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. OrzoKnight
    Mar 8, 2013
    2
    My number one complaint is that you have to be online to play this game, even if you're playing by yourself. Number two complaint is the city size. They're downright tiny. I would like to be able to build much bigger cities. Lastly, it's a very frustrating process to even try to play, mainly because servers are always busy. It's taken me up to 30 minutes to be able to connect. I know thisMy number one complaint is that you have to be online to play this game, even if you're playing by yourself. Number two complaint is the city size. They're downright tiny. I would like to be able to build much bigger cities. Lastly, it's a very frustrating process to even try to play, mainly because servers are always busy. It's taken me up to 30 minutes to be able to connect. I know this is a launch issue which will get solved eventually, but people who payed $60 to be the first to play this highly-anticipated game probably are feeling cheated.… Expand
  2. Isochronous44
    Mar 11, 2013
    2
    Have revised my score upwards slightly, as EA has now actually allowed me to play the game rather than the loading screen for the first time. It was a lot of fun. A lot. This would be a fantastic single-player game. But then I lost connection, and couldn't log back on. That was not fun. Then EA allowed me to play again several hours later, and I found I had lost hours of progress. That wasHave revised my score upwards slightly, as EA has now actually allowed me to play the game rather than the loading screen for the first time. It was a lot of fun. A lot. This would be a fantastic single-player game. But then I lost connection, and couldn't log back on. That was not fun. Then EA allowed me to play again several hours later, and I found I had lost hours of progress. That was even less fun. Why is there no "Save" option? Never before have I played a game with that gave me such enjoyment before letting me down so badly. If it was an MMO it wouldn't feel so bad. But it's a single player game, and it doesn't NEED to be server-dependent. It really feels like EA is playing some cruel game here with one of my favorite game series of all times. They set it up this way deliberately, knowing that this would happen.… Expand
  3. mcussell
    Mar 8, 2013
    2
    After building a gaming PC for this game and a couple of other recent releases I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. I can't even play the tutorial level at the moment as I keep getting a 'servers are full' message. Not quite the gaming experience I hoped for when paying nearly £50 for a digital release!
  4. Sarnokh
    Mar 22, 2013
    2
    The game is broken is almost every important aspect. Sure, I can imagine IF one day everything works, it could be a 8/10 candidate. But as it is, on two fronts the game is entirely broken. In the Agent System, and in the server/online feature.

    There have been plenty of reports how and why the agent system and the other ingame systems don't work. There is little I could add to what has    The game is broken is almost every important aspect. Sure, I can imagine IF one day everything works, it could be a 8/10 candidate. But as it is, on two fronts the game is entirely broken. In the Agent System, and in the server/online feature.

    There have been plenty of reports how and why the agent system and the other ingame systems don't work. There is little I could add to what has been said a 1000 times by now. Simply too many subsystems of the game do not work at all.

    But I could live with traffic issues, simlulation disparities, trash gathering... all of it, if the game would actually, physically work. Just it doesn't. I invested 2 days in a region, and suddenly the game went to the main screen, out of the blue, "Server crashed" and the entire savegame of the region was broken and I could never load it again. Then I started a new region, two specialized cities, I put DAYS of long, hard work into the cities and was proud to finally got them them running. Them BAM, the game forced me to the main menu, the city was RESET, and the hard work of DAYS was lost to me.

    I contacted EA support, but they could do nothing to reset my savegames, which were lost entirely due to their fault. So they have no backups, and they have no system to save the savegames on MY OWN computer for safety backup. I can really live with a lot of issues, but when days of work into a game are ruined, it is beyond any excuse. And for weeks this is so, and EA simply refuses to communicate with it's customers.

