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. jakaclank
    Nov 24, 2014
    0
    I'm a huge Simcity 4 fan and love other builder games, but this game must have been my biggest mis buy ever. Not looking at all the bugs (in general and on line, as for me I can't even play on line...), it's just plain ugly, you never feel accomplished with you childish looking city, there's not really any variety in each city you make, very limited building options, everything looks theI'm a huge Simcity 4 fan and love other builder games, but this game must have been my biggest mis buy ever. Not looking at all the bugs (in general and on line, as for me I can't even play on line...), it's just plain ugly, you never feel accomplished with you childish looking city, there's not really any variety in each city you make, very limited building options, everything looks the same, and very American, not everything is made out of cardboard.., the buildings don't connect well, there are gaps everywhere (you must at least be able to choose how dense your city is), income overview sucks as does everything that has to do with economy, your city can have up to 6 different specializations which aren't worked out very well, again the building possibilities are very limited and you get bored with it once you built it once, mostly you can also only specialize in one of them because your city region is so small (Las Vegas isn't only specialized in gambling, they have to manage culture, mining and eduction as well as gambling.), and why is gambling even a major specialization? Is it really just to remake Las Vegas? If you really wanted to, they should have made gambling an option in tourism and focused more on trade and economic options. The only good thing about this game is the music, which stops you from throwing down your computer as you wait for an endless loading screen. I had such high hopes for this game, but it was a huge letdown. I just don't understand how simcity 4 (an 11 year old game) can still bypass any building game today, even all the simcity succeeding it..… Expand
  2. Titannumber20
    Mar 15, 2015
    3
    All the good things that this game has managed to achieve are overshadowed by the poor design choices made and the technical issues. Simcity is not even the best city simulation game in the market, that honour belonging to Cities:Skylines.
    Simply put, do not buy.
  3. Toxsick
    Feb 3, 2017
    0
    This review won't be very detailed. It's simple: Buy cities skyline. Leave this crappy bunch of scripts on the shelf.
    It's simply better in every single way except for the online part. And anyways, in sim city you can't build cities but only small districts, i think more info is not even necessary.
  4. jsoo
    Jan 2, 2016
    0
    This game is so bad compared to Simcity 4. The map where you can build on is way too small, there is no agriculture available, there are no driving missions, the graphics are disappointing, the cooperation possible between cities is **** and there are no ordinances as in Simcity 4 in the game. I recommend not to play this game, if you want to play SImcity you should play Simcity 4. SimcityThis game is so bad compared to Simcity 4. The map where you can build on is way too small, there is no agriculture available, there are no driving missions, the graphics are disappointing, the cooperation possible between cities is **** and there are no ordinances as in Simcity 4 in the game. I recommend not to play this game, if you want to play SImcity you should play Simcity 4. Simcity 5 is crap, Simcity 4 is great though!!!… Expand
  5. Silverzapper
    Jan 31, 2016
    2
    This game is the perfect example of what happens when you rush a game out for sales alone. The city sizes are tiny and things don't work how they're supposed to. The sims are terribly programmed causing one of my roads to be stuck in gridlock and the other almost completely empty. Once I reached a high enough population my sewage system stopped functioning and my city was ruined. When aThis game is the perfect example of what happens when you rush a game out for sales alone. The city sizes are tiny and things don't work how they're supposed to. The sims are terribly programmed causing one of my roads to be stuck in gridlock and the other almost completely empty. Once I reached a high enough population my sewage system stopped functioning and my city was ruined. When a game requires mods just to work you know it's a bad game. Don't buy this. It's bad even with mods.… Expand
  6. rhansonn
    Mar 24, 2016
    0
    This game has a lot of issues... Online multiplayer is pretty much unusable, unable to share anything with your neighboring cities without sitting around for an hour waiting for it to come through, whether its sharing resources, or unlocking something for your region, it just doesn't work.

    When you claim a new city plot, you will have to wait a very long time to gain access to all of    This game has a lot of issues... Online multiplayer is pretty much unusable, unable to share anything with your neighboring cities without sitting around for an hour waiting for it to come through, whether its sharing resources, or unlocking something for your region, it just doesn't work.

    When you claim a new city plot, you will have to wait a very long time to gain access to all of the unlocked features in the region. (I tend to claim a city, send some money from a neighboring city, and go do something else for a couple hours while the city slowly gains access.)

    City plots are incredibly small, compared to it's predecessors, its unreasonably tough to work with.

    Road options are just terrible, apparently major highways have traffic lights now-a-days, the designers threw away any possibility for realistic road layouts; one-way streets, high-way junctions, on/off ramps. This really just doesn't make sense.

    MegaTowers tend to up and fail after a few gameplay months. "There's no school" - it's right next to you. "Theres no shopping" - it's right below you, and said store is begging for shoppers. This isn't due to traffic issues, or a wealth mis-match, its an obvious defect.

    They game looks great - but is a blatant fail in terms of usability.

    Once again I find myself losing confidence in EA.    … Expand
  7. Avalon011
    Mar 30, 2016
    0
    This game has one serious design flaw, what happens when the city runs out of water? Water in Simcity is the most precious commodity in the game but theirs no way to replenish the water once it runs out which isn't long. As of the latest patch 10.3 the sewer treatment plant no longer produces water! They broke the game.

    Even EA of all people saw fit to shutter Maxis.
  8. Pogrebnyak880
    Apr 18, 2018
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Я ожидал что simcity 5 будет лучше чем прошлая часть, но как то состоялся релиз и поиграл, хрен тебе. Как только я купил эту игру в Ориджине и скачал, у меня при запуске сначала выдавалась ошибка, что из-за чего мне пришлось перезапускать игру. Вообще лучше купить Cities: Skylines.… Expand
  9. GoodMorningAss
    Jan 29, 2020
    0
    the server is full, he give me a choice to choose another server but the save on new server is not sync, that mean you have to play a new game in every new server what a stupid design, I agree
  10. medv4380
    Mar 6, 2013
    3
    If the game had an Offline Option after logging in like SC2 had then it wouldn't be that bad of a game. The basic problem this model has is that in the long term you only provision for 20% of your users being online at any one point in time. However, during launch that's not exactly the case. You can easily have 80% or more logging in all at the same time. Without an offline mode toIf the game had an Offline Option after logging in like SC2 had then it wouldn't be that bad of a game. The basic problem this model has is that in the long term you only provision for 20% of your users being online at any one point in time. However, during launch that's not exactly the case. You can easily have 80% or more logging in all at the same time. Without an offline mode to release the stress of everyone logging in you end up with people taking the day off to play and being justifiably upset that they can't even start-up the game. The tutorial could have and should have been an offline option. It would have made it so that people could have a taste of the game without hammering the servers all at once. This model also requires the servers to be up-to-date. If you were able to get on last night and then later this morning you may have found yourself faced with a forced tutorial button that you weren't last night. This is clearly due to the servers being on a different version of the software. The is the most likely cause of game corruptions this morning. A 60$ franchise title is not the time or place to test out new strategies. You should know this will work long before you launch. Instead we're faced with inexperienced admins who didn't know to keep the servers up to date for launch or to turn them Off if they were on the wrong version. This is stuff you only learn with experience, and Sim City was not the time or place to get that experience. This tells me that they're using an Ad-Hoc methodology, and we should expect more hiccups as long as they insist on an instant roll-out of updates and not have the server go though some burn time to make sure it works first. For Single Player the maps are a bit small. You can work around it a bit, and I can see how this encourages Multi-Player. However, I'm the type of person who plays MMOs Single Player so I personally get very little benefit from this model. The game play from prior versions is vastly improved. If you're willing to wait a Month for server load to die down you probably should wait. You'll be able to get a far superior experience if you do.… Expand
  11. Hilliary
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    This game is awesome! When I'm able to play it... Unfortunately, the always-online DRM that comes with this game makes it very difficult to do so. Yes, it is only the first few days of launch, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to worry about server loads, disconnects, rollbacks, downtime, maintenance, losing hours on my cities, ect. I understand it's no longer a single playerThis game is awesome! When I'm able to play it... Unfortunately, the always-online DRM that comes with this game makes it very difficult to do so. Yes, it is only the first few days of launch, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to worry about server loads, disconnects, rollbacks, downtime, maintenance, losing hours on my cities, ect. I understand it's no longer a single player game, but I'd much rather have the option to play online with friends rather than be forced to play by their server scheduled when all I want to do is play in my own region.

