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. Azorax
    Jun 27, 2013
    7
    To really review this game as it is now, you might think that most of the bad reviews are just because people are biased because of server problems. However I am going to compare this game to its predecessors with reference to its supposed 'cloud processing'.
    - It was fun playing with a friend, this was not due to the supposed multiplayer, but it was fun because we could see each other's    To really review this game as it is now, you might think that most of the bad reviews are just because people are biased because of server problems. However I am going to compare this game to its predecessors with reference to its supposed 'cloud processing'.
    - It was fun playing with a friend, this was not due to the supposed multiplayer, but it was fun because we could see each other's development and we strived to make a sustainable and still a good looking city.
    - Cities feel so so very small when we think about what the older simcities were like. My friend and I both agreed that cities should be bigger as it felt very crowded when we made high rises and large buildings and landmarks.
    - More maps and links. We see these maps are even more of an unnecessary restriction, why are we unable to connect every city and great work via road/railways, this would encourage us to play more in order to get every great work and create more cities since they are connected.
    - Ferries are so useless (imo)
    - I believe that they have attempted to (i forgot the word for it) re-make/re-publish this franchise a bit, however they should definitely remove the oh-so many restrictions this game has. Whether it be offline play, or large cities, or amount of cities on one map. I see simcity as a sandbox where I can create whatever I like and how many I want to make, and if you restrict me in this way, I really can't enjoy it to the fullest. While I do take into account that they may or may not be telling the truth that they require cloud processing and if restrictions were not placed then it might be too much, then they could spend more time seeing if they can utilise multi-core properly.
    - I feel that it was rushed and ruined by EA being their publisher. I feel for maxim.
    - Saying that, I have enjoyed the game for most of the 77+ hours (the is because origin booted me out and didn't save more of my hours) that I've played
    - 7/10 for me. I still put more hours into this game than most, though I don't know if the enjoyment factor was as much. I recommend picking this up if you are/were into simcity when it gets discounted/down to a low price    … Expand
  2. alfdib
    Jun 26, 2013
    2
    I cannot believe SC5 is this game. The cities are ridicoulous little, you'cant expand...there are not underground like in SC4...the traffic is not sustainable due to skycrapers in a little village...water, even close to the sea run out easily and people left city because of no water this is ridicolous, in real life this is never going to happen). If you put a nuclear power station thenI cannot believe SC5 is this game. The cities are ridicoulous little, you'cant expand...there are not underground like in SC4...the traffic is not sustainable due to skycrapers in a little village...water, even close to the sea run out easily and people left city because of no water this is ridicolous, in real life this is never going to happen). If you put a nuclear power station then radioactivity kills everyone in the sorrounding in few months... this is absolutely not real life!!!! Who was the diretor of this game? probably a kid of 4 years old could have done better job.… Expand
  3. Red-Rocket
    Jun 23, 2013
    2
    Ok i really want to enjoy this game, it looks good, i like the mechanics BUT THE ALWAYS ONLINE DRM is not for SimCity. And EA being EA this game will go offline and be unplayable in a few years. Thats not worth it
  4. 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
  5. Oligharch
    Jun 23, 2013
    3
    Wow. Im stating to realize just how delusional the critics are. I honestly doubt they played simcity 4. The maps are disgustingly small.The traffic is ridiculous, but i guess when you cram 300 000 people in 2 fuking squared kilometers, thats what you get. Extremely inadequate public transit systems (trams cause more traffic then they relieve) and busses never reach their destination, theyWow. Im stating to realize just how delusional the critics are. I honestly doubt they played simcity 4. The maps are disgustingly small.The traffic is ridiculous, but i guess when you cram 300 000 people in 2 fuking squared kilometers, thats what you get. Extremely inadequate public transit systems (trams cause more traffic then they relieve) and busses never reach their destination, they just get stuck in traffic. 3 out of 10. I regret buying this game. If EA thinks they can just nickle and dime us to death with stupid expansions that they removed from their origional appalling mistake of a video game, they are trully mistaken.… Expand
  6. oldbrokenlink
    Jun 21, 2013
    0
    i'm giving this game a 0 not because it deserves a zero if they fix it, but because it it currently stands it does deserve a zero.

    where should i begin. well for one thing this is the first game that i've paid $85 for preorder! and i cant begin to say how upset i am with maxis/ea for taking my money and giving me in return a broken unfinished game. that they admit will never be    i'm giving this game a 0 not because it deserves a zero if they fix it, but because it it currently stands it does deserve a zero.

    where should i begin. well for one thing this is the first game that i've paid $85 for preorder!

    and i cant begin to say how upset i am with maxis/ea for taking my money and giving me in return a broken unfinished game.

    that they admit will never be fixed because of their business decisions to have it this way.

    if you love cities builders this is not the game for you. its a game for the mindless masses who want to casually play a game for a short bit and then throw it all away.

    first its all online all the time with no ability to save locally or to play offline

    that may not sound so bad until you begin to run into problems where hours, days or more of gameplay gets rolled back or lost or is just inaccessible.!

    then there is the fact that the cities are tiny and i mean its a pure fiction to call them cities since they are little more than tiny towns.

    and the game play and game logic is more akin and in common with simtown than simcity franchise. its all fixed and fudged from the population to the game logic. there is no rci, things are just event driven to keep you entertained. and that is why traffic is always broken sim have no home or work address and other agents are as mindless and worthless and running around aimlessly. notifications are faked you can have the town covered with police stations and the sims are unhappy because there are not enough police because the game logic says when population hits some arbitrary point require them to build one more police station and it goes on and one and one. just look at the game logic source code that was released and you see how pointless and bad it is.

    worse its pay to win, since all the dlc are meant to give you an advantage over the base game and are not purely cosmetic. yeap they have us buying crest toothpaste to get dlcs to keep our sims happy.

    finally the multiplayer the whole reason they say for all our troubles is broken, unreliable. i mean i dare not share resources because i dont want my firetrucks, police force, ambulances, garbage trucks, students, ect leaving town and never coming back! or worse if anyone in the whole region puts a vu tower all the towns in the reason are constantly overrun by crime! finally its not like you can share resources or send someone money or a gift realtime, it can take hours before they get it. so if you are playing with someone and they need firetrucks what is the point by the time they get them they are offline and no longer need them.

    worse in a couple years when the player count and sales are low and/or when they release a new version guess what like with the sims you have to buy it all over again and you lose access to all your cities! so much for years of effort to build your cities. no local saves and no ability to continue to play the game offline!

    finally, other than new dlcs and fix after fix or cosmetics meant to hide the problems the game is and will always be online only no local save and broken and faked and fudged because it's all ea/maxis business decision to have it this way.

    so there is no point in spending your hard earned money on this game and no point in even playing.

    get simcity 4, cities xl platinum even tropico 4 instead and save your money on this overpriced turd    … Expand
  7. tjgiannhs8es
    Jun 21, 2013
    2
    The game is kinda fun without all the issues with the connection and servers, etc. However, the space you have now is very limited and it is the biggest flaw in the gameplay as you can build a whole metropolis in less than a day. The mechanics are fun, but I cannot compare them to another simcity unfortunately. Also, stupid DLCs and crappy graphics (unless you have a REALLY powerful PC)The game is kinda fun without all the issues with the connection and servers, etc. However, the space you have now is very limited and it is the biggest flaw in the gameplay as you can build a whole metropolis in less than a day. The mechanics are fun, but I cannot compare them to another simcity unfortunately. Also, stupid DLCs and crappy graphics (unless you have a REALLY powerful PC) make it a complete letdown. It definitely is not worth ANY money, even for the hardcore fans as it will frustrate you more than it will amuse you.… Expand
  8. dam1306
    Jun 19, 2013
    0
    This game follow the CYBIECGM ideology ("convert your Brand in easy casual gamer money").
    It is a shame that a such great series, with such a great appeal, is ruined by the developing of social interaction (that no-one wants) instead of real city-building related functionality (Mass Transit! Mass Transit! Mass Transit!).
    I am very, very, very, disappointed.
  9. Jessrond
    Jun 19, 2013
    5
    Before SimCity came out, I was hyped for it. The idea of working with friends (and even strangers) to build a region was something I've wanted to do for a long time. I knew going in that the game would not be quite as detailed as SimCity 4. But at launch, and even a few months later, hardly any of the "online play" features have come to pass.

    You have to sign in to Origin to play, yet    Before SimCity came out, I was hyped for it. The idea of working with friends (and even strangers) to build a region was something I've wanted to do for a long time. I knew going in that the game would not be quite as detailed as SimCity 4. But at launch, and even a few months later, hardly any of the "online play" features have come to pass.

    You have to sign in to Origin to play, yet the region rankings and other leaderboards hardly seem to work at all. Disappointing. The game itself isn't terrible. The missions are enjoyable and the game maintains its sense of humor and excellent music that have been with the series for its entirety.

    But overall, it's just not what I was hoping for, and I still play SimCity 4 more than I play this.    … Expand
  10. Ericius
    Jun 18, 2013
    10
    Great game! If you liked the old sim city games Sim city 5 will be a great pleasure to play. It is very recognizable to the old games. This time though the game dives much deeper into detail and micromanagement. If you like to play fast without much eye for detail the game will work fine but you can dive as deep as you want. Making my first city is was just the beginning. After that youGreat game! If you liked the old sim city games Sim city 5 will be a great pleasure to play. It is very recognizable to the old games. This time though the game dives much deeper into detail and micromanagement. If you like to play fast without much eye for detail the game will work fine but you can dive as deep as you want. Making my first city is was just the beginning. After that you can start your own territory and claim all city area's and with that start this huge metropolis. If you like to play with other users you play an open area and help each other develop parts of the world. I understood that there were major start up problems so I waited until those were fixed. Since I bought it I experienced no bugs, flaws or crashes.… Expand
  11. montreal
    Jun 18, 2013
    0
    This game is a train wreck. I desperately wanted to like it but it seems every time I muster the energy to start again, the servers are down for an update or some other kind of silly reason. I'm not against online DRM when it doesn't prevent me from playing the game. Civilization V is a good example. It works every time. Simcity is just disappointing. And having just one road going into aThis game is a train wreck. I desperately wanted to like it but it seems every time I muster the energy to start again, the servers are down for an update or some other kind of silly reason. I'm not against online DRM when it doesn't prevent me from playing the game. Civilization V is a good example. It works every time. Simcity is just disappointing. And having just one road going into a city is unrealistic and dumb.… Expand
  12. zGeneral
    Jun 16, 2013
    5
    This is not Simcity
    The maps are tooooo small
    very limited road options.