    I give 2 honorary points for the idea behind the game, but the game is at the moment ENTIRELY broken, unplayable and as it looks, the issues run so deep it will take months to enable a halfway working status.    … Expand
  5. The_pharmacist
    Mar 9, 2013
    2
    DRM aside (which I don't support but can live with) this game is not what you'd expect from the the creators of simcity 4. I first actually got to play 2 days after purchase due to server issues but what I found is a game that is better suited for Facebook, I have little creativity in city creation and I have to start where they pre determine my highway connection is. The city I createDRM aside (which I don't support but can live with) this game is not what you'd expect from the the creators of simcity 4. I first actually got to play 2 days after purchase due to server issues but what I found is a game that is better suited for Facebook, I have little creativity in city creation and I have to start where they pre determine my highway connection is. The city I create very very quickly fills its boarders and the topography is non adjustable which wouldn't be so bad of the game wasn't 2km by 2km, I mean come on I want an in depth opportunity to be the creative city building nerd I always dreamed of but I find myself much more satisfied with building in tropico than this game and they don't even have a sewer system to build or subways.... Oh wait neither does simcity 5 … Expand
  6. bthomas
    Mar 9, 2013
    2
    Server overload can be a bummer when you try to play the new SimCity, along with the myriad of different bugs that will probably break most complex cities on their attempt to succeed.
  7. erik2472
    Mar 9, 2013
    2
    The game is fine, I mean, it works for the most part. The layout is bad, control over the cities is limited. City size is too small. It has crashed 2 times. Certainly not worth $80. Maybe worth $25. This is the last time I will ever pre-order a game. I think I will go back to sim city 4.
  8. james022
    Mar 10, 2013
    2
    Has a significant amount of potential. Visually the game is awesome. They did incorporate some great ideas such as interacting with other cities for trade, sharing resources, commuters, etc. However, the specialization provides limited options. Major Problem #1: Cities are too small!! I know their excuse for it but really? It's ridiculous and almost ruins the game on its own. MajorHas a significant amount of potential. Visually the game is awesome. They did incorporate some great ideas such as interacting with other cities for trade, sharing resources, commuters, etc. However, the specialization provides limited options. Major Problem #1: Cities are too small!! I know their excuse for it but really? It's ridiculous and almost ruins the game on its own. Major Problem #2: It's just too easy, there isn't a whole lot to it and it can be mastered quickly Major Problem #3 There are no ordinances, policies etc to run the city--it has simply been turned into a city building game with sometimes silly animated visuals Major Problem #4: Big changes have minimal impact-- for the city to really go downhill you really, really have to do it almost on purpose, you can get away with a lot, this isn't realistic.

    Overall I am VERY disappointed with SimCity (5). Not because it wasn't made well (it was, it's def. quality) but because they put in all of this thought and missed the main reasons why people love the SimCity franchise--you can run all facets of a city including policies, more detailed finances (what about budgeting by department??) and other strategically driven options and inputs. I still recommend the game but only for those interested in a pretty straight forward city building game- the management people should leave it.    … Expand
  9. Hapa
    Mar 11, 2013
    2
    The DRM in an effort to make money by stopping piracy killed the game and lost them millions. I will never buy a game with DRM again. The gameplay seems meh but I only could play for a small amount of time since the DRM stops me from playing all together. Don't buy this until they remove the DRM!!!
  10. Sirous
    Mar 12, 2013
    2
