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. matticitt
    Mar 21, 2013
    5
    It's not a bad game, and it really deserves more that 1.7 user score. However it has many flaws. For me SimCity always was the best city simulator. Now, after 10 years since SC4 release, it should redefine its genre. It should be much better than Cities XL for example. Instead, it not only isn't better than Cities XL, in many ways it's worse than SimCity 4! The city size is way too small.It's not a bad game, and it really deserves more that 1.7 user score. However it has many flaws. For me SimCity always was the best city simulator. Now, after 10 years since SC4 release, it should redefine its genre. It should be much better than Cities XL for example. Instead, it not only isn't better than Cities XL, in many ways it's worse than SimCity 4! The city size is way too small. That means that after max 8 hours you need to abandon your city, because there's noting left to do in it except for watching traffic jams. That also means that you won't be able to ever build 50% of the buildings, because they take up so much space! Also the AI is completely broken. This causes huge traffic jams. You need 3x more trams, busses, police cars and garbage trucks, because instead of spreading, they all follow the same route! It's so bad that busses, instead of reducing traffic, are causing it! There's also no terraforming, no highways, not metro. The graphics are quite good, but too childish and sims-ish for me. Music is also good, but not as good as in SC4.

    It's a nice game with good music and sound effects, and quite nice graphics. Unfortunately it's also quite broken and is twice the money of Cities XL. Also the performance isn't great and there are some graphics options that are clearly broken and cause huge fps drops even on a high end pc.    … Expand
  2. Barranoid
    Mar 20, 2013
    5
    I won't go into much detail about the DRM stuff. It's EA's Origin. Like it or hate it.

    The game itself however, once you finally manage to log in, plays pretty fun for a couple of hours. The cities are rather small so you have to expand inside your region to create new cities that can provide each other with different services. This makes a huge part of the so called multiplayer    I won't go into much detail about the DRM stuff. It's EA's Origin. Like it or hate it.

    The game itself however, once you finally manage to log in, plays pretty fun for a couple of hours. The cities are rather small so you have to expand inside your region to create new cities that can provide each other with different services. This makes a huge part of the so called multiplayer experience, since you can either choose to build up several cities in one region all by yourself or let your friends build some in your region. A good idea actually but server instabilities, slow response times (e.g. it takes AGES to send someone inside your region a gift. Hell it even takes ages to do so while playing all on your own with different cities inside YOUR region).

    After a couple of mostly pretty entertaining hours however the game starts to behave "strange". A city with a HUGE load of residents and nearly no industry whatsoever suddently starts complaining about not enough workers?! At first you might start to compensate by building "support cities" that provide more workforce for your main city but this doesn't help at all. The reason is that the actual resident size is more or less a hoax. Doing the math (google it, I really don't want to go into detail here), a city of 100000 residents might just have 10000 real ones, logicaly not providing enough workers for the industry.

    The flaws of SimCity really make it hard to enjoy after a while and although it could be a very very good game, it isn't. Sadly.    … Expand
  3. jwayner
    Mar 23, 2013
    5
    I've played SimCity for countless hours, a few of those hours where in beta. Of course, within the allotted beta time there wasn't a great ability to build a very large city that would have traffic problems. The game seamed great in beta but now that the full game is out, my entire opinion of this game has changed. Below are some areas of the game that I have a problem with. 1. TrafficI've played SimCity for countless hours, a few of those hours where in beta. Of course, within the allotted beta time there wasn't a great ability to build a very large city that would have traffic problems. The game seamed great in beta but now that the full game is out, my entire opinion of this game has changed. Below are some areas of the game that I have a problem with. 1. Traffic
    This is the biggest problem because it translates into many more problems, such as fires not being extinguished and criminals not being arrested. It also negatively effects tourist attractions and trade, garbage collection and other issues. Try plopping an airport and watch the masses of taxis pile up on your roads. Adding mass transit only seems to worsen the traffic problem and while the recent game update did help lighten traffic some, it wasn't enough to thoroughly enjoy the game more. Previous versions of SimCity offered one way streets, subway travel and the ability to connect cities with each other via highway and other methods. Can you think of many real cities that only has one road connecting it to the outside world? The game needs a complete do-over when it comes to transportation and regional connectivity. 2. City Size
    When it comes to the size of the city I would much rather be playing CityVille (a free Facebook game) which allows you to expand your city boundaries as you meet certain achievements. I spent $79 on my copy of SimCity (as did many of you) and I most certainly do not appreciate the relatively small city boundaries that are present in this game. Plop a municipal airport and expand a few wind or solar farms and then see how much space you have left.

    3. Others
    There are numerous bugs throughout the game and the only real way to bring it to Maxis's attention is to post in a forum, I'm not a big fan of forums, the game needs a built in form to submit bugs.
    The game doesn't have enough depth to it to keep me entertained for long, to be honest, if it weren't for the traffic problems I probably would have already got bored with it and quit anyways. For example, what is the most used utility besides electric and water (maybe even as much as those)? Cell phones! It looks like this neighborhood could use a cell tower! It looks like the city needs to contract with a cable provider. Simple additions like this would continue to make the game more entertaining.
    What happened to the ordinances? These little city laws that you could activate in SC4 made a world of difference on traffic, pollution, education, health and many other aspects of the game.
    Server issues appear to be a thing of the past and that's great but now it's time to focus on the overall game. I didn't want my review and thoughts of the game to be based on server issues so with those aside, I give the game a 5/10 rating. Since the game is fully a connected experience (which I'm perfectly okay with) I hope to see many improvements made but I think I'll wait awhile before I hop on the game again.    … Expand
  4. ScumbagJoseph
    Mar 8, 2013
    1
    I gotta say this game really turned my life around, while frustratingly trying to log in, i actually did something with my life, i got a new job, made some friends, a wife, and hey, i even bought a new house. Why would anybody want to miss out on that? So thank you Simcity for giving me motivation to be a better person, im just kidding im a gamer this game why the would anyone pay 60I gotta say this game really turned my life around, while frustratingly trying to log in, i actually did something with my life, i got a new job, made some friends, a wife, and hey, i even bought a new house. Why would anybody want to miss out on that? So thank you Simcity for giving me motivation to be a better person, im just kidding im a gamer this game why the would anyone pay 60 bucks for a game they cant even play this… Expand
  5. UltimateCD
    Mar 8, 2013
    0
    game have potential but ea didn't unleashed

