most of you probably have your own opinions on this, and I'll bet 99% of you agree with me) So, the game itself... it is a more simplified game than SimCitys past. And when I say simplified, I mean really simplified in almost everySimCity is finally *playable.* I'm not going to bother with the always-on DRM pros/cons/WTF EAs except to say I don't feel like it helps the game at all. (Most of you probably have your own opinions on this, and I'll bet 99% of you agree with me) So, the game itself... it is a more simplified game than SimCitys past. And when I say simplified, I mean really simplified in almost every way. For a newbie to simulation strategy games, then SimCity may be a decent start for you. The mechanics of the game are easy to learn. The sizes of your cities are tiny. Tiny to the point where if you know what you are doing, you will fill that entire space to maximum capacity within about 6 hours of game time. You can potentially have a city half covered in skyscrapers in that amount of time. That's with Llama speed too (the 2nd fastest game pace, and the fastest available as of writing). So, from there, you either keep growing in... or you make a new city. What does making a new city do? Well, it freezes your other city for starters (your city only progresses when YOU are inside of it), and you basically start a brand new city from complete scratch. Cities in the same region are connected in a sense, regions can share almost any asset possible, ranging from workers, to resources, to wealth. What happens in one city can also make impacts on the rest. Cities in the same region are very intertwined with each other. For example, I have a city in the same region as a friend. My friend is specializing in industry, however, I'm specializing in tourism. Sadly, I'm downwind of him, so all that air pollution he produces is making its way into my region, causing widespread illness. Luckily, hes willing to get those factories upgraded, but there is nothing I can do to force him. Are you seeing the pros and cons of this? On the topic of specializations, while we are mentioning it, they are helpful, but they don't feel significant. What I mean by that is, you could go ahead ignoring all city specializations and be fine. Maxis seemed to emphasize these, but they feel like an afterthought to me unless I am specifically looking for a coal mine or something. So, if you are a long time SimCity fan, this game is going to be a mixed bag. I'm sure many of you will enjoy some of the enhancements, but I'm also certain that that same many of you will loathe a lot more of them. My final score is 4/10. SimCity is a game that has a lot going for it, but the complexity has been diminished severely and relying on the SimCity servers is a pain (I guarantee the servers WILL be the thing you will hate most about SimCity). Otherwise, the game itself plays well when the servers are working.… Expand
  3. MitchC9
    Mar 31, 2014
    4
    I'll make it quick and simple.

    It's a good game ruined by game-breaking bugs. EA has shown little interest in fixing these bugs. As a result you will end up needing to restart your city/region or accepting sacrifices due to bugs.

    Be aware.
  4. jaketyler48
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    Ok, I understand having to have an internet connection to play the game. But if the servers are junk or full and you can't even play the damn game that's just stupid! EA dropped the ball on this one! I don't care who but since I can't even enjoy a single player game. Because the servers are unavailable or down or full. This game is going back and I'll save some money and get Cities XL. IOk, I understand having to have an internet connection to play the game. But if the servers are junk or full and you can't even play the damn game that's just stupid! EA dropped the ball on this one! I don't care who but since I can't even enjoy a single player game. Because the servers are unavailable or down or full. This game is going back and I'll save some money and get Cities XL. I don't care who eats the cash but its not going to be me!… Expand
  5. hiel
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    Server reached maximum capacity and so I was placed in a queue and was not allowed to play a single player game because it forces me to constantly be online.
  6. SlyDragons
    Mar 12, 2013
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I pre-ordered and deliberately waited a week before reviewing to give EA a chance to bounce back from their self-inflicted launch debaucle. After that, my rating is still "meh". Though I give credit to their server team for standing up so many servers so quickly and a furrow of my brow to whatever management bean-counter prevented them from doing so prior to the launch. As of writing, Origin says I have 121 hours played, but some of that is just watching my my city burn and playing until 5 am (as that's when you can actually get on the servers)

    Some of the positives: When they said they'd be tracking every sim, I feared this would turn out more like the Sims, which was only fun when you mercilessly took away the only pool ladders. However, being able to click on any car travelling on the map and see where it's going, whether it has spending money, and follow it is actually pretty neat.

    Region play. It was in Sim City 4 to some extent, but it's cool to have all the cities work together to build great works. And with it, Multiplayer is a great idea. Sometimes I like a little teamwork, or to flood my neighbouring city with murderers and arsonists.

    Finite resources. Go ahead put all your eggs into the oil mining business and plop some high tax entitlements like education and fire safety for a better society. What's the worst that could happen? Tip: Diversify and plan for renewable income before the well runs dry

    Some of the negatives:

    DRM always on requirement. When I'm not sabotaging my neighbors, sometimes I like to play with myself and I want to build my Dystopian region without the condescending glares of my neighbors. But even as I write this a week after launch, I cannot log into Sim City to do so. One tip, if you get logged in, stay logged in. While you're playing you'll see "server disconnected" messages happen all the time, but then they'll reconnect and presumably everything will be peachy. If you disconnect, however, it's much harder to get connected and a region loaded.

