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. lilkillpappy
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    did not buy, will not buy. Sim City is one of my all time favorite franchises, but I absolutely refuse to buy any game that has forced online DRM, especially for a single player game. Sorry EA has completely screwed up on this one!!
  2. Minatanae
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Now this is just another horrible instance of how a greedy publisher can destroy a potentially awesome game, from a really good series of games.

    First of all, Maxis, well done. You've created an interesting, fun and absorbing game, like you have done in the past. Secondly, EA Games, go bury yourself. The gameplay itself is nice and fun. But it's impossible to not notice the    Now this is just another horrible instance of how a greedy publisher can destroy a potentially awesome game, from a really good series of games.

    First of all, Maxis, well done. You've created an interesting, fun and absorbing game, like you have done in the past.

    Secondly, EA Games, go bury yourself.

    The gameplay itself is nice and fun. But it's impossible to not notice the obvious parts that are missing, just so they can be added as DLC and sold for more profit later on. Subways for example and other means of transportation that could easily have made the "final product". Also, regarding this whole "always online" way of avoiding piracy, that does'nt work so well does it. First of all, on launch day, the game is still unaccessable. Secondly, if you do create a nice city that you wish to continue playing, you're out of luck if your server is full. Either you're put into a queue, or you will have to start a new city on another server, putting your old favorite in the do-it-later-when-I'm-allowed-to-play-what-I-want pile. Great.

    Also, Sim City is one of those perfect games to play when you just want to chill out and relax a little by yourself. The Sim City series have always been like that. Going away to your cabin for the weekend? Want a single-player game that ain't demanding, that you can just play for fun? Sim City has always delivered, along with other "tycoon" games.

    But now, thanks to the DRM, you always have to be online. So you can kiss those days goodbye as well.

    This could have been a great game worth spending hundreds of hours on. Thanks to the greed of the publisher, it's the complete opposite. Way to go there, ruining many players hopes of finally getting the best Sim City experience yet.

    I can't recommend this as a purchase for anyone. No matter how fond you are of city-sim games.    … Expand
  3. Gallant000
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    The game is great.

    The servers are however constantly down, rendering the game completely unplayable. Until that issue is rectified, then this is the best I can do. Had they actually taken the time to properly speculate on how much server space they would actually need, this game would be getting an 8 from me right now.
  4. Mike_D
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I have completed everything that the game allows. Meaning I installed it and started it up. I would give it a 0 but the menu looks nice. There is no way to actually play the game so it is broken and should be avoided at all costs. I want to play BY MY SELF but it will not allow me to do so. Therefore it is broken and not worth buying.
  5. corhen
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    a mix of smaller cities, no pre load, horribly DRM, Horrible origin.

    When i first tried to play it, it didnt unlock... after i mixed that (an hour wasted) i had a 30 minute log in time...

    Skip it, you will thank me.
  6. SneerValiant
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I don't see any justification for giving this game a score other than zero for the following reasons:

    Always online DRM
    Small city sizes
    Features deleted

    I'm happy for game companies to make money, but to deliver a subpar game to capitalize on its name recognition should not be tolerated by consumers. Don't buy it.
  7. JBUTT
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I'd love a 3d online simcity, it's a great idea, but "Simcity" is a bunch of good ideas horribly implemented.

    The glass-box engine that tracks every sim sounds good on paper but adds nothing to the gameplay. It's a dumbed down ugly simcity experience with most of the features built up over generations abandoned in favour of tacked-on online play and useless over-detail. The graphics    I'd love a 3d online simcity, it's a great idea, but "Simcity" is a bunch of good ideas horribly implemented.

    The glass-box engine that tracks every sim sounds good on paper but adds nothing to the gameplay. It's a dumbed down ugly simcity experience with most of the features built up over generations abandoned in favour of tacked-on online play and useless over-detail. The graphics are poor, the zoning system is horrific and leaves your city full of ugly holes, and despite there apparently being insane detail under the hood, as a player none of it really effects you or the gameplay. They could have abstracted a the traffic and sims's needs to a much higher degree and be left with the exact same gameplay but much bigger maps. The new casual focus is a failure, the scale is a failure, the online component is a failure, and the new art style is a failure. All good ideas on paper but EA just didn't quite manage to pull it off. The bottom line is that this game does not scratch the itch I have to design a city with the scope, control, or realism I've come to expect.    … Expand
  8. cameronpha
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Garbage. I have purchased every single simcity on release date, since SimCity 2000. This will be the last SimCity I ever purchase. Among my top concerns: Server issues, no offline mode, tiny towns (Is this called SimCity or SimBlock?) I saw the small towns on the beta, and I thought it was just tiny for the beta.. this is absurd..
  9. MFT
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    This game is a sham. Not only its bland and overly-simplified, just like Dead Space 3 or Crysis 3, it also bugged and flawed at its very core. Cities, even regions can disappear and become permanently unavailable. Trading and sending gifts takes ages because of constant server synchronization issues. AI is disgusting cars always take shorter routes even if there are free roads available.This game is a sham. Not only its bland and overly-simplified, just like Dead Space 3 or Crysis 3, it also bugged and flawed at its very core. Cities, even regions can disappear and become permanently unavailable. Trading and sending gifts takes ages because of constant server synchronization issues. AI is disgusting cars always take shorter routes even if there are free roads available. Police stations, fire stations, hospitals, schools, buses nothing works properly. Nothing can completely cover an entire city even though they suppose to cover entire regions. Cities themselves are very small and impossible to be self-sufficient, effective or even aesthetically pleasing. Its impossible to place symmetric streets. You cant even rotate buildings, you cant even place parks properly they have to be aligned to roads and take a lot of space. I am horrified at critics reaction and scores this game received. Everyone can see just how flawed and bugged this game is. Nobody likes constant online connection or slow server response times and yet they keep giving away 9 out of 10, 90% and A grades to EA. Its unexplainable and despicable how they keep deceiving the gamers and pander to industry giants which keep releasing casual/console oriented, bugged, unpolished, unfinished products.… Expand
  10. darthpoopies
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Overall the game could be great, when playable. Finding a server at night is impossible, forcing you to join another server, which in turn you end up doing the tutorial repeatedly. Then you might get some game progress to be greeted with the game crashing and not being able to rejoin, or the map gets corrupted. If it were non reliant on being connected to an overseas server, it might be aOverall the game could be great, when playable. Finding a server at night is impossible, forcing you to join another server, which in turn you end up doing the tutorial repeatedly. Then you might get some game progress to be greeted with the game crashing and not being able to rejoin, or the map gets corrupted. If it were non reliant on being connected to an overseas server, it might be a good game. the beta was a blast, but much less people on at that times as well. Graphics are good, you can turn them all the way up on a good system and plays well on lower system under the lower settings.… Expand
  11. PL3
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    critic review is just bullsh*t. DO NOT SPEND 60$ on this. The city is just TOO DAMN SMALL. Server always busy. Feel exaclty like the diablo syndrom. ANd the game just tell you what to do. you do it and that sit. We need more police car!! do it. done. We need more classroom!! do it. done. over and over again.
  12. Geniusgizmo
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Always on DRM, PAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT BUY. Sim city for me anyways is a game I come back to time and time again. I still play the Old sim cities. I am certain I will have problems with this game in future. For this to be an always online game and EA to have problems with Servers on launch is a disgrace
  13. Ceomandala
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    What a waste of $60! 1. Several times my game got disconnected from server. There were issues deleting (abandoning) my failed cities, and I would play for 3 10 minutes and it would crash to desktop (that happened 5 times).
    2. My first three tries at building a city failed miserably. You are ALWAYS behind the curve on 'bad' things that need your attention... a monster came and destroyed    What a waste of $60! 1. Several times my game got disconnected from server. There were issues deleting (abandoning) my failed cities, and I would play for 3 10 minutes and it would crash to desktop (that happened 5 times).
    2. My first three tries at building a city failed miserably. You are ALWAYS behind the curve on 'bad' things that need your attention... a monster came and destroyed my cash generating business (can't shut off disasters)... I ran out of water just when I was starting to get going... pollution and not enough money to remedy. 3. I switched to sandbox mode and still got tons of people complaining at my city center that 'pollution or sewage was too high and they are supposed to be toggled off?
    4.I feel like a fool for pre-ordering such a lousy game I liked the other Simcities this one need lots of work yet!    … Expand
  14. skimmedmilk
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Terrible game overall, here is why:

    - Obtrusive DRM which requies you to be online AT ALL TIMES to play this even single player - The city size is far far too small, this is more like "sim small town" than "sim city" - Limited compared to previous simcity games, im all for new games but they must improve on what came before, unfortunately this game does not, there isnt even    Terrible game overall, here is why:

    - Obtrusive DRM which requies you to be online AT ALL TIMES to play this even single player

    - The city size is far far too small, this is more like "sim small town" than "sim city"

    - Limited compared to previous simcity games, im all for new games but they must improve on what came before, unfortunately this game does not, there isnt even subways in it!