    The Good
    Lots of wonderful details that make you feel connected to your city and its people

    The Bad

    Uncooperative players can mess up your plans.
  6. cazechui
    Apr 29, 2013
    0
    RIP Sim City. After you killed all the fav games I play. EA, now you came across killing Sim City Social. Don't even think about me going to buy your over priced junk for 70 dollars.
  7. monkeylion
    Dec 14, 2013
    0
    This game sucks, servers issues, updates that take forever, no terraforming, forget about small cities because i wouldn't even dare to call them cities, they are just small towns with an inflated population counter, JUST DOONT WASTE YOUR MONEY
  8. N8_2
    Mar 24, 2013
    6
    Bought the game last week after patch #6 was released, so I wasn't exposed to the bugs people are talking about. Day 1 network issues are always expected with multiplayer games, but actual gameplay issues can't be ignored.

    This game is fun and addicting. It exercises your brain's creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking muscles. Lacks some of Sim City 4's functionality and    Bought the game last week after patch #6 was released, so I wasn't exposed to the bugs people are talking about. Day 1 network issues are always expected with multiplayer games, but actual gameplay issues can't be ignored.

    This game is fun and addicting. It exercises your brain's creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking muscles. Lacks some of Sim City 4's functionality and content (subways and city ordinances in particular) but trades it for nice graphics and multiplayer gameplay. The multiplayer is amazing, trading resources and services is actually meaningful. Makes the game worth it. The programming for traffic still needs a lot of work but is really only a problem in large, badly planned tourist cities. The current DLCs are worth $2 each, not $30. Lowered score for typical EA DRM/greed and beta status on game release from 8 to 6.    … Expand
  9. OrthoStice
    Mar 18, 2013
    5
    The servers generally seem to work when logging in but even now I still experience issues where the game will freeze and I'm told that the server needs to "roll back" my game to an earlier point in time. A few other points: You aren't technically forced to interact with others. You can set your region to private and then create multiple cities within the region, which seems to be the wayThe servers generally seem to work when logging in but even now I still experience issues where the game will freeze and I'm told that the server needs to "roll back" my game to an earlier point in time. A few other points: You aren't technically forced to interact with others. You can set your region to private and then create multiple cities within the region, which seems to be the way to go. Iodiotic AI ensures that your city will apparently always have traffic problems and that tourists may or might not go to your tourist attractions. Problems with the AI seem to multiply when multiple large cities are in the same region. This game should still be in beta. Nevertheless it still looks great and is a lot of fun, when it works. I've played it a lott so I couldn't in good faith give it too low of a score. If it worked more smoothly it would deserve an 8. If plot sizes were bigger then it would be a 9. If you didn't always have to be online, in addition, it would be a 10.… Expand
  10. SimCityFreak
    Mar 18, 2013
    5
    I deeply respect and commend all efforts made in order to modernize the new SimCity and produce a superb graphics engine with innovative and realistic additions such as expansions to public service buildings, realistic traffic aesthetics, incredible detail, school bus stops, and so on.

    However, for us die-hard SimCity fans, this game falls very short of our expectations, namely for just    I deeply respect and commend all efforts made in order to modernize the new SimCity and produce a superb graphics engine with innovative and realistic additions such as expansions to public service buildings, realistic traffic aesthetics, incredible detail, school bus stops, and so on.

    However, for us die-hard SimCity fans, this game falls very short of our expectations, namely for just a few yet devastatingly consequential reasons:

    No terraforming. Nearly half of the pleasure of the old SimCity was creating a landscape that was entirely a product of your own work and settling the human population where you wished and where the terrain best fitted such development. The satisfaction of "owning your work" and producing an entirely customized terrain that boasts and entirely customized network of human development is indescribable. The loss of this option in the new SimCity is thus also indescribable.

    Tiny city boundaries. In a game where I would be deeply involved in playing a region for months and sometimes years concocting sprawling metropolises, industrial suburbs, bedroom residential communities, satellite cities, extensive interconnected mass transportation networks... I have grown agonizingly frustrated with the fact that my cities are unrealistically constrained by tiny square borders. In fact, the city limits are built-out so quickly that I've already grown bored with the game only after a few days of playing it. No possibility for expansion or realistic regional connections equates to no more motivation for me to play the game.

    City boundaries do not touch each other. Similar to my last point, I cannot "continue" one city into an adjacent one to create a realistic and expansively developed metropolitan area. Instead I am restrained to making rather isolated communities connected by "exits" on a transportation network that is reminiscent of how post-World War II sprawling suburban communities are connected.

    Zoning is regulated by roads. If I want a higher-capacity road in a rural area and simply wish to have some light development along it, I'm out of luck. Mid- and high-rise buildings will unrealistically rise out of what was intended to be a sparsely populated landscape. In real life, zoning is not delegated by road capacity. In fact, there are numerous examples of high density developments on tiny roads. Restricted vehicular mobility in such areas are compensated by extensive mass transportation networks. The game is highly-geared to the road, which in my opinion, is a big step backwards. If I want to zone high density on a small street, please let me do it. My sims will either suffer the consequences or I will figure out a way to make it work through other transit options. In any case, give me the freedom to make that decision.

    Truth be told, the highly controversial move to entirely-online game play does not bother me one bit. In fact, it's great because I don't have to save extensively large files associated with SimCity on my computer anymore. If I wanted to, I could invite friends to make cities in a region with me and we could cooperatively build a metropolitan area together. That is such a great idea and deserves much applause. This does, in fact, push the game into the 21st century.

    Unfortunately, though, despite the wonderful aspects of the new SimCity, the four major downfalls mentioned above, in my opinion, have taken the game back into the 20th century. For "self-proclaimed" veterans and die-hard fans like myself, there are several major disappointments to the new SimCity that degrade the game to the level of undesirable. Having been playing SimCity since I was a small child, I've watched as the game has made leaps and bounds toward more creative, customizable, expansive, and realistic game play. But as I play the new SimCity, it pains me to say that I've been taken backwards. My hands literally feel like they're tied, in so many ways.