    I am not playing the game until they make larger maps and fix the roads it is a joke.
  13. cn2305
    Jun 12, 2013
    6
    Game appears to be good, but there are a moderate amount of issues with the game. The always-on DRM stops players from getting into the game, even in single player. Secondly there are a number of bugs in the game but there appears to be no way of fixing them, so this game has ton of problems.
  14. svtraptor
    Jun 9, 2013
    10
    Everyone should ignore the low scores this game has solved its online bugs and is great now! I fell in love with it and played 45 hours in the first month. Great DLC continues to come out. I recommend this to anyone who likes simulator games.
  15. LoneDutyer
    Jun 9, 2013
    0
    Always online DRM that can be disabled by deleting one line of code, terrible programming, unplayable at launch, lies and lies and lies, absolutely disgusting example of why EA is the worst thing to ever happen to gaming.
  16. Malorey
    Jun 9, 2013
    1
    Months after this game was released and it is still full of bugs and the only way you can get any enjoyment out of the game is by exploiting and manipulating the bugs in your favour. In the meantime Maxis/EA continue to release DLC for their broken game. A total travesty!
  17. Teewilliger
    Jun 5, 2013
    0
    You can shove your DRM where the sun don't shine EA! Oh yeah, and this game is a dumbed down piece of garbage too! Simcity 1,2,3, and 4 were better than this.
  18. Jakovas
    Jun 3, 2013
    6
    I love SimCity, this is a great game and really sates my desire for well polished sandbox city simulation, however it is a great game with some serious flaws.

    Online: A bit of a pain however I enjoy plenty of games with an always online requirement, my key gripes are; server fragmentation (you cant invite or join friends unless you are on the same server); Cities roll back sometimes    I love SimCity, this is a great game and really sates my desire for well polished sandbox city simulation, however it is a great game with some serious flaws.

    Online: A bit of a pain however I enjoy plenty of games with an always online requirement, my key gripes are; server fragmentation (you cant invite or join friends unless you are on the same server); Cities roll back sometimes costing you much time; cities corrupt still (as of 03/06/2013); and there is no support in place to manage these City Load issues.

    Game Objectives: SimCity is a playground, it is a bit small though and the simulation between Residential, Industrial and Commercial is a little nonsensical, however many a patch has come and gone an Maxis/EA are definitely on the right track. I'd like to see more options without investing in specialization, or at least some changes to help tie the profits and losses from both City management and business management together.

    Creativity: SimCity has rules, which makes sense as it is a game after all, however with the tiny plot sizes and bugs/design decisions around how cities interact and support one another, you will never truly be able to create a Solo region as all cities must be played to supply resources such as power, water etc. due to asynchronous design.

    For those on the fence, I'd say hold off and see what they do to address these issues, you may find they just throw content at the game and nothing really changes regarding the core issues, however if they change some mechanics and give players more options to create the City they want to build, it could be a late success story in terms of a quality.    … Expand
  19. Arco
    Jun 2, 2013
    5
    Sim City is a nice game, however, it's had a rough start. The maps are too small and sometimes it's just not enjoyable to play.
    Servers are unstable sometimes, game crashes.
  20. Father_death
    Jun 1, 2013
    7
    The score needs to be reset... This is kinda total I don't like EA but still this game is good people judged it by the starter not the actual game! people are idiots... this game should have a 8-10!
  21. lolfactor100
    May 29, 2013
    1
    SimCity is a very boring game that requires many monotonous hours before you get any good at it. I personally didn't enjoy playing it at all and will probably never play it again. I'm lucky that I didn't have to waste $60 on this sad excuse for a game.
  22. nikhilsamkumar
    May 29, 2013
    2
    SimCity 5 is the degraded Version of SimCity 4 Never Expected this from Maxis. NO facility for bridges /flyover. Monorail and elevated rail are gone. Area provided for Building the city is too small. No teraforming This game really Sucks.. l repent purchasing-this game. Maxis give me back my money!: CITIES XL is still the best city building game ever built.
  23. Jerrika
    May 26, 2013
    4
    I tried to like this game. I really did. I spent a whole 32 pounds on this and I thought it'd be rude to not play it, so I gave it a go. What I got? A large laggy sack of disappointment. The Game itself has to connect to the Internet or you can't play, so I can barely play it. When you do start, you get an overly long laggy tutorial that has some useless features. And if you playI tried to like this game. I really did. I spent a whole 32 pounds on this and I thought it'd be rude to not play it, so I gave it a go. What I got? A large laggy sack of disappointment. The Game itself has to connect to the Internet or you can't play, so I can barely play it. When you do start, you get an overly long laggy tutorial that has some useless features. And if you play multiplayer, thieves and other can arrive from other players city and mess up yours. Things cost too much coins in game, so you can barely upgrade roads or build well needed things. And Sandbox mode isn't even Sandbox, you have limited money and not everything is unlocked. And the lag... oh I hate it. I am not one to care about graphic, but I had to turn off shading, shadows clouds etc to make it not lag. And then it looked like an Elementary School Drawing. Give this a miss. But the only good thing is that if your city sucks, natural disasters occur. So hey, you don't fell bad.… Expand
  24. DaveS
    May 24, 2013
    1
    The requirement for online play is not only annoying, it doesn't work. The fact that it exists ONLY as a way to enforce DRM is evident in that they didn't even bother to create a way to find servers with available plots.

    On to the game. Graphics are well done. The fact that there really is no proper connection to the RCI demand from teach category (e.g. the nonsense of having all    The requirement for online play is not only annoying, it doesn't work. The fact that it exists ONLY as a way to enforce DRM is evident in that they didn't even bother to create a way to find servers with available plots.

    On to the game. Graphics are well done. The fact that there really is no proper connection to the RCI demand from teach category (e.g. the nonsense of having all residential cities) is just bad mechanics. Traffic is still horrible, and impossible to manage. Linking the density to the rods is also poorly done, since you cannot choose to have roads that eliminate traffic, without also allowing more density, thus increasing traffic.

    You can't build a decent size city unless it is building consumer electronics because there is no way to generate enough money otherwise. This becomes a boring thing you have to do in one city in the region generating money, to have any chance of building up other cities for fun.

    Cities are absolutely too small. There is no way to create real city. You are making little towns that (sort of) interact, when tho online thing decides to work.

    Traffic is still out of control, even after a couple of patch attempts. Basic problem is that vehicles STILL don't make a decision based on the highest-capacity, lowest traffic route. Poor path finding. is inexcusable because they had to KNOW how important it was for SimCity4.

    Eventually traffic just chokes everything. I didn't sign up for SimTraffic-jam.. Real Life provides that one just fine.

    I keep trying to play it after each patch, and I keep being frustrated, disappointed and saddened. I really wanted to like this game.    … Expand
  25. coochnader
    May 21, 2013
    0
    Horrible waste of time and money.
    Oversimplified and yet tedious to do anything with the user interface.
    As others have said, cannot play offline. While this is crap, the game itself is a much bigger disappointment. They have severely limited the type of buildings. About 30 minutes of tedious game play and then you'll be asking "That's it?" Go buy Sim City 4 and you'll be much    Horrible waste of time and money.
    Oversimplified and yet tedious to do anything with the user interface.
    As others have said, cannot play offline. While this is crap, the game itself is a much bigger disappointment. They have severely limited the type of buildings. About 30 minutes of tedious game play and then you'll be asking "That's it?"

    Go buy Sim City 4 and you'll be much happier. At a loss of words for whoever was in charge of product direction on this 5th sim city.    … Expand
  26. MaxGayLord
    May 16, 2013
    5
    Look, I'm not saying it's a bad game, but it's a bad game. SimCity had potential to be a great game, but Maxis and EA flubbed up with the DRM and the many under the hood mechanics.
  27. shoti66
    May 15, 2013
    0
    What a catastrophe. EA has destroyed yet another game. I have been playing Simcity since the first in the franchise. I bought all of them over the years and still play SC4. I love SC4 for the mods that all the fans have developed. No more of that stuff for this latest iteration of the game I'm afraid. No! Now they'll make you purchase any extra content after you've paid full price for aWhat a catastrophe. EA has destroyed yet another game. I have been playing Simcity since the first in the franchise. I bought all of them over the years and still play SC4. I love SC4 for the mods that all the fans have developed. No more of that stuff for this latest iteration of the game I'm afraid. No! Now they'll make you purchase any extra content after you've paid full price for a broken game. This is a huge scam and someone should take legal action.

    Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to buy the latest offering from EA. Luckily I had read the reviews before I went to purchase so I knew how badly EA had stuffed this up. I mean come on, SC was NEVER a multiplayer game. The people that play SC don't want to interact with other players. They play so they can be God and build their own cities without relying on someone else to supply the essentials.

    And what's with this always on DRM? No. Just No. I will not but a game that is dependent on servers to function If I pay upwards of $80 for a game I want to be able to play it whenever wherever and for as many years as I like just as I do with SC4 which is now going on 10+ years.

    The contempt that I have towards EA for ruining this fantastic game is monumental. I have sworn to NEVER EVER buy another EA game just on principle. I hope they sink in a quagmire of their own making. When they go bust I'll through a party cause it'll mean that they won't be able to ever again ruin another game.

    And the map sizes???? They should have called it Sim Suburb. EA couldn't have done any worse if they'd tried.    … Expand
  28. PCgamer68
    May 14, 2013
    1
    I won't buy a single player game that requires always online connection. I wanted to buy diablo 3 but never did for the same reason. People that bought the game and are complaining about the always online connection....why? I really wanted to give blizzard (diablo 3) some money, heck, I would have given them a $100 for a single player game that didn't require an always online connection. II won't buy a single player game that requires always online connection. I wanted to buy diablo 3 but never did for the same reason. People that bought the game and are complaining about the always online connection....why? I really wanted to give blizzard (diablo 3) some money, heck, I would have given them a $100 for a single player game that didn't require an always online connection. I loved diablo 2. EA is doing other stuff (origin) that has made not buy their games despite me wanting to. This might not be fair but I give this a game a big ZERO because of this. EA/Blizzard etc must think everyone is weak minded and will accept stupid requirements because of past games success. Then again, looks like they are still making a lot of cash off these games anyway.… Expand
  29. adbksdb
    May 14, 2013
    3
    Foreword: this review does NOT take into account DRM, server problems or comparison with older titles of the series.

