User Score
2.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 4557 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Mar 11, 2013
    0
    I specifically created a metacritic account to add my voice to the chorus of others here. The game is just flat out broken. When it does work, creativity is so incredibly limited by the small map size that you have no feeling or experience of designing a city the way you want it because you've got to cram everything in so you can place all of the necessary buildings ever growing fireI specifically created a metacritic account to add my voice to the chorus of others here. The game is just flat out broken. When it does work, creativity is so incredibly limited by the small map size that you have no feeling or experience of designing a city the way you want it because you've got to cram everything in so you can place all of the necessary buildings ever growing fire stations, police stations, water treatment plants, hospitals all cool buildings, but space is at such an incredible premium that its irritating not fun. The party line is that you should play with multiple cities in a region but this feature is completely broken and unusable. And even if it were usable, its not fun. At all. This game, and EA's jaw dropping refusal to refund consumers for shelling out $60 for a brick, is a disgrace. I know not everyone will hold to this promise, but I will this is the last EA game I buy. Expand
  2. Mar 11, 2013
    4
    This game starts off looing full of potential but after a few hours its very similar style repetitive game play. Online features look fantastic but I wasn't looking for those features in this game. SimCity for me was always a single player game to be enjoyed once you have a few hours spare in the evening. Its very MMO orientated. Offline play please maxis, hope so very much that theThis game starts off looing full of potential but after a few hours its very similar style repetitive game play. Online features look fantastic but I wasn't looking for those features in this game. SimCity for me was always a single player game to be enjoyed once you have a few hours spare in the evening. Its very MMO orientated. Offline play please maxis, hope so very much that the upcoming C&C from EA will be better at launch! Expand
  3. Mar 11, 2013
    0
    Server issues and always-on DRM aside the city zones are simply too small, presumably to enforce dependency on multi-player interactions. More like Sim-District than City
  4. Mar 12, 2013
    1
    While not a "complete" waste of time, the latest version of SimCity is definitely not worth whatever Electronic Arts is asking for it. The "always-online" DRM requirement alone is a deal breaker. When you add to that the extremely limited city size and the severe reduction of the open-ended experience that characterised previous versions, I would not recommend the game even if it wereWhile not a "complete" waste of time, the latest version of SimCity is definitely not worth whatever Electronic Arts is asking for it. The "always-online" DRM requirement alone is a deal breaker. When you add to that the extremely limited city size and the severe reduction of the open-ended experience that characterised previous versions, I would not recommend the game even if it were free. It looks like Civitas (find it on Kickstarter) is going to represent the future of city simulations. Do not waste your time or money on the 2013 SimCity. Expand
  5. Mar 12, 2013
    2
    Connection Issues
    -----------------
    No problems getting into the game at all although it does lose connection to the servers fairly regularly. While this doesn't prevent gameplay you are forced to keep the game running because if you quit the game before it reconnects the you will lose your progress since the last save. Having said that it did take two days before the 'buy' button on
    Connection Issues
    -----------------
    No problems getting into the game at all although it does lose connection to the servers fairly regularly. While this doesn't prevent gameplay you are forced to keep the game running because if you quit the game before it reconnects the you will lose your progress since the last save.

    Having said that it did take two days before the 'buy' button on the website worked without giving a 'server error'

    Saved Games
    -----------
    I'm not aware of any indication of when it actualy saves the game. But it does often fail to do so meaning you have to redo your work again when you next login.

    Map Size
    --------
    I agree map sizes are way to small. To the extent it limits creativity and in my experience pushes you to playing each map in the same way. I do wonder if the beta was limited to 1 hour to avoid people realising this.

    Game speed
    -------------
    Currently the game is limited to a max speed of 24 minutes per game day. This is quite important as it happens. If you play the game like I prefer to, start slow and build my city then you will spend many many hours just waiting for your cash to increase enough for your next purchase.
    On the other hand you can take the other approach (the one I feel you are forced to take) spam the entire map with residential and commercial with just enough industry and ignore all but the vital services (ie water and power). Then sit back and wait until you have lots of cash, demolish your city and build it how you wanted it in the first place. Either way there is a lot of waiting around doing nothing.