    - Possible the absolute worst most damning thing... there is a good game in there somewhere but it is utterly handicapped by the previous points this is IMO the worst thing. I wouldn't mind so much if it were complete garbage but it could have been so much better than what it is.    … Expand
  15. stevegroundhog
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The map is incredibly small, the fact that I can't build my own metropolis having to piggy back off others is ridiculous. EA online garbage.... for not the first but second time you ruined a once fun game. Oh yeah and a leader board? What crap is that??? I don't care whose doing better or worse than me I want to play the game the way I want to play. If you idiots can fix the Mass Effect 3 ending by having us pressure Bioware then you can fix this crap filled game. Do not game developers play games? Why do they bring the same stuff they hate into our lives?… Expand
  16. Aquazi
    Mar 9, 2013
    6
    I will skip the drm part. The game is a limited version of sim city 4, cities are small, gameplay is limited. The cooperation and social part is interesting, but soon this new aspect gets boring and what you have is a very limited game. It is not that bad, but afterall games like Tropico 4 and all dlc's feel way more fun and cost 9 dollars not 60.
  17. Kimril
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Compared to the SimCity games before this is a joke, always online DRM, you don't own your savefiles, if you have a disconnect you are kicked from the game within minutes. The game feels dumbed down, with maps a lot smaller, barely any content. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!
  18. glper
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    I cannot emphasis how maddeningly bad this game is, and how boring it is.

    Yes, EA's "online only" requirement is incredibly annoying, but I also have Battlefield 3, so I'm used to it. I'm not even going to comment on this aspect of the game any further, as it's been discussed here ad infinitum. What is at issue is the actual game itself. It's bad. It's boring. It's restrictive. It's    I cannot emphasis how maddeningly bad this game is, and how boring it is.

    Yes, EA's "online only" requirement is incredibly annoying, but I also have Battlefield 3, so I'm used to it. I'm not even going to comment on this aspect of the game any further, as it's been discussed here ad infinitum.

    What is at issue is the actual game itself. It's bad. It's boring. It's restrictive. It's maddening. You are only allowed to build your "village" within a very small, confined space, a square, with a dotted line around it. That's it. That's it! That, in and of itself, is enough to ruin the game for me. After an hour, you've built a small village, and you're... done. You are done. You can tweak what you have, bulldoze some stuff, and... yeah. You're done. Now why did EA/Maxis do this? I can only speculate they are either really stupid, or really greedy. I expect in a few months they will start rolling out new content that you will have to pay for, e.g. $14.99 for "medium" sized maps (which will still be too small). The game really is a joke. The graphics are nice, but so are the graphics in Cities XL. I also wouldn't say they are that revolutionary. You might have seen the same product in 2009.    … Expand
  19. Daverid
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    All the 10 positive reviewers are complete morons. Spouting rubbish to try and defend this game. My favourite so far was, "There's a reason why it's sitting at 91% from the critics right now" Jaylenko Do I need to point you in the direction of; MASS EFFECT 3, DIABLO 3, COD:MW2&3, COD:BOPS1&2 ETC ETC to make you realise just how stupid that kind of statement is? These are all primeAll the 10 positive reviewers are complete morons. Spouting rubbish to try and defend this game. My favourite so far was, "There's a reason why it's sitting at 91% from the critics right now" Jaylenko Do I need to point you in the direction of; MASS EFFECT 3, DIABLO 3, COD:MW2&3, COD:BOPS1&2 ETC ETC to make you realise just how stupid that kind of statement is? These are all prime examples of games that were complete and utter blunders, had next to no innovation in just about any aspect of their game and yet reviewers gave them all extremely favourable reviews. It would almost lead someone to believe that EA/Activision are blackmailing Reviewers, or Buying them out, telling them they won't give them games pre-release or bribing them so they get a good review. Honestly if anyone ACTUALLY believes any kind of Big Gaming review websites these days, they're a complete moron. Now onto these same people trying to defend Always Online DRM, you can't defend it, PERIOD. It's a cheap and dirty practice that holds no place in the gaming world. What happens when you grab your Laptop and go somewhere that doesn't have internet access? What happens to the people with bad connections? What happens to your game when the servers crash? What happens when they do maintenance and you can't play for hours? What happens when the Cloud Saves glitch and you have to roll back your town (Which btw has already happened to people)? Honestly the problems with always online DRM is endless and serves no place in Gaming. Have a Singleplayer version of the game which can be accessed without Origin or can be accessed from a "Origin Offline Mode (Where you don't need to log in Like you can do in Steam)" and then have a Multiplayer version, then people get to choose which they prefer and you can do make changes to the different versions of the game without effecting the other. It's a disgusting practice by EA (And Blizzard for that matter with D3) and if you are enabling this kind of crap by buying these companies games then you are part of the Cancer that is slowly destroying gaming. I suppose I should talk about the game, well it doesn't come out till the 7th in Australia and I wasn't going to buy it anyway, I've boycotted all EA Products. But there's streams going on and Videos all over the net showcasing the gameplay (In great detail mind you since Press had the game for a solid week or so pre-release and made tons and tons of cities). And they all agree it's good, but not great. I only gave the game a 2 because morons are giving this 10 to try and counter-balance the 0's, and whilst I think the 0's are taking things a little to far, low scores have to be given to balance. Frankly with none of this always online rubbish, bigger build plots and less focus on Multiplayer, I'd say this game could definitely be a Solid 7-8/10. In it's current state, but without Always Online DRM probably a 5/10 is an honest Score. But sadly with the Always online BS in place, I think the 3-4/10 mark is spot on where this game deserves to be.… Expand
  20. gemanner
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    BEWARE: Forced online DRM, will you be playing this 10 years down the track like previous Sim Cities? No, you wont. And they want this, so you buy the next one. Servers go down? Well screw you, EA already has your money. DLC available from release, server side save-games. I repeat, FORCED ONLINE DRM Also, server queues at launch. Thanks for destroying video gaming and my most treasured franchise.
  21. djodars
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The usual "EA corporation" destroying awesome companies like Maxis. DO NOT BUY SIM CITY! Not only you need to be online at all times to play, but in a few years from now, the game will NOT be playable anymore (when they take the servers down). Do NOT encourage this practice. This is bad for everyone who likes video games if only a little.
  22. Antipika
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    >Small cities (smaller than the SNES version lol...)
    >Always online DRM
    >Forced to use Origin
    >DLCs to have access to bigger cities
    >MSRP above £40 in the UK (£45), which is a complete rip off as 98% of new game release, including AAA games such CoD are released for £39.99 or less.