    For me, city simulators have always been about building immense megalopolis that fulfill my dreams AND are realistic, sometimes recreating real-life cities. This is completely impossible in this SimCity, because of the ridiculously small map size, the pre-made regions    Foreword: this review does NOT take into account DRM, server problems or comparison with older titles of the series.

    For me, city simulators have always been about building immense megalopolis that fulfill my dreams AND are realistic, sometimes recreating real-life cities.
    This is completely impossible in this SimCity, because of the ridiculously small map size, the pre-made regions with fixed city placement (with empty landscape in between) and fixed intercity transport network, and the lack of realistic skyscrapers and such (you can't have realistically sized skyscrapers otherwise they would pretty much look oversized on the tiny map).
    I reckon that most players are not interested in creating realistic cities but they just want to have fun with the simulation. Well this game is really bad in that respect too.
    The agent-based simulation? Great idea, but all in all what I see (and interact with) in the game are the *effects* of the simulation, and it really doesn't matter if it's the single citizens who are simulated, or just the overall city data. Moreover, as everyone knows, the agent-based simulation has been really poorly implemented and it's still full of bugs after 2 months and many patches.
    Even if they completely fixed all the bugs and the sims' idiotic behaviour, the tiny map size would still hamper the depth of the simulation: you can have the most advanced transport pathfinding and traffic simulation in the world, but what does it matter if the longest road in your city is not even 1 mile long?
    The game still shows great promise but unless they *at least* fix all the bugs and add way larger map sizes, it will remain no more than a (very expensive) facebook game.

    And there is one last thing to consider. I have my simcity4 cities on a usb key. If I wanted I could reinstall the game and play with the cities I made 10 years ago. While I highly doubt simcity5 servers will still be online 10 years from now...    … Expand
  30. MrRelyt
    May 13, 2013
    1
    This game is by far the worst Simcity, ever and, I love the Simcity franchise but this is just unacceptable. The Simcity franchise was initially a single player game, but now that this game is only DRM, the game is dependent on server's. EA most have done this to reduce, or entirely prevent pirating of Simcity, but really it will just prevent die-hard fans from ever buying the game.This game is by far the worst Simcity, ever and, I love the Simcity franchise but this is just unacceptable. The Simcity franchise was initially a single player game, but now that this game is only DRM, the game is dependent on server's. EA most have done this to reduce, or entirely prevent pirating of Simcity, but really it will just prevent die-hard fans from ever buying the game. Further more, another terrible problem in my opinion is the city scale, the cities are way, way to small. It allows good players like myself to create an entire city, to the city borders in under 2 hours, which is terrible. Simcity fans want to spend countless hours on one city, without limits. The game is also a dumbed down version of the other Simcities, it is extremely easy. Overall this is a bad game. Recommendation: DO NOT BUY.… Expand
  31. Brosman
    May 13, 2013
    1
    Just goes to show you, trying to actively prevent piracy over giving someone a good game only encourages piracy. Why pay $60 dollars for a DRM bug ridden mess, when hackers have made it to where you can pirate the game for free and not be locked into the DRM.
  32. hewlett
    May 13, 2013
    0
    I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers. I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers. I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA andI can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers. I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers. I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers. I can't play any of my cities. I'm sick of starting of scratch every time I want to play. Screw you EA and screw your stupid goddamn servers.… Expand
  33. Andreakossa
    May 13, 2013
    0
    Always online DRM for a single player game, when servers will be down then you'll be locked out of your single player game, save states being tied to client-side servers, Origin only game, day 0 downloadable content and many DLC's will be released in future at high prices for low gain on your end, with poor customer service, basicly this is a facebook game, being sold as a PC game, avoidAlways online DRM for a single player game, when servers will be down then you'll be locked out of your single player game, save states being tied to client-side servers, Origin only game, day 0 downloadable content and many DLC's will be released in future at high prices for low gain on your end, with poor customer service, basicly this is a facebook game, being sold as a PC game, avoid this game at all cost.… Expand
  34. Addergebroed
    May 12, 2013
    4
    According to origin I have now logged 100 hours of sim city gameplay time. My guess is about 75 hours of these are real gameplay times, due to the server issues upon launch. These have been fixed and I am not taking these into account scoring the game.

    Even though I consider building the city to be solid fun, there are too many bugs and design problems in this game for it to deserve a    According to origin I have now logged 100 hours of sim city gameplay time. My guess is about 75 hours of these are real gameplay times, due to the server issues upon launch. These have been fixed and I am not taking these into account scoring the game.

    Even though I consider building the city to be solid fun, there are too many bugs and design problems in this game for it to deserve a sufficient grade.

    An example; and keep in mind we are now at patch "3.0" and yet I still keep running into game-breaking bugs. After spending 5 hours designing your town to the best of your abilities and judging it is the appropriate time to educate your sims it is extremely frustrating to see your students being picked up by schoolbuses from neighbouring towns, never to be returned again.

    Another example; after giving up on educating your town and switching to tourism industry it is extremely frustrating to have 10.000 tourists enter your town by train, only to have them all leaving by taxi. Even though sim cities traffic issues have been mitigated somewhat, this still leads to a city breaking traffic jam.

    I could name several more examples I have personally encountered, but instead I would like to refer any interested buyers to the official simcity forums and its bug list; http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9469448.page Notice that the ratio of game breaking bugs to merely inconvenient bugs is about 1/3.

    My judgment could be summarized as;
    The gameplay has a lot of potential. However the amount of bugs and several suboptimal design choices have culminated in a product unworthy of anyones investment at this time. The game feels somewhat "unfinished" to me. A feeling backed by the amount of patches issued in the past two month.    … Expand
  35. blogfirstlast
    May 11, 2013
    3
    I wondered I wondered why all of you hated this game! This was until it crashed every time I did anything. Since I have a great computer I looked up this just to see that more than 600 people have complained about this on various websites. Now I can't play it and I wasted 60 dollars. Other than that this game is decent.
  36. hsram
    May 11, 2013
    1
    A prime example as to why DRM will not work as the game is still getting pirated and causing nothing but problems for the legitimate consumer but I digress. If you want to play with anyone that isn't a friend of yours, forget it. The multiplayer aspect looks like it was thrown together in about 10 minutes. You can't filter anything and the list is just thrown together. Every game you tryA prime example as to why DRM will not work as the game is still getting pirated and causing nothing but problems for the legitimate consumer but I digress. If you want to play with anyone that isn't a friend of yours, forget it. The multiplayer aspect looks like it was thrown together in about 10 minutes. You can't filter anything and the list is just thrown together. Every game you try to join to play with others, it's full or has abandoned cities which has to wait a certain time period before it disappears completely. Graphics are not optimized in the least and with 3 major updates now it still doesn't express concern with major issues like the multiplayer aspect.

    This game is fantastic if you like small maps and playing by yourself (only if EA's DRM allows it). A disgrace to the SimCity series, shame on you EA Maxis.    … Expand
  37. madattak9
    May 10, 2013
    10
    IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO IGNORE THE RED REVIEWS! There are some very valid reasons why:
    1)Alot of the are old from when there were server issues. I have played for 30+ hours and had NO server issues. It work beautifully, and takes some of the calculation load off your machine.
    2)'This version has less X!' The only items this version is lacking are subways, every other building and system    IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO IGNORE THE RED REVIEWS! There are some very valid reasons why:
    1)Alot of the are old from when there were server issues. I have played for 30+ hours and had NO server issues. It work beautifully, and takes some of the calculation load off your machine.
    2)'This version has less X!' The only items this version is lacking are subways, every other building and system has been immensely improved. Alot of the complaints here come from the Nostalgia effect where old things seem better, and simple hatred of EA: People WANT it to be bad so they can hate.
    3)'Omg 0nl1ne mult1player suxs!' No it doesn't. Its nice to have some friends to work with for once, and you all have internet connections. Its not a problem. Really.
    4)This game is brilliant. Its easy to pick up and play. Its easier to get information about your city. It has the most advanced simulation of any city sim game ever made. And the ability to use micromanagement thanks to the new 'ploppable' item system really adds to the game.

    TL;DR: This games problems are GREATLY exaggerated. After playing I can only conclude that people either reviewed before the servers were fixed, are too deep into nostalgia to like anything knew, or hate EA so much they would dislike this game no matter what.    … Expand
  38. Ghostmarauder
    May 8, 2013
    0
    most successful scam in gaming history. there is not a single redeeming quality to this piece of trash. it is an insult to the franchise for which it is named. the ea team has consistently and unfailingly lied to the playerbase time and time again. do not buy this game.
  39. PlayerGuy
    May 8, 2013
    0
    Its a good and fun game, but people will want it with singleplayer one, on my 16 years of gaming, this is the most crap game because of the forced online, SERIOSLY EA, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING WITH THIS? MAKING THE GAME'S SINGLEPLAYER A DLC?
    Its a singleplayer game but forced online? Hell no.
    Waste of money. the premium edition is even 80 bucks, this is the real waste of money.
  40. HaloFreak78
    May 8, 2013
    7
    Now, while the game-breaking bugs and server crashes are fairly annoying, the gameplay itself is fun and nicely balanced. The data maps are cool, the simulation flows nicely, and the graphics have the whole model train set feel which I find charming. The bugs are the real let-down though. I feel as though if EA and Maxis took more time to fix out the kinks, this would be the best strategyNow, while the game-breaking bugs and server crashes are fairly annoying, the gameplay itself is fun and nicely balanced. The data maps are cool, the simulation flows nicely, and the graphics have the whole model train set feel which I find charming. The bugs are the real let-down though. I feel as though if EA and Maxis took more time to fix out the kinks, this would be the best strategy game on PC now. The multiplayer is also a huge letdown and a waste of time. If you can handle the bugs and crashes, you will find a gameplay experience both challenging and fun.… Expand
  41. Niixx
    May 7, 2013
    3
    Almost 2 months after release and the game is still very broken. The first 10 or so hours is some of the most fun i've had, however after that the bugs show up and the rest of the time is spent fighting against the game mechanics or bugs (often almost impossible to tell the difference). Traffic is by far the worst and shows that basing the sims (people) off the same AI that runs theAlmost 2 months after release and the game is still very broken. The first 10 or so hours is some of the most fun i've had, however after that the bugs show up and the rest of the time is spent fighting against the game mechanics or bugs (often almost impossible to tell the difference). Traffic is by far the worst and shows that basing the sims (people) off the same AI that runs the sewage was a horrible mistake.

