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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. ohz
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The critic reviews are undeniable proof of "gaming journalism" being rotten to the core. This is the exact same game as SimCity Social, except you have to pay $80 before you're allowed to start paying for extras.
  2. neko_ceko
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Terrible, just terrible. And yes, the game does deserve this low score just because of the DRM. If it had the best gameplay on the world it wouldn't be worth barely 2/10 with this s**t DRM system.
  3. barboris
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I'm surprised that so many people were able to get to the point of at least having difficulty accessing the game servers, because I wasn't even able to get the game I paid for. After fully paying for the game and receiving the order confirmation email half a day ago, the game is still not showing up on my Origin for download. I am currently trying really hard to reach EA to request anI'm surprised that so many people were able to get to the point of at least having difficulty accessing the game servers, because I wasn't even able to get the game I paid for. After fully paying for the game and receiving the order confirmation email half a day ago, the game is still not showing up on my Origin for download. I am currently trying really hard to reach EA to request an immediate refund, after such low quality service, for such not at all low priced product. I will stick to Steam and play my games as soon as I pay for them.… Expand
  4. MeganFoxThumbs
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    First of all, please stop making fun of my thumbs.
    Second of all, DRM...really EA? oh wait, it is EA after all and they like sucking our money. Think of EA like the federal reserve unregulated and unethical
  5. yogibbear
    Mar 6, 2013
    5
    Played the game for 3 hrs today. Thought waiting two days would make everything OK. Game crashes after 3 hrs of happily playing an online game with 6 other people... guess what... this is why online saves are terrible and you get metacritic stomped... because the entire save is gone and none of us have any of our 3-4 hrs of progress to continue with. The experience of all building ourPlayed the game for 3 hrs today. Thought waiting two days would make everything OK. Game crashes after 3 hrs of happily playing an online game with 6 other people... guess what... this is why online saves are terrible and you get metacritic stomped... because the entire save is gone and none of us have any of our 3-4 hrs of progress to continue with. The experience of all building our cities to help each other is simply lost in the cloud forever. Well that's a 5/10 or below in anyone's book. Fix this please. It is depressing that even 2 days post launch you still don't have the cloud side save system figured out if you're going to go live with this sort of DRM it better damn well at least save the game.… Expand
  6. Piata
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Always online, no true single player, no way to save and reload your games, extremely small city size, lots of microtransactions planned and no way of knowing when EA will pull the plug.

    Best save your dollars and skip this one.
  7. andraip
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This game is a 10 out of then, if not for: -micro-transactions -very small city size -always on DRM (on a single-player game) -multiplayer feels forced down you throat

    and worst, you CAN'T PLAY the f***ing game because the servers are busy.

    oh, and just to make matters worse it forces you to use Origin.