    Difficulty. It's not. Pretty much any city (except one I'm playing now which it about 50% water) can be turned into a cash cow pretty easily. If your planning right, the only thing that throws you a curve is the occasional disaster. I like the idea of the global market, but as near as I can tell, there are hard lines at the minimum prices for buying and selling that pretty much guarantee you can make a ton of profit buying (then refining, smelting, producing) and reselling. I guess it'd be nice if there were bad investments. The only way to screw that up is misjudging your input or output rate, or bottlenecking your supply line.

    City Size. You run out of room fast. Because it's so easy to make money, you end up bulging at the borders in no time and your city become.

    Region play. The idea of region play is great. The implementation of region play is still a little off. Nothing is more frustrating than overloading a city with sweet nuke plants and the other cities in the region not recognizing that there is power available to buy. Or when collaborating on a great work, some cities will recognize that all of a specific resource (metal, allow, oil) has been provided, while others do not or only see that half has been provided.

    Multiple servers. Spreading out the load was a great idea to increase server availability. The downside is that the regions aren't shared between servers. So, if you've spent countless hours building a perfect replica of Trenton, New Jersey and that server is unavailable, EA supports answer is try a different server (where your region does not exist and you get to start all over). The result of this is a bunch of cities in the public regions that don't look like people are playing them. So it ends up as a Multiplayer environment where you're the only one on.

    Summary: After 10 years, they fell on their face at the starting line, but were able to get an Ok game out. They've hinted at some changes (bigger cities is the last one I heard), but I suspect a lot of these enhancements will cost you real-world Simoleans.    … Expand
  7. Broofist
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    The maps are unbelievably small and that scale takes away from any real experience in creativity you could have. I've created about 5 "cities" in the same region, and have had others join my region and fill about 3. I've basically seen every feature in about 6-8 hours. If you don't zone a formulaic grid of high density streets around a central avenue, you won't get anywhere near 100kThe maps are unbelievably small and that scale takes away from any real experience in creativity you could have. I've created about 5 "cities" in the same region, and have had others join my region and fill about 3. I've basically seen every feature in about 6-8 hours. If you don't zone a formulaic grid of high density streets around a central avenue, you won't get anywhere near 100k population. The size of the cities is an absolute joke considering many aspects that provided depth in sc4 have been removed. Yes, I can zoom in and watch my sims, but what part of watching them is considered "gameplay". I guess it's no big deal that I've explored the same space 5 times and plopped almost every item in the first day of playtime. Avoid buying this, it's nowhere near the quality of game you'd expect. It needs a serious patch right now to address the scale. A "major sports arena" or other large park or landmark will take up so much space(a few "blocks"), that you won't want to place many at all, because it will knock out about 5-10%(not exaggerating, maps are that small) of your housing!… Expand
  8. ibDennis
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    Ah sim city, we meet again. I have lost so many days/weeks/months of my life to your series. From the original all the way to now. I find that I have a childish giddyness inside me as I login to the game. It seems that the serves are full, well I guess I can wait, if I could give Diablo 3 the patience that its launch needed, then I most certainly can give sim city as much patience. I justAh sim city, we meet again. I have lost so many days/weeks/months of my life to your series. From the original all the way to now. I find that I have a childish giddyness inside me as I login to the game. It seems that the serves are full, well I guess I can wait, if I could give Diablo 3 the patience that its launch needed, then I most certainly can give sim city as much patience. I just hope it's not as much of a let down. Front of the queue at last, I whiled away the wait time with my plans for the grand city of "Our Land", and so begin my first steps back in the land of sim city. While playing I must say that I did enjoy the game. It was beautiful and deep (obligatory that's what she said comment!) My city was beginning to take shape, no longer a village but a town! Then I got dropped:-( You see, I live in an area where I can only get a pretty poor internet connection. 3MB, and it isn't the most reliable either. There are the random drop offs and what not. Now, none of this is EA's fault, however when I reconnected I was back in the queue.... again..... and so I waited..... and unfortunately due to a phonecall I missed my window to get back into the game so I was placed into the queue again.

    Now I admit, I should have been prepared for the always on, but due to my current experience's with their queue and their DRM I have found myself unable to play the single player game I wanted to play. This has left a bitter taste in my mouth and has seriously got me contemplating a pirated copy: I don't pirate "arrrrrr" as I have a job, so I purchase all my games. But this experience made me feel that pirating could be the way to go. Which is a shame, as there is a shining jewel of a game beneath this stool water that is the always on DRM.    … Expand
  9. 010011010110010
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    Not really much good to say about a game that doesn't even work 75% of the time.
    I loved the previous instalments of the series so had high hopes for this one, but sadly no cigar. Why the hell did they make this traditional single player game with a on-line requirement, that is not only a authentication server connection but an actual game server connection where the server capacity is    Not really much good to say about a game that doesn't even work 75% of the time.
    I loved the previous instalments of the series so had high hopes for this one, but sadly no cigar. Why the hell did they make this traditional single player game with a on-line requirement, that is not only a authentication server connection but an actual game server connection where the server capacity is clearly not enough to feed the demand, my first ever attempt to play was on the 7th EU launch day, and first try entry got in and the game told me i had timed out and told me to log back in. 2nd try the same server was suddenly full with a 19min queue, even though it shows green and not full in the list.