    Maybe with a few more MAJOR updates this game could pass as something more that a Farmville wanabe on Facebook... Great potential but very very poorly executed.    … Expand
  42. yalamander
    May 7, 2013
    3
    great idea horrible game. still played it for 100 hours.
    The game is way to expensive, requires players to be online for nothing, is so full of bugs and problems that playing gets very frustrating quickly. To the gameplay: cities are to small, regions don't act as regions because in big regions only 4 cities can be connected, a $10.000 an hour fire station will not keep fires in control    great idea horrible game. still played it for 100 hours.
    The game is way to expensive, requires players to be online for nothing, is so full of bugs and problems that playing gets very frustrating quickly. To the gameplay: cities are to small, regions don't act as regions because in big regions only 4 cities can be connected, a $10.000 an hour fire station will not keep fires in control after you reach 150k sims in your city and many, and so on and on.
    Problem is the game gets addictive really quickly. You want to do good and that makes you keep trying. If EA could've just released a good thought out and well developed game... *shake my head*    … Expand
  43. hein
    May 7, 2013
    3
    Server problems were fixed and I was able to get on to play finally.......Once in after you've played a bit you notice that game mechanics are not great and they've cut corners. The game in terms of overall gameplay has not been thought out well enough. SimcCity had been a single player game, this time around they made the mistake of putting more emphasis on the Multiplayer aspect. ThisServer problems were fixed and I was able to get on to play finally.......Once in after you've played a bit you notice that game mechanics are not great and they've cut corners. The game in terms of overall gameplay has not been thought out well enough. SimcCity had been a single player game, this time around they made the mistake of putting more emphasis on the Multiplayer aspect. This leads to very small city sizes, you're expected to work with other cities. Of course where you don't want to and want to have the old big city style game play...well you're out of luck. I feel as though because of this always on DRM they've tailored the game around it. Since it has been essentially proven that the servers are not doing any computation...its becoming very clear that the small city sizes and working with others came after it was decided that there was going to be always on drm. This is an epic failure in my opinion and in my opinion just ruins this would be great game.… Expand
  44. BrazilianJoe
    May 6, 2013
    2
    SimCity is supposed to be THE city simulation game. Unfortunately, it has been corrupted by the scourge of EA.

    The only redeeming features are a beautiful environment created by the GlassBox engine and breaking the grid, and for those I give 2 points above 0. This is after the most grievous bugs of the tacked-on 'MMO features' which were preventing the game from actually running have    SimCity is supposed to be THE city simulation game. Unfortunately, it has been corrupted by the scourge of EA.

    The only redeeming features are a beautiful environment created by the GlassBox engine and breaking the grid, and for those I give 2 points above 0. This is after the most grievous bugs of the tacked-on 'MMO features' which were preventing the game from actually running have been resolved.

    It is a huge step back from the features and gameplay of SimCity 4. The simulation is super-shallow and there is zero challenge and the game becomes boring pretty fast, and largely forgettable.

    Stuff which should have been there from day 1 is missing, and we can see already the DLC on the pipeline just to give us what should be there in the first place. The number one on this list are BIGGER CITIES; seriously, each land patch is the size of a neighbourhood.

    The writing is on the wall, it is just a matter of time until it becomes a The Sims-like monstrosity with 10+ DLC that would cost upwards of $500 to have the complete game, plus optionally buying in-game currency.    … Expand
  45. MoltenReviewer
    May 5, 2013
    0
    This game is the definition of selling out. Buying it only supports bad game development. Destroying a game by forcing DRM is something that needs to end.
  46. ElementalChaos
    May 4, 2013
    0
    Rushed, unplayable, buggy garbage topped off with EA's infamous always-online DRM. Please, don't waste your time on this s**t fest and play SimCity 4 instead.
  47. faceless-1
    May 4, 2013
    0
    Well another butchered Legend. This is by far the worst instalment of Sim City. DRM is BS, Cities are too small and everything is dumbed down. On the other hand Congratulations EA on your secund Worst Company in America.
  48. Annoymous1
    May 3, 2013
    5
    It is shocking to see such a good series become terrible within 2 hours of playing it. Seriously, EA forces you to use internet in this game, despite great internet, it repeatedly says 'NO INTERNET' and then after at least a few seconds it crashes. The only good things were the graphics and the rioting but it still doesn't develop realistic characteristics
  49. DoctorMedic
    May 3, 2013
    8
    I do not get what's with all the hate over this game. Sure, always-online DRM is a bummer, but it's actually pretty good once you get past that. EA may have bad practices, but they aren't worse than New Jersey. Come on.
  50. LHR_Redemption
    May 2, 2013
    6
    Well without going into the launch woes which were so bad that you could not even play the game lets delve into what is on offer with this Sim City.

    The game to me is alright, when all the systems are working it can be an enjoyable experience seeing your city start as a small town and grow to a bustling city. The one downside is that the areas that you build in are really not that big    Well without going into the launch woes which were so bad that you could not even play the game lets delve into what is on offer with this Sim City.

    The game to me is alright, when all the systems are working it can be an enjoyable experience seeing your city start as a small town and grow to a bustling city. The one downside is that the areas that you build in are really not that big so you have to learn to take advantage of the space that your given. My story with cities working together may be different than others but i had a group of friends and we were all in a territory helping each others cities out. For example I had a gambling city and one of my friends would send me power from his city this allowed me more room to build since did not have to worry about a power source.

    Now granted this is not the Sim City of past but it is still an enjoyable experience when everything is working. If you have friends that have picked it up then i would do it as well if you have loved past Sims games because it is definitely more fun with friends.    … Expand
  51. ryuzaki57
    Apr 30, 2013
    7
    General management and planning doesn't change much from older Sim City games. Old timers will be immediately familiar with the various economic and social settings to monitor. Is your population fully employed? Are businesses making enough profit? Can your inhabitants move efficiently within the city? Are they educated? Can the police cope with crime? Le list is pretty long and hours goGeneral management and planning doesn't change much from older Sim City games. Old timers will be immediately familiar with the various economic and social settings to monitor. Is your population fully employed? Are businesses making enough profit? Can your inhabitants move efficiently within the city? Are they educated? Can the police cope with crime? Le list is pretty long and hours go by quickly when taking on the stack of files. The AI is pretty solid despite recurring conflicts between the surface of residential zone (even with the of the map covered in green the game still says it's not enough), unemployment and consumer spending.

    This new Sim City introduces a micro-management system in which each administrative building can be customized with additional elements to boost its efficiency the police station can have more patrol cars, the bus terminal will have to receive more garages, the university can be extended with a business school or an engineer school, etc. This system provides you further leverage to reach prosperity, and keeps you even busier than before.

    But Maxis has more and offer you to choose a specialization to personalize your city. Gambling, Hi-Tech, Tourism, Oil, a nice array of possibilities that add further value. Let's stress that you can choose several of those in the same city feel free to erect the Tokyo Tower next to an exhibition center, while you pump oil not far from there! Those ones are no gimmick the warehouse exports, derricks provide barrels for your oil plant, the stadium welcomes tourists...

    The fourth layer of awesome is that your management actually has an impact on other Sim City players. The game is organized in regions of 4 to 16 cities which are communicating permanently. Goods will come from neighbours if your industry isn't doing enough, students form other cities will come if you have the best university, stations allow tourists to visit. Economic parameters are very detailed there are 3 levels of wealth, 3 levels of quality for merchandises and 3 levels of qualification for workers. If the middle class can't find goods of their liking at home, they'll be shopping elsewhere. If you're few to produce high-quality goods, the rich from everywhere will rush to buy. Positioning yourself within your region is a game in the game.

    Beyond this competitive side, cities can cooperate by sending ambulances, patrol cars or garbage trucks. Player can also sign contracts to provide electricity or water. That's where the whole systems finds its limits. Let's face it, you need every possible asset you have for your city, because there's never enough. Your neighbour isn't always monitoring his power supply, so you can being cut by mistake. To play cooperatively, players need to know each other beforehand.

    I lament that the laderboards and the world market are still to be implemented. The dev. team is still working to stabilize servers. A quick word on that apart from the launch day, I've never had any problem to play.

    The standard size of the city is about one fourth of a small city in Sim City 3000. When I constructed my 2nd city (having drawn a map before), it took me... 3 hours. In Sim City, you must constantly invest to improve the standards of living. But you very quickly reach the point at which you can't have further residential surfaces, which means you cannot your population and your fiscal revenues. And if, like in my first city, you choose the seaside, you're fairly limited... the other issue lies in the expansions you can make to buildings it can necessitate far more surface than you expected at first. If you haven't made room in advance, you have to flatten entire blocks, lose inhabitants and revenues, which makes your budget worsen dramatically. The University fully developed is about the size of 6 residential blocks of high density! You need to make several cities to exhaust the game. I wish I had a big metropolis with everything in it, but sadly it's not an option.

