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. NEWater
    Mar 8, 2013
    2
    I really like the idea and concept that no city lives in a vacuum, and the game attempts to reflect that by including multiplayer elements of cooperation with municipal services and competition in global trade of commodities, but in terms of the simulation it feels like it's "SimCity Lite". There were many features that were central to the SimCity franchise that got cut out in the name ofI really like the idea and concept that no city lives in a vacuum, and the game attempts to reflect that by including multiplayer elements of cooperation with municipal services and competition in global trade of commodities, but in terms of the simulation it feels like it's "SimCity Lite". There were many features that were central to the SimCity franchise that got cut out in the name of "streamlining" i.e. plan your own highway off-ramp locations, tiny plot size, terraforming, etc. Sure, the much-vaunted Glassbox simulation engine that tracks the activity of every individual sim promises a more "accurate simulation", but it's moot when so many aspects of the game's AI behave like retards. Traffic goes into a standstill even if you spend 75% of your budget on public transport if you commit the crime of having more than 5 intersections in your main arteries. Someone even proved how pants-on-head retarded the traffic AI is by making a city out of one single winding snake road spread out across the lot, and managed to have a successful city because of it because 0 intersections 0 gridlock. vOv

    I really want to like the game and the synergy it promotes, but unfortunately there are many things that need to be done for the game to be a success. The Always-Online system is not necessarily a DRM, but also something in-built to the game that had poorly thought-out execution. It failed to account for the contingency that someone's game would disconnect, and does not have an offline save that could be uploaded to the cloud the next time the player reconnects to the server (Diablo III and StarCraft II had that, at least). EA/Maxis also failed to properly stress test in their popular beta stages, and additionally they were piss poor in their communication to their players when they were attempting to sort out their server woes.

    On top of the always-online stuff, the game itself is in need of a significant overhaul. Traffic AI needs to be fixed. The RCI indicator is a lie after 2 days of playing and finding out that zoning according to the RCI indicator did nothing for my economy, I clicked on my population window and found everything I needed to know in the detail tab. I then decided to ignore everything the game was telling me through RCI and the ingame prompts, and did much better in my subsequent cities. There are just way too many aspects of the game that were either because of poor design decisions and poor execution that kind of border on amateurish. Somehow, I think that this SimCity 2013 has become a deeply wounding blow to Maxis's reputation. Lots of fanbois will protest and say that Maxis is perfect, and EA is at fault. But I've been observing this game for a long time, and Maxis is just as complicit as EA in this, from the Online Lead being a Maxis staffer to Maxis designers themselves who wanted the always-online concept to begin with. Lots of people who have been playing Maxis games since the 90s have since lost their trust in Maxis, and it can only go downhill from here.    … Expand
  2. Lutrogale
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    The Short: Save yourself the hassle and don't even buy this game. Don't tell yourself that enough time has passed and you will be able to get on the server much easier too, these same problems could crop up at any time and wreak havoc on your ability to play the game. I can't imagine how awful the servers will be after an expansion is launched. The Long: I feel like I'm just adding aThe Short: Save yourself the hassle and don't even buy this game. Don't tell yourself that enough time has passed and you will be able to get on the server much easier too, these same problems could crop up at any time and wreak havoc on your ability to play the game. I can't imagine how awful the servers will be after an expansion is launched. The Long: I feel like I'm just adding a bunch of poo to a pile of poo that already has entirely too much poo in it. I'm one of the unlucky customers that pre-ordered this game. I was eagerly looking forward to it as well as I have been a fan for nearly two decades and the game looked amazing in the beta and their Let's All Be Mayor campaign. Let's face it, this has all been said before and this poor review will boil down to server issues. It's a shame that this launch was handled so poorly. Not just that I couldn't log in to play the game, but that everyone from Maxis was so quiet about what was going on. When you have upset customers, the last thing you want to do as a company is remain silent. After trying this afternoon and evening to get on the servers once again, and still failing despite adding nearly twice as many servers as a couple days ago, I gave up.

    The silver lining in this whole thing is that Amazon stepped up to bat for me. They gave me a full refund, and apologized for my experience with this game. That's more than I've heard from people who have ordered this game from Origin. At best they get a customer service rep who is nice enough to refund them, most likely they get one who flat out refuses to refund the money and at worst they (supposedly) threaten a ban of the entire Origin account.