    I really do hope that the keys to these handcuffs associated with the new SimCity's game play are not thrown away forever. I strongly urge you to incorporate elements from the previous SimCity (as indicated above in the points above) into the new SimCity and perhaps come out with a serious of patches, updates, or whatever is needed to bring the real SimCity back to life. The innovate and highly appealing elements are there, but some of the most basic, realistic, and quite frankly expected, aspects of the game need to be reincorporated.    … Expand
  11. Wikantoro
    Apr 5, 2014
    10
    As the patches made, as the time runs, this game becomes even better. There is almost no problem with this game such as server problem, glitch, bug, and now it comes with SINGLE PLAYER MODE, road tools, smarter sims (that drive vehicles not only in the shortest path) and other interesting things. So delete those negative reviews because that describe the old Simcity, not the nowadaysAs the patches made, as the time runs, this game becomes even better. There is almost no problem with this game such as server problem, glitch, bug, and now it comes with SINGLE PLAYER MODE, road tools, smarter sims (that drive vehicles not only in the shortest path) and other interesting things. So delete those negative reviews because that describe the old Simcity, not the nowadays Simcity.

    Sorry if I made some language mistake, because english is not my first language    … Expand
  12. californianhat
    Oct 15, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. No Scenario Terrain generator LOL @ EA. Beyond. Absurdity. I can just imagine the Product Managers at EA right now when they were making the game. "Hmmm. Let's make really bad decisions! I'll be awes-some."… Expand
  13. jl0329
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    Not saying it's not a good sim game. In fact, it's a pretty damn good SimCity! However, I had to penalize the greed of EA for making it constant connection required, which impact the user experience more negatively than in a positive way. You want to add multiplayer and social interaction? Fine, give player the choice to do so! DO NO FORCE US.
  14. bruceariggs
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    The game is great. It's fun, it's addictive, there's a lot of stuff to do.

    However, DRM warrants a -5 to the score.

    Maybe in the future EA will learn. DRM Bad.
  15. site400
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    I'll give it a 5 out of 10. Reading the "professional" reviews is a joke, as they reviewed a product that was still in beta and gave the game exceptionally high reviews, which is suspect. Anyways, online DRM prevents play, citiy plots are two small, and region play isn't all that great. Money, people, and resources don't truly flow through the region based upon need. I can forgive theI'll give it a 5 out of 10. Reading the "professional" reviews is a joke, as they reviewed a product that was still in beta and gave the game exceptionally high reviews, which is suspect. Anyways, online DRM prevents play, citiy plots are two small, and region play isn't all that great. Money, people, and resources don't truly flow through the region based upon need. I can forgive the day 1 server issues, but region play, which is suppossed to make up for the small tiles, leaves a lot to be desired.

    On the plus side, I love the amount of detail regarding resources put into the game, it feels like a true city simulator.    … Expand
  16. Nine
    Mar 23, 2013
    0
    My original review was 10, despite the huge problems at launch, the way DRM kill your cities one by one (unable to load, blank cities, and so on), the 1000000 bugs, and sooooo many others problems. You can't except a such work even with an alpha version. But well, the game looks to be a very good one. After 150 hours of play, I see now how there is no game at all. Just make a city full ofMy original review was 10, despite the huge problems at launch, the way DRM kill your cities one by one (unable to load, blank cities, and so on), the 1000000 bugs, and sooooo many others problems. You can't except a such work even with an alpha version. But well, the game looks to be a very good one. After 150 hours of play, I see now how there is no game at all. Just make a city full of residential zone and park and you win. This is the new SimCity, and this is definitly without me. THIS WHOLE GAME IS A SCAM, FROM START TO THE END.… Expand
  17. Jimbob2k666
    Mar 14, 2013
    5
    I'll start by saying I've had no online DRM issues with the game, although I've had to switch servers a couple of times since first playing. I've played the game now for about 30 hours, yet I seem to have become bored with it already. Realisticaly, due to the limits on city size, there is really only a couple of ways to build a successful city and the idea of starting a new one makes meI'll start by saying I've had no online DRM issues with the game, although I've had to switch servers a couple of times since first playing. I've played the game now for about 30 hours, yet I seem to have become bored with it already. Realisticaly, due to the limits on city size, there is really only a couple of ways to build a successful city and the idea of starting a new one makes me want to quit and do something else..................................... My biggest gripe is the illusion of multiplayer or it's supposed social interface. The chat box never works, I think in the whole 30 hours i've seen one person say "hello" and that's it. I've tried to type replies but these never show up anywhere. Citylog is a waste of time, zones are always full, as they are when you try to search for a game......................................Graphically it's quite nice, but I get a constant, strange flickering anomalies all the time (i have a 7950 card latest drivers etc etc). This is the only game where this occurs and it's quite annoying. I was expecting more details sims though as their appearance is like something from a game 10 years ago......................overall I give the game a 5.… Expand
  18. ryuzaki57
    Apr 30, 2013
    7
    General management and planning doesn't change much from older Sim City games. Old timers will be immediately familiar with the various economic and social settings to monitor. Is your population fully employed? Are businesses making enough profit? Can your inhabitants move efficiently within the city? Are they educated? Can the police cope with crime? Le list is pretty long and hours goGeneral management and planning doesn't change much from older Sim City games. Old timers will be immediately familiar with the various economic and social settings to monitor. Is your population fully employed? Are businesses making enough profit? Can your inhabitants move efficiently within the city? Are they educated? Can the police cope with crime? Le list is pretty long and hours go by quickly when taking on the stack of files. The AI is pretty solid despite recurring conflicts between the surface of residential zone (even with the of the map covered in green the game still says it's not enough), unemployment and consumer spending.

    This new Sim City introduces a micro-management system in which each administrative building can be customized with additional elements to boost its efficiency the police station can have more patrol cars, the bus terminal will have to receive more garages, the university can be extended with a business school or an engineer school, etc. This system provides you further leverage to reach prosperity, and keeps you even busier than before.