    I defended Diablo 3s always-online model, mostly because I was blinded by fan-girl-ism and I thought a game shouldn't be rated based on a games servers. Not anymore. This game deserves the metascore that the critics give it, but I just can't feel the same as long as this DRM is in place. It's such a terrible model to prevent piracy and companies like EA and Blizzard need to learn this. Fast. It only hurts the consumers that paid actual money.    … Expand
  12. foxofblades
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    The problem here is that the game may indeed be great, epic, huge improvement, etc but with road blocks as big as not being able to play, glitches in menu, unclear saving/loading processes, and horrible game technical support make this an incredibly unreasonable purchase. I looked forward to this game very much and had high hopes even through the low user reviews. But here me now, I haveThe problem here is that the game may indeed be great, epic, huge improvement, etc but with road blocks as big as not being able to play, glitches in menu, unclear saving/loading processes, and horrible game technical support make this an incredibly unreasonable purchase. I looked forward to this game very much and had high hopes even through the low user reviews. But here me now, I have learned the lesson I should have learned when I bought Diablo 3 do not make this purchase.… Expand
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. MacrosTheBlack
    Mar 13, 2013
    0
    Things I've run into:

    1) Constant server connection issues 2) CIty sometimes not saved 3) Schools completely empty despite sims complaining they want to go to school 4) Sometimes can't export goods, it just sits there in a depot 5) Sudden and extreme drops in budget 6) Giant stalagmites rising out of the ground (no joke) 7) 10 firetrucks all going to the same fire, but ignoring    Things I've run into:

    1) Constant server connection issues
    2) CIty sometimes not saved
    3) Schools completely empty despite sims complaining they want to go to school
    4) Sometimes can't export goods, it just sits there in a depot
    5) Sudden and extreme drops in budget
    6) Giant stalagmites rising out of the ground (no joke)
    7) 10 firetrucks all going to the same fire, but ignoring the other ones. This also happens for other vehicles.
    8) etc. etc etc.

    These are just bugs, apart from this, the multiplayer is absolutely broken as there is barely any real interaction, the group chat doesn't work usually and the city sizes are terrible. I feel comfortable saying that this product probably shouldn't have been released until it was actually done. Thanks for ****ing up the franchise!    … Expand
  16. Clean515
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    For a game called Sim City it's certainly dissapointing that you can only build small european towns. What a waste of potential by restricting their users like this, always online is not a deal breaker for me but it's also dissapointing that it results in the game not actually working half the time, EA with their approach to games having to be online and have micro transactions inFor a game called Sim City it's certainly dissapointing that you can only build small european towns. What a waste of potential by restricting their users like this, always online is not a deal breaker for me but it's also dissapointing that it results in the game not actually working half the time, EA with their approach to games having to be online and have micro transactions in everything should be ashamed and Maxis should put their foot in the door and not let themselves be pushed around by EA who constantly messes up any IP.… Expand
  17. MacNamedDre
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    There isn't anything more offensive than cloud computing errors causing game to me nonexistent. Moreover, spending nearly $60-$80 on a title so HIGHLY exclaimed as the GOY, and yet comes off as a huge failure. When the game is playing, it's fun, social, and is a refreshing update to the simcity franchise. What ruins the game for me is as follows: No single player, No save option outsideThere isn't anything more offensive than cloud computing errors causing game to me nonexistent. Moreover, spending nearly $60-$80 on a title so HIGHLY exclaimed as the GOY, and yet comes off as a huge failure. When the game is playing, it's fun, social, and is a refreshing update to the simcity franchise. What ruins the game for me is as follows: No single player, No save option outside of forced incontinent cloud storage), server errors (you think they would have gotten this ready for the launch), inaccurate protesting (crime levels down to zero, yet protests for high crime change power source for town when paused and after relaunching game town protests lost of power), force closing (it's the only game in the last 3 years I've played with massive force closures on a regular basis) EA support (no upgrades after launch day errors, and seemingly weak support), ORIGIN ran.… Expand
  18. tmas
    Mar 7, 2013
    1
    I read a good review of the game and was excited to get it. The review was in the tech section of CNN or AP I forget which. I haven't been playing games for quite some time and I was feeling the need lately to immerse myself in a good game. So I went to the Gamestop next to my work and bought the boxed Simcity limited edition. I haven't been in that Gamestop in years. I had the next dayI read a good review of the game and was excited to get it. The review was in the tech section of CNN or AP I forget which. I haven't been playing games for quite some time and I was feeling the need lately to immerse myself in a good game. So I went to the Gamestop next to my work and bought the boxed Simcity limited edition. I haven't been in that Gamestop in years. I had the next day off and was planning on wasting it on this game(in a good way like I used to) It's been 5 hours now and I've only been able to partially play the tutorial for about 15minutes. Then when the tutorial had me try to connect to another city I got disconnected from the server, Game Over restart. Well I haven't actually been able to restart so just game over. What I did see looked pretty good but I'm not too sure about this on-line thing. No save/load is difficult for this veteran gamer. I think I'm done with gaming. Gonna go outside for a bike ride. DON'T BUY THIS GAME. To spend $60 on beta testing is totally unacceptable. Don't games get tested before release anymore? Their official website says "Most Anticipated of 2013" did the people responsible for this server disaster not see that info? PS the disparity between user reviews and paid critic reviews is very telling of the BS that they spew.… Expand
  19. Goekhan
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    Let me sum it up:
    -"Unable to create your city at this time. Please claim a city again." This issue haven't got fixed on beta. 3 days after release, and I STILL GET THIS.
    -Busy servers; either get in line, or go play on some other server (if you can) where your cities are NOT stored at -VERY SMALL city areas. Are you kidding me? Areas should be AT LEAST 4 TIMES BIGGER. -Always online    Let me sum it up:
    -"Unable to create your city at this time. Please claim a city again." This issue haven't got fixed on beta. 3 days after release, and I STILL GET THIS.
    -Busy servers; either get in line, or go play on some other server (if you can) where your cities are NOT stored at
    -VERY SMALL city areas. Are you kidding me? Areas should be AT LEAST 4 TIMES BIGGER.
    -Always online DRM I'm mostly fine with this, but due to 1st and 2nd points I've made... the server load I mean... Enough said, I think?    … Expand
  20. 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.
  21. Splackity
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Will update when game is playable. Game is not playable. Game has not been playable for over 6 hours. Game queue is not a queue, it's a time waster. Game is worthless. Single most pointless launch ever. Capacity is a joke.
  22. Anarchy
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    DRM has made this promising game totally unplayable. People can't download the game, can't join a server, can't save their game and are having their cities wiped all because EA have unimaginably forced always-online DRM even though they know the risks and the fact that it has little to no benefit. In fact, piracy for this game will be through the roof. Shame on EA, disgusting greedy RIP Simcity.
  23. Hornybeast
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    Dear EA can i please play my single player game i purchased from you
    some may think i'm asking too much of a big company like EA to see me as worthy of playing their game
    but after parting with it would be nice to "have a go"
  24. MrHuckabee
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This is why PC games will never, ever be able to compete with consoles. PC games are so concerned trying to counteract piracy they cripple their game. Just to play this game by myself I have to wait until the servers are online and not full. This game does not allow you to save locally; so don't experiment on your city and hope that neither your internet connection or their servers goThis is why PC games will never, ever be able to compete with consoles. PC games are so concerned trying to counteract piracy they cripple their game. Just to play this game by myself I have to wait until the servers are online and not full. This game does not allow you to save locally; so don't experiment on your city and hope that neither your internet connection or their servers go down. My guess is that the maps were downsized because the developers do not want you saving locally, making your saves to the cloud smaller. Same goes for terraforming. Innovation in this game is absent and the enjoyment I have had playing this game was due to not playing a Sim City game in such a long time.… Expand
  25. zombiexm
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The game itself is fine, there are the lacking features tho.
    The size of the space is too small, and theres no farmming.
    But forcing me to play online in a game that does not need to be online for a single player portion of it. Sorry, no sale. The nation does not have 95-100% Broadband coverage, and mobile LTE Does not count has internet when it comes to gaming with these caps on the    The game itself is fine, there are the lacking features tho.
    The size of the space is too small, and theres no farmming.