    It's a shame that such a big company cannot treat its customers better. Maxis has lost a loyal customer here, and EA has lost any business from a formerly neutral customer, now anti-fanboy.    … Expand
  3. Roger72
    Mar 8, 2013
    3
    I'm going to be extremely generous in this review by pretending I'm writing from the perspective of six months from now, that all the server issues have been fixed, and that perhaps EA has even modified some of the most egregious limitations of the online DRM. As a longtime SimCity fan who's played every iteration of the game, though, going back to Will Wright's original classic, it trulyI'm going to be extremely generous in this review by pretending I'm writing from the perspective of six months from now, that all the server issues have been fixed, and that perhaps EA has even modified some of the most egregious limitations of the online DRM. As a longtime SimCity fan who's played every iteration of the game, though, going back to Will Wright's original classic, it truly pains me to say I still cannot recommend this game.

    The city size issue mentioned by many here is actually not new, but it's become so bad that it actually undermines the core premise of the game (that one is simulating a "city"). I can still recall being disappointed at how small SimCity 4's city areas seemed relative to SimCity 3000, but here the typical "city" is, without exaggeration, neighborhood-size. At 2x2 km, a typical city lot is slightly larger than Park Slope in Brooklyn, assuming there is no water or other unbuildable terrain. Truth be told, SimCity never handled scale all that well, but with these dimensions, the very notion of mass transit itself becomes absurd, as a pedestrian could walk across the city in a matter of minutes. It's little wonder that agricultural zoning and subways have disappeared. The cities are simply too small for them.

    This alone is enough to severely limit the appeal of the game to me, but the regional system, too, is poorly implemented. The essence of SimCity was, after all, always the Mayorship, and the Mayor's authority extends only to the borders of his city. Attempting to create regional economies and specializations, where players are forced to constantly deal with neighbors (whether in multiplayer or single-player) ultimately detracts from the experience, IMO. This is not SimCounty or SimState or SimRegionalEconomicPartnership, it's SimCity! The scale and shape of the cities, moreover, makes the "regions" appear quite ridiculous and not at all realistic.

    Zoning, a core element of the game, has been given an overhaul, but not for the better. Previous versions built in infrastructure cost as part of the zoning itself (higher densities cost more to zone), but did not care what size street they fronted. Here, zoning is free, but all depends on the type of fronting street. This makes it impossible to construct anything like Lower Manhattan or downtown Boston. Your options are basically Phoenix, Las Vegas or Houston, on a tiny scale. The streets can be curvy now, yes, but since building lots remain square (was it really that hard to snap lots and buildings to irregular spaces?), this produces a tremendous amount of wasted space.

    The time scale of SimCity was always perplexing, with the early emphasis on dirty industry, later transitioning to electronics and white collar services, suggestive of a starting point during the industrial revolution and moving through the late 20th century (I believe SC 2000 had a possible starting year of 1900 A.D., though contemporary tech was always available, and culminated with futuristic arcologies). The tantalizing possibilities of building a game that captures the sweep of urban history in this manner, a sort of Civilization of city-building, has been left unexplored here. Instead, the player lives in a perpetual now, with only a handful of technological enhancements here and there. About the AI, many uncomplimentary things could be said. Multiple fire trucks respond to a single modest house fire even as a wall of flame sweeps through the industrial district. Residents make contradictory statements about their proximity to shopping. And so on.