    But Maxis has more and offer you to choose a specialization to personalize your city. Gambling, Hi-Tech, Tourism, Oil, a nice array of possibilities that add further value. Let's stress that you can choose several of those in the same city feel free to erect the Tokyo Tower next to an exhibition center, while you pump oil not far from there! Those ones are no gimmick the warehouse exports, derricks provide barrels for your oil plant, the stadium welcomes tourists...

    The fourth layer of awesome is that your management actually has an impact on other Sim City players. The game is organized in regions of 4 to 16 cities which are communicating permanently. Goods will come from neighbours if your industry isn't doing enough, students form other cities will come if you have the best university, stations allow tourists to visit. Economic parameters are very detailed there are 3 levels of wealth, 3 levels of quality for merchandises and 3 levels of qualification for workers. If the middle class can't find goods of their liking at home, they'll be shopping elsewhere. If you're few to produce high-quality goods, the rich from everywhere will rush to buy. Positioning yourself within your region is a game in the game.

    Beyond this competitive side, cities can cooperate by sending ambulances, patrol cars or garbage trucks. Player can also sign contracts to provide electricity or water. That's where the whole systems finds its limits. Let's face it, you need every possible asset you have for your city, because there's never enough. Your neighbour isn't always monitoring his power supply, so you can being cut by mistake. To play cooperatively, players need to know each other beforehand.

    I lament that the laderboards and the world market are still to be implemented. The dev. team is still working to stabilize servers. A quick word on that apart from the launch day, I've never had any problem to play.

    The standard size of the city is about one fourth of a small city in Sim City 3000. When I constructed my 2nd city (having drawn a map before), it took me... 3 hours. In Sim City, you must constantly invest to improve the standards of living. But you very quickly reach the point at which you can't have further residential surfaces, which means you cannot your population and your fiscal revenues. And if, like in my first city, you choose the seaside, you're fairly limited... the other issue lies in the expansions you can make to buildings it can necessitate far more surface than you expected at first. If you haven't made room in advance, you have to flatten entire blocks, lose inhabitants and revenues, which makes your budget worsen dramatically. The University fully developed is about the size of 6 residential blocks of high density! You need to make several cities to exhaust the game. I wish I had a big metropolis with everything in it, but sadly it's not an option.

    Sim City is an amazing game, so rich and complex that it seems infinite in theory. But in actual gameplay, it ends up being limited by a clear lack of polish. The dreams of ambitious managers may be crushed by the ridiculous size of the cities.    … Expand
  19. TheFadeForever
    Apr 28, 2013
    6
    DRM prevented me from giving it a more positive review. The gameplay for Sim City has improved I give EA credit for that. However, there poor launch held back the potential of the game not to mention the always online single player ruin the experience due to problems connecting to the server. The new updates for the game just made it even more stale than before thank a lot EA.
  20. Daddy_D
    Mar 17, 2013
    6
    The DRM problems are as good as gone, and if you look past the DRM it's a mediocre game that's playable but not perfect. There are still alot of annoying bugs. The traffic for example which is pretty bad where cars take the shortest way rather than the best way causing traffic jams. I really miss the save function, larger areas and offline gameplay, and these are the main reason I can'tThe DRM problems are as good as gone, and if you look past the DRM it's a mediocre game that's playable but not perfect. There are still alot of annoying bugs. The traffic for example which is pretty bad where cars take the shortest way rather than the best way causing traffic jams. I really miss the save function, larger areas and offline gameplay, and these are the main reason I can't give the game more than a 6/10. I can get along with "Always online", but being able to save and larger areas are what makes SimCity great. If EA release a patch in the future and fix these issues I will change my score to 9/10. SimCity is simply not SimCity without these functions. I want to be able to build up a city, save it and wreck it with disasters, but EA says you, I will deside what's fun for you. IF YOU READ THIS EA, FIX THE GAME!!!!!!… Expand
  21. icedanielizatio
    Mar 20, 2013
    5
    First off, I had no connection problems, it probably helped that i'm in New New Zealand. So as I began exploring the game and its features I thought to myself, wow, this is a well built game, the modding capabilities are going to be huge. But every now and then something would crop up and cause a confused face; the first one was the small plot of land, I shrugged it off and thought theFirst off, I had no connection problems, it probably helped that i'm in New New Zealand. So as I began exploring the game and its features I thought to myself, wow, this is a well built game, the modding capabilities are going to be huge. But every now and then something would crop up and cause a confused face; the first one was the small plot of land, I shrugged it off and thought the mechanics must be different. The second confusion showed its face when I first hit the 100,000 mark, at that point I noticed the city I had built had become so squished with tall buildings that it no longer resembled a typical city, to make matters worse, I could not build all the structures I would have liked to, this led me to understand that the game does not want me to play alone, it wants me to either play other plots of land in the same region and specialize them to support each other, or wait for online players to join in. The frustration was starting to set in heavy at that point. 1. I do not like loading and reloading all these different cities that don't even look like cities just to support the one city you care about. 2. When I attempted to start a multiplayer game, no body joined. So with a final attempt at giving the game a chance, I looked for existing maps to join, but very few were active longer than 3 days and those that were, are full; so no hope there either.

    Maxis, if you read this, you have a valuable game sitting here, this is only going to be successful for you right now: release the modding tools, but if you won't do that, at least focus the game for single player, doubling the plot size would be a welcome start. If something does not happen within the next few weeks, I'm sorry to say goodbye to another could-have-been. Just take the plunge and listen to us gamers for once.    … Expand
  22. theSCARAYone
    Apr 1, 2013
    7
    This game really deserves 2 separate reviews: One reviewing the actual game when it works, and one talking about the horrible decision of always online DRM. But alas, I can't do 2 reviews so I'm stuck with 1. Starting with the game when it works; it's wonderful. I personally feel that when it comes to the game play aspects of this game in one city, they were almost perfect. I love buildingThis game really deserves 2 separate reviews: One reviewing the actual game when it works, and one talking about the horrible decision of always online DRM. But alas, I can't do 2 reviews so I'm stuck with 1. Starting with the game when it works; it's wonderful. I personally feel that when it comes to the game play aspects of this game in one city, they were almost perfect. I love building a city and watching it grow. They simplified the way water and electricity works, you no longer requires power lines or pipes. Building and maintaining your economy is easy and long as you don't do anything stupid. It's just overall a lot of fun. In my book these aspects of the game deserve an 8.5/10.