    But forcing me to play online in a game that does not need to be online for a single player portion of it. Sorry, no sale. The nation does not have 95-100% Broadband coverage, and mobile LTE Does not count has internet when it comes to gaming with these caps on the top two.

    There is no modding system, which should of been BUILT IN when looking at how well sim city 4 has done with modding. But no they claim it will "come". but It will not as they will lose money on DLC, and Add-on packs (see sims 3) Do not buy the game unless they fix this, or someone finds a way to force the game offline.    … Expand
  26. Grenade_Cobra
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    DON"T BUY THIS! I never given a game a 0/10 before cause I mean how can a game be 0? I have played a lot of bad games but this one goes beyond that to the point of insulting. This is my first 0 because of all the reason already stated so well by others. I should have known better and I'm done with origins for good. At this rate maybe gaming altogether if this is an outlook to theDON"T BUY THIS! I never given a game a 0/10 before cause I mean how can a game be 0? I have played a lot of bad games but this one goes beyond that to the point of insulting. This is my first 0 because of all the reason already stated so well by others. I should have known better and I'm done with origins for good. At this rate maybe gaming altogether if this is an outlook to the future. It reminds me of the National Lampoon;s Vegas vacation quote every time I buy EA. "Why don't you give me half the money you were going to bet, then we'll go out back, I'll kick you in the nuts and we'll call it a day!"… Expand
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. Drago99
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Small City Map, DRM, Server Problems, they probably plan to sell us add-on that should had already been included the original game at that price. All I can say is that I won't get caught buying a game like this again.
  30. lleti
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    DRM Aside, I would score this at around a 3 or a 4; the fact that EA insist on making me wait in an online queue in order to play an offline game, bounces us straight down to zero; paying $60+ for nothing, is worth a negative score if anything.

    Zoning density is gone missing. Cities are tiny you can barely fit a village into your map space. Terraforming/God mode is gone the way of the    DRM Aside, I would score this at around a 3 or a 4; the fact that EA insist on making me wait in an online queue in order to play an offline game, bounces us straight down to zero; paying $60+ for nothing, is worth a negative score if anything.

    Zoning density is gone missing. Cities are tiny you can barely fit a village into your map space. Terraforming/God mode is gone the way of the Dodo. Games will only save/load if EA's server can accommodate your request; often times it can't, and you lose data. Also adds to the sluggish behavior of the game, as contacting and sending packets to an overseas, overloaded server, is a lot slower than writing to your local disk.

    Looking forward to the teams that will be working on a local server emulator to remove the DRM requirement hopefully the loss in income will send a strong message, as clearly, shouting "screw you" to your customer base is still resulting in sales.    … Expand
  31. dr_mibbles
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    A great franchise, ruined by EA. People are buying the game in good faith, despite reservations about always-online DRM. They are then finding they cannot log into the server, or constant disconnects, or cities failing to save/being constantly rolled back. The game is unplayable, and getting a refund is very challenging when the only way to contact EA is though live chat support with a 6A great franchise, ruined by EA. People are buying the game in good faith, despite reservations about always-online DRM. They are then finding they cannot log into the server, or constant disconnects, or cities failing to save/being constantly rolled back. The game is unplayable, and getting a refund is very challenging when the only way to contact EA is though live chat support with a 6 hour wait. Yes, six hours.