    Power and Water system
    ----------------------
    I actually like this aspect of the game, I didn't enjoy having to lay all the pipes and powerlines, too much micromanagement for me. The new system of using the roads for everything works very well for me.

    Apart that is from what I assume are bugs. For example I had my city running along nicely I left the city and when I came back to it suddenly the game decided that I no longer had a massive excess of power but instead a massive deficit I had to plop 20 more windmills just to break even???

    Bugs
    ----
    The game still contains a number of bugs, mostly minor but some are not, for example you may get locked out of a map due to 'processing' never to be able to play that map again. This of course could in turn screw up your entire region causing many many hours of gameplay to be simply wasted.

    Multiplayer
    -----------
    Sure you can let someone play a map in you region but don't be fooled this is a single player game. The global market? This boils down to the price you pay when you buy resources. Is it really influenced by other players? I don't know but it really makes no difference. If you need to buy resources then you pay the price the game tells you. That's it.

    Disasters
    ---------
    I've never been a fan of these. I don't see anyway of turning them off in a normal game. Why such a big deal? At 24 minutes per game day it took me about 1.5 hours to save for my school that's 1.5 hours of me doing nothing but let the game run. As soon as I plopped it down and earthquake hit and destroyed it. So I started the wait all over again. Guess what, another earth quake and destroyed again. I had a further three disasters in that session. I estimate about 7 hours gameplay of which about 6.5 hours was just letting the game run to save up money. Which is why you should just use the spam method to build up lots of cash at the start which makes a mockery of the economy in the first place.

    Replayability
    ------------
    If I'm honest I was getting bored by the end of my first session but I stuck with it. Overall there is lot of frustration from losing work and even entire maps but the number one problem by far is the tiny map size which limits creativity and gameplay possibilities. I'm going to give the game a little more time but I do feel I've got pretty much all I'm going get from it a far cry from past sim city games which I would play for months if not years. Always Online
    --------------
    I didn't buy Diablo because of this but took a chance here. From what I understand things like map size and game speed and limited to reduce the load on their servers. The irony is that I bought myself an expensive laptop so I could play all the latest games but for this game I could have stuck with with my old crappy one.

    My experience with this game has convinced me that I won't be buying any more games that require this, at least, not for a single player game.

    Overall
    -------
    If you are on the fence then wait until the price comes down before you consider trying it it is WAY overpriced at the moment and certainly not as stable as it should be.

    While it certainly a pretty game it is failing to hold my attention.
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  6. Mar 12, 2013
    0
    I'm not even going to bother reviewing this game as EA already have had an ear full of complaints which are all the same things. Why remove transport options, make the map size smaller, add always online DRM? As well as this, so many other bad features have been implemented, and i'm glad the release was a massive pile of steaming bulls*** because EA may now sort things out.
  7. Mar 12, 2013
    0
    Worst simcity game ever. I dont care about DRM but this game feels INCOMPLATE, CLOSED BETA or browser game. I'm so regret my decision to buy this crap.
  8. Mar 13, 2013
    1
    This game is a error! I dont understand why someone would buy an abomination like simcity when there is CITY XL as an alternative. I dont get why people persist in keep pay for sofhouses like EA who dont give a for his customer and continualy launches horrible games like this. I dont have buyed this game, cause I refuse to pay for a game with DRM, but other keep funding craps likeThis game is a error! I dont understand why someone would buy an abomination like simcity when there is CITY XL as an alternative. I dont get why people persist in keep pay for sofhouses like EA who dont give a for his customer and continualy launches horrible games like this. I dont have buyed this game, cause I refuse to pay for a game with DRM, but other keep funding craps like simcity!
    Why complain, you all deserve this
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  9. Mar 13, 2013
    0
    Compared to the depth of the former franchise, this is complete trash. But dont get me wrong, looks fabulous, random events frequent and less than properly animated. Online required to play? Must admit, i would give this a 3, then i see a 10 rating and nearly vomit all across my new desktop. Cant let that bowl of mindless sewage go unchallenged. Online required to play? Lets blow 100Compared to the depth of the former franchise, this is complete trash. But dont get me wrong, looks fabulous, random events frequent and less than properly animated. Online required to play? Must admit, i would give this a 3, then i see a 10 rating and nearly vomit all across my new desktop. Cant let that bowl of mindless sewage go unchallenged. Online required to play? Lets blow 100 bucks after dlc on a game that will only be around less than a year.
    *Opens original box to Sim City 2000* Yea, this still works and its at least 6 years old.