    Now we'll talk about the negative things. DRM is never the solution to any single player game, ever. All the arguments that it "stops piracy" or "enhances your game play experience" are total bull shiest. DRM is limiting the people that pay for your game and only slows down those who would steal it. Take a look at Diablo 3, there are more than 10 torrents online that include server emulators. It doesn't stop piracy, it only slows it down. I also can't stand how small the area is that they give you to build your city's. City's in SC4 or SC3000 could be up to 15 times bigger. The excuse that "it won't run on dad's computer" is also bull shiest. I don't have "dad's computer" I have my computer that I spent a good amount of money on so that I could run things like that, stop limiting the people with the better machines to what the people with the lowest machines can handle. These aspects deserve a 2/10.

    Also, anyone who re-reviews this game after giving it a negative one at launch shouldn't. Don't excuse the current game for the failings at launch. I didn't have the game at launch, but if I pay $60 for anything, I expect it to work whenever I want to use it.

    So overall I think the game is a 7. All the right ideas are there when it comes to game play, but they are severely hindered by the Always on DRM.    … Expand
  23. MrBla
    Jan 10, 2014
    0
    Wow this game is a huge fail. It's not even a full game. If you want a full game you must buy this base-game(it's like a demo) for 60$ and then you forced to buy each building individually(it's called DLC), but it's not DLC, it's the content and features which was cut from the full game.
    DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP. DO NOT SUPPORT EA.
  24. joevsyou
    Mar 7, 2013
    8
    This is a TRUE 0 NOT spam. I can't play the game, unplayable. NOTHING more to say!

    Polygon website has reduce their score from 9.5 to 8. Most of these game websites are using SAME pictures for their review. I suggest you got trust them things currently going on ~amazon has Stop selling simcity ~polygon has reduce their review score from 9.5 to 8 ~EA offer refunds BUT then    This is a TRUE 0 NOT spam. I can't play the game, unplayable. NOTHING more to say!

    Polygon website has reduce their score from 9.5 to 8. Most of these game websites are using SAME pictures for their review. I suggest you got trust them things currently going on
    ~amazon has Stop selling simcity

    ~polygon has reduce their review score from 9.5 to 8

    ~EA offer refunds BUT then threaten to ban people accounts

    ~EA supposedly has hire Chinese workers to spam good reviews and has force a number of websites to close "create a account" for the meantime    … Expand
  25. loran1212
    Mar 7, 2013
    8
    I have now sat down with this game constantly for 2.5 hours, and at max got it to work for 20 minutes. this game, although it has nice visuals and from what i can see fine game play, is literally unplayable. it will probably become a whole lot better over the next few weeks. This will be my final lesson. I am not going to by another PC game until at minimum six months after launch.
  26. ashkonh
    Mar 9, 2013
    7
    The new SimCity is another victim of the Cloud. Online-only is probably the worst decision Maxis could have made. SimCity is for stormy days when you have no internet connection and you make yourself a hot chocolate and create a fantasy city. Now it's dependent and social. Although in this edition they have taken out the most annoying aspects of the last game (SimCity 4 Deluxe for PC IThe new SimCity is another victim of the Cloud. Online-only is probably the worst decision Maxis could have made. SimCity is for stormy days when you have no internet connection and you make yourself a hot chocolate and create a fantasy city. Now it's dependent and social. Although in this edition they have taken out the most annoying aspects of the last game (SimCity 4 Deluxe for PC I mean, not tablet or handheld games) such as having to draw water pipes, they left out some of the best aspects. One of the greatest joys when playing SimCity used to be making the terrain yourself before you started your city. Now you can't even control the terrain, so there literally IS going to be a PERFECT city that somebody in Korea designs. I'm not cool with that, it takes all the imagination out of it. They also left out the ability to drive around doing missions, move in your own Sims, and (I am saying it again) control the size of your city. I am giving the game a 7 because I am trying to take a step back from my years of experience with the previous games and what they have given me, and just looking at SimCity from an objective angle. It's fun, pretty, and conducive to teamwork, and the possibilities for creating unique and interesting cities are enormous.… Expand
  27. 3THO
    Mar 8, 2013
    4
    The game is great, when the bigger maps come out, it will be perfect. So I am very happy with the game.... but the always online DRM is hell.... Origin says I played simciy for 11 hours... I played it for like 1 hour.... with connection! And it did not save my city!!! I understand the overwhelming dislike and the average of a 1.6, but this is not fair towards the game! Yes the game isThe game is great, when the bigger maps come out, it will be perfect. So I am very happy with the game.... but the always online DRM is hell.... Origin says I played simciy for 11 hours... I played it for like 1 hour.... with connection! And it did not save my city!!! I understand the overwhelming dislike and the average of a 1.6, but this is not fair towards the game! Yes the game is very limited because of the small maps, but it is manageable untill the bigger maps will come out... which ofcourse we will have to pay for, thanks EA! The game is worth a 7.5 and with bigger maps (4x4, 8x8) at least a 9. But because of Origin.... it is not worth even more than a 6. Verdict: The game does not deserve to be hated, but Origin and EA do.... so EA YOU DESERVE THE 1.6 AVERAGE! Also, Maxis...... You are to be blamed too! You let this happen!… Expand
  28. reticle2020
    Mar 8, 2013
    6
    Well despite the glaring server issues, bugs and inability to play offline. This game is actually a lot of fun. I was able to play for several hours last night, however, on one of the European servers. There are some game crippling bugs I will admit. It's a shame that Maxis is under the thumb of EA I honestly believe that, if they were under the banner of any other producer they wouldWell despite the glaring server issues, bugs and inability to play offline. This game is actually a lot of fun. I was able to play for several hours last night, however, on one of the European servers. There are some game crippling bugs I will admit. It's a shame that Maxis is under the thumb of EA I honestly believe that, if they were under the banner of any other producer they would have waited, ran proper beta testing and released the game when it was ready, instead I think big brother EA was pushing them to release a product to meet their budget. It's a shame really, because once your able to play the game it's really a lot of fun!… Expand
  29. Stinius
    Mar 8, 2013
    8
    I'm not giving this game a 0 for a reason: The game itself is great. Apart from the connection problems and the always-online bullsh*t, the game is awesome. I'm enjoying it even more than previous SimCity games. For the time I can play it, that is, because I get kicked out of the servers all the time and I've lost my progress quite sometimes. But, if it would become possible to play thisI'm not giving this game a 0 for a reason: The game itself is great. Apart from the connection problems and the always-online bullsh*t, the game is awesome. I'm enjoying it even more than previous SimCity games. For the time I can play it, that is, because I get kicked out of the servers all the time and I've lost my progress quite sometimes. But, if it would become possible to play this game without EA's bullsh*t, it would by far be an excellent SimCity game.