    When they realise that the (unnecessary) DRM is preventing them from playing a game they paid good money for, or wasting hours of their time by not saving their cities, they are understandably feeling let down. They believe the product is at fault. The reviews on Amazon/Metacritic reflect that sentiment with total and complete accuracy.    … Expand
  32. Geofferic
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    The game simply does not work. I've been in queue for 40 minutes at a time, get disconnected, have to get back in queue The Day 0 DLC is shockingly insulting. The cities are tiny. Very, very little innovation other than slightly snazzier interface. $80 bucks to get the game as it is intended to be played is ridiculous. This is garbage. Stay away. Ignore the raw lies that are theThe game simply does not work. I've been in queue for 40 minutes at a time, get disconnected, have to get back in queue The Day 0 DLC is shockingly insulting. The cities are tiny. Very, very little innovation other than slightly snazzier interface. $80 bucks to get the game as it is intended to be played is ridiculous. This is garbage. Stay away. Ignore the raw lies that are the 'journalism' reviews.… Expand
  33. spewey
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Maxis should never have rolled this out without providing for the robust server support it should have known was necessary. I've hardly been able to log in; most attempts failed. At least this has kept me from fuming about the small size of cities we are limited to. Maxis' insistence on DRM may protect them from a few pirates, but it has greatly inconvenienced thousands of their users,Maxis should never have rolled this out without providing for the robust server support it should have known was necessary. I've hardly been able to log in; most attempts failed. At least this has kept me from fuming about the small size of cities we are limited to. Maxis' insistence on DRM may protect them from a few pirates, but it has greatly inconvenienced thousands of their users, and turned the most anticipated game of the year into a massive disappointment.… Expand
  34. Slaymeister
    Mar 11, 2013
    0
    I play offline. I play all games offline. Half the time, I'm playing a game as I'm sitting on a plane with no internet connectivity, but I don't play online at other times. I don't care about leaderboards. I don't want achievements. I play games like Simcity because I want a sandbox to play in for a bit before I go back to working on a presentation for my next meeting or trying in vain toI play offline. I play all games offline. Half the time, I'm playing a game as I'm sitting on a plane with no internet connectivity, but I don't play online at other times. I don't care about leaderboards. I don't want achievements. I play games like Simcity because I want a sandbox to play in for a bit before I go back to working on a presentation for my next meeting or trying in vain to catch up on my inbox. I play offline, so that means I can't play Simcity. This new Simcity, tied to EA's servers like a umbilical cord, sucks. Their aggressive DRM goes far beyond mere inconvenience caused by an attempt to strike a balance between playability and ensuring the game is properly licensed by players. This approach is positively antagonistic, with no gameplay allowed without EA in the middle, players needs be damned. Additionally, continued gameplay is beholden to their servers, their desire to continue supporting the game, and the capabilities of their servers to handle the workload. I have always pulled out Simcity games for years after my first play though. But what happens when EA decides the ROI to maintain the game servers isn't there anymore? I can't play this game, and I'm pissed.… Expand
  35. Zeeboid
    Mar 11, 2013
    0
    I travel for work and as of yet have been unable to play due to the slow/nonexistent internet connections on airplanes and at my hotels. No other SimCity has required me to be online to play, and I feel as a father and husband with two children, if this is what I get for my money, you have done a dis-service. Please restore off-line single play to SimCity. I am ready to never purchaseI travel for work and as of yet have been unable to play due to the slow/nonexistent internet connections on airplanes and at my hotels. No other SimCity has required me to be online to play, and I feel as a father and husband with two children, if this is what I get for my money, you have done a dis-service. Please restore off-line single play to SimCity. I am ready to never purchase another EA game over this.… Expand
  36. redfacedanger
    Mar 12, 2013
    1
    This game was a pain at launch, we all know that by now. But don't worry because when you're actually able to get into it, it's actually... mediocre. It's not as good as the reviewers make it, to be honest i'd like my money back, it's pretty to look at but the mechanics are simply broken. It was made so you'd have some choice to how you'd like to build your city, but it feels like there'sThis game was a pain at launch, we all know that by now. But don't worry because when you're actually able to get into it, it's actually... mediocre. It's not as good as the reviewers make it, to be honest i'd like my money back, it's pretty to look at but the mechanics are simply broken. It was made so you'd have some choice to how you'd like to build your city, but it feels like there's only one REAL path to make. it's a unfinished game, don't buy it.… Expand
  37. exmachina64
    Mar 12, 2013
    0
    1) Always online DRM.
    2) Small city sizes to run on low spec PCs.
    3) Population padding (your population is actually much smaller than the number you see in the game).
    4) The simulation is fundamentally broken (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=523158).
  38. sweet
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    DRM issues aside, it's a tiny crippled game that doesn't game close to measuring up to its predecessors. Hopefully the failure of this game will be a watershed moment in gaming history.
  39. Globular
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Aside from the grotesque DRM and the inevitable overpriced DLCs for a game that costs $60, this game is too casual and streamlined, and lacks a lot of what the previous simcitys were about. This game should be called SimTown, not SimCity; the plot sizes in the new SimCity are embarrassingly small, but even if they increased the size I don't think the game would look much like a cityAside from the grotesque DRM and the inevitable overpriced DLCs for a game that costs $60, this game is too casual and streamlined, and lacks a lot of what the previous simcitys were about. This game should be called SimTown, not SimCity; the plot sizes in the new SimCity are embarrassingly small, but even if they increased the size I don't think the game would look much like a city because the buildings look disproportionate/cartoonish/repetitive and the spaces between buildings look like eye sores (they should at least fill them in the way the game CitiesXL does). A single plot can be filled within the first 10 minutes then all you do is stare at your city, upgrade here and there, and struggle to fit in some of the new buildings you end up unlocking it's a miserable experience after you fill up the entire plot of land. The only creativity in this game is making those unconventional curved roads. This game feels more like a node simulator than a city simulator (if that makes any sense), and everything is automatic this game was made for lazy people it seems. There is no terraforming. The cities in the regions are separated, so there are no super metropolises or your very own created rail and road systems in your very own created wilderness areas which separate your other cities. No farming. No subways. I also found a lot of the features like the statistic maps, the different kinds of roads, the people walking on the streets, etc.. to be gimmicky, for example, you'll always end up using the high capacity roads, so why not just start out with them (it's also a pain to upgrade your low density roads later on in game) so the presence of dirt roads and such are gimmicky to me make the most of the small land you are given, right?… Expand
  40. parkour86
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Always online DRM, what more do I have to say?
  41. BlueOtter
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Unfortunately, this edition of SimCity, while fun to play and far more challenging in its intricacy than its predecessors, is completely unusable to those wishing to play on the go. Using my laptop, I'm unable to launch or play the game much of the time because if the always-online DRM requirement the publisher has imposed on this game. It's bad enough to call a critical bug that rendersUnfortunately, this edition of SimCity, while fun to play and far more challenging in its intricacy than its predecessors, is completely unusable to those wishing to play on the go. Using my laptop, I'm unable to launch or play the game much of the time because if the always-online DRM requirement the publisher has imposed on this game. It's bad enough to call a critical bug that renders my game play unusable.… Expand
  42. dpofs10
    Mar 12, 2013
    0
    Wow, a week after launch and the servers still don't work. Just got kicked out and lost 2 hours work and can't sign back on at all. PLEASE don't make the mistake I did and give this company your money for a defective by design product.
  43. Sir_Trigg
    Mar 13, 2013
    0
    Seriously, don't buy this game. At least, not until they fix everything. The constant online DRM has crippled the game so people who bought it can't even play. The main thing I bought it for was to play with friends but the server list splits you up from them. Even if you change server, you can't keep the maps you already made! Most servers are 'closed' so you either have to hope peopleSeriously, don't buy this game. At least, not until they fix everything. The constant online DRM has crippled the game so people who bought it can't even play. The main thing I bought it for was to play with friends but the server list splits you up from them. Even if you change server, you can't keep the maps you already made! Most servers are 'closed' so you either have to hope people will abandon all their work and join or play by yourself/with random people online. Even if you do manage to get on a server and log in, it still won't let you load maps up! I tried playing for a little bit before work and I can't get on either of my two maps to play. This game is a joke. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun when I could actually play it. By making sure no one pirates the game, they are screwing over the ones who want to legitimately pay and play the game. I've learnt my lesson, sorry EA but we're over. Don't call 'cause I won't answer.… Expand
  44. jblair52
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Bought the game online, it installed quickly. I played for about an hour and witnessed a few bugs, but nothing gamebreaking. Then I was notified I was disconnected from the server and the game crashed. I have been trying off and on for 4+ hours trying to reconnect to play. The game is not finished and the servers cannot handle the numbers trying to play. Terrible job. This is why I rarelyBought the game online, it installed quickly. I played for about an hour and witnessed a few bugs, but nothing gamebreaking. Then I was notified I was disconnected from the server and the game crashed. I have been trying off and on for 4+ hours trying to reconnect to play. The game is not finished and the servers cannot handle the numbers trying to play. Terrible job. This is why I rarely buy an EA title, and now I doubt I ever will again.… Expand
  45. Stabwoundz
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    I suggest that people ignore those ridiculously positive scores from critics as they are likely biased. When then game first launched I was able to play for a few hours and I was addicted. For the most part the game was fun and interesting, except there are some bugs like poor vehicle paths and unnecessary traffic congestion that can't be resolved without a patch from EA.. The majorI suggest that people ignore those ridiculously positive scores from critics as they are likely biased. When then game first launched I was able to play for a few hours and I was addicted. For the most part the game was fun and interesting, except there are some bugs like poor vehicle paths and unnecessary traffic congestion that can't be resolved without a patch from EA.. The major problem is that this game requires a constant connection to EA servers. Tonight I got home from work to play and I could not connect to the game in my region. Granted- all internet based games seem to have high traffic on launch. But this type of game shouldn't even require an online connection to play sandbox modes. Since I am not able to play in the the North American region, I decided to try the European regions. When I connected and started playing I was forced to play the tutorial (you cannot skip it) which was somehow bugged because the game puts me into the tutorial region but none of the menu's or actions are available. So not only can I NOT play the game offline in a sandbox style mode, but even when I connect, I am forced to play a tutorial scenario that is bugged to where I can't progress past and cannot be skipped. I truly enjoyed playing this game last night but these Online-DRMs NEED TO GO! Also there needs to be a way to skip the tutorial.. EA has published games long enough to know better than this. So far I am disappointed.… Expand
  46. ThtCooperFellow
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    I love the actual game for the most part, but the fact that this is a game that should have been single player and now I just can't plain play I have to give this at best a 3. Maxis did a wonderful job and I have no doubt that EA forced this BS always online drm from the start and the multiplayer aspect. Always online has been, and continues to be a terrible idea.
  47. harderjw
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Unskippable tutorial that doesn't run correctly. Completely unplayable. I understand that glitches happen in games, but I'm sick and tired of this garbage getting released while clearly under tested.
  48. Drew0927
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Can't play single player because you have to have a connection to the server. Brilliant. I hope heads are rolling at EA. So concerned about "piracy" you make game play impossible for cash paying customers. Super smart.
  49. tifunkalicious
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Impossible to rate above a 0 because the game is impossible to play.

    Get kicked off because the servers are down. Unable to create new cities on different servers due to a vague error.
  50. adiliyo
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    great game, runs smooth, excellent graphics and well tuned game mechanics.

    HOWEVER with the way DRM is worked into it, you can't play w/o an internet connection, which is a pain in and of itself, but if EA's servers are down or overloaded (like now, at launch) you can't play the game at all. it will also randomly delete your regions and cities that are not saved at all locally, so there    great game, runs smooth, excellent graphics and well tuned game mechanics.