    With the amount of DLC available on launch, this game should be free to play at the least.

    How many game series can EA ruin before customers demand salvation? We wont find out...
    Because they will be lining there pockets while we rage behind there curtain of false advertisement.

    (Second review, first was a bit sloppy)
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  10. Mar 14, 2013
    2
    Aside from the always on servers, and the emphasis on social activities over city management, Sim City has failed to provide an intelligent and long lasting simulation. There are obvious flaws that can be visibly noticed in the algorithms used, and many in-game features are unreliable and random.
  11. Mar 25, 2013
    4
    Not taking into accounts the server issues at launch SimCity has a number of gameplay issues. Fans of the prior series might discover the entire base upon which the simulation is created suffers from design issues. Entire cities can be created without the need of anything but residential areas and the most basic of needs covered. While most of us wouldn't find enjoyment in merely plantingNot taking into accounts the server issues at launch SimCity has a number of gameplay issues. Fans of the prior series might discover the entire base upon which the simulation is created suffers from design issues. Entire cities can be created without the need of anything but residential areas and the most basic of needs covered. While most of us wouldn't find enjoyment in merely planting residences and let time go, this shows a game broken in the very core. The fact the simulation design allows people to move in, be happy and improve their houses in cities with no jobs and no shopping ripples throughout the game experience. The areas of which you can build your cities is pre-made and compared to earlier SimCitys the area is very limited in size. This is a part of the multiplayer aspect Maxis invisioned. The option for a multiplayer in a SimCity game is in this reader's eyes a great evolution, if not for a few things: The multiplayer part is not really an 'option'. To get the maximum efficiency from your city, it needs to co-operate with other cities. Sure enough you can build multiple cities yourself, but as each is paused when you leave it, there'll never be a feel of a real flow between the cities. Another issue is the interaction between the cities is unimaginary, limited in such ways you can't even decide how much, if or at which price you want to sell the goods you got in excess. It happens at a preset price as soon as someone clicks "buy" in regional view. This is if it even works through the seemingly limitless amounts of bugs with inter-city relations. Perhaps the worst part about the multiplayer 'option' is the way it was used as an excuse of forcing you to be constantly logged in to their game servers. Not only does this force you to be connected to the internet constantly, which most of us are anyways, but it forces us to rely on servers being available. 'A small server crash is not an issue, go do something else' you might say, and yes, I can do that now, but what happens in a number of year's time when SimCity isn't worth keeping around any more? If servers then get shut down, we're left with a product we can't even use any more. When through with all these issues and bugs you're left with a beautyful game and at times a good amount of humor. Who here wouldn't love to shop at "Lead Paint and Baby Oil" for instance? There seems to be a little Maxis soul left in there in the details, but overall the game feels rushed, the old fans forgotten and most of all give you the sense of being 'victim' to a quick moneygrab based on old feelings toward the brand. For experienced and long term SimCity players, the issues in the basic design will most likely come as a huge problem, same would most likely go for the restricted space offered. Personally I wouldn't advice anyone to buy the game till it's on sale at half off, the quality of the game is simply closer to a $30 game, if even that. The most frustrating thing is that I'm not only giving SimCity a low score, I am giving the future of the brand the same low score. Based on a broken design, a bugged game, visions that might've been good but where the execution failed and a raped brand, which only redeeming qualities are the humor and the beautyful graphics I'll give it a 4. Pozz... Expand
  12. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    EA must have thought they would be able to get away with a high priced game, day 1 DLC, micro-transations, online save games, and the ability to completely disable the game when its no longer profitable to run the DRM servers because SimCity is a popular and well respected game franchise. Well EA have probably just destroyed it and not just because of the reasons already mentioned, butEA must have thought they would be able to get away with a high priced game, day 1 DLC, micro-transations, online save games, and the ability to completely disable the game when its no longer profitable to run the DRM servers because SimCity is a popular and well respected game franchise. Well EA have probably just destroyed it and not just because of the reasons already mentioned, but because the game is dumbed down and boring and the city sizes are tiny. They should have called this game DRMTown rather than SimCity. Expand
  13. Mar 11, 2013
    1
    "Always-on DRM is a disease that we cannot allow ourselves to be so willingly infected by. It’s a curse on gaming. It’s diminishing our experiences, reducing the possibilities for our play, and creating a space where faulty games are accepted as complete. Always-on DRM is a broken game. They need to be fixed.""Always-on DRM is a disease that we cannot allow ourselves to be so willingly infected by. It’s a curse on gaming. It’s diminishing our experiences, reducing the possibilities for our play, and creating a space where faulty games are accepted as complete. Always-on DRM is a broken game. They need to be fixed."