    Sim City is an amazing game, so rich and complex that it seems infinite in theory. But in actual gameplay, it ends up being limited by a clear lack of polish. The dreams of ambitious managers may be crushed by the ridiculous size of the cities.    … Expand
  52. BuldozerX
    Apr 30, 2013
    0
    Horrible game that is completely ruined by always online DRM. EA is treating every honest gamer like a true pirate. Don`t support EA, and don`t buy games like these.
  53. kazannova
    Apr 30, 2013
    10
    i love this game thy made it simple and nice you learn is you play. its kinda sad that after you spend a lot of time building your city you realize at the end that you didnt build the roads in the right way and you need to destroy everything to re-build the roads to increase the dinsaty of the area. but its wayyyy better then the old ones
  54. krikaoli
    Apr 29, 2013
    4
    I play Simcity since the first one. I can say: EA destroyed the series. The map is too little and you have very limited options to build a nice city, among many other problems.
  55. jinx748
    Apr 29, 2013
    3
    I love SimCity but I am less than pleased with this game. I bought this game the day it came out and I was immediately confronted with piles of problems getting the game to work. They gave me a free game to make up for their incompetence but that doesn't make me stop wishing they hadn't dropped the ball. The graphics are polished and they look great! The sims are very unintelligent andI love SimCity but I am less than pleased with this game. I bought this game the day it came out and I was immediately confronted with piles of problems getting the game to work. They gave me a free game to make up for their incompetence but that doesn't make me stop wishing they hadn't dropped the ball. The graphics are polished and they look great! The sims are very unintelligent and there are mountains of bugs. They have been working hard to fix the bugs so I have to give them a little credit there. This game could have been so fantastic but someone got greedy and released it waaaaaay too soon. IMO this game should not have been released for another year to two years. There could be much more content and interaction between players is limited. The intelligence of the sims could be brought to at least a kindergarten level and the playable area for a city could stand to be a little bigger.

    I hope Maxis can pull it out of the hat with an expansion but they are really slow on fixes and updates so I can't see it happening.    … Expand
  56. cazechui
    Apr 29, 2013
    0
    RIP Sim City. After you killed all the fav games I play. EA, now you came across killing Sim City Social. Don't even think about me going to buy your over priced junk for 70 dollars.
  57. krunkert
    Apr 29, 2013
    1
    The internet issues required by this single player game make it unplayable. The fact that this game is dependent on EA's servers (which has a fantastically awful track record) means you can play this game only when EA is up and running. On top of that the city size is crazy small and the sims themselves have the IQ of a fairly large bag of hair. The amount of frustrations this gameThe internet issues required by this single player game make it unplayable. The fact that this game is dependent on EA's servers (which has a fantastically awful track record) means you can play this game only when EA is up and running. On top of that the city size is crazy small and the sims themselves have the IQ of a fairly large bag of hair. The amount of frustrations this game generates is only doubled by the fact that I really loved the last SimCity and was looking forward to this one for months.… Expand
  58. TheFadeForever
    Apr 28, 2013
    6
    DRM prevented me from giving it a more positive review. The gameplay for Sim City has improved I give EA credit for that. However, there poor launch held back the potential of the game not to mention the always online single player ruin the experience due to problems connecting to the server. The new updates for the game just made it even more stale than before thank a lot EA.
  59. CobraCarl
    Apr 28, 2013
    6
    First of all, i have to say that the games is very fun to play.

    BUT i has some problems:
    -Streets are always clogged up, because Sims don't drive around traffic jams.
    -Some of my cities cant be loaded anymore since the last patch.
    -Cities are way to small.

    When maxis is improving on some of the games problems it could be an awesome game.
  60. winter33
    Apr 27, 2013
    6
    I have spent quite a bit of time playing Sim City. For a AAA title the game is not bad but some serious bugs with gameplay. E.G. recycling bug, fire trucks etc. The graphics are nice and it runs pretty smooth. Currently Sim City is average at best.
  61. Kruos_95
    Apr 26, 2013
    1
    Huge disappointment.

    This 'reboot' is a big cut in the licence, the glass engine is joke, this game has no depht. It is just another DLC machine for EA. EA kills another ancestral licence.

    Shame on you EA.
  62. ground4hog
    Apr 26, 2013
    1
    I love strategy games. I love builder games.
    This is the worst implementation of either that I have ever played. It is the worst PC purchase I have ever made. Even if you get passed the online-only, "you cant save your own game" DRM issues, the game mechanics are a complete failure. The 2 kilometer (2k x 2k) map size restriction is unbelievably restrictive even insulting, there is NO    I love strategy games. I love builder games.
    This is the worst implementation of either that I have ever played. It is the worst PC purchase I have ever made. Even if you get passed the online-only, "you cant save your own game" DRM issues, the game mechanics are a complete failure. The 2 kilometer (2k x 2k) map size restriction is unbelievably restrictive even insulting, there is NO relationship between residential/commercial/industrial (no, really none), and the function of the sims/agents/components is so bugged as if to suggest they placed no real effort into planning or executing the code.

    It looks nice. But the game is awful.    … Expand
  63. Klyne
    Apr 25, 2013
    0
    Couldn't play the game for several weeks after launch. The Simulation is extremely simplistic. Bug-laden and apparently just a tool for marketing. Would not recommend you ever touch this.
  64. AzumiRM
    Apr 25, 2013
    2
    Words can not describe my utter disappointment at this game. Being the still proud owner of Sim City 4 that I am, I really looked forward to Sim City with the utmost enthusiasm. Was I ever disappointed.
    I will start with the thing that most have complained about. The Anti-Piracy measures that EA Games decided to attach to this game (Digital Rights Management). I understand that you need    Words can not describe my utter disappointment at this game. Being the still proud owner of Sim City 4 that I am, I really looked forward to Sim City with the utmost enthusiasm. Was I ever disappointed.
    I will start with the thing that most have complained about. The Anti-Piracy measures that EA Games decided to attach to this game (Digital Rights Management). I understand that you need to put a stop to piracy but at the cost of your paying customer base? This was a bad move on behalf of EA and could have been handled so much better.
    Next is the size of the city which you can build. 2Km x 2Km. Most small towns I know of are bigger than this. It makes you feel extremely limited while also feeling that you could be doing so much more. I got the feeling that EA will be releasing paid for content which will increase the map size though.
    I gave this a 2 based on the quality of graphics, 0 was my first option. I found the graphics to be fairly pleasant to look at when you eventually prove that you didn't steal the game and are able to log in. The engine needs some work as it can be a little choppy but overall the visuals are good.
    To sum this up: I hope that EA have learned that there is a limit to what you can use as an anti-piracy measure before it becomes too much for the legitimate customer base to put up with. Presuming that people who downloaded the pirated version of previous games would have paid for a genuine copy is incorrect. Most of them probably wouldn't have so you can't call it a "loss" and then to implement measures which kill your developers game and reputation is just selfish and naive, especially of a large company like EA. Digital Rights Management (DRM) as an anti-piracy measure doesn't work. To top all this, a pirated version was released anyway.    … Expand
  65. akratic
    Apr 24, 2013
    2
    Graphics nice. Rest, bad. This is a facebook-style game. EA made it un-piratable (always DRM). The question to EA is: Does it justifies the low scores and bad reviews, hatred from people who bought the game?
  66. oddible
    Apr 24, 2013
    2
    Patch 2.0 has come out, a patch so huge that they gave it a .0 release number. It resolves many issues with the game but unfortunately BREAKS many others. Unbelievably, they have resolved traffic issues from fire trucks and police cars piling up, but have broken taxis and school busses which now pile up. They broke pollution and now tiny cities with zero industry will see MASSIVEPatch 2.0 has come out, a patch so huge that they gave it a .0 release number. It resolves many issues with the game but unfortunately BREAKS many others. Unbelievably, they have resolved traffic issues from fire trucks and police cars piling up, but have broken taxis and school busses which now pile up. They broke pollution and now tiny cities with zero industry will see MASSIVE pollution rolling across their glass box reducing land value and making your 500 person city unhappy this even on regions with zero other cities. Maxis cannot seem to get it right. After their complete failure with Spore failing to deliver the game that they had presented at all the expos, I really expected them to nail this one, but alas this is a cataclysmic failure that will likely spell the demise of Will Wright's brainchild.… Expand
  67. philoscience
    Apr 23, 2013
    0
    Horrible game, even if you exclude all the ridiculous bugs and DRM-related flaws, the underlying game is itself deeply flawed. Shallow simulation, no clear relation between the needs of your city and the actions you should take to fix them, horribly crippled simulation where look was obviously placed far ahead of depth. Add in the shady as business practices of EA and Maxis, the laughableHorrible game, even if you exclude all the ridiculous bugs and DRM-related flaws, the underlying game is itself deeply flawed. Shallow simulation, no clear relation between the needs of your city and the actions you should take to fix them, horribly crippled simulation where look was obviously placed far ahead of depth. Add in the shady as business practices of EA and Maxis, the laughable patches which make the issues WORSE not better, and the colgate DLC campaign and you've got yourself the most laughable game of the year.… Expand
  68. Revenge
    Apr 23, 2013
    0
    It's interesting how a new game in a series used to mean adding MORE content. While it's quite nice visually, it's missing a huge number of features that were present in other SimCity games. The forced always-online system is frustrating, not everyone always has a stable internet connection. Was very glad when the mod was developed that made it offline by literally changing just a coupleIt's interesting how a new game in a series used to mean adding MORE content. While it's quite nice visually, it's missing a huge number of features that were present in other SimCity games. The forced always-online system is frustrating, not everyone always has a stable internet connection. Was very glad when the mod was developed that made it offline by literally changing just a couple of lines of code. Now they are introducing their MicroTransaction store, on a game the players have ALREADY paid full price for. You can be wildly disconnected from servers as they fluctuate in reliability, and regularly lose progress because of it. No support from EA on any issue you might have aswell. The entire game is just a massive exercise in messing around their player base, making it inconvenient and expensive to just play the darn thing. Returning to previous iterations of SimCity is actually making me enjoy those more, just knowing the trash like this I could have been served masquerading as a game.… Expand
  69. germanogre
    Apr 21, 2013
    4
    Written April 21, 2013. 50 days since launch.

    This game could have been really good. I wouldn't call it great though. EA and Maxis made the classic corporate mistake of thinking they know what people actually want better than the people do. They ran completely in the wrong direction with this version. Benefits: · Fully 3D rendered buildings · Add-ons for buildings allow for limited    Written April 21, 2013. 50 days since launch.