    Seriously EA, rethink you business strategy.
  8. hunghung
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Unable to play due to server at capacity. In a single-player game. This is ridiculous. Simplified gameplay that does not provide as deep an experience as any of the previous SimCity games. While I'm sure that the server errors will be ironed out over time, the simplified gameplay will not
  9. psyestorm
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The game I'm sure is great. Maxis always does a great job. Unfortunately, I can't play it right now because of Server issues. There was no pre-load available. Can't play a a single player game because of always on DRM. THIS WILL NOT STOP PIRACY. All EA is doing is inconveniencing paying customers. Of course they wont listen to reason. So we all vote this game down.
  10. Xel
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Paid $60 to be unable to play the game on release due to EA's DRM, thanks Should have never bought and supported a DRM game. Clearly I won't be making that mistake again.
  11. curbes
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Absolute Fail Im gona kill my self if every game gona have Forced online DRM The game is good but EA want money in every way like day 1 DLC or microtransactions It fells like the game ist finisd and wee must buy the Patch DLC to make play normal i buy ME 3 and im never gona buy game from EA again and now u guys know why
  12. WJ12P
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    For everyone who says that constant DRM and a botched release are not a good enough reason to destroy this game's ratings they are wrong. EA needs to learn that these types of releases cannot happen. Three hours after registering my game and it hasn't even shown up in the "My Games Library" on Origin. Pathetic and unacceptable.
  13. PhileDealer
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Always on DRM. Do not buy. Waiting in a queue to play a single player game? No thanks. I had high hopes for this game. I hope this is patched to go online for install, but offline after that.
  14. Darkmater
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    A game is truly poor when its unable to be enjoyed, and this game falls completely in this category. With the always on DRM and a very poor delivery of server services. I am unable to play a game that is installed on my machine. For the only reason so that I can be social, its interesting then that in EA's mind that they have chosen social as the main means of driving their game design. ToA game is truly poor when its unable to be enjoyed, and this game falls completely in this category. With the always on DRM and a very poor delivery of server services. I am unable to play a game that is installed on my machine. For the only reason so that I can be social, its interesting then that in EA's mind that they have chosen social as the main means of driving their game design. To which they are a complete success, I have not even played the game, but I am pushed into the world of social sharing by the game to state, "its poor, and unplayable due to the server restriction and poor overhead server capacity. Thank you, Simcity you have delivered me into the social space per your game, and it is making meaningful connections for me, and hopefully those connections that read this will think twice about purchasing a game that is so limited in ones ability to play it.… Expand
  15. rawsl
    Sep 4, 2014
    5
    It's a very beautiful game, but the simulation is lacking depth and the size of cities is just to small. I can only recommend it to people who want to play it as casual game.
  16. tigule
    Mar 10, 2013
    0
    I managed to play for a while on one of the new servers. Today I go back and "I'm in a Queue". OK, Ill try a different server! Wait... no I don't want to play the tutorial again, and where are my saved games? Oh, they're on the other server? WTF EA.
  17. Antiqua
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    Ignoring the DRM the game is at this point still not worth buying. While for the most part this is a good upgrade of the sim city series the one thing that really hampers it is the map size.
    While in theory the addition of curved roads that allow you more freedom in how you design your city should be awesome the reality is that because the maps are so tiny any creativity will be severely    Ignoring the DRM the game is at this point still not worth buying. While for the most part this is a good upgrade of the sim city series the one thing that really hampers it is the map size.
    While in theory the addition of curved roads that allow you more freedom in how you design your city should be awesome the reality is that because the maps are so tiny any creativity will be severely punished since it's not as dense as a grid type city. The game is also kind of bad at fitting in buildings to the area available which also punishes being creative as you will get tons of unused space either because you got too much space between roads or too little.
    After playing the game for even an hour you will start feeling very cramped and you will basically be left with the option to build inwards, that is tearing down and reconstructing existing plots. For me a bare minimum before I would concider actually giving money for this game would be four times the size but I would really prefer nine or more.
    Of course seeing as this is EA they will milk their customers for everything they got. Expect to see building themes, larger map sizes and everything else that this game should have had at release for sale soon.    … Expand
  18. LordLothair
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    Alright gang, let's get the obligatory complaining out of the way:

    1. Always online DRM 2. Only 2 US servers (5 total) 3. 0 customer service response or presence (255+ minute wait time to speak to an online rep, suddenly removed phone and email support access) The combination of these things has resulted in a horrible release for EA. Can I say I'm surprised: no, not really.    Alright gang, let's get the obligatory complaining out of the way:

    1. Always online DRM
    2. Only 2 US servers (5 total)
    3. 0 customer service response or presence (255+ minute wait time to speak to an online rep, suddenly removed phone and email support access)

    The combination of these things has resulted in a horrible release for EA. Can I say I'm surprised: no, not really. We, as consumers have allowed this behavior, and even excuse it with: It's release day, just wait... Every game has these problems at start... No one can expect the server load... and various other excuse that gets tossed up on a forum complaining about the game. The fact is NOT every game has this problem, because not every game requires online access, not every game requires you to link up with a limited server farm, and not every game is released with almost zero customer service... sigh, now that's out of the way, my review of what (little) I've gotten to play:

    The visuals of the game are wonderful. The city grows very organically, and is pleasing to watch. The detail used to express and track the individual Sims in your city as they go about their daily lives is a great feat and adds so much to the depth of simulation. Musical effects are fitting for the scene and don't draw attention to themselves, while adding just enough ambiance to fill out the effect.