    http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/11/simcity-is-inherently-broken-lets-not-let-this-go/
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  14. Mar 11, 2013
    0
    Oh ....always on DRM is for the players benefit? Well that changes everything then.....I had no idea that not being able to play a single player game due to failing server tech is all for MY benefit.

    EA you have sunk to a new low......last game I ever buy from Electronic
  15. Mar 11, 2013
    0
    Look at the positive critic reviews. Remember the names of the organizations that gave those ridiculous scores. Remember them and never support them. Their reviews and very integrity are for sale. When users collectively rate a game 1.6 out of 10, and a professional critic rates it 100% perfect, it doesn't take a genious to figure out what is going on. I can only pray that this gameLook at the positive critic reviews. Remember the names of the organizations that gave those ridiculous scores. Remember them and never support them. Their reviews and very integrity are for sale. When users collectively rate a game 1.6 out of 10, and a professional critic rates it 100% perfect, it doesn't take a genious to figure out what is going on. I can only pray that this game is a huge enough financial flop to make EA finally get the message, but i doubt it. 10 years from now, people will still be playing all the old SImCity games, 1-4, but the servers for this latest installment will have been down for years, rendering it unplayable. Fortunately, nobody will want to play it anyways. This game made me want to dust off SinCity 4, and take it for a spin. Expand
  16. Mar 8, 2013
    0
    Do not buy this Trash of a game, EA does not deserve to be a company for this, makes me never want to buy another game from them again. Thanks for nothing... sigh should have bought crack with the 60 dollars...
  17. Mar 13, 2013
    4
    I'm not here to rage about DRM. Yeah it sucks, but what can you do? At this point, the servers are a little unreliable but I have played 106 hours and haven't had any major issues in about 3 days now. Most of these reviews bash the DRM and always online blah blah blah, but it's not just that. The AI is beyond horrible. You start getting up to 80k population (which is tiny) and things goI'm not here to rage about DRM. Yeah it sucks, but what can you do? At this point, the servers are a little unreliable but I have played 106 hours and haven't had any major issues in about 3 days now. Most of these reviews bash the DRM and always online blah blah blah, but it's not just that. The AI is beyond horrible. You start getting up to 80k population (which is tiny) and things go from bad to worse quickly. Sims stack up and fill the streets needlessly, buses from other regions all flood into the city back to back at the same time, your freight trucks (the backbone of profit) get stuck in this traffic and your city begins to burn to the ground. The traffic and AI is not just challenging, as I first thought it was, it's just broken. It completely ruins your sense of success in building a thriving city. Sure, you can get around it with exploits and bugs like only zoning residential with some parks, or dirt access roads for trade express lanes, but it just sucks that you can't just build a big badass city and have things work right the way they should. The game is fun for a while, or if you aren't really hardcore about it, but I can't recommend it to any of my friends that have previously played the franchise. It's bad news, pick it up in the bargain bin in 6 months. Maybe they will have fixed a couple things by then. Expand
  18. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Until I can play this game my score will remain a zero. I understand some people are able to sit around and keep trying until they get into the game. Between school and work I don't have the time to do that. It is frustrating that I can't play a game due to EA servers. To those complaining how people are in the wrong giving low scores based on this alone, I feel we have the right toUntil I can play this game my score will remain a zero. I understand some people are able to sit around and keep trying until they get into the game. Between school and work I don't have the time to do that. It is frustrating that I can't play a game due to EA servers. To those complaining how people are in the wrong giving low scores based on this alone, I feel we have the right to complain about something broken. To anyone looking at buying this game, do not at the current moment. Give it time till EA can prove their servers are in better shape, or even better when/if they add offline play. Expand