    EA/10
  23. Zorrac555
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    So disappointed that they didn't lean from the D3 debacle and again saddle customers with unwanted DRM in the guise of connectivity-enabled features. Shame on you EA.
  24. Mattlab
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I am giving this a score of 0 since I can't log in and play. It's a singleplayer game and its saying the servers are full. This is crazy! Did EA not plan for launch at all? It's only going to get worse as this goes worldwide. I will only give this a good review once I can actually play the game.
  25. CorbeauNoir
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I haven't purchased an EA game since Mass Effect 2. Considering the sort of feedback from the considerable majority of users have given, I want to thank them for helping to keep the streak alive. Is it really too much to ask that a game for once NOT be geared towards the lowest common denominator? It's like if every movie released in the last three years were on the same level as Jack Jill.
  26. MattR69
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    DRM blows. Why do I need to be online to play in single player. Maps waaaaaaaay to small. Perhaps call the game SimVillage. Then there's DLC... oh come on I just paid for the game. EA have done it again. Yet another great series ruined.
  27. Yoolius
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    POS. Another example of why EA is consistently in the running for most hated company in America. I was excited to try Maxis' new Sim City, but their partnership with EA has ruined it.
  28. Steadyriot
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    This game is disgusting. I wasted my money on it and now it is gone. I could deal with the always online drm IF the game was otherwise perfect and they allowed for a offline version to become available when they inevitably shut down the servers. Map size is too small which I have a feeling will be "fixed" by means of in game (paid) download.
  29. ThisAndThat
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Sigh..... Why? I could be happily enjoying this game, but I am not due to the on line requirement. This has been a single player game in the past. The on line OPTION would have pleased some people, but the REQUIREMENT is just crap.
  30. docdoc
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    People please do not spend your money on any more EA games, they are total BS. The company used to make good games but since 2007 something changed and EA became a greedy cash making machine. This game is so overhyped, it does not even deserve 10% of attention it is getting. Micro-transactions is just the tip of the ice berg. EA I hope you Banckrupt nice and slowly for turning your marketPeople please do not spend your money on any more EA games, they are total BS. The company used to make good games but since 2007 something changed and EA became a greedy cash making machine. This game is so overhyped, it does not even deserve 10% of attention it is getting. Micro-transactions is just the tip of the ice berg. EA I hope you Banckrupt nice and slowly for turning your market towards 8 year old kids, who do nothing except crying out the money out of their parents wallets. SHAME ON YOU EA.… Expand
  31. powerpsi2
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    Server reached maximum capacity and so I was placed in a queue and was not allowed to play a SINGLE PLAYER GAME because it forces me to constantly be online.

    So despite my flawless internet connection, EA's incompetence has forced me to postpone playing a game I'd like to play on my own anyway. I have played the beta and the city size limits are awful. But it isn't all bad, I do    Server reached maximum capacity and so I was placed in a queue and was not allowed to play a SINGLE PLAYER GAME because it forces me to constantly be online.

    So despite my flawless internet connection, EA's incompetence has forced me to postpone playing a game I'd like to play on my own anyway.

    I have played the beta and the city size limits are awful.

    But it isn't all bad, I do enjoy the new features, such as removal of the piping networks and the add-ons for buildings. But it's awful comopated to SC4    … Expand
  32. penemue
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    It may be looked down upon to use this as a megaphone to shout through but the fact is that people need to see this, that NO-ONE should EVER support always online DRM for a single player game, on my partners 2nd attempt to play this game, she was told the servers were at full capacity and could not play until 235 minutes had elapsed. There are a staggering amount of other problems, such asIt may be looked down upon to use this as a megaphone to shout through but the fact is that people need to see this, that NO-ONE should EVER support always online DRM for a single player game, on my partners 2nd attempt to play this game, she was told the servers were at full capacity and could not play until 235 minutes had elapsed. There are a staggering amount of other problems, such as the save states being tied to client-side servers, so that once EA decides this game is finished so is your progress and your ability to play it, forever. Not only that but, as probably said before, this game is on Origin only, so you must install this malicious, unoptimized, buggy front-end to just begin to play the game.
    Regardless of how the game plays as a Simulator, or whether or not it is improved upon it's predecessors, these issues need to not just ironed out, but abolished completely and utterly. The business practices being executed here are absolutely disgusting and should not be tolerated, at all.    … Expand
  33. Karmafist
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    So I bought this after playing and loving Simcity 3000 and Simcity 4, enjoying Simcity 4 even today, 10 years after its original release. I was hesitant about buying this, but the Glassbox engine and a few gameplay mechanic improvements were enough to make me plop down the $60 entry fee.
    Whoops, Origin is required, and you are always required to be online while playing the game. After    So I bought this after playing and loving Simcity 3000 and Simcity 4, enjoying Simcity 4 even today, 10 years after its original release. I was hesitant about buying this, but the Glassbox engine and a few gameplay mechanic improvements were enough to make me plop down the $60 entry fee.
    Whoops, Origin is required, and you are always required to be online while playing the game. After waiting a good 40 minutes for EA's servers to let me into a single player game, I started playing a bit. Except my internet dropped out for a few minutes without my knowing until the game kicked me out for being offline. To EA's credit, it didn't make me lose my save, much. I still lost about 10 minutes of progress.

    Okay, so second try. I spent another hour logging in because the servers were getting pounded again. I decide to jump into the deep end by making the biggest city size they had available. I had to check two times to make sure that it was the biggest city size, because it was absolutely tiny. SC3KU's medium size was a bit bigger than this. So that's an actual city with suburbs gone out the window, and I resigned myself to making towns and nothing more.

    So when playing, I noticed another thing. Power and water mechanics are vastly simplified. Not streamlined, simplified. Of the vein "make a few buildings at the town edge and forget about it" sense, easily funded by pitiful money management. You can't even make water pipes or power lines anymore, removing any of the challenge in getting that infrastructure up. Sewage would be a neat addition too, but it's still largely useless.

    Then comes the zoning, where you zone different densities by... making different road sizes. You absolutely cannot have high-density buildings touching streets, so you have to build avenues all over the place to get high density buildings, largely unutilized since the "individually simulated" citizens love to funnel into a single avenue regardless of just how gridded your city is. In addition, industry and commercial buildings all have childish, enormous, uncreative names plastered on billboards seen from space. It was a bit charming at first, but seeing your entire industrial core covered in "DIRTY INDUSTRY" billboards gets old fast.

    The difficulty itself is awful. I could easily get a full-sized city up and running within an hour or two, never once going into the red. Monetary concerns are gone out the window unless an infrequent and easily-managed disaster strikes, and the only difficulty in this game has to do with somehow utilizing all of your meager amounts of land.

    Which leads me to another thing. Yes, roads can be curved now, but lots still follow rectangular grids. There is tons of technology these days that allows for curved and unequal lots, including in competitors like Synekism, Introversion's city generator, or even Shamus Young's city generator. However, since EA is still somehow stuck in the past, any curved roads end up wasting massive amounts of space due to lots always being rectangular. Areas inscribed by curved roads end up wasting up to around two thirds of their area. Even when you're not using curved roads, it seems the snap-to-right-angles option always wastes space due to a lack of visible grid, but the in-game adherence to a grid system. It wastes a bunch of space in the areas next to lots. This is horrible when your city size is already at a minimum.

    Finally, we come to the entire region view and multiplayer aspect of the game. The region system as set up is extremely visually jarring. There is a lot of wasted space and it results in two massive high-density cities being next door to each other but having absolutely no connections to each other aside from a meager, meandering highway. Then you have the myriad of idiots who just build cities in the shape of phalluses, ruining your experience anyways. Then, you're forced to play in a multiplayer region if you want the full experience of the singleplayer game, namely having all those imports and exports. However, all the cities next to you also move pollution to and fro. So there's always that guy who picks an upwind position and builds nothing but coal factories and industry, filling everyone else's cities with stifling pollution and preventing any meaningful progression. "So just play with friends in your own region" you say, well I'm sorry to say that I'm the only idiot dumb enough to buy this awful game.

    This is not a SimCity game in any sense except name only. This is just SimTown with awful design decisions and a clear plan to have loads of microtransactions.
    Save your money and don't buy this game until it hits the $5 bargain bin. Hope that EA doesn't shut down the servers by that time.    … Expand
  34. MitchC9
    Mar 31, 2014
    4
    I'll make it quick and simple.

    It's a good game ruined by game-breaking bugs. EA has shown little interest in fixing these bugs. As a result you will end up needing to restart your city/region or accepting sacrifices due to bugs.