    3rd attempt to play resulted in yet another time out due to the 15minute queue hurray!
    When I finally got to play the game it crashed in 20 min or so and back to the god damn queue.

    So my first thought on this new Sim City is a big WTF?!? where you smoking Maxis?

    Shame that so many critics based there review solely on the EA press version they got to play without the thousands of real players crammed on to the few servers. Would love to see the reviews if 90% of them would spend 30min or more in a queue to play for the review, and then have the game crash on them in 20min 3 hours repeatedly.

    I can already hear the lawyers over the pond getting ready to process the class-action lawsuit that this embarrassing excuse of a game will likely produce in true Americana style. Maybe we EU citizen should also put our class-action lawsuit powers in to good use here     … Expand
  10. greywolf00
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    This review is based on the current state of the game (minus connection issues). This game has online only DRM which was justified by making a single player game multiplayer by having regions share resources. However, this feature currently doesn't work and EA has admitted as much. You cannot share workers, resources, or money. City Hall upgrades do not sync with the region and carry overThis review is based on the current state of the game (minus connection issues). This game has online only DRM which was justified by making a single player game multiplayer by having regions share resources. However, this feature currently doesn't work and EA has admitted as much. You cannot share workers, resources, or money. City Hall upgrades do not sync with the region and carry over into other towns. As usual for an EA game it is infested with all kinds of other bugs. IE water is supposed to refill when it rains: Not working. Emergency vehicles will sit in long traffic lines even when there's an open road near by. You will also see fire fighters drive around in circles on the roads rather than go to fires. Fire Marshalls Wellness vans will randomly target buildings rather than prioritize high fire/gem prone areas. Not worth buying for a few months until they 1) Fix connection issues and add servers. 2) Patch all the broken features and revamp traffic AI.… Expand
  11. DrMutomofobo
    Jun 23, 2013
    4
    In this version of SimCity you compete and cooperate alongside other mayors within a larger region containing several areas. Citizens, resources and economies all interact with eachother across the borders, and the decision of one city influences the development of another in quite an intriguing manner.

    This really could have been a great game if it hadn't been for the fact that it's    In this version of SimCity you compete and cooperate alongside other mayors within a larger region containing several areas. Citizens, resources and economies all interact with eachother across the borders, and the decision of one city influences the development of another in quite an intriguing manner.

    This really could have been a great game if it hadn't been for the fact that it's not. Not right now at least but with a couple of patches and an expansion or five it could be. At present there are so many issues that despite the new and interesting features and it's obvious potential overall gameplay suffers vastly. The 5000 characters permitted won't be sufficient for me to list the game's every shortcoming, so I'll just focus on the most essantial ones.

    First off, the area you're given is so small you can hardly fit a small town in it far less a metropolis. Nothing more to say about that really... if you like it cramped you'll marry this game and carry it's children no doubt. And these cramped buildspaces are particularly annoying seeing as how certain disasters (who seems to occur quite frequent) leave large portions of land uninhabitable for long (near infinite) periods of time.

    And to add to this misery of small build-areas, you can't even interact properly with the tiny patch of land you're given. Even the simplest of landscaping functions such as leveling/flattening the terrain in order to make more room for buildings has been removed and seeing as how the placement of buildings is dependent on the terrain the tiniest elevation can ruin any hope you have of properly planning the outlay of your city.

    How can you construct a city, if you're unable to interact with the terrain? Have you ever seen someone build a house without first adapting the ground? There are bulldozers in the game but appearantly these only work on removing buildings and rubbles of buildings.

    Even The Sims has terrain tools even in that game where you're only constructing houses they understand the value of this yet in SimCity where you're supposed to manage an entire city they've chosen to remove this option entirely.

    And speaking of stupid...

    The regions you choose are all preset. You are unable to create new ones like you could in SimCity 4, and the ones you're stuck with gets dull real fast. Especially seeing as how you can't even influence which areas of the region are made available nor the landscape within in these areas.

    Why anyone would take away the ability for users to customize or create own regions is beyond me. Adding such features can keep a game fresh for years without any effort made on behalf of the developers at all and well-designed user-content is a potential source of income too.

    As of now you can't even kick an inactive player from your regions your influence on setting up your own game is actually *that* limited. So if the person controlling your neighboring city decides he doesn't want to play anymore, you're stuck with his deteriorating community forever. And seeing as how one city's development influences the next, this can effect your area quite profoundly.

    So... To conclude...

    All in all I enjoy this game. At first I didn't. I got hung up on it's issues and comparing it to SimCity 4 which I hold very dear and this blinded me of it's uniqueness and it's potential. But after having played it a couple of days it's actually grown on me. It delivers many new twists and concepts that can be challenging and rewarding in their own ways but this fascination won't last unless they add more interactivity to the concept and solve some of the major and deeply annoying gameplay and design issues.