  19. Mar 6, 2013
    1
    Half of the time I cannot even play the game. The always-on online DRM ruins games. This is terrible, and when I can play sometimes the game crashes.
  20. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    I've actually gotten to play the game a little bit, and it's fun. The maps are too small, but I still probably would have given the game an 8. Unfortunately the game barely works, and in fact for the past 8 hours of the 2nd day after launch it hasn't worked AT ALL. Most people have vilified the required always on internet connection and DRM. I knew all about that going in, and so didI've actually gotten to play the game a little bit, and it's fun. The maps are too small, but I still probably would have given the game an 8. Unfortunately the game barely works, and in fact for the past 8 hours of the 2nd day after launch it hasn't worked AT ALL. Most people have vilified the required always on internet connection and DRM. I knew all about that going in, and so did everyone else who read about the game before it came out. I personally don't have a problem with the idea of those policies if the game works. It doesn't. I didn't pay 60 dollars to participate in a beta test, and neither should anyone else. This game is a zero and EA should be ashamed. Expand
  21. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    I purchased this game and have been unable to play it once. I purchased the game using the Origin website. I was able to log onto the servers once, but then the game crashed after about 5-10 minutes of the tutorial. Now I am unable to start another game. Unable to get refund. I am calling my credit card company to prevent payment.
  22. Mar 6, 2013
    3
    What is there to say about this game that hasn't been said? Nothing.
    The constant internet connection requirements Or DRM is going to be the downfall of this game plain and simple. I'm an older gamer and of all my friends I'm the only one that plays non-sports video games...So this whole online social interaction with games isn't something I'm interested in. I play SOLO! Which means I
    What is there to say about this game that hasn't been said? Nothing.
    The constant internet connection requirements Or DRM is going to be the downfall of this game plain and simple. I'm an older gamer and of all my friends I'm the only one that plays non-sports video games...So this whole online social interaction with games isn't something I'm interested in. I play SOLO! Which means I shouldn't need to connect to the internet or try and log into full servers.

    The servers have been busy since launch! They even added another 4 servers (2 more for the U.S 2 more for Europe) but they all remain busy. To access these busy servers they place you in a queue which checks for availability every 20 mins! Who wants to wait 20 mins in queue to play a game in 2013? To make matters worse city saves don't transfer across all the different servers. So if you developed an entire "region" on the EAST USA 1 server it's restricted to that server. So having to jump onto another server means you have to start all over again. During gameplay if the server goes down, which has happened 8 times in 12H of game time played, then your progress isn't saved and you again have to start over. The maps are way to small. Weird glitches take place. Factories/casinos/schools all magically stop working causing massive crashes in population. I think they included the fluctuating population feature b/c of the small map size. Curved roads are useless. They waste space which is very crucial in this version. If you're willing to pay for a game that you will have limited access too, will constantly have to restart due to developer incompetence, get frustrated by illogical glitches then buy the game. I would recommend not buying this game. Spend 5$ on a Kairosoft game (Game dev story/mega mall story) you'll get more enjoyment and better performance from that game.
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  23. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Unable to play. Tutorial will not progress past the loading screen. Queues to play a single player game.