    I'm trying to think of a few positive things to say here, and I do like the option of simply adding on to, rather than demolishing and rebuilding, certain buildings. The graphics are attractive enough, if a bit cartoony. Overall, though, it's just not a step up from SC 4, or even from the two before it. Did fans really wait 10 years for this? Perhaps Maxis can, in time, mend some of the flaws. Others are here to stay, reflective of what looks like a long-term shift away from single-player in-depth games to a ones better suited to an era of smart phones and short attention spans. For SimCity, though, one of the ultimate time wasters and friend to micromanagers everywhere, that design imperative may very well be fatal to the venerable franchise.    … Expand
  4. larzle
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I could look past the DRM and pointless online garbage if the basic game was intact. But this is beyond broken. Simcity as we know it has been raped.
  5. jaketyler48
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    Ok, I understand having to have an internet connection to play the game. But if the servers are junk or full and you can't even play the damn game that's just stupid! EA dropped the ball on this one! I don't care who but since I can't even enjoy a single player game. Because the servers are unavailable or down or full. This game is going back and I'll save some money and get Cities XL. IOk, I understand having to have an internet connection to play the game. But if the servers are junk or full and you can't even play the damn game that's just stupid! EA dropped the ball on this one! I don't care who but since I can't even enjoy a single player game. Because the servers are unavailable or down or full. This game is going back and I'll save some money and get Cities XL. I don't care who eats the cash but its not going to be me!… Expand
  6. AProcrastinator
    Mar 8, 2013
    3
    This game looks pretty good, but then there's the always online DRM. This means that when a new sim city is released, EA will start killing off the servers for this sim city, and the game will be dead and unable to play. The maps are also smaller than other sim city games, and even the 1980/1990's sim city was better, and had bigger maps. One more thing is that you can't save the game toThis game looks pretty good, but then there's the always online DRM. This means that when a new sim city is released, EA will start killing off the servers for this sim city, and the game will be dead and unable to play. The maps are also smaller than other sim city games, and even the 1980/1990's sim city was better, and had bigger maps. One more thing is that you can't save the game to your hardrive, it goes straight to EA's cloud. This means that you can't load up a save of one of your games. Say you have a city saved, and then it gets destroyed. You are unable to open it up and load the game, it goes straight to the cloud, where it is impossible to get. 3/10, gorgeous, seems pretty good, but then there's the drm and save/load items.… Expand
  7. greywolf00
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    This review is based on the current state of the game (minus connection issues). This game has online only DRM which was justified by making a single player game multiplayer by having regions share resources. However, this feature currently doesn't work and EA has admitted as much. You cannot share workers, resources, or money. City Hall upgrades do not sync with the region and carry overThis review is based on the current state of the game (minus connection issues). This game has online only DRM which was justified by making a single player game multiplayer by having regions share resources. However, this feature currently doesn't work and EA has admitted as much. You cannot share workers, resources, or money. City Hall upgrades do not sync with the region and carry over into other towns. As usual for an EA game it is infested with all kinds of other bugs. IE water is supposed to refill when it rains: Not working. Emergency vehicles will sit in long traffic lines even when there's an open road near by. You will also see fire fighters drive around in circles on the roads rather than go to fires. Fire Marshalls Wellness vans will randomly target buildings rather than prioritize high fire/gem prone areas. Not worth buying for a few months until they 1) Fix connection issues and add servers. 2) Patch all the broken features and revamp traffic AI.… Expand
  8. DetectiveCake
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    DRM..really? EA you are ruining the gaming industry. I will never buy another EA game again. All they bring out are mediocre half finished games and if you want the full experience you have to buy there DLC even though you already paid 70$ for the game. DO NOT BUY!
  9. JLishere
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    The negatives: Single-player mode should not require a constant internet connection. Some game play features have been retracted by EA in order to alleviate server issues. Game progress may be lost. Cannot save anything locally. Regional players are dependent on you being logged to the same server. City size is too small. Transportation modes that previously existed in SC4 are missing.The negatives: Single-player mode should not require a constant internet connection. Some game play features have been retracted by EA in order to alleviate server issues. Game progress may be lost. Cannot save anything locally. Regional players are dependent on you being logged to the same server. City size is too small. Transportation modes that previously existed in SC4 are missing. Multiple AI problems, including emergency vehicles that stop at every intersection and are stuck in traffic. Specializations are too limited. The graphics are amazing. SimCity is ruined by EA and Origin's insistence on making this a locked down DRM game.… Expand
  10. noneverno
    Mar 8, 2013
    2
    Had high hopes for the game, but it's now nearly day 4 after release and the game remains, for the most part, unplayable. Even in the few hours I was able to get on, I was discouraged by the prohibitively small city size. From the lack of refunds, to the full servers, to the 2+ hour waits for customer service via phone/chat, I am sorely disappointed with this release.
  11. AshtonVibe
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    This game looks to be a VERY good game. Completely online will have its advantages. However, I purchased a game that I want to play when I want to. This has not happened. I can get it, and I just want to play as simple as possible. I even don't care if the data I made is lost forever, but I hate the lag. It is very uncomfortable to sit through.
  12. EndTheory
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    You can expect anything that comes from EA to be utter garbage, they have tarnished the good records of countless titles and franchises, you can thank them for destroying the command and conquer franchise RTS fans.
  13. MattDavBen
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I haven't even gotten to play the game yet. It's a $60.00 clock that repeatedly counts down from 20 minutes...because you're not really waiting to get in, you're waiting to be denied again. Definitely ensures I will never purchase an EA product again, and likely has stopped me from ever preordering a video game again. After three days and dozens of attempts, I still haven't gotten to play.
  14. nintyblue44
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    This game is a summarization of everything wrong with video games today. You have microtransactions/DLC for starters. On day one even. But the most glaring thing is this always-online DRM. It stopped people playing it for about three days, simply because it was too difficult to get online and "claim a city", whatever that means. And here's the kicker... it stopped pirates from playing itThis game is a summarization of everything wrong with video games today. You have microtransactions/DLC for starters. On day one even. But the most glaring thing is this always-online DRM. It stopped people playing it for about three days, simply because it was too difficult to get online and "claim a city", whatever that means. And here's the kicker... it stopped pirates from playing it for exactly the same amount of time. That's right. There's ALREADY something out to bypass this crap. This whole exercise has served only to punish paying customers and kill their reputation further. Did they learn nothing from Spore?