    Because this game *does* have plenty of issues the ones mentioned here are far from all of them and if it is to reach it's full potential they have to be addressed. Otherwise it will end up in mediocrity, be one of many games you buy, play for a while and then uninstall for a long period of time before you one dull day decide to reinstall it again hoping it's not as limited as you remember it to be only to find yourself disappointed once more.

    I won't recommend anyone buying this game at present, if I could do it over I'd most likely wait a couple of months when it's clearer in which direction it's headed but it's not so horrible I would warn against it either.

    I've already had my money's worth of fun and it's only been a couple of days since I got it, and despite all the issues and the fact that it lacks much of what I enjoyed from previous games it also has a lot to build on.

    Let's just hope whoever decided to leave out landscaping tools is long gone when they do, and that the sensibility of the rest is larger than the maps they've provided us with so far. Otherwise, this game is doomed.    … Expand
  12. dapac
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    Paid for the game, but the very stupid system didn`t let me get english version because I live in Azerbaijan. What a joke. At least they gave me a refund.
  13. Tacobadgers
    Mar 10, 2013
    4
    This game was fun at first but the limited city size and laughable multiplayer take the fun away about two days after you start playing. At first I loved it but then after playing about 12 cities it got old really fast. The multiplayer is stupid sure if you're connected to another city via a highway its fun you can send police, fire, trucks, amberlamps and sell or buy services from anotherThis game was fun at first but the limited city size and laughable multiplayer take the fun away about two days after you start playing. At first I loved it but then after playing about 12 cities it got old really fast. The multiplayer is stupid sure if you're connected to another city via a highway its fun you can send police, fire, trucks, amberlamps and sell or buy services from another city that is connected with a highway. The problem is only about 4 of the 16 cities are connected via highway in a region so whats the point. Sure those cities are connected but what about all the others they don't benefit from anything you do in the other cities. It even says your departments connected to your City hall are supposedly region wide but they aren't so if you start a city that's not connected with a highway you are basically starting from scratch on a tiny patch of land that's often full of hills and valleys and water that you can even build on and there is no terraforming only what your road does to the land when you lay it down except it just terraforms around the road still leaving the land around it completely incapable of supporting structures.Notice how i said nothing of the DRM or Server issues that also plague this game. If you do buy this game make sure you buy it at a place that will take your return cause its not worth staying.… Expand
  14. FurballHero
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    Welcome to: Simcity Children addition

    My specs: E6600 Processor, GFX: 660TI, 12 gigs ram, highspeed internet Price: 59$, Very steep considering what you get, more on this later (3 on 10) Installation: I picked up the digital version, it took about 15 minutes to download and about 40 minutes for the first patch. I would have MUCH preffered it on STEAM though, Original is very    Welcome to: Simcity Children addition

    My specs: E6600 Processor, GFX: 660TI, 12 gigs ram, highspeed internet

    Price: 59$, Very steep considering what you get, more on this later (3 on 10)

    Installation: I picked up the digital version, it took about 15 minutes to download and about 40 minutes for the first patch. I would have MUCH preffered it on STEAM though, Original is very finicky (6 on 10)

    Booting up: The game took a while to start, and after several attempts I was finally able to join a server.
    (1 on 10)

    Adding friends: At the time of this writing this feature does not properly work, many many errors and adding a friend is very painful to do. You can forget about playing with a friend at this point. we tried for about 2 hours, many reboots and even more errors. We gave up and decided to play "solo" until they fix it
    (1 on 10)

    Creating your game: My first issue was getting to the game world, there were constant errors and I had to do multiple restarts just to get to the region view of my game world. (1 on 10)

    Map: Maps are VERY small, you cant modify the terrain in any meaningful way. (4 on 10)

    Graphics: They work, they arent mind blowing but arent ugly either. (8 on 10)

    Gameplay: Difficulty: VERY EASY on my first play through of about 2 hours (after skipping the tutorial) I was able to get 7,000$ per hour with no real effort or specialization. A nice little town with schools, fire halls, police stations, everything my citizens needed, taxes 10%. So I sat there thinking "Well now what??" (3 on 10)

    Layout: The UI is very intuitive, everything is well layed out, the layers sub section needs work as there's many icons and it's difficult to see which is which. (7 on 10) Building: I really like the new road system, very intuitive and works great, I like the way zoning snaps to the road and builds appropriately however I would also like a more advanced zoning option, one where you can customize exactly what size of zone you want, I like how government buildings are all modable however there is not NEARLY enough base building options for the 59$ price point. I know they plan on adding a whole bunch of DLC in the way of buildings and maps but for this price you get just the very basic buildings. Sad to see because its very obviously a money grab. (5 on 10)

    Always online: I HATE this feature, I personally don't have an issue with it but my dad would love to play and he simply can't because he lives in the boons and has no reliable internet access. Please include an offline mode! (1 on 10)

    Conclusion: Positives: The game looks decent, the overlays are nice, dynamic roads, sim immersion, traffic simulation, modable buildings.

    Negatives: Difficulty is very easy, Very few base building options, always online, impossible multiplayer with friends, small maps, gameplay is too simple (no power lines or pipes at all), no complex tax system, all graphs are gone.