    Be aware.
  35. Purgatori
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    Played this game for 6 hours. DO NOT BUY IT. I got disconnected from the server 3 times...you cannot save your own game! So there is no more let me test and reload if it doesn't work. I started over at least 10 times while getting used to some of the features. The city size is just unacceptable. Its not a city AT ALL...More like a village. You will fill it up in an hour. I'mPlayed this game for 6 hours. DO NOT BUY IT. I got disconnected from the server 3 times...you cannot save your own game! So there is no more let me test and reload if it doesn't work. I started over at least 10 times while getting used to some of the features. The city size is just unacceptable. Its not a city AT ALL...More like a village. You will fill it up in an hour. I'm already bored with the game. I won't even get into the always on drm...its a terrible move IMO...but in addition to that the game is not worth the money. I gave it a 3 because some of the new features are neat and useful but its they aren't enough to save the experience. Buy tomb raider instead.… Expand
  36. WordsPerVerbati
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    I wish this game was released as a standalone game, I was looking forward to playing both Battlefield 3 and Sim City 5.

    The requirements are unreasonable for me, being always online, the servers having enough capacity for me to play when and where I want. What happens when there is lag? When the number of cities you can have gets limited artificially? When they shut down the    I wish this game was released as a standalone game, I was looking forward to playing both Battlefield 3 and Sim City 5.

    The requirements are unreasonable for me, being always online, the servers having enough capacity for me to play when and where I want.

    What happens when there is lag?
    When the number of cities you can have gets limited artificially?
    When they shut down the servers?

    Maybe they should focus on making good games, instead of trying to figure out what is the best way to make money from day one with DLC.

    I'm never installing origin or a game that uses it.    … Expand
  37. Thaneg
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Many devoted SimCity 4 fans will not be moved by this game. It's too limited, requires you to be always online, and has little recourse for a community to grow around it like SimCity 4. Devoted fans loved Sandboxing even with regions. They also loved full on modding. EA will discourage this since each mod or add-on could be the source of micro-payments. SC4 fans did this in the pastMany devoted SimCity 4 fans will not be moved by this game. It's too limited, requires you to be always online, and has little recourse for a community to grow around it like SimCity 4. Devoted fans loved Sandboxing even with regions. They also loved full on modding. EA will discourage this since each mod or add-on could be the source of micro-payments. SC4 fans did this in the past because they loved it. I'm worried for the franchise. SC4 may be the last great city simulation.… Expand
  38. BobbyJohnny
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    The management part itself is good.
    BUT.
    Online only so actually hard to access to the servers. Very small maps. IA pretty strange sometimes. I can already smell the near DRM. It's easy. Just take the features of simcity4 you don't have in the fifth. (-_-) Your city is a part of a group of other cities else she can't be... You are far away from the good old games we played where you    The management part itself is good.
    BUT.
    Online only so actually hard to access to the servers. Very small maps. IA pretty strange sometimes.
    I can already smell the near DRM. It's easy. Just take the features of simcity4 you don't have in the fifth. (-_-)

    Your city is a part of a group of other cities else she can't be...
    You are far away from the good old games we played where you built your own city self sufficient by your own.
    Perhaps you will like this "ALL MULTI ONLY ONLINE LOL" we get now, but not me.    … Expand
  39. theTexanite
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I created an account here just to say how bad this game is. I'll give it a 2 for nice visuals but the DRM and the server issues for this game are some of the worst I have ever experienced. WHEN WILL EA LEARN?! Seriously, I hope EA eventually goes bankrupt. They have absolutely no intention of supporting the gaming community. It's all about money to them. And the map sizes?! Ridiculous!I created an account here just to say how bad this game is. I'll give it a 2 for nice visuals but the DRM and the server issues for this game are some of the worst I have ever experienced. WHEN WILL EA LEARN?! Seriously, I hope EA eventually goes bankrupt. They have absolutely no intention of supporting the gaming community. It's all about money to them. And the map sizes?! Ridiculous! Mark my words, they'll release DLC that allows bigger cities but you'll have to pay for it! Typical EA. What an epic fail.… Expand
  40. Freddy87
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    EA Origin Required, Always on DRM, Queue to play a single player game, launch day striped out DLC, small cities, dumbed down. 1 step forward in graphics, 2 steps backwards in everything else. EA, been treating games as walking wallets since '82
  41. whamma
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This is the worst nightmare for anyone who is a long time SimCity fan. City sizes are limited to uselessly small cities. All the transportation and civil engineering is gone. It's impossible to play by yourself, or even play offline. If their servers don't feel like letting you on you're not playing, even "single-player". This is a game designed for people who are control freaks, and everyThis is the worst nightmare for anyone who is a long time SimCity fan. City sizes are limited to uselessly small cities. All the transportation and civil engineering is gone. It's impossible to play by yourself, or even play offline. If their servers don't feel like letting you on you're not playing, even "single-player". This is a game designed for people who are control freaks, and every choice they made seems to reduce control. I've waited years for this game and I'm so disappointed right now after trying it. … Expand
  42. BulletBR
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    The game is terrible, very disappointed. I paid a lot of money for crap. The size of the city is ridiculous and I would take care of the city, not the sims. Sim City 4 forever...
  43. badirontree
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    All i have to say is THERE IS NO SAVE SYSTEM Wtf No even in Single player mode!
    ITS AN MMO with Private island and a cheat mode...

    60 euros for that just LOL
  44. Seville
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Don't Support Always on DRM. Never! Can't even play a game because servers are full for a SINGLE PLAYER GAME. I can't beleive that they would do this to consumers. But people are still buying the game left and right. STOP SUPPORTING DRM.
  45. Martytoof
    Mar 5, 2013
    4
    Between city size, no save/load functions, necessity to be always-online, I'm not sure I would buy this game at full price as it exists right now. The gameplay is enjoyable and the visuals are nice, but it feels incredibly limiting. This game has a lot of promise but sadly the product as delivered just feels clumsy. Hopefully EA takes criticism to heart and actually attempts to learn fromBetween city size, no save/load functions, necessity to be always-online, I'm not sure I would buy this game at full price as it exists right now. The gameplay is enjoyable and the visuals are nice, but it feels incredibly limiting. This game has a lot of promise but sadly the product as delivered just feels clumsy. Hopefully EA takes criticism to heart and actually attempts to learn from missteps instead of just handwaving all concerns.… Expand
  46. BeardtobeFeared
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    Always online DRM, smaller, non-connected cities due to engine limitations, DAY 0 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT, poor customer service and delivery of product (waited almost an hour to connect to my single player game), and a swath of simplifications in the gameplay that ruins it for a SC veteran like myself.

    Don't bother to get this game. Save some money and buy Sim City 4, or Sim City 2000.    Always online DRM, smaller, non-connected cities due to engine limitations, DAY 0 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT, poor customer service and delivery of product (waited almost an hour to connect to my single player game), and a swath of simplifications in the gameplay that ruins it for a SC veteran like myself.

    Don't bother to get this game. Save some money and buy Sim City 4, or Sim City 2000. You can play them OFFLINE as well.    … Expand
  47. Voqar
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Forced online no sale. It's not about DRM. It's not about Origin (no different than Steam). It's about one of the best single player game franchises of all time being corrupted by corporate whores. It's not acceptable to not be able to save your single player games on your pc, or mod your game, or to be limited by server up/downtime, or to have lag in a single player game.

    This is    Forced online no sale. It's not about DRM. It's not about Origin (no different than Steam). It's about one of the best single player game franchises of all time being corrupted by corporate whores. It's not acceptable to not be able to save your single player games on your pc, or mod your game, or to be limited by server up/downtime, or to have lag in a single player game.

    This is not what players wanted. Optional online/multiplayer stuff would be fine. Forced online/social features is not. Tiny cities. Dubmed down gameplay. The destruction of one of the best games for people with brains, is just not acceptable.

    EA should be burned at the stake for this.

    The gaming press is grossly irresponsible for not slaughtering EA for this and it just makes it look like they are in the corporate pocket. Who do you think pays for their sites...yep...the big companies that ram trash like this down the gamer's throat.