    So, the game gets a 10, the always-online bullsh*t and not being able to save/load a 0.    … Expand
  30. stn1337
    Mar 11, 2013
    8
    The game is very addictive and fun to play. You just want to play more and more allt the time and it was a long time since I felt that feeling about a game.

    The game is very simple and basic tough, to the better for new player but to the worse for experienced players. The "play whit a friend" thing is a good idea, but doesnt play out well ingame. Me and my friend ended upp in different    The game is very addictive and fun to play. You just want to play more and more allt the time and it was a long time since I felt that feeling about a game.

    The game is very simple and basic tough, to the better for new player but to the worse for experienced players. The "play whit a friend" thing is a good idea, but doesnt play out well ingame. Me and my friend ended upp in different "zones" but still in the same region. So we could build our own cities.    … Expand
  31. Poroz
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    I am changing my review, This game is not worth the head aches in the last 2 days... No amount of fun is worth all the crashes all the times the serves are down, all the time loading the game to not being able to make/start a game. The game is fun, but it is NOT worth all this waiting for nothing. you wait start the game and its down, or you go into a server and cant make a game, StartingI am changing my review, This game is not worth the head aches in the last 2 days... No amount of fun is worth all the crashes all the times the serves are down, all the time loading the game to not being able to make/start a game. The game is fun, but it is NOT worth all this waiting for nothing. you wait start the game and its down, or you go into a server and cant make a game, Starting this game for the 5th time is not as fun as it was playing it the first time.… Expand
  32. runbmp
    Mar 9, 2013
    5
    I had the chance to spend 23hrs in simcty 5, unfortunately both cities I worked on are now corrupted and the suggested rollback has left them inaccessible...

    The game play is a lot of fun and the game does guide quite a bit on how to take on the problematic issues within your city. The GUI and over aesthetics are already well craft, more so the graphs and animation for water, sewage    I had the chance to spend 23hrs in simcty 5, unfortunately both cities I worked on are now corrupted and the suggested rollback has left them inaccessible...

    The game play is a lot of fun and the game does guide quite a bit on how to take on the problematic issues within your city.

    The GUI and over aesthetics are already well craft, more so the graphs and animation for water, sewage and electricity. I do think a little more effort and assets could of been given to variety of buildings and detail. However that's just me.

    One of the things lacking, which is noticed within an hour of the game, is the how small the regions are and the dismissal of macro management which has been removed. (when compared to Simcity 4 For me these are two things that had been come back to simcity 4 to this day.

    However, with the server issues still on-going, looks like I may have to play Simcity 4 just a bit longer. With the server issues in mind, which are game affecting, I can't give it a full rating sadly. It also begs the questions, how long with Simcity 5 last until EA shuts down the server.    … Expand
  33. s0cks
    Aug 26, 2013
    7
    Most of the user review scores are from the time of release. The game has been through 7 major patch updates since then and is a lot more fun.

    One has to remember that this was a reboot of the franchise and not a normal iteration or sequel. The old games were statistically based and what you saw on screen was just a representation of what might be happening in the city (hence why cars    Most of the user review scores are from the time of release. The game has been through 7 major patch updates since then and is a lot more fun.

    One has to remember that this was a reboot of the franchise and not a normal iteration or sequel. The old games were statistically based and what you saw on screen was just a representation of what might be happening in the city (hence why cars faded in and out around corners).

    This new game simulates using an agent based system. Now every home has sims that need work, need education, happiness, money, etc... For example, Andy will leave home in the morning and must get to work before 9am. So long as he makes it, when he leaves at the end of the day he will bring home money. That money will be spent in shops which will make him happy. And so on, and so on. That my friends, is revolutionary! You can really start to appreciate how difficult this must have been for them to create.

    I'm not saying this is an excuse to release a buggy, half-finished game, but those who wanted SimCity 4 with updated graphics need to look elsewhere. This is not what the game was intending to be.

    To add to that city builders are difficult! Look at Cities XL, and before that, SC4. Both were, and still are really buggy! Not just that, but they bring even the best computers to their knees. There is just so much to calculate (even with a statistically based model)!

    I find this game fun, and if you go in with an open mind and play the game as was intended it can be a LOT of fun! I recommend it highly. I gave it 7 due to launch issues, if the game released in it's current state it would have got an 8 perhaps in another 6 months it will be a 9.    … Expand
  34. minijeffrey
    Mar 14, 2013
    5
    The game has one major problem: everything works and is broken at the same time. The bugs and gameplay-problems I have seen are unbelievable: from a locked time (5:40 PM) to complete broken traffic and money-systems. A realistic simulation game, failed.
  35. GuardianQ
    Apr 6, 2013
    7
    In this review I will ignore any issues with the servers or saving mechanics.

    I wasn't excited about receiving SimCity, I bought it as something to do in those long, endless holidays, but that is always what it has been. I have briefly played other SimCity games, but not to a great extent or particularly recently. In reality, I was going in blind. Initially, the menus feel a bit    In this review I will ignore any issues with the servers or saving mechanics.