    If I was to rename this game I would call it: SimCity Children Addition

    My Rating: 3.6    … Expand
  15. SacNutz
    Mar 13, 2013
    4
    I'm not here to rage about DRM. Yeah it sucks, but what can you do? At this point, the servers are a little unreliable but I have played 106 hours and haven't had any major issues in about 3 days now. Most of these reviews bash the DRM and always online blah blah blah, but it's not just that. The AI is beyond horrible. You start getting up to 80k population (which is tiny) and things goI'm not here to rage about DRM. Yeah it sucks, but what can you do? At this point, the servers are a little unreliable but I have played 106 hours and haven't had any major issues in about 3 days now. Most of these reviews bash the DRM and always online blah blah blah, but it's not just that. The AI is beyond horrible. You start getting up to 80k population (which is tiny) and things go from bad to worse quickly. Sims stack up and fill the streets needlessly, buses from other regions all flood into the city back to back at the same time, your freight trucks (the backbone of profit) get stuck in this traffic and your city begins to burn to the ground. The traffic and AI is not just challenging, as I first thought it was, it's just broken. It completely ruins your sense of success in building a thriving city. Sure, you can get around it with exploits and bugs like only zoning residential with some parks, or dirt access roads for trade express lanes, but it just sucks that you can't just build a big badass city and have things work right the way they should. The game is fun for a while, or if you aren't really hardcore about it, but I can't recommend it to any of my friends that have previously played the franchise. It's bad news, pick it up in the bargain bin in 6 months. Maybe they will have fixed a couple things by then.… Expand
  16. soggyburrito
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    when you buy a game you probably expect to be able to play it. EA's servers are constantly down so playing this game when you want to is not something you can expect. You'll be playing when EA wants you to and a few years down the road when they stop paying for servers, you won't be able to play at all. This happens to MMOs when they cease to be profitable. This should never happen to awhen you buy a game you probably expect to be able to play it. EA's servers are constantly down so playing this game when you want to is not something you can expect. You'll be playing when EA wants you to and a few years down the road when they stop paying for servers, you won't be able to play at all. This happens to MMOs when they cease to be profitable. This should never happen to a single-player game like SimCity.… Expand
  17. DudeMaister
    Mar 5, 2013
    4
    Here we go again. Another game that is simply worse than its predecessor.
    1) You must always have an active internet connection
    2) You must use EA's origin service 3) Terraforming is officially out 4) Maximum sized maps are only the size of a SimCity 4 medium map, and to put the icen on the cake, you can no longer build outside your city area (the region is off limits!), so in other    Here we go again. Another game that is simply worse than its predecessor.
    1) You must always have an active internet connection
    2) You must use EA's origin service
    3) Terraforming is officially out
    4) Maximum sized maps are only the size of a SimCity 4 medium map, and to put the icen on the cake, you can no longer build outside your city area (the region is off limits!), so in other words you are limited to building a small city/town (no more sprawling metropolises like Sim City 4).
    5) You cannot control regional mass transit anymore, and are restricted by pre-defined road connections.
    6) Modding is out, at least for the time being. Personally I don't see how Maxis can include mod support in an MMO game anyway, because mods would upset the game balance, and game balance is usually essential in an MMO game DLC's would make an attractive profit earning alternative to communty mods
    7) If you get some troll set up a city next to your city, and he decides to create lots of pollution or crime, your city will ofcourse pay the consequences
    8) The game is very expensive, and i'm sure there will be many more DLCs to come to "fix" the game, and ofcourse earn EA an extra bit of profit from us consumers.
    9) Your saved game will be located on an EA server. If EA decide to shut down the servers due to lack of profit, say goodbye to your cities! EA have a history of doing this with other games, and Maxis have blatantly ignored all questions regarding this matter.
    10) No direct control of zoning, this is now controlled by the type of road used
    11) No more farms or agricultural zones