    This is unacceptable EA. I expect things that I purchase to work as advertised on day one. Fix this.
  24. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Just helping to drag down the rating here in hopes that EA will learn a lesson here. Do not block me from playing a single player game because your servers are insufficient. 48 Hours after launch. This is unacceptable,
  25. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    I created a Metacritic account just to review this game. Here are some simple points.
    a) The DRM is ATROCIOUS. IT WON'T EVEN "AUTHENTICATE ME" TO PLAY SINGLEPLAYER.
    b) If that isn't enough, THE GAME CRASHES EVERY 15 MINUTES.
    c) From what I played of the game, it's mediocre at best.
    d) This is a complete waste of $60 and I swear I will never buy another EA game again.
  26. Mar 6, 2013
    1
    I don't agree about people claiming that the DRM should not influence the score of the game.
    This is severely limiting my game experience, not allowing me to play it when and where I want (on the road in the train? not possible).
    For a game focused about singleplayer (who believes this community BS anyway) this is a big minus. The fact that it does not work properly to start with is in
    I don't agree about people claiming that the DRM should not influence the score of the game.
    This is severely limiting my game experience, not allowing me to play it when and where I want (on the road in the train? not possible).
    For a game focused about singleplayer (who believes this community BS anyway) this is a big minus.
    The fact that it does not work properly to start with is in this age of clouds, flexible computing a meager excuse.
    If you impose it, better make it work or your customers will be unhappy. My boss wouldn't accept such a lame excuse either.

    I asked for a refund and will not buy or play an EA game from now on.
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  27. Mar 7, 2013
    1
    Simply put, this version is no longer a city sim, but rather a city version of the sims series. This was the worst release I've experienced in 15 years of online gaming. I don't mind the DRM as long as I have the option to play offline (not avail...) in the case that I'll be frequently travelling with no persistent internet connection. What I really hate about it is once they realizeSimply put, this version is no longer a city sim, but rather a city version of the sims series. This was the worst release I've experienced in 15 years of online gaming. I don't mind the DRM as long as I have the option to play offline (not avail...) in the case that I'll be frequently travelling with no persistent internet connection. What I really hate about it is once they realize that keeping the game online is costing them more money than they tricked loyal SC fans out of, they just turn off the lights and we are out the $60-80. Frequent server drops and synch issues made it impossible to join public regions despite having access to a fiberoptic connection on the west coast. I didn't get the opportunity to participate in the betas or I probably would not have bought the game. Well played EA. Like many others here, my first impression of the game was a great big WTF!? The cities... err neighborhoods... are tiny and it really does feel like a facebook game. Gone are the custom maps and giant cities where you designed your own mass transit and raised your populations to huge numbers. If you enjoyed SC4 you probably wont like this game... I hate to say it but give Cities XL a go instead. I'm usually very understanding of release or patch issues since I am a software developer/DBA myself, but the types and seriousness of problems I encountered really made me wonder if half the code was even tested. I imagine it was more like "Hey we said March release, let's just put out what we have by then and deal with the fallout by using coyly worded press releases and ninja hotfixes". Expand
  28. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    If you buy a singleplayer game and can't play on release day because of server issues, the game is basically defective. I would have been willing to stomach Online-DRM, but only if it actually worked. Customers should be no testbed for server architecture.
  29. Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Massive step back for the franchise which reached its peak with SimCity 4. This release owes much more to the Sims in terms of concept and gameplay. Definitely not in the mold of a classic city simulator.
  30. Mar 7, 2013
    0
    The game itself seems fine, but it's been out for 2 days and I still can't play it because of the always online DRM. It's unacceptable for a single player game to use that kind of system.
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 75
  2. 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]