    I wasn't excited about receiving SimCity, I bought it as something to do in those long, endless holidays, but that is always what it has been. I have briefly played other SimCity games, but not to a great extent or particularly recently. In reality, I was going in blind.

    Initially, the menus feel a bit clunky despite their beauty and this is a truth throughout. I was disappointed by the lack of choice of regions (eight in all from memory), and then even more so by the lack of space to develop a city. I guess it's a 50-50 as it encourages you to be efficient in your planning but in reality the most efficient design is rows and rows of city blocks which look ugly. The small cities really limit the ability of the designer player to build the city of their dreams and still achieve the same successes as was possible in older games.

    The actual game is executed well but not superbly. I like the 'modular' style buildings that you can spring up and all the individual animations of every building and every sim are mesmerising. The specialisation possible in this game is fairly well thought out and the city constraints mean that once you specialise, you don't really have room for a lot else.

    The depth of animation is spectacular and there are many layers which you have to consider in order to get your city running well. That said, there are numerous different approaches to doing that and there's always something you can tweak to work that little bit better, which is always very satisfying. Furthermore, despite the small cities, you can always go out and claim another in the same region and use it to bolster your main one, be that as a commuter hub or power station and they all interlink very well and that is something I feel a lot of players forget.

    I'll be brief with the problems. There are numerous graphical glitches when on certain zoom levels which shouldn't be, I don't feel there is a great selection of buildings to place yourself (there are verging on a million parks, but little else), and I don't feel the AI systems particularly controlling traffic flow are very intelligent. Coupled to this, the way in which your city develops when density starts increasing isn't always smart and I feel as though when starting with a cosy suburb with wavy roads, it starts to upgrade and you get this big, rectangular apartments all of the same size which in turn make half your roads obsolete. I think there are ways in which high density buildings can have small footprints and this should be explored.

    This game is good and well made, but there are problems here and there which can drive you away after a couple of hours. By all means buy it, but don't expect to be blown away.    … Expand
  36. PlayerGuy
    May 8, 2013
    0
    Its a good and fun game, but people will want it with singleplayer one, on my 16 years of gaming, this is the most crap game because of the forced online, SERIOSLY EA, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING WITH THIS? MAKING THE GAME'S SINGLEPLAYER A DLC?
    Its a singleplayer game but forced online? Hell no.
    Waste of money. the premium edition is even 80 bucks, this is the real waste of money.
  37. Daikaze
    Mar 5, 2013
    7
    I'm not a fan of the DRM or the map size, but the game is actually quite enjoyable. It really seems like most of the reviews are dishonest. The negative reviews are largely from players that didn't buy the game and the positive reviews are bloated as people feel the need to "balance" things out. After some time with the beta and live builds of the game, I can say it is quite enjoyable. TheI'm not a fan of the DRM or the map size, but the game is actually quite enjoyable. It really seems like most of the reviews are dishonest. The negative reviews are largely from players that didn't buy the game and the positive reviews are bloated as people feel the need to "balance" things out. After some time with the beta and live builds of the game, I can say it is quite enjoyable. The small map size makes things a bit more challenging because you don't have room for error when it comes to maximizing your population/income. The map size really puts emphasis on city specializations, and I'm okay with that. It's a bit different, but it ends up playing well. The game is simple enough for novice users and offers plenty of challenge for experienced users to work with. It's a shame they didn't offer a 1-hour demo build for everyone to try.… Expand
  38. Keoki
    Mar 6, 2013
    7
    One of the worst release of a game I ever seen, by the way the game is good, and I hope it will be better in the future. Hope all the problems be fixed soon!
  39. hardnox
    Mar 18, 2013
    1
    Unfortunately this game is so full of bugs and issues that it's obvious that EA is still releasing unfinished products for the free testing that the paying public is expected to polish up for them. Why pay in house testers minimum wage with overtime when you can just release it and get thousands of bug reports from the public.... this is EA's business model. I used to test for them and doUnfortunately this game is so full of bugs and issues that it's obvious that EA is still releasing unfinished products for the free testing that the paying public is expected to polish up for them. Why pay in house testers minimum wage with overtime when you can just release it and get thousands of bug reports from the public.... this is EA's business model. I used to test for them and do product support and still over a decade later NOTHING has changed, IN fact EA is worse about it now than ever. D3, ME3, now this... The more we (customers) keep buying from them the more the investors think it works and they want to do this more. BOYCOTT EA Until they release fully tested products that are playable and not based solely on DRM and micro transaction greed. BOYCOTT EA!… Expand
  40. MadMagpie
    Mar 8, 2013
    3
    I'm not going to go into the details because it's already been said by everyone else. I won't simply give it a "0" either because it's a great game if you ever get to play it, but the frustrations with server issues destroy the experience. If I do successfully login, I'm too ticked off to enjoy it because I'm just waiting until I get kicked out again. Folks say that you should review aI'm not going to go into the details because it's already been said by everyone else. I won't simply give it a "0" either because it's a great game if you ever get to play it, but the frustrations with server issues destroy the experience. If I do successfully login, I'm too ticked off to enjoy it because I'm just waiting until I get kicked out again. Folks say that you should review a game based on the gameplay itself, but the gameplay hinges on being able to connect to a server. EA said it was part of the experience. The start menu is part of the experience for most video games. If you were stuck at the start menu forever, then the game would get poor reviews because it's broken. People are stuck at what is essentially the start menu for SimCity, so, in its current sate, it is broken.