    Simply put, don't bother with this game, pick SimCity 4 up instead, you'll be better of that way.    … Expand
  18. Martytoof
    Mar 5, 2013
    4
    Between city size, no save/load functions, necessity to be always-online, I'm not sure I would buy this game at full price as it exists right now. The gameplay is enjoyable and the visuals are nice, but it feels incredibly limiting. This game has a lot of promise but sadly the product as delivered just feels clumsy. Hopefully EA takes criticism to heart and actually attempts to learn fromBetween city size, no save/load functions, necessity to be always-online, I'm not sure I would buy this game at full price as it exists right now. The gameplay is enjoyable and the visuals are nice, but it feels incredibly limiting. This game has a lot of promise but sadly the product as delivered just feels clumsy. Hopefully EA takes criticism to heart and actually attempts to learn from missteps instead of just handwaving all concerns.… Expand
  19. ozmox
    Mar 31, 2013
    4
    Origin and EA's DRM scheme is horrible. That aside, the game itself doesn't deliver on its promise. Total city size is *very* small. Traffic is badly bugged (police patrols, buses, and garbage trucks all move in a giant cluster rather than dispersed throughout your city). Simulation depth just isn't there after you build a high school, elementary schools no longer needed; after you buildOrigin and EA's DRM scheme is horrible. That aside, the game itself doesn't deliver on its promise. Total city size is *very* small. Traffic is badly bugged (police patrols, buses, and garbage trucks all move in a giant cluster rather than dispersed throughout your city). Simulation depth just isn't there after you build a high school, elementary schools no longer needed; after you build a university no other type of school required, period. Transportation options limited: no highway over/under-passes and no subways. And because it's multi-player mayors in neighboring towns can grief the entire region by building a high-crime, high-pollution town and there is nothing you can do about it. Watch as your budget dives into the red because you are forced to build tons of police services to manage the criminals coming in from the other town. If you want to build huge cities go with CitiesXL or SimCity 4. If you like depth of simulation go with Tropico 4. This product just doesn't deliver on either level, imho.… Expand
  20. Zman922
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    I had to sign up to reply to some of these positive reviews. Someone said they recommend buying a $60 game first and than to get the 10 year old game. Why not start with the better 10 year old game since you can play it when where you want. Sim City 4 you can save your own game you can build an actual city. Sim City 4 is not a little square confined by white dotted lines. Sim CityI had to sign up to reply to some of these positive reviews. Someone said they recommend buying a $60 game first and than to get the 10 year old game. Why not start with the better 10 year old game since you can play it when where you want. Sim City 4 you can save your own game you can build an actual city. Sim City 4 is not a little square confined by white dotted lines. Sim City (5) has fun gameplay until you fill up the map in a couple hours. This by far is the most jarring thing to me. 10 years later and the maps get smaller and confined by dotted lines. I hope they fix this without charging more money for DLC that should be standard in a AAA release. DLC is fine if its not removed from the original game to sell later… Expand
  21. ramenos
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    Sim City is beautiful and the interface is perfect (really good job on it guys). But what happened to the real Sim City This game is really frustrating for 2 major points and 1 other reason:
    - The size of map is ridiculous (we can fill a map in 2 hours max). No possibilities of creation for a gigantic city.
    - The game is easy. Even if I add a lot of taxes to my population, it's still    Sim City is beautiful and the interface is perfect (really good job on it guys). But what happened to the real Sim City This game is really frustrating for 2 major points and 1 other reason:
    - The size of map is ridiculous (we can fill a map in 2 hours max). No possibilities of creation for a gigantic city.
    - The game is easy. Even if I add a lot of taxes to my population, it's still easy to keep your city safe.

    The last point concerns your DRM it's fully on-line and this is annoying. If Origin doesn't work, you can't play. Why did you do the same mistake as Diablo 3 ?

    My fear concerns the future: if Maxims adds a lot of paid DRM for special building bigger maps, that would be the glory of shame. I hope I am wrong but for now, as a Sim City fan, I am disappointed.    … Expand
  22. BrewerBill
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    This game is plagued with problems. First, the obvious: The server overload proves correct all the folks who have been screaming about the always needing to be connected to the servers. I wasn't worried about DRM and no local saves originally, assuming people were just being anti-EA alarmists and that the game would work fine for me, but I was wrong. While it's broken, I can't even play aThis game is plagued with problems. First, the obvious: The server overload proves correct all the folks who have been screaming about the always needing to be connected to the servers. I wasn't worried about DRM and no local saves originally, assuming people were just being anti-EA alarmists and that the game would work fine for me, but I was wrong. While it's broken, I can't even play a single player game which is all I want to do in Simcity anyway. That's stupid. I've also had the game crash a dozen times and lost progress. Also, EA is simply telling folks to use a different server if one is busy. A)They're all busy. B)The city you've put hours into doesn't transfer from one server to another, so you have to start all over if you use a different server. I also thought people were overstating how tiny the maps are, but again I was wrong. The map size is severely limiting. I've managed to make large cities, but they all just feel cramped and generic as you have to use every inch of space to get an even decent population. Do you really need skyscrapers to reach 60K citizens? What if I want to build my real-life home city? I can't. Also, I understand the idea of specialization and not needing to build a large amount of industrial or residential in every city, but I find myself constantly having to bulldoze hospitals and police stations (which I had to pay money for) just to make room to put new roads that allow greater density. (also, why can't I simply pave over a dirt road with a high density road? They're the same size). Lack of subways, lack of farms, lack of map size, lack of customization all feel like an eventual cash grab. There's going to be so much DLC for this game it should be free to play. Even the day one DLC is $10 just to make a few of your buildings look German and give you one special landmark. Save yourself some money and buy the eventual "game of the year" edition which will include more. By then the servers should be fixed... if they haven't shut them off by then rendering the game unplayable. I'm really disappointed overall. I've played Simcity from the beginning. While I think the game engine is incredibly impressive, the graphics and music are good and there are moments of brilliance when the game works well, the whole thing is brought down by attempts to maximize money gouging at every possible turn. It just seems like a good game ruined by a cynical cash-grab. Feel free to wreck new games EA, but why destroy a beloved game that's been sitting on the shelves untouched for ten years?… Expand
  23. bullbill
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    Hello, I made a metacritic account just for this, Simcity is currently a 69 AUD Frisbee as of 9:48PM Melbourne time. I give my frisbee a 4 out of 10, it just doesn't fly as far as my real frisbee.
  24. D0W53
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    From what I got to play after about an hour of trying to get it running. By Following a number of different solutions posted online it looked.good and played well that was until it lost it's connection to the server and that was it. Might come back in a month or two but this yet another example of a complete lack of care for the community. Online DRM doesn't stop piracy it's just makesFrom what I got to play after about an hour of trying to get it running. By Following a number of different solutions posted online it looked.good and played well that was until it lost it's connection to the server and that was it. Might come back in a month or two but this yet another example of a complete lack of care for the community. Online DRM doesn't stop piracy it's just makes your company look stupid and annoys the people that actually want to pay and play.… Expand
  25. MrBlondie
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    The game itself is actually fantastic, and the small map size does not bother me at all. It gives the city a nice intimate feeling that adds a lot of emotional depth to the game. I imagine the smaller city size was an absolutely deliberate (and wise) design decision, and not due to tech constraints. That said, the anti piracy always online aspect treats the user like a criminal afterThe game itself is actually fantastic, and the small map size does not bother me at all. It gives the city a nice intimate feeling that adds a lot of emotional depth to the game. I imagine the smaller city size was an absolutely deliberate (and wise) design decision, and not due to tech constraints. That said, the anti piracy always online aspect treats the user like a criminal after they bought the game fair and square. This is not something any customer should stand for, especially with such a high price tag. This game simply cannot be recommended until this is fixed, as it is often completely unplayable due to server problems. The game is great, but I'll agree with the majority here and say EA probably ruined it.… Expand
  26. Joel8
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    I'll start by saying that it is a fun game except for the 20 or so problems that I have PERSONALLY experienced. We'll start with server troubles: My friend and I were trying to play with each other. P1: I couldn't get on any server on my continent so I had to switch, and when she switched she couldn't find me. P2: We went to a different server which forced us to do the tutorial again,I'll start by saying that it is a fun game except for the 20 or so problems that I have PERSONALLY experienced. We'll start with server troubles: My friend and I were trying to play with each other. P1: I couldn't get on any server on my continent so I had to switch, and when she switched she couldn't find me. P2: We went to a different server which forced us to do the tutorial again, but on this server the tutorial was broken and wouldn't progress at all. P3: On this server and on others the 'find friends' UI element was just missing entirely. After about an hour and a half, we finally found eachother on a european server and started playing together. There is more but I want to get to the in game stuff too.