    Aside from the server and always online issues. There are some major bugs in the game that need to get fixed as well. With more gamebreaking bugs being found every day it seems. Traffic is the number one issue, only a few people have managed to truly trick the simulator and keep a good traffic flow going. A normal city layout and traffic pattern will not work and you need to fool the simsAside from the server and always online issues. There are some major bugs in the game that need to get fixed as well. With more gamebreaking bugs being found every day it seems. Traffic is the number one issue, only a few people have managed to truly trick the simulator and keep a good traffic flow going. A normal city layout and traffic pattern will not work and you need to fool the sims into going the way you want them too. Not normal, but tricks are needed. Essential services are broken, Fire trucks will all respond to the same fire, leaving others burning. They will all then go to the next fire and so on. Pathfinding on these is also horrendous, watching wrong turns and u-turns abound. Busses will do the same thing, they will all take the same paths and stop at the same stops over and over again. Anything far away in a densely packed city may never see a bus, or all of them at the same time. Very odd. Anything over 100k city will only see around 10% actually doing anything. While your city is demanding more workers and more shoppers. There are many more, Aside from the server issues, this promised to be a good game. Digging into it, it is hopelessly broken. Simulation fails on just about every level one could imagine. Maybe they did it to make it harder to desing a functioning city, or that region play was to fill in the gaps, if only region play actually worked.… Expand
  11. StellaDrinker
    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.    … Expand
  12. Styrkyr
    Mar 12, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Good: Simcity has very good graphics. The data overlays are beautiful. Construction looks realistic. Nonrenewable resources add a new and interesting flavor to the game. Multiplayer regions with multiple cities online add a new and very fun flavor. There are new disasters which look and play realistically, have unexpected effects on your city. You can now build curving roads and road/road overpasses. Roads now govern your buildings density. There is a good selection of different buildings. The Bad: -Serverside
    Always-Online DRM means that you have to have a stable internet connection; the slightest hiccup in your internet will result in the game crashing and you losing hours of game play. The servers are horrible; most of them are either "busy" or "full", meaning that you can't play at all. They also crash often. Server capacity is abysmal. There is no "offline" option for single player games. All saves must be synced with EA's cloud servers; you cannot have any local saves on your hard drive. -Clientside
    Buildings often look half finished and devoid of color or decoration; it is clear that this was an unfinished product that was rushed out. City sizes are limited to approx. 2km x 2km; slightly smaller then the smallest map size on Simcity 4. Buildings cannot be placed anywhere where they are not adjacent to a road; you can no longer fill in the interior of city blocks with parks/etc. Some graphics appear half finished, i.e. grass showing through a road, dirt overlapping on a road, or jagged/flickering graphics. The game is slow to respond to neighbor deals, such as sending power or sewage to a neighbor. Parks look like they're made with astroturf. Waves/beaches look unrealistic. Zones are aligned on a road and cannot be expanded to show the entire zone; this makes planning for city blocks very difficult. There is no subway, elevated rail, monorail, or highways available to be built. Agriculture/farms have been completely removed from the game. It was not designed to be compatible with player-designed mods. Overall:
    This game had the potential to be something great, to be a truly awesome game. But with the forced DRM limitations EA has imposed on us, as well as the horrifying state of their servers, this game has become yet another destined for the bookshelf. Maxis outdid itself with bringing new ideas, concepts, and operations into the game, but with the client-side limitations such as city sizes and lack of transportation options, not to mention the server-side DRM, the game is effectively crippled. Bluntly, I can not recommend this game to anyone. One can only hope that EA will listed to the community and fix what is wrong.