    HOWEVER with the way DRM is worked into it, you can't play w/o an internet connection, which is a pain in and of itself, but if EA's servers are down or overloaded (like now, at launch) you can't play the game at all. it will also randomly delete your regions and cities that are not saved at all locally, so there is no way to recover them.

    great game hampered by a complete waste of a distribution/play model. i'm getting a refund.    … Expand
  51. tspjunk
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Sad, just sad. Zero depth compared to SimCity 4, or even SimCity 2000! Puny cities, no offline mode, none of the complexity of a SimCity. I loved this game until this horrific game came out. I only wish I could get my money back from Origin. I hope EA properly responds to this tragic game by recalling this game and starting over from scratch with a competent team!!!
  52. KaerosD
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    To deserve a rating higher than zero only requires the game to function. EA has reached new levels of incompetence, I'm ashamed to have wasted money on another one of their nonfunctional abortions of games. If there's a line for refunds, point me to it.
  53. us3th3forc3
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This game is terrible. Actually, I don't really know if the game is terrible or not since I haven't been able to play it. EA's decision to make me play online the entire time has made it impossible to play the game at all as the servers are busy. And when I sign in it makes me do a tutorial that I cannot even do as the controls are grayed out. So my tutorial is me just sitting thereThis game is terrible. Actually, I don't really know if the game is terrible or not since I haven't been able to play it. EA's decision to make me play online the entire time has made it impossible to play the game at all as the servers are busy. And when I sign in it makes me do a tutorial that I cannot even do as the controls are grayed out. So my tutorial is me just sitting there waiting for something to happen. I LOVED SimCity 3000 and was so excited about this game, but now I am really disappointed that I bought this game at all. Maybe someone will let me know if this game is fun or not once they get a chance to play it.… Expand
  54. SayAhoy
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Very unhappy with my purchase. Can't even play the game. Server let me on, but won't let me actually create a city or play. The game itself might be fun, if only it would let me play.
  55. wildchicken
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This game does not run for me at all. The server is listed as available. But when I go to create my city it states that it cannot be claimed. Does not matter the server I am on.
  56. Teamsprocket2
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Surely EA can do no wrong? That's a wrong statement there. Sim City needs to be online to work in the first place. I got about 10 minutes offline before it gave me error about not being connected online. Aren't Sim City games normally single player and can be played offline? Seriously EA, get a grip.
  57. yodagirl
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The idea that we don't have an option to turn off online play seems like someone made a mistake. I beta tested on the 2nd and 3rd runs and realized very quickly that the space allowed to build on was out of touch with previous releases. I am a long time city player and I have to say the whole game has lost it's interest. I can fill up a city in an hour, where is the strategy in that? IThe idea that we don't have an option to turn off online play seems like someone made a mistake. I beta tested on the 2nd and 3rd runs and realized very quickly that the space allowed to build on was out of touch with previous releases. I am a long time city player and I have to say the whole game has lost it's interest. I can fill up a city in an hour, where is the strategy in that? I know on release day they are going to have glitches and such but when you add the variable of servers, whoa the experience sucks. Many of the servers are in BUSY and when I did get on as soon as I get to the point of naming the city the game stops responding. Super annoying!… Expand
  58. david22585
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    Small city sizes makes the game not true to the simcity series. In addition, the always on connection required with servers that cannot handle the loads just further drops the ball. Maxis had a great idea, great game plan, great foundation, but failed to deliver with the execution of the final simcity game. I call it the final, because they will lose a lot of long time fans of the seriesSmall city sizes makes the game not true to the simcity series. In addition, the always on connection required with servers that cannot handle the loads just further drops the ball. Maxis had a great idea, great game plan, great foundation, but failed to deliver with the execution of the final simcity game. I call it the final, because they will lose a lot of long time fans of the series with this one.… Expand
  59. Brzhk
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    Not able to play, Thanks EA. Along with the usual marketing europeans served after americans DRMs all the way we're still unable to play the game. Like Diablo 3. When it's not the update server, it's the unavaiability to connect. When it's not the connection, it's the stuck tutorial. When it's not the stuck tutorial, it's the unability to create a new city. Lessons learned? yeah,Not able to play, Thanks EA. Along with the usual marketing europeans served after americans DRMs all the way we're still unable to play the game. Like Diablo 3. When it's not the update server, it's the unavaiability to connect. When it's not the connection, it's the stuck tutorial. When it's not the stuck tutorial, it's the unability to create a new city. Lessons learned? yeah, right, thanks EA. The game developpers have more important things to do than struggle with your genious DRM related problems and the customers too.… Expand
  60. Styrkyr
    Mar 12, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Good: Simcity has very good graphics. The data overlays are beautiful. Construction looks realistic. Nonrenewable resources add a new and interesting flavor to the game. Multiplayer regions with multiple cities online add a new and very fun flavor. There are new disasters which look and play realistically, have unexpected effects on your city. You can now build curving roads and road/road overpasses. Roads now govern your buildings density. There is a good selection of different buildings. The Bad: -Serverside
    Always-Online DRM means that you have to have a stable internet connection; the slightest hiccup in your internet will result in the game crashing and you losing hours of game play. The servers are horrible; most of them are either "busy" or "full", meaning that you can't play at all. They also crash often. Server capacity is abysmal. There is no "offline" option for single player games. All saves must be synced with EA's cloud servers; you cannot have any local saves on your hard drive. -Clientside
    Buildings often look half finished and devoid of color or decoration; it is clear that this was an unfinished product that was rushed out. City sizes are limited to approx. 2km x 2km; slightly smaller then the smallest map size on Simcity 4. Buildings cannot be placed anywhere where they are not adjacent to a road; you can no longer fill in the interior of city blocks with parks/etc. Some graphics appear half finished, i.e. grass showing through a road, dirt overlapping on a road, or jagged/flickering graphics. The game is slow to respond to neighbor deals, such as sending power or sewage to a neighbor. Parks look like they're made with astroturf. Waves/beaches look unrealistic. Zones are aligned on a road and cannot be expanded to show the entire zone; this makes planning for city blocks very difficult. There is no subway, elevated rail, monorail, or highways available to be built. Agriculture/farms have been completely removed from the game. It was not designed to be compatible with player-designed mods. Overall:
    This game had the potential to be something great, to be a truly awesome game. But with the forced DRM limitations EA has imposed on us, as well as the horrifying state of their servers, this game has become yet another destined for the bookshelf. Maxis outdid itself with bringing new ideas, concepts, and operations into the game, but with the client-side limitations such as city sizes and lack of transportation options, not to mention the server-side DRM, the game is effectively crippled. Bluntly, I can not recommend this game to anyone. One can only hope that EA will listed to the community and fix what is wrong.

    Pentium Core i7 4.2 ghz OC
    32gb DDR-3 Kingston HyperX RAM
    3 x EVGA GTX 680 2gb SLI'd
    OCZ Octane 1tb SSD    … Expand
  61. MrAnt
    Mar 12, 2013
    1
    massive screwup from EA and Maxis. First the servers were screwed, then after playing for about 20hrs each of my cities ends up bugged and I cant play them anymore. Never again will I preorder a EA game. Such a shame this had so much potential...
  62. jdestroyer82
    Mar 13, 2013
    2
    This game is fundamentally broken on almost all levels. AI is oversimplified and a hindrance to game advancement. Online only functionality is not worth the restrictions. Players end up with a tiny generic city that becomes more and more frustrating to grow. This game is a massive disappointment, even beyond the restrictive DRM and launch issues. This will be the last EA game I willThis game is fundamentally broken on almost all levels. AI is oversimplified and a hindrance to game advancement. Online only functionality is not worth the restrictions. Players end up with a tiny generic city that becomes more and more frustrating to grow. This game is a massive disappointment, even beyond the restrictive DRM and launch issues. This will be the last EA game I will purchase, no matter what the name of the studio they assimilate. Because, that studio is only a name. None of the original Maxis seems to exist in this product. I hope this serves as a lesson to the game industry and its consumers.… Expand
  63. Gayfish
    Mar 26, 2013
    0
    This game is terrible I don't recommend it to anyone. Any game with always-online DRM should be avoided at all costs, it never works out and just frustrates the customers. I shouldn't be forced to be online to play a SINGLE player game!!! And the max size of the city is way too small. Go play SimCity 4 or 3000 they're much better than this steaming pile.
  64. absolutcrobi
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    So there are less basic features then previous Sim City games (seriously no subways). Cities are capped at stupidly small sizes (who want's to build a megalopolis anyway). It is a single player game with forced multiplayer and an always on internet drm, this is not a MMO there is ZERO need for a constant connection. Wanna play when your internet is down, too bad. Want to play when EA'sSo there are less basic features then previous Sim City games (seriously no subways). Cities are capped at stupidly small sizes (who want's to build a megalopolis anyway). It is a single player game with forced multiplayer and an always on internet drm, this is not a MMO there is ZERO need for a constant connection. Wanna play when your internet is down, too bad. Want to play when EA's servers are down for maintenance, so sorry. Want to play while you are stuck on a family camping trip in the middle of nowhere, hope you like singing Kumbaya. Basically you are paying $60 for a game that you do not own, you are streaming the game when EA will let you. I won't even go into the fiasco of EA being too incompetent to allow the game to be preloaded on systems that pre-purchased the game. DO NOT BUY THIS. Do not support always on DRM. You want a good Sim City game, buy Sim City 4. I am playing it right now.… Expand
  65. Grims
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Th game itself by Maxis is pretty good and probably worth roughly 40-50$. The origin connection makes the game non-playable (literally 100$ non playable), late release access and thus completely worthless.