    In game troubles: P4: Crashes, occasional crashes, or cities that load forever until you reset the game. P5: Cities that you claim once, but if you go to region view and try to get back the 'wrong' way tries to make you claim them again. P6: Absolutely terrible concurrency. I gifted 50k simoleons to a neighbor but it didn't show up for 2 hours (but immediately came out of my account). P7: Confusing or broken sharing of power, water, etc. I have a city producing an extra 200MW of power and another starts buying power, but it says it is buying 13MW of available 40MW, and still has a deficit of another 20MW. Why not just get more power??? P8: Firetrucks and buses that are REALLY stupid: If there are multiple fires, all buses go to one fire and let every other place burn. Almost all buses go to one stop, then the next bus stop, etc. I had a line of about 15 buses once. P9: Cities failing to 'process' meaning you can choose to destroy and restart or let the server try to 'process' it to possibly fix it for... at least 12 hours, maybe more, maybe forever? P10: Firetrucks sometimes don't even leave the fire station when there are fires. No explanation... P11: Recyclying centers that just stop recycling. There is recyclable material, storage space to do it, but it just doesn't do any work. P12: I have a surplus of water, but multiple buildings have no water??? P13: Again, concurrency between cities: Some cities that have just appeared don't even show up on the region view, for maybe an hour or more. I want to play with my friends in real time, not waiting for updates like this.

    Anyway, I could go on, but I'm on lunch break so I should wrap this up, but it seems like it COULD be a fun game. I haven't had any trouble with my own network, which I was actually expecting, I only have mild reservations against always-on DRM. But this thing is broken. Avoid it for at least a month I would say.

    The problem is I really want to enjoy it, and I do have fun between the times that I get really frustrated that this thing is released in this terrible state.    … Expand
  27. charmew
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    I was able to play for a few hours yesterday, and what I can say is that the visual aspect of the game and the interface are very well done. It's simple and efficient, you don't need much explainations to know what's going on thanks to the very well designed UI. As for the graphical design itself, the buildings and vehicles look very toyish, I personnaly didn't mind but that didn't feelI was able to play for a few hours yesterday, and what I can say is that the visual aspect of the game and the interface are very well done. It's simple and efficient, you don't need much explainations to know what's going on thanks to the very well designed UI. As for the graphical design itself, the buildings and vehicles look very toyish, I personnaly didn't mind but that didn't feel real.
    In terms of gameplay, well it's really like the other sim cities. I don't understand the "reboot" of SimCity since not much has changed in terms of gameplay, except it became much, much more simple. Indeed, while you may have some negative cash income for a few minutes when you're building stuff, you'll get back on your feet in no time thanks to loans and no-cost RCI zones. Pop houses, raise taxes, people keep coming anyway. Wonderful. This makes the game very sandbox-style, but not for long. Indeed, cities size are very small and you won't spend more than 5 hours to fill completely a city, and another 5-10 hours to upgrade it to its full extent.