    If you support good video games done in the name of art with attention paid to things like morals and integrity, then I beg of you, do not now or ever purchase this title. Talk to your friends about this too. People have to be willing to use willpower and abstain from being manipulated by this garbage if we are ever to return to a time where big publishers put out nice, decent things that reward paying customers.    … Expand
  15. Makeelee
    Mar 8, 2013
    5
    I haven't purchased the game (yet), but I've honestly gotten more entertainment from watching EA getting scorched than I have had in a long time. So I give the game a 5.
  16. Aethande
    Mar 8, 2013
    1
    The game is impossible to score without taking into account the miserable DRM (always connected to EA-servers, in so many words). Since the servers are totally overloaded, information about your single-player cities is lost and the game is barely even playable due to connection issues, server hiccups etc. There is no reason what so ever to buy this game at this time and I stronglyThe game is impossible to score without taking into account the miserable DRM (always connected to EA-servers, in so many words). Since the servers are totally overloaded, information about your single-player cities is lost and the game is barely even playable due to connection issues, server hiccups etc. There is no reason what so ever to buy this game at this time and I strongly recommend reading IGN:s continuing reporting on these and other Sim City related issues. Also I recommend buying the game physically rather than over Origin, due to EA:s EUA. Sim City (5) may well become a great game once all the server-issues are solved but until then it is not worth buying and I only wish I had more patience but here I am a few shorter with a non-functioning product.… Expand
  17. vironsusi
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    My, my... how could a company screw up this badly? The complete and utter catastrophe that is trying to log on to play the game, the horrible DRM. You'd think someone at Maxis would've had the the brains to work around this. How did this happen? How in the world did this happen? All right, I won't waste my with an essay on the horrible practices used by the majority of big developersMy, my... how could a company screw up this badly? The complete and utter catastrophe that is trying to log on to play the game, the horrible DRM. You'd think someone at Maxis would've had the the brains to work around this. How did this happen? How in the world did this happen? All right, I won't waste my with an essay on the horrible practices used by the majority of big developers because who would actually read them? How about I just help the opposition with the zeros and hope in vein that EA learns their lesson. Psh... as if that'll happen.… Expand
  18. scuba2121
    Mar 8, 2013
    1
    This game was fun when I could play it. I take back everything I said about DRM not mattering. It absolutely does matter and needs to go away forever.
  19. Matadorian
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    EA, you need to wake up.
  20. Mirinu
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    This is a disaster. EA why have you screwed the SimCity Franchise. Curse you!! 1. Always online DRM 2. No local saves 3. Buggy mechanics 4. My crap dump size is bigger than your city maps 5. FCKIN Huge login queues what??? did I buy this game to stand in the queue to play?
  21. whereiwannab
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    Unable to connect. Why did I pay $59 again? I really hope EA gets their act together with this horrid experience. I am hoping for a some kind of action to alleviate any lost time trying to play a game. Maybe some free dlc? Either way, f* this game.
  22. Luckless
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    Lack of forethought by the developers truly spoils what would otherwise have been a mostly acceptable but not exceptionally notable game. Every aspect of their "Always online" 'service' could easily have been simulated for offline play, or configured to work in an ad-hoc peer to peer system. City saves are limited, and out of your control. There are no means (That I've been able to find)Lack of forethought by the developers truly spoils what would otherwise have been a mostly acceptable but not exceptionally notable game. Every aspect of their "Always online" 'service' could easily have been simulated for offline play, or configured to work in an ad-hoc peer to peer system. City saves are limited, and out of your control. There are no means (That I've been able to find) to backup your games, to split your saves to take the same city in two directions, or share the cities themselves between friends.

    Users are completely at the mercy of servers being up and working properly. I can currently log in without issue, but I can't create a new city.