    As with Blizzard and Diablo 3, forced online for what has always been one of the best single player games is not acceptable. Blizzard eventually admitted most people play D3 single player. EA chose to follow the bad example bliz set with D3 and forced online instead of being reasonable.

    I beg you, if you hate being treat like crap by corporate gaming that only cares about money and not quality of game, do not buy crap like this. Do not accept having your games taken out of your hands. Do not feed money to companies that treat gamers like criminals or cows to be milked for cash for inferior products.

    I pay for my games. I have no problems throwing more money at a good game. But I don't appreciate having some of the best games of PC history ruined in the way that SimCity has been ruined. Forced online single player, no saving your own games, no modding in a game that has been kept alive for over a decade largely due to modding, dumbed down gameplay for a franchise that has always been intellectual.

    It's a sad, sad, SAD day in PC gaming.

    It's unfortunate that a lot of uniformed people will buy this, partially because the gaming press doesn't call out companies on garbage like this, and/or that a lot of stupid sheep will flock to this game for the dumbed down gameplay. Please, don't be stupid.    … Expand
  48. Player318
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    City size is painfully bad. If you enjoyed creating metropolis sized cities then you will be very disappointed. To give you a rough idea, the size of a city in SimCity is 2 km x 2 km; 4 km^2. That is about the size of a city block. If you traveled at 50 km/h (around about 30 mph) you would get from one side of the city to the other in about 2 minutes 24 seconds (even if your journey wasCity size is painfully bad. If you enjoyed creating metropolis sized cities then you will be very disappointed. To give you a rough idea, the size of a city in SimCity is 2 km x 2 km; 4 km^2. That is about the size of a city block. If you traveled at 50 km/h (around about 30 mph) you would get from one side of the city to the other in about 2 minutes 24 seconds (even if your journey was doubled because of traffic, that is still only 5 minutes). The "city" size really is that bad.… Expand
  49. vetyu
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Another horrible always online DRM game. I still play the original sim city single player and that game was made 20 years ago but with this new sim city EA will turn off the server making this game unplayable in a year or two, also i don't like how small the cities you are aloud do build are, theres no subways and no terraforming. I would recommend nobody on buying this game.
  50. Warnazz
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    The gameplay elements are what is expected of a SimCity game, however innovation outside bus stops and the moods of the citizens (along with other The Sims features) do not exist. It's sad to realize that many people are okay with having extremely small plots of land (2x2 km), far smaller than any previous SimCity game, the reason why it's tolerated? Fanboyism? The ridiculous notion thatThe gameplay elements are what is expected of a SimCity game, however innovation outside bus stops and the moods of the citizens (along with other The Sims features) do not exist. It's sad to realize that many people are okay with having extremely small plots of land (2x2 km), far smaller than any previous SimCity game, the reason why it's tolerated? Fanboyism? The ridiculous notion that the game should be played by connecting 5 plots to each other on one area (going to a different plot will pause all the others, that doesn't seem very "connected"). I don't care for excuses like "Oh, but it will cause graphical bugs", am I supposed to give them sympathy for incompetence?

    Outside the game. I hope everyone enjoys a game which has always been a single player game, now turned in to an always-online internet required with multi player features... such as having friends in the same region work on their own cities, wow thanks for adding that, it wasn't excuse to justify recent EA policies against piracy which only hurts actual customers and delays a cracked version by a few days? Maybe less? Well, I bought this for only $40 on a sale, refunding it already and uninstalled Origin. You've ruined the SimCity series and you've corrupted Maxis, just like every other previous game developing company. Go bankrupt already, EA.    … Expand
  51. deracom12
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Origin only. Day one on disc DLC. Micro-transactions on a paid game. Forced always online DRM. You're the most hated company in the industry for a reason EA.
  52. Happykittens
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    DRM for a single player game, Plots to small, can be filled in an hour, Already paid micro transactions announced, Servers crashed at launch, no preloading, don't bother
  53. TotalBiscuitXXX
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Forced Online is never a good idea! I can understand why the developers maybe thought it was a good idea to evolve their game around the notion of "our metrics show" everyone is online, however 1) no caching of cities locally for saves and undo's 2) ea servers are the worst 3) a god awful launch The worst thing about this is Sim City is a rather good city simulation game shrouded in theForced Online is never a good idea! I can understand why the developers maybe thought it was a good idea to evolve their game around the notion of "our metrics show" everyone is online, however 1) no caching of cities locally for saves and undo's 2) ea servers are the worst 3) a god awful launch The worst thing about this is Sim City is a rather good city simulation game shrouded in the faeces of Electronic Arts business decisions! The saddest thing is I bet Sim City had massive pre-order sales and sales will continue to be massive! Better then all the other Sim Cities. I've heard of people that had a crashed game and lost their city! Talk about a time waste and a frustrating anti-user experience. Terrible game balance of too many fires (meh its silly really) Can't turn off disaters without turning on sandbox a mode that is fairly undesirable. As it negates the online experience for the sake of the faux online experience. For an online game you would expect calibration to be at the forefront but there are only 4 great works, the dlc has themes for other city types which are bad, and a false market world trade. This game makes me feel ill… Expand
  54. gapid
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    If you've never played a simcity game, this is an amazing game on its own. But having played every simcity game in the franchise, this is really disappointing. The main complaint is the extremely small city size compared to its predecessors. The always-online component is not necessary.
  55. lucassandro
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    -No option to be 100% offline with single player mode
    -Always-on connection to Origin -Limitations to players in fake single player mode
    -The presence of empty spaces not editable (useless empty spaces) with automatic road connections -Absence of farms -Road connections placed in a fixed and pre-determined location on the map -Airport City (the city is only one International Airport,    -No option to be 100% offline with single player mode
    -Always-on connection to Origin -Limitations to players in fake single player mode
    -The presence of empty spaces not editable (useless empty spaces) with automatic road connections
    -Absence of farms
    -Road connections placed in a fixed and pre-determined location on the map
    -Airport City (the city is only one International Airport, occupying the entire mao 2x2km)
    -Automatic road connections
    -Player doesn't have complete control over the zoning by population density (almost automatic zoning)
    -Dead space between all the buildings
    -Size of the maps is 2km by 2km (small maps)
    -Not being able to control the regional transport
    -Modding restrictions

    NO SUBWAYS
    NO FREEWAYS
    NO TERRAFORMING
    NO SAVING OR LOADING
    NO SPACE TO BUILD
    MUST LET STRANGERS RUIN YOUR CITIES MUST BUY RESOURCES TO POWER YOUR CITY    … Expand
  56. griffordson
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Can't even get the game to download. And once I do, it appears the game will be unplayable since their servers are overloaded. I do hope they get these problems worked out, but until then, avoid it.
  57. volver321
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Remember back when you were a kid and Mario 3 had a 30 min wait time to play the game? Well i don't ether, do not buy this game for any reason, It will be unplayable in a few years and dose not work now. Take a look at the critic reviews, they have been given a lot of money to lie to you.
  58. cosmloonely
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    EA is one of the worst out there. I had huge issues buying the game in the first place, tried 20 times to get through with their dumb localizations in their store. Then connection issues for the game. DESIGNING A GOOD GAME DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO MISTREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS. NEVER AGAIN EA. Screw them. Moving on to better things. Just feeling a little sad for the dumb game developer whoEA is one of the worst out there. I had huge issues buying the game in the first place, tried 20 times to get through with their dumb localizations in their store. Then connection issues for the game. DESIGNING A GOOD GAME DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO MISTREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS. NEVER AGAIN EA. Screw them. Moving on to better things. Just feeling a little sad for the dumb game developer who went with EA. All their efforts are in vain.… Expand
  59. Articuno
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The critic reviews are undeniable proof of "gaming journalism" being rotten to the core. This is the exact same game as SimCity Social, except you have to pay $80 before you're allowed to start paying for extras.
  60. Trmpah
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Great game, but the fact that you can't play it on the go, that the city sizes are so small, and that you have no save/load function really breaks the game for me.