    The worst part, though, is how the game is designed to be played: you'll need a permanent connection to internet if you want to play. Yes, SimCity intends to behave like a MMO... for a solo experience (well, you can play with other people too, but you'll still build your own city in the end regardless of what's being built in your neighboors cities). And what a shame this is. As of today, the game is not playable because of servers issues since several hours.
    This raises the question of what will happen, in five years (or less), when EA decides to close the servers. After 10 years of sc4, I sometimes find myself reinstalling the game and play it a little. Obviously this won't be doable with SimCity if the servers are shut down, the game just won't be accessible.
    Add all of those troubles to the fact that you could already buy DLC before the game was launched, and you got the gist of it.    … Expand
  28. stripe523
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    Ignoring the DRM/online only requirement/servers are crap issue for a minute I still have mixed feelings. The lack of a save/load feature is painful because you can't experiment with your city layout once you put down your roads, if you made them slightly too widely or narrowly spaced, you can't plop the buildings you want. And since the addons to the different upgradable buildings (aIgnoring the DRM/online only requirement/servers are crap issue for a minute I still have mixed feelings. The lack of a save/load feature is painful because you can't experiment with your city layout once you put down your roads, if you made them slightly too widely or narrowly spaced, you can't plop the buildings you want. And since the addons to the different upgradable buildings (a nice feature in itself) can only be placed in certain locations, you may need to bulldoze and rebuild the base building a few times to find the right location but you can't just reload a save to do so. The map size is also way too small. Sure you can specialize and design multiple cities in a region, but I play SimCity because I like creating and designing massive urban sprawl it's too simple to do it in bite sized chunks. And then the region map looks strange with tightly packed squares of development separated by empty wide open spaces. If they want to leave regions intact, so be it, but make them directly adjacent to each other so the empty space is gone its an eyesore otherwise. Now to go back to the server issue pure incompetence. They should have known by the amount of the preorders what the expected server volume needs to be. Once the game rolls out in other countries, the volume is only going to go up, and they haven't even solved the problem for existing customer. Not only is this a PR disaster by itself but EA's overall marketing strategy of micropurchasing depends on satisfied customers. Customers aren't going to be willing to be nickeled and dimed for add-ons if they feel cheated by the initial product. Irritated fanbois with short attention spans are one thing. SimCity has a lot of long term fans who are now well into adulthood and have been playing the series for decades (such as myself) cynical marketing and poor technical execution. This game is taxing everyone's patience and customers deserve much better. ***One final comment from someone who knows PR: thanking customers for their patience when they are actually not patient, and have valid and justifiable reasons for their frustration is the opposite of soothing it causes more frustration by making the speaker sound condescending and arrogant. Just apologize and tell us what you're doing to fix the problems stop thanking us for our waning 'patience'.… Expand
  29. crfog
    Mar 7, 2013
    4
    In line with predictions from the general gaming community, the launch of the new SimCity reboot has been shaky, at best. For the couple of hours I managed to play, thus far, the game seemed fun. The visuals were gorgeous, especially some of the architecture of the shops and residences. The ability to specialize in trading or tourism etc. is an interesting feature which gives a cityIn line with predictions from the general gaming community, the launch of the new SimCity reboot has been shaky, at best. For the couple of hours I managed to play, thus far, the game seemed fun. The visuals were gorgeous, especially some of the architecture of the shops and residences. The ability to specialize in trading or tourism etc. is an interesting feature which gives a city much needed income, especially due to the small map sizes. The biggest issue with the game is the online only DRM that the community complained about before release, predicting the failure of servers on launch (and into the future). All these predictions have come true. On launch day I managed a couple hours of play. Since then, the servers have been down or so full that I cannot connect. After years of MMO launches, it's mind boggling that a company would not over-prepare for the launch of a game that requires their servers to operate. As a consumer, it's insulting to pay money for a product only to be told that we cannot use it. As of right now, I'd like a refund. Unfortunately, EA support also has queues of multiple hours due to the inadequacy of their preparation for this release. The game may be worth its price in a couple weeks, once these teething issues are sorted out. For now, avoid it. Do not waste your time or money on this product.… Expand
  30. guitarmaniac004
    Feb 1, 2021
    4
    March 5th 2015, the day EA **** up one of the best city building game series of all time. What the hell were they thinking?
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
21
#21 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 75
  3. Negative: 10 out of 75
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 5, 2013
    65
    Given enough patches and DCLs, SimCity might eventually become the game that should have been on its release and justify the ambiguous choices that its developers made. [May 2013]
  2. Games Master UK
    May 9, 2013
    68
    Hints at great things but is limited by small cities and promises it can't deliver on. [June 2013, p.80]
  3. Hyper Magazine
    May 9, 2013
    40
    There's more problems with this game than I have words. Looks great though. [June 2013, p.80]
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