    Pentium Core i7 4.2 ghz OC
    32gb DDR-3 Kingston HyperX RAM
    3 x EVGA GTX 680 2gb SLI'd
    OCZ Octane 1tb SSD    … Expand
  13. jdestroyer82
    Mar 13, 2013
    2
    This game is fundamentally broken on almost all levels. AI is oversimplified and a hindrance to game advancement. Online only functionality is not worth the restrictions. Players end up with a tiny generic city that becomes more and more frustrating to grow. This game is a massive disappointment, even beyond the restrictive DRM and launch issues. This will be the last EA game I willThis game is fundamentally broken on almost all levels. AI is oversimplified and a hindrance to game advancement. Online only functionality is not worth the restrictions. Players end up with a tiny generic city that becomes more and more frustrating to grow. This game is a massive disappointment, even beyond the restrictive DRM and launch issues. This will be the last EA game I will purchase, no matter what the name of the studio they assimilate. Because, that studio is only a name. None of the original Maxis seems to exist in this product. I hope this serves as a lesson to the game industry and its consumers.… Expand
  14. Squidcod
    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.
  15. Dethslayer7
    Mar 14, 2013
    2
    This game was terrible. It was a bad write-off of the old (and good) SimCity. I am very disappointed, and the fact that it has DRM makes it even worse.
  16. guitarmaniac005
    Mar 15, 2013
    2
    Although this game could have been something amazing. EA and maxis decided they wanted more money... so they added DRM.... the maps are too small for building space and on top of that Maxis developers lied to us by saying the game needed an online connection. Don't buy this game, I do not recommend it
  17. PunisherNOR
    Mar 16, 2013
    2
    I specifically created this account to express my distaste for this game. Let alone the incredibly horrible and incompetent launch, the always online DRM and the small maps, the game itself is broken and should never have been released in its current state. Let me emphasize that if you do buy the game; know that you’ll feel like you’re participating in a beta test and not a finishedI specifically created this account to express my distaste for this game. Let alone the incredibly horrible and incompetent launch, the always online DRM and the small maps, the game itself is broken and should never have been released in its current state. Let me emphasize that if you do buy the game; know that you’ll feel like you’re participating in a beta test and not a finished product. First, the traffic system does not work and it creates traffic hell. And hey you can’t alleviate it with a subway system, but what you can do is create a snake like road system with no interactions so the AI does not screw itself over. Also, the sewage system is broken (it seems like it follows the same pathing as traffic, that is ALWAYS taking the shortest route even though there are other routes available), the power grid system is broken and the water system is broken too with similar issues as traffic. Even though you have plenty of capacity for these things, the engine does allow distribution between routes A, B and C, but only chooses one route, leading to congestion and full stop. And this did not show up in internal testing? Furthermore, if there is a disaster such as a fire, all your fire trucks are sent at the same time, often driving in weird circles or not arriving at the fire at all. Moving on, the regional trading system is also broken. If you send money to another city, know that the money arrives (if it arrives) several hours or maybe a day or two later. I have not tried sending any other resources in fear of losing them permanently. And then there’s the main problem, the RCI zoning issue. You can build a city completely made up of residential. No need for commercial zones and industrial because parks take care of the jobs! The developers have purposely created a game where residential zoning is independent of commercial zones; they only need industrial for jobs, and in the extreme case you only need parks. The fundamental core of the whole series is in shambles. And good luck with getting a refund if you bought this over origin, it’s impossible.… Expand
  18. will86c
    Mar 17, 2013
    2
    Size city limits are absurd. Having to be online all the time to play even alone is ridiculous. Lack of terraforming and custom regions is disappointing. The game play has been dumbed down to the point where there is no challenge. There are no difficulty levels, every game is the same. If you don't already have friends on Origin then it's impossible to find a game to play in. There is noSize city limits are absurd. Having to be online all the time to play even alone is ridiculous. Lack of terraforming and custom regions is disappointing. The game play has been dumbed down to the point where there is no challenge. There are no difficulty levels, every game is the same. If you don't already have friends on Origin then it's impossible to find a game to play in. There is no way to search for open games or reorder the game list to show available cities. Compared to Sim City 4 this game is garbage, I wish I hadn't even bought it. The only good thing about the game is that the graphics are pretty.… Expand
  19. Felice
    Mar 19, 2013
    2
    The gameplay is disappointing, it seems that the residents (sims) populate your city whatever you do correctly or incorrectly. The mayor of the city can put a landfill in the middle of the city but residents continue to arrive in the city! I think it is just simulation and realistic, I am very disappointed.
  20. Facet
    Mar 21, 2013
    2
    EA have done it again.. made a great promotion of the new simcity. make it all fine and shiny.. But what the hell is wrong with these people! This game is not anything near done. The game is pretty much broken. It have so huge great potential. but the the greed from EA just goes to new levels once again. They don't even understand the backfire they make on them self.
    For many years i    EA have done it again.. made a great promotion of the new simcity. make it all fine and shiny.. But what the hell is wrong with these people! This game is not anything near done. The game is pretty much broken. It have so huge great potential. but the the greed from EA just goes to new levels once again. They don't even understand the backfire they make on them self.
    For many years i haven't bought anything that have EA on the cover. i know how much crappy beta games they pop out. Just can't support it.. But i ended up falling for this simcity trap. Its so sad how great the fundamental of this game is. But just get completely broken by EA profit run..
    TO ALL... DON'T SUPPORT EA GAMES     … Expand
  21. Adhikm
    Mar 24, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It ridiculous that EA dont want to hear us as their customer. The original habits of Simcity are offline, easy to safe the games, user can act as god who able to create their own land contour and the city should large or huge. But this Simcity 2013 is far from those features.
    1. I always have to connect to internet (and the server sometimes are full)
    2. The server cannot synch our files to other alternative servers they offer (It so shame)
    3. The synch between the games and server only when we out from the games (imagine if it crash after we play for 4 hours, which is always happened)
    4. The city is so small, dont event thinking to have Hi way surround the city... the area more like a village rather than a city.
    5. Crash while gameplay, and after that... even though have a feature Roll Back but still the city cannot be open. I have report this to EA and no solution until now.
    6. The AI of traffic, dump truck route and bus are even worse