    This game could have been really good. I wouldn't call it great though. EA and Maxis made the classic corporate mistake of thinking they know what people actually want better than the people do. They ran completely in the wrong direction with this version.
    Benefits:
    · Fully 3D rendered buildings
    · Add-ons for buildings allow for limited customization
    · Curved road system looks great
    · Multiplayer option
    · Clean layout of OSD
    · Game runs smoothly 95% of the time
    · "Sandbox Mode" cheat mode built in

    Drawbacks:
    · Always online ruins single player:
    No local saves
    No ability to undo mistakes
    No ability to rollback cities after using disasters
    Limit of 10 regions per server. Not allowed to transfer cities to other servers
    No ability to access cities on one server from another server
    · Building have generic names on buildings (markets named "Food", banks named "Bank")
    Doesn't apply to DLC ad content (Nissan Leaf charging station)
    · Few landmarks included even in limited edition (no doubt saved for DLC)
    · Glassbox engine not nearly as complex as led to believe:
    Poor traffic handling
    Inflated statistics
    Sims go to random jobs, then go to random homes
    · Bugs. Lots of them. Too many to list.
    · Tiny Cities. My small interstate city is 9 times larger than the plots allowed in game, and our tallest
    building is the local courthouse. Skyscrapers in a city 1.2 miles square? Really?
    · One road connection to the rest of the region. One highway exit, connecting hundreds of thousands of
    people to areas outside of their little city. I've seen traffic backups longer than my city is wide.
    Commuters stuck for simulated days.
    · Intercity trade and great works projects suffer extreme lag. Even when all the cities in a region are on
    one player's account.

    I could play SimCity 4 for days, and not get bored. I start falling asleep after 2-3 hours with this one. Instead of sticking with a formula that worked, Maxis and EA decided that limiting our creativity was the right way to go. Curved roads are practically useless on a map that small. Changes to your city are permanent, unless you physically unplug your modem. Many small bugs persist, despite updates.
    I would compare this game to a new car. A brand new car whose engine stutters, radio works intermittently, occasionally won't start, GPS attempts to run you in circles, and is boring to drive. And when you take it back to the dealer, they deny that they sold you a lemon, and try to sell you upgrades.    … Expand
  70. Ageoffan
    Apr 20, 2013
    0
    EA wrecking another title, as always. Drm is beyond retarded and I have no idea why anyone would ever even put something like that into a game that was historically single player. But, EA being EA, expect stupidity from them at EVERY turn.
  71. Kyuui
    Apr 20, 2013
    3
    My Review is based on 275+hours of game play.
    First, the Graphics, are pretty, but even they have issues. Flickering fade out, loss of texture, terrain issues abound.
    The game was hyped on the regional concept and multi player, however, more of that is broken than not. Regions will take overly long to synch, sometimes requiring a full shut down to do so. That doesn't mean all of the    My Review is based on 275+hours of game play.
    First, the Graphics, are pretty, but even they have issues. Flickering fade out, loss of texture, terrain issues abound.

    The game was hyped on the regional concept and multi player, however, more of that is broken than not.
    Regions will take overly long to synch, sometimes requiring a full shut down to do so. That doesn't mean all of the cities will show the same. Second the bugs within the trade system can seriously impact game play (double and triple billing of imports, lost exports) Great works, are problematic, and lack any real impact to the region. In the 16 city "regions" you are still only connected to 4 other cities at max, meaning your really not Massive and not multiplayer due to the synch issues.

    The roll back issue, fade to black issue and failing to process issues, are MASSIVE game breakers and those alone, should stop anyone from considering this since in most cases, its a lost city, and time.

    The agent pathing is so problematic with multiple areas of the game that it would be better suited to to remove it entirely from the game. Combine poor agent pathing, with important systems like water, power, mass transit and you have a game crippling DESIGN element.

    Over all, other than the graphics, the game is shallow, has issues with its base design that effect the game itself adversely to a point that one must question the thinking in using it at all. Never mind the still present server issues of rollback, loss of processing and the new fade to black.    … Expand
  72. lok1999
    Apr 20, 2013
    7
    when I first reviewed this I was disappointed about the fact that I HAD to play online all the time but when I actually started playing this game to give it a proper score I was really surprised about the gameplay it is so good I've never really played SimCity before but have seen other people play it before and they were really good but the fact that u have to play online all the time Iwhen I first reviewed this I was disappointed about the fact that I HAD to play online all the time but when I actually started playing this game to give it a proper score I was really surprised about the gameplay it is so good I've never really played SimCity before but have seen other people play it before and they were really good but the fact that u have to play online all the time I would give it a higher score but I have to stick with a score of 7/10… Expand
  73. SergioEngles86
    Apr 19, 2013
    0
    This game is still broken and the developers are still trying to fix it one month after its release.

    This game is so bad that Amazon.com initially pulled it from their digital store shelves and halted all sales for it. How bad does a game have to be for Amazon.com to yank it from the shelves? Wow! The developers still insist that this games needs ALWAYS ONLINE when proof exists that    This game is still broken and the developers are still trying to fix it one month after its release.

    This game is so bad that Amazon.com initially pulled it from their digital store shelves and halted all sales for it. How bad does a game have to be for Amazon.com to yank it from the shelves? Wow!

    The developers still insist that this games needs ALWAYS ONLINE when proof exists that modders have gotten this game to run offline.

    This game is the single biggest piece of video game fail since E.T. on the ATARI.    … Expand
  74. Noel3679
    Apr 19, 2013
    0
    @SimCity is the worst game of this year(2013). I spent over $60 USD to buy a copy of #SimCity Deluxe Edition, but now I want to a full refund of #SimCity. There're too many bugs, rollbacks, and dumb A.I. @SimCity is a huge in a gift box.
  75. Angeredsoul
    Apr 19, 2013
    2
    I'm going to keep this short and simple. This game fails to work properly, if my city isn't being rolled back for the hundredth time then my highways either stop working or work contrary to how you would expect them to. Also add to the fact that the always online DRM, eventually the servers will be shutdown and this game will never be able to played again. Only benefit was I scored DeadI'm going to keep this short and simple. This game fails to work properly, if my city isn't being rolled back for the hundredth time then my highways either stop working or work contrary to how you would expect them to. Also add to the fact that the always online DRM, eventually the servers will be shutdown and this game will never be able to played again. Only benefit was I scored Dead Space 3 as a consolation prize.… Expand
  76. Kehdar
    Apr 18, 2013
    2
    This game is garbage. I don't even want to talk about how the game requires an internet connection to start. Today it's the third time i start a city just to see it disappear after some errors" or disconnections.
    Waste of money and time.
  77. SeveredWing
    Apr 18, 2013
    3
    If you were upset by the launch of Diablo 3 then Simcity 2013's launch will be familiar territory. A gaming company (named the worst Company in America again) failed to live up to the demand of their customers, which is pretty much the #1 thing a company should concern itself with. In repeated interviews they were asked by the press if they would be ready for the sheer demand on theirIf you were upset by the launch of Diablo 3 then Simcity 2013's launch will be familiar territory. A gaming company (named the worst Company in America again) failed to live up to the demand of their customers, which is pretty much the #1 thing a company should concern itself with. In repeated interviews they were asked by the press if they would be ready for the sheer demand on their servers that an always online title would make and they constantly answered they would be. They of course failed and failed in epic fashion. Whereas Diablo 3 gave you "Error 37" and simply did not let you connect, on launch Simcity teased you by claiming that servers were full and giving you a timer. When said timer ran out it would again fail to connect and again start another timer, usually with an even longer wait. Once the launch issues were corrected it became apparent that the always online function was more of a handicap than it first appeared. You could no longer load a city whenever you wanted, you had to rely on the auto save function to recover your city should the unthinkable happen (such as getting disconnected from the server) and on top of that the cities were not shared across servers and many people had to server hop in the opening weeks of the game just to get connected so their hard work was made moot when the server they were using became full and they had to choose another. Top this off with what amounts to EA's Policy of Customer gouging and you have the makings of an utter failure. It is apparent that EA intends to make users pay for additional content piece meal, bit by bit as they see fit to release it, Things that should be free like cosmetic changes to building styles or vehicles are in the works as paid DLC. There will be no community modding as the game has an always online DRM (even though EA will claim it is not for DRM purposes, they will quickly ban anyone who attempts to circumvent it). The worst offense however is the games lack of completeness. It ran through a Beta build, but it still felt rushed. Numerous problems plague players such as traffic not behaving in a proper fashion, buildings not operating with the intended functions, and AI controlled services such as fire and police, acting erratically in response to situations they are supposed to deal with. Putting this all aside the game is a great revisit to the franchise, but its innovations are its shortcomings as well. The smaller city sizes coupled with the "regional" play handicaps most players. Anyone wishing to play a solo region must now manage multiple cities to ensure that they get all the services and functions required for just one city to work and the region view and city changing view are ridiculously complicated, requiring you to jump back to your own city every time before you can look at someone else's city, You can't just view one neighbor's city and then from that city jump to another neighbor, you have to go back to your own city and then jump to the other neighbor. The game just feels halfhearted and rushed.… Expand
  78. Kurlybon
    Apr 18, 2013
    1
    Well. I ended up playing this turd of a game without having to buy it thank god. My friend made the mistake for me. Everyone else has obviously explained the stupidity of the situation so I won't waste my breath. I wont purchase the game, or any other from EA at this point--to many disappointments. Simple capitalism, if you want something good from EA, then don't buy their productsWell. I ended up playing this turd of a game without having to buy it thank god. My friend made the mistake for me. Everyone else has obviously explained the stupidity of the situation so I won't waste my breath. I wont purchase the game, or any other from EA at this point--to many disappointments. Simple capitalism, if you want something good from EA, then don't buy their products until they put out something that the consumer really wants. They ruined Sim City. … Expand
  79. Dovahbear
    Apr 18, 2013
    0
    This is game is pure mixed with "EA guaranty of pure ****TINESS". I bought the game full price and In launch day game was rendered unplayable! Then you are lying that the "AGENTS" are controlled server side and PC couldn't handle it offline, then you are saying we are so sorry for that. You can lip my ass now! I sold origin account with this absolutely ****ty game to my schoolmate for 30€This is game is pure mixed with "EA guaranty of pure ****TINESS". I bought the game full price and In launch day game was rendered unplayable! Then you are lying that the "AGENTS" are controlled server side and PC couldn't handle it offline, then you are saying we are so sorry for that. You can lip my ass now! I sold origin account with this absolutely ****ty game to my schoolmate for 30€ at least or I could simply kill myself from this horrific game that completely killed the franchise!… Expand
  80. Gageracer
    Apr 17, 2013
    5
    I loved Simcity 4 and i was expecting all in 4 more with better graphics in new SC.That's not what i get at all.First of all forget getting the huge sizes in 4, and forget that you are actually building a city.This is Sim Town but i can live with this for now.All those patches server issues, wtf? Is this an MMO or a Simulation game?Ok i get it you want to make sure nobody plays it as aI loved Simcity 4 and i was expecting all in 4 more with better graphics in new SC.That's not what i get at all.First of all forget getting the huge sizes in 4, and forget that you are actually building a city.This is Sim Town but i can live with this for now.All those patches server issues, wtf? Is this an MMO or a Simulation game?Ok i get it you want to make sure nobody plays it as a non-original copy.You want your money.But why in the hell i cannot select whatever server i want and continue my fckn game?I open a space with my friends than that server becomes non-playable.Great lets start again...Secondly, game is clearly not finished at all.It is still a beta game.I don't know how cities this game "forced" me to destroy just because it cannot merge my actions to servers.When that happens game just tells you to remove the city or go back and when you say go back it goes too back.The server is pointless cause it cannot save your game, it is just a DRM! I've stopped playing SC cause i am sick of loosing all my data and this game completely destroyed my ambition for a Simcity game.Yes it has graphs and music etc. but it is not finished, still a beta game.Finally i don't know why you can't get an item when your friends send you at the same time.It tooks for ages and you forgot that you send/get anything.… Expand
  81. Scottixboy
    Apr 17, 2013
    9
    Once you get past the games tiny gripes, Simcity becomes an addictive game, It was really hard to understand all the negative reviews at first, but it all makes sense now, I purchased the game a week after it had come out and didn't suffer the server issue that plagued the day-one adopters of the game, I understand the anger and the need to go on Metacritic and rage about it being broken.Once you get past the games tiny gripes, Simcity becomes an addictive game, It was really hard to understand all the negative reviews at first, but it all makes sense now, I purchased the game a week after it had come out and didn't suffer the server issue that plagued the day-one adopters of the game, I understand the anger and the need to go on Metacritic and rage about it being broken.
    BUT!
    Take my word for it, THE REVIEWS ON THIS SITE DO THIS GAME 0 JUSTICE!
    To start you gotta think, Compared to Simcity 4, this game has it's limitations(fixed to medium map size, no manual pipes electricity lines etc), but most of the things changed were altered to make the gameplay more streamlined, For example, the world may be smaller, BUT it's not that much smaller, and if you can't fit your city in the confides of the map, then your doing something wrong. They are smaller to streamline the "Region" Idea more and it does work! Exceptionally I may add, sadly there isn't much benefit to playing singleplayer like this, but a game like this is meant to be played online, The automatic Pipe routing and electrical wiring, is automatic to make the map look less clutters and make it easier for beginners( I had tons of issues with this system on S4, I prefer the way it is now)