    Thank you EA for taking 80$ from me for something I can't play.

    Strongly recommend you do NOT buy this game. Grim
  66. jdwolff85
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I was able to play all of an hour of Sim City tonight. And from what I played? It's a great game.

    What's NOT great is always on DRM and EA's inability to learn simple lessons from this past year *cough* Diablo 3 *cough cough* Got booted out of my region after trying to SWITCH CITIES within the same region I was already in. Apparently the server had become quite fool. And sure, I can    I was able to play all of an hour of Sim City tonight. And from what I played? It's a great game.

    What's NOT great is always on DRM and EA's inability to learn simple lessons from this past year *cough* Diablo 3 *cough cough*

    Got booted out of my region after trying to SWITCH CITIES within the same region I was already in. Apparently the server had become quite fool. And sure, I can switch to another one...but how often am I going to play on Oceania when I'm in NY?    … Expand
  67. PantsOnHead
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Let's talk about the fact that the game itself is pretty fun. However there are a pile of bugs. I'd like to give it a awesome score and say; hey 'this was amazing. But you know I can't do that BECAUSE I CAN'T LOG INTO THE GAME. If I can't play the game; I can't rate it. I had 2 hours last night after I bought the DELUX edition to play and now I can't even enjoy that. Huzzah 80Let's talk about the fact that the game itself is pretty fun. However there are a pile of bugs. I'd like to give it a awesome score and say; hey 'this was amazing. But you know I can't do that BECAUSE I CAN'T LOG INTO THE GAME. If I can't play the game; I can't rate it. I had 2 hours last night after I bought the DELUX edition to play and now I can't even enjoy that. Huzzah 80 buckeroos for something I can't use.… Expand
  68. hikahi
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Can't log in to US servers, they're all busy or full.
    Log in to european servers, can't create a city.
    Attempt to replay tutorial: Can't create this city at this time!

    I should know better than to buy games with DRM like this.
  69. Mark0s
    Mar 6, 2013
    3
    Just signed up here especially to give a comment on this epic and ridicules game. Im not giving a comment on the DMR always online mode, its a wrong choice to make EA, but they have made this choice, nothing to do about it anymore. Played the beta and beta 2, immediately gave some valuable gameplay feedback.
    As an urban planner for me personally the map size DOES matter, the tiny size    Just signed up here especially to give a comment on this epic and ridicules game. Im not giving a comment on the DMR always online mode, its a wrong choice to make EA, but they have made this choice, nothing to do about it anymore. Played the beta and beta 2, immediately gave some valuable gameplay feedback.
    As an urban planner for me personally the map size DOES matter, the tiny size does not compete with a realistic or sensible way of how a city works. Creativity is bounded due to this 2 by 2km square area. As well as the empty space between buildings, there is no feature that is able to completely fillup the empty space between the buildings. In the urban world this could be a key element to provide inhabitants more useable space, Simcity terms: “happiness”.

    Please EA, improve...    … Expand
  70. guardian41
    Mar 6, 2013
    3
    My gaming rig is top notch the problem with crashes is at the server. This is a poor choice if you dont' have perfect Internet all the time. The detail is awesome as are the missions, but the overall limitations are annoying. If I could, I'd return this game!
  71. Zolimox
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Always on DRM. Can't play unless its at EA's whims. City sizes 1/10th of prior games. No save games (wtf?). Yah thank you, EA, refund time. I dont know why i broke my "never another EA game" vow but i did. Disgusting.
  72. HateInternet
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    EA lost my business because I only use the internet at work. I do not have Internet access at home. I will never play a strictly online game. I think that to go strictly online is a complete waste of money and time. I will stick with Sim City 4 where I can do what I want and have the big striving metropolitan cities and not online games.
  73. Moodler
    Mar 18, 2013
    3
    Updated review after servers were fixed and I've been playing it a while:

    1) Cities are too small. No bigger than my real-life suburb!
    2) Sims are not very smart.
    3) Still can't play offline because of stupid DRM.
  74. temo
    Mar 11, 2013
    3
    Server, DRM and Region issues aside, the GlassBox engine simply isn't very good right and can't keep up with extended game play. Casinos, mass transit, garbage/recycling are broken and the path-finding is appallingly bad. If someone with DLC abandons a city then you can't claim it because you haven't paid the extra $20 to use it. This is brutal because now there's a dead city and nothingServer, DRM and Region issues aside, the GlassBox engine simply isn't very good right and can't keep up with extended game play. Casinos, mass transit, garbage/recycling are broken and the path-finding is appallingly bad. If someone with DLC abandons a city then you can't claim it because you haven't paid the extra $20 to use it. This is brutal because now there's a dead city and nothing you can do to fix it (good luck building a great work or commuting). There's so many other little problems with the inherent game play that it's obvious they shipped it before it was ready. Let me repeat these are core game problems and not just flaky servers.

    Now don't even get me started on the servers, drm and regions...What a mess...    … Expand
  75. bogbog
    Mar 12, 2013
    0
    Even if this were the greatest game in the history of creation (which it's not), it still wouldn't make sense to cripple the user experience by forcing them to always be online to play. That's pure garbage. Buy this game and you support publishers letting you play the game YOU purchased at THEIR discretion. Don't buy this game.
  76. Kagd
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    NEVER SUPPORT ONLINE DRM FOR SINGLE PLAYER GAMES. Period.
    I cant enjoy this single player game because it forces me to be online. Worse then that EA's servers are broken.

    As for gameplay; the city limits are a complete disgrace. You end up with patches of heavy developed squares surrounded by empty grass. Just trash.
  77. Ekras
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    What a waste of money. First off the cities are tiny (making you constantly have to re-start and build over from scratch), the AI it horrible, and the interface is lackluster at best. Than you have the perma-DRM which totally wrecks the game- if your connection hiccups you can't save so you have to restart from the last save when you had internet access. The game crashes frequently tooWhat a waste of money. First off the cities are tiny (making you constantly have to re-start and build over from scratch), the AI it horrible, and the interface is lackluster at best. Than you have the perma-DRM which totally wrecks the game- if your connection hiccups you can't save so you have to restart from the last save when you had internet access. The game crashes frequently too which makes this even more frustrating. I'm giving this a "1" just for the Sim City name outside of the little bit of nostalgia this brings back to Maxis' pre-EA classic there is nothing of value in this game.… Expand
  78. MikeDubC
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I did not want to do a review based on DRM.....but I was left no choice. I love the game, I would give it a 9 out of 10, if the DRM was better. Even when I do get into servers, sometimes the server will crash, and I will lose an hour of progress. This really makes the game unplayable. I would prefer no online play rather than this.

    Its really a shame EA has done this, probably my last    I did not want to do a review based on DRM.....but I was left no choice. I love the game, I would give it a 9 out of 10, if the DRM was better. Even when I do get into servers, sometimes the server will crash, and I will lose an hour of progress. This really makes the game unplayable. I would prefer no online play rather than this.