    Half a thought about what happens when the user was offline would have made this game a decent 7.

    City lots are small, much of your choices are limited to "Doesn't do much" and "Does a all you can ask but costs a fortune" with limited middle ground. Options are also highly limited for what I had expected.

    Simulation aspects frequently fail. With one city having industry begging for workers, but a solid mix of all 3 wealth classes of residential each begging for jobs in a city with nearly zero traffic problems and solid public transit?    … Expand
  23. dizzbert
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    $60 for an utterly unplayable game. Digital downloaders have no recourse for refunds Brilliant strategy EA! Take the money and run! You would think the decision makers at EA would have reviewed the history of always online DRM.
  24. Tornnight
    Mar 8, 2013
    5
    -3 for Server downtime fiasco during release. Even if their division isn't big on multiplayer, this is unforgivable. They should have known better. I can forgive DRM and online only, but not if it doesn't work. This is worse than an alpha game in this state.
    -2 for Map Size which is ridiculously small. You can almost 'finish' a 'city' in one play session
    +1 for over fun while you're    -3 for Server downtime fiasco during release. Even if their division isn't big on multiplayer, this is unforgivable. They should have known better. I can forgive DRM and online only, but not if it doesn't work. This is worse than an alpha game in this state.
    -2 for Map Size which is ridiculously small. You can almost 'finish' a 'city' in one play session
    +1 for over fun while you're still developing your 'town'
    -1 for blurry graphics and poor terrain textures unless you zoom in enough.
    +1 for the fun disasters
    -1 for lack of any terrain adjustment options. A little, limited ones would have gone a long way.    … Expand
  25. FiammaTheGreat
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I just want my money back.
    Well, if i buy myself a game, i want it to work. Im not interested in waiting ~5 hours to log in somehow and then get a disconnect.
    Yes, you heard me right: disconnect. Single player game. Logging in for five hours. This is wrong in so many ways that i dont even think that i will try buying something from EA anymore. And if ill get lucky enough to get my money    I just want my money back.
    Well, if i buy myself a game, i want it to work. Im not interested in waiting ~5 hours to log in somehow and then get a disconnect.
    Yes, you heard me right: disconnect. Single player game. Logging in for five hours. This is wrong in so many ways that i dont even think that i will try buying something from EA anymore. And if ill get lucky enough to get my money back i will just pirate it from some tracker instead of paying for this unworking crap.    … Expand
  26. Jjjjjoe
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I bought this game and have yet to be able to play it. It is completely worthless. I wish I has read a few reviews before I made this purchase. What a complete failure in planning. Simcity is a single player game and should be available for offline playing and saving.
  27. peekitup
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    The game is simply unplayable and is a complete waste of money. Even if you can log in, your city will often not save to the servers, all of the regional interaction between cities. In fact, everything done on the server end seems to be broken by bugs or lag. You will lost hours of gametime, will be unable to play with your friends, unable to build anything of reasonable size that isThe game is simply unplayable and is a complete waste of money. Even if you can log in, your city will often not save to the servers, all of the regional interaction between cities. In fact, everything done on the server end seems to be broken by bugs or lag. You will lost hours of gametime, will be unable to play with your friends, unable to build anything of reasonable size that is functioning. A complete crash and burn in regards to trusting some server to be reliable.

    Do not buy.

    The War Z was better about giving out refunds.    … Expand
  28. Freaky
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    Online DRM, the biggest pile of for single player games. A great franchise gets butchered because of it. Nobody can play the game on launch and a week after it. These companies need to be crucified to set an example of. So that Online DRM goes down in history like nazism.
  29. GolferGuy
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I cannot connect! This is incredibly frustrating. How can you release a game that requires connectivity and not have your back end servers ready and deployed.
  30. reubensandwich2
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    I feel that the entire staff should be fired and replaced with feces throwing chimps. At least something will stick unlike the complete waste that Maxis and EA created. I'm sure this server condition is a ploy from EA to make people pay simtaxes to play the game after they ponied up the cash to buy it. But what do I know, I haven't had a chance to even play the stupid game in 3 days.I feel that the entire staff should be fired and replaced with feces throwing chimps. At least something will stick unlike the complete waste that Maxis and EA created. I'm sure this server condition is a ploy from EA to make people pay simtaxes to play the game after they ponied up the cash to buy it. But what do I know, I haven't had a chance to even play the stupid game in 3 days. Never in my 20 years of computer gaming have I seen such a level of incompetence.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

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