    1. I am dishearted by the fact that a singleplayer game is not avalible to play unless you are always online. I like playing games on the go, and Simcity 4 is one of the games that I enjoy a lot when commuting or relaxing in    Great game, but the fact that you can't play it on the go, that the city sizes are so small, and that you have no save/load function really breaks the game for me.

    1. I am dishearted by the fact that a singleplayer game is not avalible to play unless you are always online. I like playing games on the go, and Simcity 4 is one of the games that I enjoy a lot when commuting or relaxing in the park. Also, I fear for the day that EA want to cash in on a new version of Simcity, and closes the Simcity 2013 servers efficiently deleting my creative work.

    2. This is not Simcity, it's Sim neighborhood. You have no room to expand or create experimental designs, because the city area is so cramped together that you will struggle to stay afloat without utilizing the area most efficiently. There is no possibility to create a huge buzzing metropolis, or vast rural farm areas firstly the city plots are too small, but they are also spread apart with a green blanket separating the individual city sites. On top of this, the cities are perfectly squared, meaning that the borders between city and "country side" looks very unappealing from an aesthetic point of view.

    3. Lastly, there is no possibility to save a game, try out a strategy, and load in case everything crashed and burned. Your city becomes very costly. Imagine it like playing World of Warcraft where you lose your gear if you die.It might give some different gameplay aspects, but it hinders free creative play. The cheat-mode "sandbox" mode might change that, since you can unlock everything and try out to your hearts content, but there is still no save/load function, meaning that the city I spent 3 hours to build up could be 3 hours wasted if I want to try out how disasters inflict the local fire fighters.

    All in all; this game has so much potential, but it is lost in the sea of terrible design ideas that changes the feel from the epic of simcity 4, towards the short story of farmville.

    I could manage the EA-enforced always online DRM, and I understand that multiplayer gaming is the buzz-word that makes investors wet their pants but removing the essential parts of what made simcity great is stupid. The ability to build cities that in size and stature looks like New York, Shanghai or Tokyo, the ability to try out different strategies with the same city, and see which pans out and the ability to still play this game in 20 years. All of this could be included in a proper sandbox mode, I hope it will be.    … Expand
  61. Wyzak
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Always online DRM sucks and it is completely unacceptable that people who bought your game should have to suffer any consequences whatsoever! Massive limitations compared to the original simcity games. No subways, no terraforming, tiny map, can't build you own airport, game has been dumbed down and lots of actions are performed automatically.
  62. Numenor
    Mar 5, 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?
  63. physical0
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    No single player option, Tiny maps. I anticipate that you will be nickel and dime'd by microtransactions. Launch flop. It seems they've forgotten what made Sim City a good game.
  64. makken104
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Don't be fooled by the high reviewer scores. The game proper is a good, albeit simplified and enjoyable game, but it is the EA(Origin) DRM wrapper that ruins it. If you buy this you will never own the game or your saves, you only licence them from EA for however long they decide to keep the servers alive and EA is notorious for killing off games before their time. That's right you're notDon't be fooled by the high reviewer scores. The game proper is a good, albeit simplified and enjoyable game, but it is the EA(Origin) DRM wrapper that ruins it. If you buy this you will never own the game or your saves, you only licence them from EA for however long they decide to keep the servers alive and EA is notorious for killing off games before their time. That's right you're not allowed to save or load, must now log in and queue a la MMO and are locked out of the game as soon your connection to the servers is lost, all this for a private single-player experience. It's a sloppy attempt at multi-player, wedged into a single-player game in a thinly veiled attempt to hide the draconian DRM and the forfeiture of your rights as a consumer. If you don't want this to become the standard for all games, vote against it with your hard earned dollars.… Expand
  65. DudeMaister
    Mar 5, 2013
    4
    Here we go again. Another game that is simply worse than its predecessor.
    1) You must always have an active internet connection
    2) You must use EA's origin service 3) Terraforming is officially out 4) Maximum sized maps are only the size of a SimCity 4 medium map, and to put the icen on the cake, you can no longer build outside your city area (the region is off limits!), so in other    Here we go again. Another game that is simply worse than its predecessor.
    1) You must always have an active internet connection
    2) You must use EA's origin service
    3) Terraforming is officially out
    4) Maximum sized maps are only the size of a SimCity 4 medium map, and to put the icen on the cake, you can no longer build outside your city area (the region is off limits!), so in other words you are limited to building a small city/town (no more sprawling metropolises like Sim City 4).
    5) You cannot control regional mass transit anymore, and are restricted by pre-defined road connections.
    6) Modding is out, at least for the time being. Personally I don't see how Maxis can include mod support in an MMO game anyway, because mods would upset the game balance, and game balance is usually essential in an MMO game DLC's would make an attractive profit earning alternative to communty mods
    7) If you get some troll set up a city next to your city, and he decides to create lots of pollution or crime, your city will ofcourse pay the consequences
    8) The game is very expensive, and i'm sure there will be many more DLCs to come to "fix" the game, and ofcourse earn EA an extra bit of profit from us consumers.
    9) Your saved game will be located on an EA server. If EA decide to shut down the servers due to lack of profit, say goodbye to your cities! EA have a history of doing this with other games, and Maxis have blatantly ignored all questions regarding this matter.
    10) No direct control of zoning, this is now controlled by the type of road used
    11) No more farms or agricultural zones

    Simply put, don't bother with this game, pick SimCity 4 up instead, you'll be better of that way.    … Expand
  66. fred20134
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The city size is too small. You cant 'do' anything. As some person said, i can imagine EA selling bigger plots in the future, for more money. a total rip off, considering the initial game costs so much

    And why can't i play by on my own? it is really rubbish.
  67. Scorn
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Sorry, won't accept "Always On" connection. I'll return it and state it's broken and wait 10 years for it to come out again on GOG.com. There is no reason to accept that fact that you have to sit in queue before you can begin playing a game. Nonsense.
  68. wootonius
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    We waited this long for a piece of garbage like this? Thanks EA!

    Don't like the interface, the tiny cities, the focus on individual sims rather than city building.

    What a waste of time.
  69. u2mofo
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I've played the beta's, and i feel this could be a great game.
    I've bought the game, but i haven't been able to normally play it due to server issues.
    It's sad that EA have decided to cripple it. They've crippled it in two ways: 1. DRM 2. City size. 1. After i added my key the game didn't show up in Origin until much later. Once i was finally able to launch the game i had to    I've played the beta's, and i feel this could be a great game.
    I've bought the game, but i haven't been able to normally play it due to server issues.

    It's sad that EA have decided to cripple it.

    They've crippled it in two ways:
    1. DRM
    2. City size.

    1. After i added my key the game didn't show up in Origin until much later. Once i was finally able to launch the game i had to wait forever to be able to play due to the server being full (why?! i want to play single player! why do i have to wait for a server to play a single player game?!)

    Also what happens in 3 years when they release Simcity 2016? The servers will close and you can't play this game.

    I've paid EA money to play a game when EA lets me play, not when i want to play.... i am never going to do this agian.