    Plus point of this games is only graphics.    … Expand
  22. DDKain
    Mar 26, 2013
    2
    Many bugs, crashed savegames 'cause of server issues, a non-balanced gameplay. Less functions, options building space and buildings than you have sim city 4.
  23. EA_Sucks
    Apr 3, 2013
    2
    "DO NOT BUY THIS GAME." That's what I told everyone who would listen a couple of weeks ago. I have now cooled down, and will now say this: This game is worth 10£. Not more. One user here said it was a 80£ Facebook game, which is pretty much the most accurate description of the latest Sim City I have seen.

    I am not an EA hater (please disregard my nickname). I don't even mind Origin, or    "DO NOT BUY THIS GAME." That's what I told everyone who would listen a couple of weeks ago. I have now cooled down, and will now say this: This game is worth 10£. Not more. One user here said it was a 80£ Facebook game, which is pretty much the most accurate description of the latest Sim City I have seen.

    I am not an EA hater (please disregard my nickname). I don't even mind Origin, or the insanely annoying always-on DRM system. Hell, I can even accept overpriced digital downloads if they're for a decent game such as Mass Effect or Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'm a grown man, I can afford a fiver here and a fiver there. The number one problem with this game is that is completely, utterly dull. Replayability: Zero. I had been looking forward to this game since it was announced, but started to worry when I was bored in the beta even before the mind numbingly stupid one-hour time limit was up.

    When the game was released, my worst fears came true. Nevermind the fact that I couldn't play for two days because EA didn't want to spend money on server capacity. Maxis, hopefully bullied around by the suits in EA, had utterly ruined one of my favorite franchise. The list of reasons why this game completely fails to live up to its predecessor is long. Very long. Here are a few game-breakers.

    - City size. You -will- use all the available land within an hour or three. After that, it's all about understanding how the game's traffic system works. Or doesn't, depending on how you see it.

    - Traffic. As mentioned, it is horrible. The agent system in Sandbox (Sim City's engine) simply does not work for traffic. Emergency vehicles get stuck in traffic, city services (garbage trucks, school buses etc.). Google "Sim City traffic" and you will see just how realistic looking cities that "work" in this game are.

    - AI is non existent. The PR people at EA bragged much about how each sim would have his or her own job, personality, home etc. That was a lie. Every morning, every sim goes out looking for a job, stopping at the first available job for his or her education level. It is impossible to feel attached to your citizens, because the only thing their zombielike behaviour does is messing up traffic even more.

    - Multiplayer is worthless, there is very little (if any) cooperation and interaction between cities in a region.

    - No terraforming. Your territory acts like a plot from one of the Sims games. Just more static.

    - It is impossible to build a realistic city. All the reasons above contribute to that fact, and if you ever hoped you could simulate your home town like you did in Sim City 4 or one of the earlier games, forget it. This game won't do it.

    - City specialization is far from deep enough, and stops being interesting after a few hours.

    I'm going to be generous and give this game a score of 2. I might have given it 3 points if it didn't break such an amazing franchise. The dumbed down graphics look nice, in a model landscape sort of way, which was supposedly what the devs were going for, and the game will keep you entertained for a few hours. Oh, and there's a color blind mode.

    If you see this game on a 10£ sale I have no doubt that we will see very soon) go for it, but don't believe for a second that the critic reviews aren't biased. This is a terrible, terrible game.

    Buy any of the Tropico games, Cities XL, Cities in Motion or any of the other city sims out there. They are much better. Sim City 4 is still the king.    … Expand
  24. 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
  25. 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?
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. Cnic
    Dec 4, 2013
    2
    I wish I'd checked these reviews before I went out and bought this game, thinking SimCity would be great as it always has been. First off with DRM, this doesn't affect me so much as I really always have connection but if the EA servers fail I have paid £40 to do nothing. It's not a city builder, it's a small town builder. The sizes of the plots are ridiculously small. How can you build aI wish I'd checked these reviews before I went out and bought this game, thinking SimCity would be great as it always has been. First off with DRM, this doesn't affect me so much as I really always have connection but if the EA servers fail I have paid £40 to do nothing. It's not a city builder, it's a small town builder. The sizes of the plots are ridiculously small. How can you build a city in a 2km by 2km grid?

    What I was expecting was something along the lines of SimCity 4 but with new features/better graphics. There's a few new features but i'd say there's less features overall. Ea have taken out highways and subways and to build an airport you're going to have to destroy half of your "city"

    Honestly so disappointed with this version of SimCity. Going to play SimCity 4 to try and recover from burning £40.

    Don't buy...

    Added review:

    After 8 or so months i decided to come back to this game, still disappointed. If you look at their Facebook almost every comment is from people who want bigger maps. Surely the next update has to be bigger maps? no. I don't understand why a game company would so blatantly ignore their fanbase. Surely they would actually make money from this?

    To add to it when i patched i couldn't play because the server was unavailable... I think i'll take a point off my previous score.    … Expand
  29. 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
  30. 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.
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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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