    For those that have played previous SimCity games before, you will find some issues though. First and foremost to me is the limited size you have to build your city in. Due to the "specialization" that you are "encouraged" to use for each city, you are limited to what appears to be about 2 square kilometers for each city. These are not very large spaces, especially compared to some of the huge blocks of space you could use in SimCity 4. Secondly, you will find that things have been streamlined. This is not always a bad thing. Everything runs through streets (power, water, sewage), so you can layout utilities and transport all in one go, however this also feels like "training wheels" to experienced SimCity players. The snap-to guides are handy, but lack any sense of sizing for future development. How big of a zone do I need to have a sky scraper in a few years? I don't know, I guess I'll just put these roads wherever.

    Region interconnectivity is an interesting, but less than stellar additon. The ability to work with friends and assist them to start off by providing Goods or Services is nice, but really rather meaningless if you aren't specializing your city.

    Graphic glitches do exist, but aren't game-breaking (many times my buildings simply dissapear or roads become transparent). The biggest issues are server issues. Any time I have attempted to play I have had to sit and wait for atleast 30 minutes before being able to join a server (yes, I'm sitting for the fifth time today as I write this). This wouldn't be too bad expect for frequent crashes and glitches on cities becoming no responsive that require restarting the game, and sitting the server que... again.

    Another frustraion comes from the division of the servers themselves. The most common response we (people seeking support from EA) have gotten is: "Just join a server that isn't full". That's all fine and good, except the city I just spent three hours on only exists on one server. When you go to a new server, you have to restart with the tutorial (something that you can't skip and is bugged out on some servers), and start all over. Also, you only have access to 10 regions at any one time. You can delete a region to free up space, but this is bugged and currently not releasing the save slot on some servers. The ability to have a private region is nice for those of us that really don't want someone creating a bunch of pollution in our areas, but makes the always online DRM rather oppressive.

    All told, the few hours of play time I have gotten have been enjoyable. It's nice to have a pretty SimCity to poke around with, and I look forward to experimenting with the city specialization and regional superprojects, however, I have spent as much time waiting for tech support and sitting in server lines as I have played in the last 24 hours since release, and that is unacceptable to me.

    Is this a great sequel to SimCity 4... sadly, no. Is it a good game, yes I'd say it is. It is fun, a great time sink, and something that has been lacking in recent games, but as always Buyer Beware when it comes to EA and any other distributors that restricts your access to the game you purchased. My other major concern is future content being distributed as purchased DLC, server instability, or the fact that at any time EA could decide to shut down the SimCity servers and your $60 game is suddenly gone.

    Use your personal scales to decide if you want to play SimCity badly enough to support such bad business practices. If you do, the game itself isn't bad.    … Expand
  19. MayhemMike83
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    My gf bought it, but wasn't at home the whole day so I had the pleasure to try it out so here are my impressions:

    1. Pricing: It looks like a typical EA cash grab. The game isn't feature complete (subways?) so expect a lot of expensive but low value DLCs coming our way. I wouldn't buy it until they release a discounted "Gold" version including most of the upcoming extras. 2.    My gf bought it, but wasn't at home the whole day so I had the pleasure to try it out so here are my impressions:

    1. Pricing: It looks like a typical EA cash grab. The game isn't feature complete (subways?) so expect a lot of expensive but low value DLCs coming our way. I wouldn't buy it until they release a discounted "Gold" version including most of the upcoming extras. 2. Always-On-DRM: It took ages until I was able to log in. This is just unacceptable and shows the flaws of this kind of DRM. Also keep in mind that EA will shutdown the servers once the game doesn't make enough profit, or when a newer version gets released. 3. Look and Feel: It looks really nice and watching the little sims doing their thing is amazing. It really feels like a living and breathing city.
    4. The building part: The maps are just too small. Takes you around 1-2h to fill up the entire square and then you can either refine the city or move on to another one so don't expect to spend days or even weeks on a single city. If you have several cities in a region then they will work together but it is just not the same.