    2.The city size is to small. This was a commercial decision by EA to maximize profit, they want as much people as possible to be able to buy the game, even people with a very old computer. It gives the people with a up to date computer a poor playing experience since they don't even have the option to play a bigger map, even though their computers can handle it. It's nice that the game has curved roads, but the city is so tiny there's not enough room to place curved roads...    … Expand
  70. fanboyzsuck
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    There are some great ideas here, especially with the way the simulation works and includes surrounding regions in multiplayer. I just can't experience them for myself because EA didn't bother to provide enough server power to support the launch. Instead, I paid $60 for a mini-game where I sit in a queue for a half-hour at a time, only to restart that line when the server still isn'tThere are some great ideas here, especially with the way the simulation works and includes surrounding regions in multiplayer. I just can't experience them for myself because EA didn't bother to provide enough server power to support the launch. Instead, I paid $60 for a mini-game where I sit in a queue for a half-hour at a time, only to restart that line when the server still isn't available. I could care less about it being DRM. I want to play the game I paid for, and I can't.… Expand
  71. Nevon
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Unable to preload the game, the Origin client failed to give me access to Sim City (or any other game I had purchased through it) for a few hours after my purchase. There's a wait to access a single-player game, which should blow any rational person's mind. Save files are frequently corrupted, causing you to lose your progress. The plot sizes are hilariously small. You're not building aUnable to preload the game, the Origin client failed to give me access to Sim City (or any other game I had purchased through it) for a few hours after my purchase. There's a wait to access a single-player game, which should blow any rational person's mind. Save files are frequently corrupted, causing you to lose your progress. The plot sizes are hilariously small. You're not building a city, you're building a town with high-rises. Even if the technical problems with overloaded servers and corrupted save files are solved, we all know EA is going to nickle and dime us for larger plot sizes, and they're going to hail their DRM their lord and savior. Don't make the same mistake as I did. Don't support this stuff.… Expand
  72. Best-DA
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This is the last time that im buying a game from EA That is a single player game an i cant load the game and the graphic is the worst ive seen in decade what a waist of time and money.
  73. RaptorJesuss
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Everyone has been talking about the online always DRM, which is a terrible business practice. I want to talk about the gameplay. The city size is absolutely horrendous. They might as well have renamed the game to SimTown, because you will never get a fun and thriving metropolis like you had in SimCity 4. They day 1 DLC is another absolute terror. This game is not SimCity, its FacebooksEveryone has been talking about the online always DRM, which is a terrible business practice. I want to talk about the gameplay. The city size is absolutely horrendous. They might as well have renamed the game to SimTown, because you will never get a fun and thriving metropolis like you had in SimCity 4. They day 1 DLC is another absolute terror. This game is not SimCity, its Facebooks Cityville with better graphics.… Expand
  74. bitslammer
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    DO NOT BUY! This is not SimCity and this game is crippled by an online requirement.

    Gone are the days of sprawling cities, this game allows only small towns. Gone are the days of using the terrain editor to craft custom worlds to populate. Gone are the days of sitting on a long plane ride immersed in your city because you now have to be connected to EA servers. It's too bad Maxxis    DO NOT BUY! This is not SimCity and this game is crippled by an online requirement.

    Gone are the days of sprawling cities, this game allows only small towns. Gone are the days of using the terrain editor to craft custom worlds to populate. Gone are the days of sitting on a long plane ride immersed in your city because you now have to be connected to EA servers.

    It's too bad Maxxis can't break away and get back to making the games that I used to love.    … Expand
  75. bridge9
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Everything about this game feel wrong, from the always on drm for a single player to the tiny maps, to EA's terrible product support. Its a shame but the have killed anther franchise. I was big fan before and will continue to play the older games long after EA shuts down the severs and kills this game.
  76. attredies
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    For a game that is largely single player, they screwed up big time. DRM and an always-on connection required? I think not. After Diablo, I thought I"d give the single-player always-on style one more shot, but nope. From now on I refuse to buy a game with an always-on connection unless it's an MMO. Minimal DRM is the only way to keep me playing these games, because EA screwed up royally onFor a game that is largely single player, they screwed up big time. DRM and an always-on connection required? I think not. After Diablo, I thought I"d give the single-player always-on style one more shot, but nope. From now on I refuse to buy a game with an always-on connection unless it's an MMO. Minimal DRM is the only way to keep me playing these games, because EA screwed up royally on this one.… Expand
  77. Ruseman
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    What the is this piece of EA pls stahp. This is a bunch of bull****, most players cant even start up the ****ing game without it crashing, not to mention the fact you need to be ONLINE TO PLAY ****ING SINGLEPLAYER.

    DRM/10
  78. joeybear
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    I'll give it a 1 for pretty graphics. This game features no local save mechanism, forced connectivity to unstable servers, lack of basic infrastructure options (no subways), no custom region generations, and finally embarrassingly small map sizes. EA has ruined yet another great franchise, and much like Command Conquer before it, Sim City has been dumbed down and had all the intriguingI'll give it a 1 for pretty graphics. This game features no local save mechanism, forced connectivity to unstable servers, lack of basic infrastructure options (no subways), no custom region generations, and finally embarrassingly small map sizes. EA has ruined yet another great franchise, and much like Command Conquer before it, Sim City has been dumbed down and had all the intriguing parts ripped out of it.… Expand
  79. simcity5dead
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    WARNING after doing a TON of research I have deamed this game a joke. DONT BUY IT! Im not. This is the biggest slap to the face for simcity lovers, and gamers in general since EA became a money hungry. Buy a dog or something
  80. maxg
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Game crippled by DRM, missing a lot of content to be sold as DLC later, requires internet connection, despite being traditionally a single player game and everyone being upset with the decision. Game currently doesn't work and probably won't in the near future when they decide it's no longer profitable to run the servers. Avoid this game and this publisher.
  81. Lounch
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    Map is too small very too small. This game is only game's marketing that's all Price, dlc it's a joke from EA. I hope people don't buy this game now.
  82. vinculum
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    Perhaps because most cannot get on the servers to play. A complete fail from EA once again, I will not be giving Maxis my money again EA can suck my
  83. Mihos
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    This is not Sim City. With the tiny land size it should have been called 'Sim-Town'. You are set in a region, where you either have to personally manage several 'towns' and specialize them towards a regional goal. If you choose to play with other people, you better hope they are on board with the common goal or they can basically contribute nothing. On top of the obvious goal ofThis is not Sim City. With the tiny land size it should have been called 'Sim-Town'. You are set in a region, where you either have to personally manage several 'towns' and specialize them towards a regional goal. If you choose to play with other people, you better hope they are on board with the common goal or they can basically contribute nothing. On top of the obvious goal of monetizing the game with micro transactions over it's lifetime, the 'always on' internet requirement... this feels more like an iPad game than a PC game. Shame on the review sites for lowering there expectations of PC games to that of mobile gaming standards.… Expand
  84. RyanMorgan
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    Awful game. This is not SimCity. This is SimVillage. You cannot build a city: for starters, a 2 by 2 kilometre map is far from a city. I get real cities are many hundreds of square kilometres, and this would be impossible to simulate, but 8 by 8 km would provide satisfactory room. Honestly, it takes just a few hours to fill up a city. Secondly, the cities are separated by retarded openAwful game. This is not SimCity. This is SimVillage. You cannot build a city: for starters, a 2 by 2 kilometre map is far from a city. I get real cities are many hundreds of square kilometres, and this would be impossible to simulate, but 8 by 8 km would provide satisfactory room. Honestly, it takes just a few hours to fill up a city. Secondly, the cities are separated by retarded open land, and cities are "in a bubble", contradictory to Lucy Bradshaw and others. If city tiles were contiguous, small maps wouldn't be such a problem. but then roads and rail would still be fixed in place another thing that really annoys me. The graphics are fantastic and the gameplay is great, but this doesn't mean much when I play for a few an hour and have fully developed my city. Then, there's Origin. I couldn't play SimCity because of EA's pathetic platform for almost ten hours, unable to download it. Once I did download it, I took me half and hour to eventually connect to a server. Simcity's online-only aspect has bit EA on the backside, proving that, for now, it is not a reliable way to deliver a game. I've played SimCity 3000 and 4, and it looks like I will continue to do so after this train-wreck.

    Please, avoid this game, you will be disappointed (unless you're just a casual "gamer")    … Expand
  85. trytoblockmenow
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    stay far away from this one! EA has screwed game players again with this terrible game. Always online DRM, no save games, gimped gameplay and city size in favor of prettier graphics. EA and this game are everything that is wrong with the video game industry. Do not feed the beast, vote with your wallets and stay away!
  86. Monkeybeast0
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    EA once again ruins a beloved franchise by trying to milk it for every cent it's worth. Rather than building on old concepts and introducing new fun elements for the player to experience, Sim City waters down the gameplay of its predecessors under the guise of "streamlined gameplay", and introduces mandatory mechanics that require the player to either have the assistance of other playersEA once again ruins a beloved franchise by trying to milk it for every cent it's worth. Rather than building on old concepts and introducing new fun elements for the player to experience, Sim City waters down the gameplay of its predecessors under the guise of "streamlined gameplay", and introduces mandatory mechanics that require the player to either have the assistance of other players online, or to manage multiple cities as if the player was playing with others. Gameplay has been stripped down to the bare minimum, and city sizes have NEVER been smaller in a Sim City game. This leads to a fairly short few hours of tedious zoning(which has also been "streamlined" in such a way that the player is hardly even doing anything) and watching as you very quickly hit the strict city limits. Past this point the player can attempt to make their city more dense and profitable, but it only takes a couple of hours after reaching the city size limit to do this. As far as the single player goes, that's it. Every playthrough, every city, will be exactly the same.