    Finally, If you were disappointed with this game, You were expecting too much, the Classic simcity gameplay is there, The Graphics are stunning, the tutorials are very well refined for beginners and all round is a better game than SimCity 4.

    I'm aware the always online is a problem, but since they fixed the filter issue and I can play online now, This game just got better with online, This game is meant to be played online, so they Always online isn't a problem especially for me.

    This game deserves a much higher score than it receives, If you loved the simcity franchise, This game is for you.

    I'm disgusted at people for rating this so low.

    This is a game everyone MUST own.

    It would get a 10 If Maxis iron out all the bugs.    … Expand
  82. TheMaximalist
    Apr 16, 2013
    7
    The launch was rocky but once you start playing the game you realise how much you missed building these metropolises, albeit small metropolises. It does feel limited by the removal of god mode and the map size
  83. 10k_Volts
    Apr 15, 2013
    6
    I've amended my review to reflect SimCity more accurately now that it can actually be played. So setting aside all the DRM crap and EA's crappy servers and other launch woes the rest of the game is alright. It's good but in all honesty the server's aren't the only thing wrong with this game. Traffic problems run rampant despite several patches to help this and it's almost assured that youI've amended my review to reflect SimCity more accurately now that it can actually be played. So setting aside all the DRM crap and EA's crappy servers and other launch woes the rest of the game is alright. It's good but in all honesty the server's aren't the only thing wrong with this game. Traffic problems run rampant despite several patches to help this and it's almost assured that you will have a 4 mile long bank of traffic waiting to get into or leave your city on the only connecting road you're allowed to the region.

    Despite trying and trying it's just hard to really get that longevity out of the game. I'm not really sold on the multiplayer side of things. I did it once and thought cool, and after a few hours me and the 3 other players I was playing with had filled up most of the city blocks and were starting on a Great Work. Once that was finished then all we could really do was twiddle our thumbs. Traffic problems were horrendous but there was nothing we could do about that, there was only one road in and out of our cities. Sure we could start another region and do it all again but why? there's 8 maps to choose from, the level of variety is obscenely low. I guess I would like the multiplayer and perhaps just SimCity itself more if it actually kept many of the things that made the series so great to begin with. But instead this game forces many sacrifices of things for these new ideas which honestly detract a lot from those ideas. I constantly dream up the things I could do if my city borders were bigger or if I actually could build my own intercity transport routes but instead I'm stuck with what has been decided for me. SimCity has turned itself into a board game rather than being the sandbox city builder we onced loved.    … Expand
  84. dupapa
    Apr 15, 2013
    0
    I have never felt compelled to write a review for a game, but honestly, this game hands down is the WORST iteration of the simcity franchise to date. unfortunately, they have taken our loved complex foundation of previous titles then stripped it down to 5 year old's level, they have also added a multitude of limitations that affect the core game experience.

    as others have said this is a    I have never felt compelled to write a review for a game, but honestly, this game hands down is the WORST iteration of the simcity franchise to date. unfortunately, they have taken our loved complex foundation of previous titles then stripped it down to 5 year old's level, they have also added a multitude of limitations that affect the core game experience.

    as others have said this is a £60 Facebook game. nothing more.

    i base my review on roughly 100 hours of play since the title went live,    … Expand
  85. Diosys
    Apr 14, 2013
    5
    This was by far the worst thing EA and Maxis could have ever done to the Legendary city simulator. The small, focused cities allow no freedom to build the cities the player wants and instead determines that players need to work hard to maximize their populations. Their achievement system even reinforces this. Their non-working game mechanics allow rather dumb strategies to work in a city,This was by far the worst thing EA and Maxis could have ever done to the Legendary city simulator. The small, focused cities allow no freedom to build the cities the player wants and instead determines that players need to work hard to maximize their populations. Their achievement system even reinforces this. Their non-working game mechanics allow rather dumb strategies to work in a city, where a real city could never function.

    City Simulation should not be based around a social experience. I liked the idea of a neighbouring city being built by another player, but they should have adopted a similar region concept to their previous titles, the fact that they used this is asinine. EA games needs to pull their heads out of the ground and start listening to gamers about always online DRM. Plenty of other companies show healthy profits. Maximizing profits does not earn you my dollar, respect does. It sucks that this company has ruined so many great and legendary gaming franchises. Hopefully Cities XL will pick up on all the problems of SimCity and never repeat them.    … Expand
  86. Mark2606
    Apr 13, 2013
    8
    When I saw the user score after I'd played the game for a week thinking they did a very good job on the game, I was thinking no way. Yeah, the server isn't ironed out, but overall I only had maybe two issues and they were temporary.

    Honestly, I've been through plenty of games that had issues on release date, but if you were to base your decision on how much fun the game is on a    When I saw the user score after I'd played the game for a week thinking they did a very good job on the game, I was thinking no way. Yeah, the server isn't ironed out, but overall I only had maybe two issues and they were temporary.

    Honestly, I've been through plenty of games that had issues on release date, but if you were to base your decision on how much fun the game is on a technical issue, you're stupid. Especially on a major title like this where you know making it right is a matter time.

    So, my first realization wasn't the technical stuff. Who cares. I set out on this game looking through 1 of 10 or 15 maps to start my city on. Let me tell you, when I was looking at those maps, the game didn't lead me to think "build a city", it was "build a continent".

    I got halfway through my continent when I started getting it. I'm thinking build a whole city on one grid. And, "wow, these are small grids." However, as I build my neighboring cities and my cities started interacting, it seemed natural to assume building "complete" cities on each grid was a critical error.

    That's when the grids stopped being small. One "city" would be (mainly) industrial, one residential, etc. If you look at the maps and study which cities are hooked together by road and rail. Those groups functioned more as a single unit with workers, police and fire working together.

    You can pick any map you want, and if you play the whole thing, and think of the entire continent being designed to function as your "megalopolis," small is definitely not what will be going through your head. If you're thinking you can try to jam your old strategies into a single grid, your frustration will probably put you in the dumb bunch who rated this game so poorly.

    This game is vast, dynamic, and nicely programmed. It's fun, fulfilling, and takes way more strategy than before. I haven't even scraped the surface tourism and trading strategies. So much to think about.

    So why don't I give it a ten? It is without a doubt in my mind the best iteration of the series. There are some things like schools. Once you build a university, schools as far as I can tell are useless. As a matter of fact, it looked to me like the total number of students simple migrated to the remaining educational facilities when I destroyed one.

    In effect, "lower than university" structures like elementary schools lowered the overall educational level of my city because the "total number of students" would simply be divided according to the number of schools you built... not the type. So after my university was built, by destroying my "lower than university" schools all the students would just migrate to the university thus always maximizing the education level.

    There are some of these types of things that would cause me to thump the designers heads. The issues are small, but that makes the game not perfect. And that's what a ten is.    … Expand
  87. Deeperlook
    Apr 11, 2013
    0
    can't log on, DRM at it's worst, your saves be deleted if you fail to logon correctly, que time can reach up to 90min, this is not a game, this is a full-on RIP OFF! no if, maybe, or but. this is a atrocious effort from EA. i am more then convince that EA don't want to make games anymore, but just to take your money. i highly recommended that you cut your loses and close your origincan't log on, DRM at it's worst, your saves be deleted if you fail to logon correctly, que time can reach up to 90min, this is not a game, this is a full-on RIP OFF! no if, maybe, or but. this is a atrocious effort from EA. i am more then convince that EA don't want to make games anymore, but just to take your money. i highly recommended that you cut your loses and close your origin account a uninstall origin itself because i'm pretty sure that if and when the gaming crash comes, EA will raid all the credit card accounts, then disappear. the law states that you can't sue a company for fraud and theft if the company itself dose not exist anymore.… Expand
  88. davej42
    Apr 11, 2013
    0
    IF you like wasting countless hours to a game and loosing all your work ten this is the game for you. The inability to do local saves and the fact that there servers are so messed up makes the game almost unplayable. I have been a simcity fan for years but because of this experiences i no longer am. I wouldn't pay for an EA game again.