    Overall some interesting new ideas, a nice look and feel but a lack in its core city-building mechanic.    … Expand
  20. danielkyp
    Mar 7, 2013
    7
    If you bought the game already please head my advice! In origin use the Call Me help option, when an agent calls you, simply ask for a refund. I managed to get a refund very simply even though they say they won't give you one for digital downloads form origin. They didn't ask questions, don't vent, don't complain, just simply state that you would like a refund. I only gave this a 7 soIf you bought the game already please head my advice! In origin use the Call Me help option, when an agent calls you, simply ask for a refund. I managed to get a refund very simply even though they say they won't give you one for digital downloads form origin. They didn't ask questions, don't vent, don't complain, just simply state that you would like a refund. I only gave this a 7 so that the icon would turn green and more people would notice my message.… Expand
  21. Tridus
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    Revising downward, because the game is still broken and at this point it's just a total joke. Even Polygon's review has been changed to 40 (from 95) on their website. EA has resorted to disabling all the social features that they claimed made always-online necessary in the first place, so now it's just a bald faced lie. It's DRM, period. That DRM is breaking the game. As it stands rightRevising downward, because the game is still broken and at this point it's just a total joke. Even Polygon's review has been changed to 40 (from 95) on their website. EA has resorted to disabling all the social features that they claimed made always-online necessary in the first place, so now it's just a bald faced lie. It's DRM, period. That DRM is breaking the game. As it stands right now this product is not fit for sale. They also disabled cheetah speed, a feature of every other Simcity game. Pathetic. If you get past all the server problems, the city size is still absurdly small (no doubt because their servers can't handle larger ones), but who cares about that when the game flat out doesn't work reliably?… Expand
  22. Atticas14
    Mar 19, 2013
    8
    This is my amended review. The original game gave the game a 1 out of 10. It really seems that EA is taking steps to improve the gameplay experience, and even awarded a free game to those who purchased at launch. I got Dead Space 3 for free and I really appreciate the offer. The new Sim City is really fun to play as long as the server aspects don't get in the way. I'm sure it'll all getThis is my amended review. The original game gave the game a 1 out of 10. It really seems that EA is taking steps to improve the gameplay experience, and even awarded a free game to those who purchased at launch. I got Dead Space 3 for free and I really appreciate the offer. The new Sim City is really fun to play as long as the server aspects don't get in the way. I'm sure it'll all get ironed out eventually and I'll have tons of fun in the future.… Expand
  23. Victory
    Mar 14, 2013
    3
    I am assessing this game based on my 25 hours of experience. This game is fun up to a point but the mid to late game mechanics are horrendously broken. Traffic is a hideous monster to control and if you do by some miracle manage to organised it the game is incredibly easy. The only challenge is traffic management. It feels more and more like a glorified Facebook game without the socialI am assessing this game based on my 25 hours of experience. This game is fun up to a point but the mid to late game mechanics are horrendously broken. Traffic is a hideous monster to control and if you do by some miracle manage to organised it the game is incredibly easy. The only challenge is traffic management. It feels more and more like a glorified Facebook game without the social game requirements. Region trading is horrendously broken, commuters commute but when they do the traffic is so horrendous because you only have one entrance to your city. EVEN WITH mass transit maxed out including trains and boats, it's just ridiculous. The online requirements suck too, I've lost a 9 hour city due to the servers. Also the region play is rubbish due to the servers, I was playing a region with my girlfriend (hot seat style) and I waited TEN MINUTES for the servers to update our own singleplayer region so I could send power to my girlfriends city. This is just dumb, it isn't fun. tldr: it starts out very fun but after you get over the "creativity" aspect of creating a city it becomes very boring and very broken. Might be good in a few months when it's patched although many features are not as advertised (such as "full simulation" which is a flat out lie). The DRM just makes everything worse.… Expand
  24. nopistons420
    Mar 11, 2013
    8
    incredibly addicting and well made city simulator. its not the same old simcity you used to play a lot has changed but in my eyes for the better. the core game-play here is so good and so addictive once you start its hard to put down. the multiplayer aspects of region play are also very satisfying when they work!