    The one differentiating factor in this version of SimCity is that EA has managed to shoehorn in multiplayer mechanics to justify invasive DRM. So while you're building your city that will be nearly identical to every other player's and even your own subsequent cities, you can trade resources between other players in your 'region' and work towards a common goal of a grand work resting just outside of your city limits. Building this grand work is a very simple task, you need resources, you tell your city to siphon resources into the project, that's it. You're not actively doing anything at all to construct this project, you just click a button, and wait. Now here's the kicker about these multiplayer features, you MUST participate. Sim City will not start without an active internet connection, once you've made it past that part it's very likely you'll be waiting in a rather long queue to be allowed access to the game. The player can start a region and set it to private, meaning only those invited or the players themselves can join the game and make a city. Effectively making it a single player experience, but the player still has to be connected to the internet to play for some unknown reason, as well as having to wait in the queue to access their single player experience. Fortunately due to the lack of variety in Sim City's content, I'm relatively sure the queues won't last long.

    In summary, this is a poor quality cash-in from a company willing to do whatever it takes to squeeze a little bit more money out of a popular franchise. I give Sim City a 0 for the simple fact that while you may be able to have a minuscule amount of fun making your first City, you could very easily get an earlier installment in the series, and have more fun for longer, at a cheaper price, wherever you are regardless of whether there's a nearby internet connection, without having to wait in a queue a couple thousand people long. There is absolutely no value in owning this game.    … Expand
  87. Fabbinator
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    Unable to play due to server at capacity. In a single-player game. This is ridiculous. Simplified gameplay that does not provide as deep an experience as any of the previous SimCity games. While I'm sure that the server errors will be ironed out over time, the simplified gameplay will not.
  88. Tru1ock
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Send EA a strong message and do not buy this game. Always online for a single player experience is a big up yours to you as the customer. Server issues combined with the fact that they can shut it down at any time should set of alarm bells.
  89. quilmes
    Mar 5, 2013
    1
    The game has a lot of problems. Only one of them actually matters. Never support always online DRM for a single player game. Lots of people cannot play their single player game because of this and gamers need to do everything they can to stop developers from including it. Do you still play SimCity 4? Good luck playing this game in 10 years. The servers will probably be down then and you'llThe game has a lot of problems. Only one of them actually matters. Never support always online DRM for a single player game. Lots of people cannot play their single player game because of this and gamers need to do everything they can to stop developers from including it. Do you still play SimCity 4? Good luck playing this game in 10 years. The servers will probably be down then and you'll be locked out of your single player game. SINGLE PLAYER!… Expand
  90. Necrotaur
    Mar 14, 2013
    2
    Update 3/14: Login issues seem to be fixed, but there are still major problems with this game. We all know about the forced online and small map size, but I haven't seen too many people mention the bugs. Remember how the beta was capped at 1 hour? There are TONS of issues, and most of them only become apparent after a few hours of play. I suspect the beta was less about finding andUpdate 3/14: Login issues seem to be fixed, but there are still major problems with this game. We all know about the forced online and small map size, but I haven't seen too many people mention the bugs. Remember how the beta was capped at 1 hour? There are TONS of issues, and most of them only become apparent after a few hours of play. I suspect the beta was less about finding and squashing bugs, and more about publicity. I've had every single sim become homeless for no apparent reason, hundreds of thousands of simoleans disappear from my treasury, buses and trade centers refuse to work despite there being no traffic, and power to cities going out upon logging, taking several in-game days before it decides to turn on again. The list goes on. Now, the SimCity franchise is no stranger to bugs, but these are literally game-ending because there is no save ability. There are questionable gameplay mechanics too, such as the inter-connectivity of cities, where a single 'bad' player can ruin a game, or the crippling simplicity of the transit, job and housing system. The latter has only become apparent in the last few days, and it indicates everything Maxis/EA told us about sophisticated AI and massive amounts of route calculations was a lie. Google it and see for yourself. SimCity is not a 'sim' in any sense of the word, and I can't recommend it to anyone.… Expand
  91. romannk
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    This game not worth 1199 rub (40$) permanent online, small mayor function, not even close to simcity 4. it/s like sim city social 2.0. What game will EA corporation dump next
  92. Ashin
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Always on single player... almost unbelievable! Why do companies insist on trying to tackle piracy with a nuclear bomb, when pirates get a better gaming experience in the end, and legitimate customers are left with a horrible one?

    Another EA train wreck
  93. morty
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Always online DRM, tiny cities and no game saves. Your review must be at least 150 characters long. Your review must be at least 150 characters long. Your review must be at least 150 characters long.
  94. Jimbo364
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    As if the always-online DRM wasn't enough, there was a queue to play single player. This is a disgrace to the SimCity franchise. The city size is a joke, probably will be DLC to get more land to build on. Don't buy this trash.
  95. AvailableName
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    I have now wasted hours of my time. I rebuild, then get disconnected and loose everything. Rebuild, get disconnected, and loose everything. Not being able to save your game on something like this is absurd. Whoever came up with this idea should be fired, and take the idiot who approved it with you. In an attempt to prevent piracy, they have angered the people that actually paid forI have now wasted hours of my time. I rebuild, then get disconnected and loose everything. Rebuild, get disconnected, and loose everything. Not being able to save your game on something like this is absurd. Whoever came up with this idea should be fired, and take the idiot who approved it with you. In an attempt to prevent piracy, they have angered the people that actually paid for the game. I have no idea why they even bother. People that pirate the game either have no money to buy, or would not even if they did. They are not your customers, the people that pay are, focus on that. PLEASE!… Expand
  96. Yaemon
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    drm store dlc social multiplayer? No thanks.

    Also, the cities are so small that they are all the same, this game is dumb and just a money milker. There is no space for creativity or challenge.
  97. ofchughes
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I left a review earlier about the game it's still a ZERO but lots of people saying the negative reviews are fake on here so the game gets a bad reception. Well I say go to amazon and read the verified purchased customer reviews same stuff as here. Although amazon rates on a star system SimCity sits at a 1.3 Star rating.
  98. NolaCeris
    Mar 5, 2013
    2
    Always-online DRM, which depends on unreliable EA servers; overly simplified gameplay (to the point where underground was removed completely); city size is small; zoning is faulty and reduced (no farms and such)
  99. greyscal-e
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    BEWARE: Forced online DRM, will you be playing this 10 years down the track like previous Sim Cities? No, you wont. And they want this, so you buy the next one. Servers go down? Well screw you, EA already has your money. DLC available from release, server side save-games. I repeat, FORCED ONLINE DRM Also, server queues at launch. Thanks for destroying video gaming and my most treasured franchise.
  100. shadestool
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    The plots of land you get to use for your so-called city only covers about 8 by 8 city blocks. This is ridiculously small compared to previous Simcity games. To make things worse, you cannot build a city directly adjacent to your first city. Instead your other cities in the region are about 5 miles away. Forget trying to build any real-world cities. As for the gameplay, roads cost allThe plots of land you get to use for your so-called city only covers about 8 by 8 city blocks. This is ridiculously small compared to previous Simcity games. To make things worse, you cannot build a city directly adjacent to your first city. Instead your other cities in the region are about 5 miles away. Forget trying to build any real-world cities. As for the gameplay, roads cost all your money, and there's next to no new buildings in the game. I'm going back to play Simcity 4. Do not waste your money on this game.… 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 »