    MAC users don't wast your money on this. The only    IF you like wasting countless hours to a game and loosing all your work ten this is the game for you. The inability to do local saves and the fact that there servers are so messed up makes the game almost unplayable. I have been a simcity fan for years but because of this experiences i no longer am. I wouldn't pay for an EA game again.

    MAC users don't wast your money on this. The only way EA will learn is to lose the bucks$$$$.    … Expand
  89. gustavohw
    Apr 11, 2013
    0
    Broken game design, stupid DRM, ULTRA-FOCKING SLOW PATCHES. I'm not even going to talk about NISSAN DLC, PLEASE MAXIS, get your together. Buy Cities in Motion 2 instead.
  90. QuimbyDownUnder
    Apr 10, 2013
    7
    I'm writing this after playing for the past few weeks. I was initially flabbergasted and dismayed by the server issues, but that has "mostly" been resolved. No one likes DRM either, but I doubt we can do anything about it so I'll leave that beast lie. I have played EVERY SimCity since 1994. I consider myself a city-building connoisseur. This new game has many great features that fans likeI'm writing this after playing for the past few weeks. I was initially flabbergasted and dismayed by the server issues, but that has "mostly" been resolved. No one likes DRM either, but I doubt we can do anything about it so I'll leave that beast lie. I have played EVERY SimCity since 1994. I consider myself a city-building connoisseur. This new game has many great features that fans like me have been waiting decades for. Curved roads, upgrade-able buildings, specialized industry, actual tourism. Under-road utilities removes the headache of power-lines and pipes. I have had an enjoyable time learning the system and playing. If you are a true SimCity fan you'll find plenty to enjoy here. That being said.... you will also be frustrated by some of the limitations. City size is a major draw back for me. I always feel boxed in and forced to "go big or go home" so to speak. No room for low density neighborhoods in advanced towns. The size also makes large scale mass-transit impossible, so no highways or subways, which I loved in SC4. Traffic bugs and simulation quirks are also present some areas of improvement but it looks like Maxis is working on updates. This is not a perfect game by any means. It is better in mechanics than anything since SC4. If you like city builders you should try it... maybe once the price comes down...… Expand
  91. comensee
    Apr 10, 2013
    2
    I've been a Sim Cities fan ever since I picked up Sim City 3000 when I was a kid. I bought this game a week after it was officially released and so far I've been disappointed. The first serious problem you come across once you launch the game is trying to find a map that has open slots. Not only is there no way to filter the maps with ones that have spots open, but they're listed from theI've been a Sim Cities fan ever since I picked up Sim City 3000 when I was a kid. I bought this game a week after it was officially released and so far I've been disappointed. The first serious problem you come across once you launch the game is trying to find a map that has open slots. Not only is there no way to filter the maps with ones that have spots open, but they're listed from the oldest to newest! I had to click through through pages and pages of servers and I spent almost 20 minutes trying to find a map with open slots!

    Now, once you get to building your city things start to get interesting. The graphics are very good, but the tutorial is very limited on teaching you the major dynamics of the game such as zone densities, freight, etc. It plays out just like every other Sim City game, but it's remarkably much easier than Sim City 3000 & 4000 to stay in a positive budget. Building your city is very fun and challenging if you have to build around terrain or natural resources, but you very quickly come to realize just how small the maps are.

    The maps are about half the size of what I remember from any Sim City game and it literally doesn't take that much time before you're trying to squeeze out every inch of space in your city. Eventually you do hit the point where you have no more space. Also, the game's density system is overly complex and you will eventually hit a bottleneck where your city can't get any bigger.

    Literally I would say 5-6 hours into my city I would run out of space, couldn't increase my population any further, and I was making so much money that my city had millions in the bank. Also, the game's AI is very bad with it comes to trash collection, buses, and just about everything else.

    TLDR; too easy, gets boring fast, crappy map browser, great graphics, crappy AI, and SMALL MAPS!!!    … Expand
  92. Uniphi
    Apr 10, 2013
    1
    The game is fun, challenging, and addictive. HOWEVER!!! as of 4/10/13 cities and entire regions are being lost! Imagine leveling up 3 or more characters in an MMO and have them get deleted and be unrecoverable. That's exactly the situation with SimCity. You can create regions compromised of several cities. Quite frequently the cities themselves will bug out and you will have to "roll back"The game is fun, challenging, and addictive. HOWEVER!!! as of 4/10/13 cities and entire regions are being lost! Imagine leveling up 3 or more characters in an MMO and have them get deleted and be unrecoverable. That's exactly the situation with SimCity. You can create regions compromised of several cities. Quite frequently the cities themselves will bug out and you will have to "roll back" to an earlier state potentially losing several hours of work. You can find many reports of cities disappearing potentially losing days of work. I did not lose a city, I lost an entire region. The game crashed during play and when I logged back in all of my cities and the entire region was gone. Customer support consists of a blog page that you post to and hope someone sees it. I couldn't find a phone number anywhere and frankly have had enough lost time at this point to not care anymore. So $80 down the drain. Worse than being a game that is not fun, this one wastes days/weeks of your progress and will do so over and over and over again.

    Second point is that many of the game features, specifically leader boards, are not functional. Also many of the main game mechanics do not seem to perform properly. STAY AWAY!    … Expand
  93. montana
    Apr 9, 2013
    3
    MAP SIZE WTF!!!???

    The "always online" feature is painfull, but not as painfull as the map sizes. Gameplay is now extremely limited. What happened to sprawling cities where you build and manage big areas and you get to chose exactly where in this big area housing, industry, skyscrapers etc. goes?? Now you are confined to a bunch of small towns and freedom to design your dream city is    MAP SIZE WTF!!!???

    The "always online" feature is painfull, but not as painfull as the map sizes. Gameplay is now extremely limited. What happened to sprawling cities where you build and manage big areas and you get to chose exactly where in this big area housing, industry, skyscrapers etc. goes?? Now you are confined to a bunch of small towns and freedom to design your dream city is out the window!    … Expand
  94. Samhandwich84
    Apr 9, 2013
    3
    Game has been released for over 1 month. STILL unable to maintain a stable connection to the low pop servers. STILL full of bugs, basic things like garbage dumps never producing trucks etc. Would probably rate as 7+ if the game was finished and could be played offline.
  95. nebz
    Apr 9, 2013
    2
    I unfortunately got suckered in and bought this game, the community is as good as dead. Still no leader boards or stats, a lot of promised game features still haven't been properly implemented, and server stability is a joke. I have had 3 cities i spent hours on just disappear for no reason. The 3 regions i play in, all my neighbors show ''Last online 3+ weeks ago'' Yeah.... That kind ofI unfortunately got suckered in and bought this game, the community is as good as dead. Still no leader boards or stats, a lot of promised game features still haven't been properly implemented, and server stability is a joke. I have had 3 cities i spent hours on just disappear for no reason. The 3 regions i play in, all my neighbors show ''Last online 3+ weeks ago'' Yeah.... That kind of speaks for itself.. THE GAME IS DEAD I tried to get a refund from Origin support with no luck. Buyer beware... You will punch yourself in the head repeatedly if you buy this… Expand
  96. SniperX22
    Apr 9, 2013
    0
    Wish I could get my money, back. Broken Gameplay, Broken Servers, and Broken Game. I really enjoyed the previous Sim Cities, to bad cities XL doesn't have the funding this game did. If it did it would blow this game out out of the water even more.
  97. CodBall
    Apr 9, 2013
    2
    Although I'm sure many people have already made their mind up about this game, I thought I'd send my review none the less. Sim City....is dead, or at least the franchise that many of us are used to is anyway. Gone are the expansive maps and the hours of offline play we used to have. Gone is the steep learning curve and satisfying feeling from The always online requirement, although calledAlthough I'm sure many people have already made their mind up about this game, I thought I'd send my review none the less. Sim City....is dead, or at least the franchise that many of us are used to is anyway. Gone are the expansive maps and the hours of offline play we used to have. Gone is the steep learning curve and satisfying feeling from The always online requirement, although called a "development decision by Maxis" certainly stinks of anti-piracy DRM. Maxis ensure there is no way to disable this but the problem being of course that sources within Maxis have denied that this is a requirement but a simple trigger within the code. I have seen people play this game with no water, no electricity, no jobs and high pollution and yet their plot of land has developed into a huge city of skyscrapers, this to me suggests it's less of a simulation than you may think which takes away from the reason people play the game. Sim City isn't without it's pro's, graphically it's aesthetically pleasing with the hustle and bustle of a city being animated fairly well, albeit traffic forming where it shouldn't. The city overlays are also a nice addition, showing the water, electricity and sewage in real time you can also look at the bars of happiness and likeliness to expand for each house. Aside from these pro's, the game seem's extremely poor, closer to Farmville than Sim City 4. If you're new to gaming, don't want a challenge and have an extremely stable internet connection then perhaps Sim City is for you, however if any of the above don't fit your criteria I'd suggest staying way clear.… Expand
  98. tallem
    Apr 8, 2013
    1
    What started out as a somewhat enjoyable title quickly became stale and boring. The city size, the arguably retarded traffic and the lack of subways and more really made this game quite lacking. Not to speak of the dumbest DRM ever to be put on a game.
  99. thegr8est
    Apr 8, 2013
    9
    I started playing the game a week ago. The servers issues seem to be mostly solved now. I have not been bounced or had any connection problems at all. I, however, would like them to implement some addtional features like You cannot instantly bulldoze something (you have to schedule it for demolition) and to not instantlally build roads. Plus the cities are small. Other than that I love the game.
  100. Geracritic
    Apr 7, 2013
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sim City is a great game where you learn a lot of cities, the acting is good management, but has many problems on maps and graphs that present technical difficulties in large scale.… 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]
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