    Its really a shame EA has done this, probably my last purchase from them.    … Expand
  79. DSPxx
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    Always ON internet connection No buy

    BEWARE: Forced online DRM, will you be playing this 10 years down the track like previous Sim Cities? No, you wont. Played this game for 6 hours. DO NOT BUY IT. I got disconnected from the server 3 times...you cannot save your own game! So there is no more let me test and reload if it doesn't work. I started over at least 10 times while getting used    Always ON internet connection No buy

    BEWARE: Forced online DRM, will you be playing this 10 years down the track like previous Sim Cities? No, you wont. Played this game for 6 hours. DO NOT BUY IT. I got disconnected from the server 3 times...you cannot save your own game! So there is no more let me test and reload if it doesn't work. I started over at least 10 times while getting used to some of the features.    … Expand
  80. copper7op
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    I literally signed up just to write a review. The game honestly looks excellent. But I wouldn't know, because I can't play it. 24 hours after purchasing the game (in store) I have yet to be able to login to these servers. And while a DRM-Free version of the game would probably get a 9/10 from me there are legitimate game issues, like small maps) I can't give a positive review to a game II literally signed up just to write a review. The game honestly looks excellent. But I wouldn't know, because I can't play it. 24 hours after purchasing the game (in store) I have yet to be able to login to these servers. And while a DRM-Free version of the game would probably get a 9/10 from me there are legitimate game issues, like small maps) I can't give a positive review to a game I can't play. They've taken my money, and now told me "wait up to a week for the servers to stabilize".

    Sorry Maxis, EA has ruined your game     … Expand
  81. sburtonhome
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    What a waste of money! I'm was a HUGE fan of the franchise no longer. Glaring flaws like a miniscule 2x2 map, always online play, and no local save games make this unbearable. On top of that and after waiting years for this release, I have to wait 15 minutes in line to play single player!?!
  82. subpop
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    First off, kudos to the developers, I'm sure it's a great game...but you're only getting a 1, and here's why.

    As a consumer, you deserve the above user score. When you announced SimCity, you suspected people wouldn't even notice that you'd have always be online in order to enjoy your game...you lied, and now we, the consumer, are eagerly waiting in digital "lineups" to play the game we    First off, kudos to the developers, I'm sure it's a great game...but you're only getting a 1, and here's why.

    As a consumer, you deserve the above user score. When you announced SimCity, you suspected people wouldn't even notice that you'd have always be online in order to enjoy your game...you lied, and now we, the consumer, are eagerly waiting in digital "lineups" to play the game we purchased, and expected to enjoy on launch day, and now you're getting what you deserve, that terrible user score on the dreaded Metacritic.

    You deserved this, EA. You should have listened, but you didn't. You need to listen closely to the customers suggestions. This game won't do as well as it should have, unfortunately, but that's because of the mistakes you COULD have prevented, again, by listening to US, the consumer.

    Always online DRM doesn't work for a core single player game, so DROP IT.

    I do not plan on purchasing this game at any point, or even plan to recommend it to my friends/online friends, or even the anonymous internet lurker. My involvement with Origin will be non-existant, especially when all of my friends are on Steam. Origin has nothing to offer to me, or my friends. Consider releasing your products on Steam or GreenManGaming, and we might be able to work something out, but for now, you're not getting any of my money.

    Cheers, and enjoy the color red.    … Expand
  83. Lsslave
    Mar 6, 2013
    1
    Always online, too small of city space, some good ideas ruined by terrible design choices that should never have been approved. Much like Diablo 3 and its terrible design choices, Sim City has proven it is no longer capable of being the number one city management game. Goodbye Sim City, you used to be cool.
  84. Scritty
    Mar 13, 2013
    0
    The main point isn't even the DRM. It's the fact that the logic of the game in so many areas JUST DOESN'T WORK. Simoleons are lost, weird limits placed on buying energy or shipping waste or whatever, shops restocking with no need of industry (and no other players and at ZERO cost to your "mini city" People leaving work from home" A" and returning to a completely different house.. HomeThe main point isn't even the DRM. It's the fact that the logic of the game in so many areas JUST DOESN'T WORK. Simoleons are lost, weird limits placed on buying energy or shipping waste or whatever, shops restocking with no need of industry (and no other players and at ZERO cost to your "mini city" People leaving work from home" A" and returning to a completely different house.. Home "B" and then repeating this randomly every day, pathfinding for traffic terrible. Waste not clearing, cash limits "sticking". The logic of the game is just plain BROKEN all over the place. The list could go on and on and on. For the first 90 minutes you are thinking
    "This is a good game. Looks good, if the servers OK I'm going to enjoy this"... Then WHAM the logic somewhere trips you up and often it's a game ending error. Nothing to do with servers or online logic issues these are pure and simple game logic errors and LOTS OF THEM. As for online multiplay. Sharing a zone is a nightmare without some sort of "mind control" over your fellow players.
    Everyone has to build at the same rate for this to work. and display co-ordination and co-operatiion over the long term consistent communication and really playing "one way" that would need to be pre decided before the game begins. It almost requires separate coms software and tracking to get this to work even then, if a player stops playing, wants to experiment, or comes across a problem and doesn't communicate quickly your own "city" (tiny village) is most likely on a downward spiral to collapse as a result. And this happens...every game.

    Rely on someone to provide your power? Well make sure he or she is playing and expanding at about the same rate and at the same time as you or BAM it goes out of the window. Same with waste same with EVERYTHING. You need almost superhuman co-ordination to get a 15 player map to any decent level using multiplayer. It's darn hard with 3!

    Then you realize why goods appear from no-where at zero cost. Maxis knew the game logic was bust and hid 1/3rd of the issue by making these phantom products for "C" districts to sell. But didn't apply the same "bodge" fixes to "I" or "R" (perhaps becasue that would have let the cat out of the bag too early as far as botched game mechanics go)

    For me the idea of global market multiplayer seems quite atractive. I would go online for that for sure. It WOULD bring a new facet to the game. I would hope it was optional. But that is academic. It doesn't work and it's not just a "little bit" broke go deep enough into any facet of the game and it will unravel into a mess of faulty logic and counter intuitive reactions from your Sims. My two pence worth is Maxis "shoe horned" multiplayer functionality in sometime mid 2012 to justify always online DRM. And botched the logic..BADLY. I'd like to say probably at the request of EA but I have no idea whether that would be true or not.

    The sad thing is all of this worked (and still does) with Sim City 4. A ten year old game that works almost flawlessly to this day and is what I'm playing on my other monitor as I type this.    … Expand
  85. Redfordsto
    Mar 19, 2013
    0
    I promised myself, the only time I would ever give a game a "0" would be if I bought the game, put it in or booted it up, and it didn't play. That's exactly what happened. I was foolish enough to buy the digital download version. This prompted a mass email telling me I would not receive a refund that I had yet to ask for because I was still troubleshooting.
  86. Winkee
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    BEWARE: Forced online DRM, will you be playing this 10 years down the track like previous Sim Cities? No, you wont. And they want this, so you buy the next one. Servers go down? Well screw you, EA already has your money. DLC available from release, server side save-games. I repeat, FORCED ONLINE DRM Also, server queues at launch. Thanks for destroying video gaming and my most treasured franchise.
  87. StarlessBB
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    The DRM is inexcusable.
    The fact that this is a goddamn $80 game that's next to unplayable is inexcusable.
    The fact that this is an extremely incomplete $80 game with tons of already finished DLC on the way is inexcusable.