    there is a very fun and challenging game to be found trying to manage    incredibly addicting and well made city simulator. its not the same old simcity you used to play a lot has changed but in my eyes for the better. the core game-play here is so good and so addictive once you start its hard to put down. the multiplayer aspects of region play are also very satisfying when they work!

    there is a very fun and challenging game to be found trying to manage your city as it grows from a cozy little town into a full on metropolis.    … Expand
  25. greatpaperclip
    Mar 9, 2013
    8
    Now that I've been able to get in, I'm changing my score-it's probably a 9-maybe even a 10, without the previous issues. I'm having a lot of fun. Too bad about the launch, though
  26. GLaforte
    Mar 6, 2013
    8
    I managed to play the game correctly, by myself, for 2 hours last night.
    I was unable to play the multiplayer game with a friend, though.
    Today, with the new patches, I'm just unable to connect to the server.
    Feels like throwing money down a well would have been more beneficial.
  27. threepm
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Yes it uses always on, yes it is having some hiccups... but so far this game is absolutely fantastic. A lot of the issues that people are complaining about I suspect will addressed in future patches.
  28. cadburry
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    A good SimCity that is different than it's predecessors, but still captures that typical SimCity feeling. It takes some time to get used to a few new approaches like the city size and the connected cities, but can get you hooked up in no time, leaving lots of options to optimize in later gameplay stages.I'd buy it again, no server problems as welI.
    I honestly don't get however people try    A good SimCity that is different than it's predecessors, but still captures that typical SimCity feeling. It takes some time to get used to a few new approaches like the city size and the connected cities, but can get you hooked up in no time, leaving lots of options to optimize in later gameplay stages.I'd buy it again, no server problems as welI.
    I honestly don't get however people try to give negative impressions without playing the game, or trying to manipulate the rating with multiple accounts that have copy&paste rants that repeat themselves.You don't have to buy, just let the people who enjoy it enjoy it.    … Expand
  29. madfox777
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Ratings based on DRM alone are ridiculous and make a false representation of how good the game is. The servers will get smoothed out, its release day. Its made to be a different game than SC2000 or SC4. Small map size is the only con so far of this game.
  30. gamesrus
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    apart from not be being able to connect t servers this sim city is everthing you could want from a new simcity game better graphics. real sense of care for my lttile sims. good amount of depth in the gameplay and stargery side to make you build city after city seeing how different staregrys change your citys look and feel. i used love buidling huge citys on simcity 4 but this sim cityapart from not be being able to connect t servers this sim city is everthing you could want from a new simcity game better graphics. real sense of care for my lttile sims. good amount of depth in the gameplay and stargery side to make you build city after city seeing how different staregrys change your citys look and feel. i used love buidling huge citys on simcity 4 but this sim city offers so much more but in a smaller place and people may complain about size of the build plots but a quality well built city with a real sense that its is a live is better than just being able to build more. in future they may even be able to add larger build plots but rember not all people have gaming rigs like mine and these massive build plots may be to diffuclt to run for many computers. 8/10 game but all the other bad scores made me give it 10/10 those people need to learn pateince and that simcity 4 was terrible lagging on realease and they sorted so they will sort the server issues to.… Expand
Page:

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

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