    This is the single worst game EA has made since Spore. Spore.
  88. 718bc
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    Do not buy this game, so not support corrupt businesses. EA continues to harm their paying customers in every way possible. Do not let them see a single penny.
  89. JaguarXJ6
    Mar 18, 2013
    0
    When it works, it's hugely entertaining as you would expect from SimCity and Maxis after a decade. However, they really created a disaster of Maxis proportions and like this server-controlled debacle, there is no reloading the launch or a wave of bad design decisions. I expect a game not to blow up in my face after 30 hours of progress. Forget being online or offline for a moment, toWhen it works, it's hugely entertaining as you would expect from SimCity and Maxis after a decade. However, they really created a disaster of Maxis proportions and like this server-controlled debacle, there is no reloading the launch or a wave of bad design decisions. I expect a game not to blow up in my face after 30 hours of progress. Forget being online or offline for a moment, to have your efforts wiped clean because of a server sync issue and no backup save is extremely amateur. The "Unable to load city. Please try again." error that corrupts your whole region, or one city if you are lucky, has not been acknowledged or fixed. One would argue that region functionality is core to the designers vision, that is definitely true. But it's created a frustrating, unstable gaming experience for which a free game is hardly compensation. They need to rethink their refund policy particularly for those who pre-ordered, as I did, and expected a working game regardless of how it synchronized or required online play. I really want to rate this game what it deserves, but even something as basic as saving your progress isn't completely functional and it's deserving of the lowest rating possible. My bank is reversing the charge with one final step in the investigation. If there is a litany of bug fixes and arse kissing, there might be hope of buying it in the coming months.… Expand
  90. moremodestthanu
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Need to cancel out all of the 9&10's. THIS GAME IS A TRAVESTY! Pros: Graphics Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE! Enough yelling, sorry, but I am really disappointing by this game and the ongoing trend of releasing "sequels" with less options and features. Sim City 4 is better in every way other than graphics. Are they serious with how small these "cities" are?

    ... and then you get to the always on    Need to cancel out all of the 9&10's. THIS GAME IS A TRAVESTY! Pros: Graphics Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE! Enough yelling, sorry, but I am really disappointing by this game and the ongoing trend of releasing "sequels" with less options and features. Sim City 4 is better in every way other than graphics. Are they serious with how small these "cities" are?

    ... and then you get to the always on DRM Day 1 DLC atrocities. You know people are going to want to play the game on day 1, why you suck so much, EA? Aren't you making enough money ruining all of the other franchises? I just want to pull my hair out.    … Expand
  91. MooseQuest
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    A wonderful game that is ruined by it's implementation. SimCity is a beautiful and unique game to play. You'll find yourself indulged for hours. However, the infrastructure that backs this game is susceptible to high-volumes.
    Digitally the game is setup to play online always. The problem is that, server availability, stability and performance now affect every aspect of the game. So far my    A wonderful game that is ruined by it's implementation. SimCity is a beautiful and unique game to play. You'll find yourself indulged for hours. However, the infrastructure that backs this game is susceptible to high-volumes.
    Digitally the game is setup to play online always. The problem is that, server availability, stability and performance now affect every aspect of the game. So far my experience has gone from good to extremely unhappy. This is a very poor implementation of game, and I feel this release is ruined and not worth playing at all.    … Expand
  92. BarryBudgie
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    I give this game a Zero I stupidly Pre ordered and paid in Advance 24 hours after release I have not been able to log onto to play what used to be a great Single Player Game

    EA Destroying Sim City RIP a worst release than diablo III Congratulations.
  93. d0dger
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    Why zero for a rating you might wonder? Well, you cannot possibly rate a game any higher when it does not even allow you access to play. I would seek a refund but at the moment, it won't even allow me to log into Origin to set that into motion.

    Lesson learnt, EA. Will henceforth avoid games that require an always on DRM component.
  94. Hatchetman
    Mar 14, 2013
    0
    This game is broken in ways we have only begun to comprehend

    To say that EA has not been forthcoming about the limitations of the game would be a gross understatement. I've owned the game for over a week now, but due to the fact that you have to be able to connect to the EA servers to play even a single player game, I have been unable to play the game for at least half the time I have    This game is broken in ways we have only begun to comprehend

    To say that EA has not been forthcoming about the limitations of the game would be a gross understatement. I've owned the game for over a week now, but due to the fact that you have to be able to connect to the EA servers to play even a single player game, I have been unable to play the game for at least half the time I have possessed it. Even on the days that it has been working, I'm often unable to start new cities or save the existing one because I will get disconnected while playing the game. It's also not uncommon to have to sit in a queue for up to two hours to connect to one of the servers. As your cities are not shared between servers, you're stuck if you want to continue a particular city.

    As there is no ability to manually save your city, you are completely at the mercy of the network connection to EA in order to save your game, and you can't control when it saves. It's not uncommon for a city to simply be annihilated by disasters with no real ability to recover.

    You also cannot terraform land as you could in Simcity 4, Simcity 3000, and even Simcity 2000. This means that your stuck with whatever land mass that they give you to work with, and not even a map generator, only premade regions.

    The map size is limited to 2km x 2km which is quite small, likely smaller than Simcity 4's medium size, which is far too small for the scope of this game. The AI is broken such that you cannot get the city much over 200,000 people without the entire city falling apart due to the poor traffic AI that apparently uses Shortest Path First routing which causes total gridlock. The AI's ability to poorly coordinate your emergency services cannot be understated, it's nearly impossible to put out more than one fire at a time for example. It's not even worth building more than one fire department.

    In short, EA appears to have stolen $65 from me, and many thousands of other individuals who are equally displeased with the situation. They have broken one of the most successful game franchises, typically the best examples of the simulation genre, and show no remorse, and no sign that they really have any intention of fixing it.    … Expand
  95. mporada1025
    Mar 7, 2013
    0
    Nothing to say that everyone else didn't say. WASTE OF MONEY! $80 for nothing. DON'T buy this. Even when I do get an occasional hour to play, the space is so unbelievably small that's all it takes to fill it.
  96. Isochronous44
    Mar 11, 2013
    2
    Have revised my score upwards slightly, as EA has now actually allowed me to play the game rather than the loading screen for the first time. It was a lot of fun. A lot. This would be a fantastic single-player game. But then I lost connection, and couldn't log back on. That was not fun. Then EA allowed me to play again several hours later, and I found I had lost hours of progress. That wasHave revised my score upwards slightly, as EA has now actually allowed me to play the game rather than the loading screen for the first time. It was a lot of fun. A lot. This would be a fantastic single-player game. But then I lost connection, and couldn't log back on. That was not fun. Then EA allowed me to play again several hours later, and I found I had lost hours of progress. That was even less fun. Why is there no "Save" option? Never before have I played a game with that gave me such enjoyment before letting me down so badly. If it was an MMO it wouldn't feel so bad. But it's a single player game, and it doesn't NEED to be server-dependent. It really feels like EA is playing some cruel game here with one of my favorite game series of all times. They set it up this way deliberately, knowing that this would happen.… Expand
  97. Hapa
    Mar 11, 2013
    2
    The DRM in an effort to make money by stopping piracy killed the game and lost them millions. I will never buy a game with DRM again. The gameplay seems meh but I only could play for a small amount of time since the DRM stops me from playing all together. Don't buy this until they remove the DRM!!!
  98. gemini420
    Mar 17, 2013
    0
    SimCity has potential, but falls very short of achieving its potential (very short of achieving.)

    If you feel like wasting hours fudging around with traffic jams and broken game dynamics, being kicked out of the single player city you have been creating for hours and then have to start it all over again, then you may be interested ... I feel ashamed for buying this game. D'oh,    SimCity has potential, but falls very short of achieving its potential (very short of achieving.)

    If you feel like wasting hours fudging around with traffic jams and broken game dynamics, being kicked out of the single player city you have been creating for hours and then have to start it all over again, then you may be interested ...

    I feel ashamed for buying this game. D'oh, Electronic Arts! I should have known better     … Expand
  99. DareJedi
    Mar 18, 2013
    0
    EA does not need always DRM cause they killed all special games. Customers do not need to buy EA games. They are game killer. This game isnt SimCity it is SimsCity(Town).
  100. WooFerPPK
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    I've been waiting all day to play this game, however so far ive spent more time waiting to get into the game, and finally when i got into the game, every public region was locked. I managed to build a very small city until the game crashed forcing me to go through all this again. Do not waste your money on this. This always online thing is a terrible idea and does not make sense for a gameI've been waiting all day to play this game, however so far ive spent more time waiting to get into the game, and finally when i got into the game, every public region was locked. I managed to build a very small city until the game crashed forcing me to go through all this again. Do not waste your money on this. This always online thing is a terrible idea and does not make sense for a game that could easily be offline.… Expand
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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]
See all critic reviews »