    I can see this turning into a case study for future game design students and developers on how not to run your business. The fall of EA (hopefully) would only validate the entire thing. Do yourself a favor and save your money unless they magically make an offline version or update for it. I had originally written a positive review, but I felt compelled to come back and replace it with this one because I couldn't stand the feeling of betrayal anymore. I really want to like the game, but I'm tired of looking like an idiot trying to defend it despite everything that has happened. Fix it or finish committing professional suicide already EA because I'm done with you.    … Expand
  41. Nitsuam
    Mar 7, 2013
    9
    Its a beautiful game when you can get on. Problem is you can't unless you can play games while at work or school (servers are not overcrowded 10 am to 2 pm eastern). I love the SimCity games and that includes this one when I'm able to play, but poor launch execution is not cool or acceptable. I will change my rating to a 9 out of 10 as soon as EA proves they can run this gameIts a beautiful game when you can get on. Problem is you can't unless you can play games while at work or school (servers are not overcrowded 10 am to 2 pm eastern). I love the SimCity games and that includes this one when I'm able to play, but poor launch execution is not cool or acceptable. I will change my rating to a 9 out of 10 as soon as EA proves they can run this game successfully. My only other problem is the always on connection but the detail of the simulation requires a better computer than what the average person has so it doesn't bother me that much.… Expand
  42. dustin12345678
    Mar 14, 2013
    5
    I am going to ignore the server issues per this review. Great looking game. Great concepts. Specializations nice. The biggest issue with this game is the map size and inability to edit regions. Not possible to focus on nice looking City. Instead, game forces you to really manage how City functions. Older SimCity games allowed you to manage but ALSO focus on aesthetics. Not really sure whyI am going to ignore the server issues per this review. Great looking game. Great concepts. Specializations nice. The biggest issue with this game is the map size and inability to edit regions. Not possible to focus on nice looking City. Instead, game forces you to really manage how City functions. Older SimCity games allowed you to manage but ALSO focus on aesthetics. Not really sure why it forces you to play online because me and my buddy haven't been able to connect on a private region for over a week now. I feel like Maxis and EA dropped the ball on this. There was no point to have agents and individual people simulated in this game. Should have just built off of what made SimCity 4 great. I am going to hope this gets better a year from now (bigger maps, regional editing capabilities, off-line play), but i'm not going to hold my breath. I have been waiting ten years for this? guess i'll open SC4 back up.… Expand
  43. PwQt
    Mar 8, 2013
    6
    SimCity is a GREAT game. When it's working! EA hasn't learned over the fail-Diablo III release problems, and me, I wasn't able to play for a ONE day after downloading the game, cause of the servers overloading. EA seems to be working on this problems, and now we can play this game, but several features are off. SimCity, and similar games were always about single-player experience, so weSimCity is a GREAT game. When it's working! EA hasn't learned over the fail-Diablo III release problems, and me, I wasn't able to play for a ONE day after downloading the game, cause of the servers overloading. EA seems to be working on this problems, and now we can play this game, but several features are off. SimCity, and similar games were always about single-player experience, so we should have the possibility to play OFFLINE, but the games' DRM-system requires connection to EA servers at all times Disconnect for 1 second possibility of losing several hours of gameplay.

    Game also suffers from claustrophobic maps. After one-two hour session, you can finish creating one city, without space to create new places to live on your City. You have to create another city to do other things.

    Nevertheless, the Glassbox simulation engine is doing it's best to simulate real city life, and it does it PERFECTLY. When you solve one problem(f.e. Sewage), you must be aware that this could cause another problems, needed to be solved quickly. Personally, I like SimCity, the score is low, because of the fail start, and possible problems in future (servers could be off in ~5-6 years). Gameplay does perfectly the thing called "just one more hour".    … Expand
  44. Rosey-dee-veto
    Mar 6, 2013
    6
    It really breaks my heart to rate this game so low, because it really is an incredible game with immense depth that provides a much needed breath of fresh air to the genre If you manage to log in.

    That's right, the hotly contested decision of SimCity being an online game (needs to be connected to servers in order to play) ended up being a total disaster as so many people predicted.    It really breaks my heart to rate this game so low, because it really is an incredible game with immense depth that provides a much needed breath of fresh air to the genre If you manage to log in.

    That's right, the hotly contested decision of SimCity being an online game (needs to be connected to servers in order to play) ended up being a total disaster as so many people predicted. Forget the problems of not being to download the game on Origin when it launched, the big problem now is that the servers are way overtaxed; so much so that I've been trying on and off every 10 minutes for the past 6 hours to log in with no luck. This fatal flaw is the only reason I have not rated this game at least a 9/10.

    The gameplay is a little different in that your city borders are smaller and you need to specialize your city and work with other cities in the region to run efficiently. Regions range from 2 city regions up to 16, and you can either decide to play it solo by claiming all the cities in a region for yourself or with others by allowing others to join the region and create their own cities. I admit, however, that it is rather difficult managing more that 2 or 3 cities in a region and although possible, this is not how Maxis intended for you to play the game. It's also noteworthy that Maxis has stated that they will increase the city sizes "eventually" as this is one of the more common complaints among play testers and consumers.

    I won't give you a huge breakdown on how the gameplay works check out any professional review site and you'll get that. I will tell you that the game is crazy addictive and incredibly fun. Just wait until Maxis EA Origin work out the server issues (as they have promised to do) before you buy it.    … Expand
  45. PossumSocks
    Mar 5, 2013
    7
    Ok so lets begin by me saying that I find this game extremely fun. The problem with it is not the game itself, but EA being a total dickbag.

    EA is very stupid. DRM on this game hurts the players so much more than pirating. When I first hear people talking about this game and the DRM problems. When I heard that the DRM was stupid, I thought back to Steam where I buy most of my games. On    Ok so lets begin by me saying that I find this game extremely fun. The problem with it is not the game itself, but EA being a total dickbag.

    EA is very stupid. DRM on this game hurts the players so much more than pirating. When I first hear people talking about this game and the DRM problems. When I heard that the DRM was stupid, I thought back to Steam where I buy most of my games. On Steam you need to be logged in... and that is no problem because the servers are plentiful. This is why I was somewhat blind-sided by SimCity. I did not have to wait the first time playing. And the experience was great. But after about 2 hours, the server began to clog up. Now I understand some hiccups on launch day but it is sad when you cannot play because the server shuts down on you and kicks you off. Now to be honest. DRM only hurts the people who buy the game. I could probably go on ISOhunt or Piratebay right now and find a copy of the game that is working fine, but I like supporting the game devs.. MESSAGE TO ALL GAME CORPORATIONS!!!! DRM DOES NOT SOLVE ANYTHING!!!

    Now to sum up the game itself. I only played about 2 and a half hours, but what I did play was pretty great. I love the way cities can now have more organic themes with the new options like curvy roads and such. The game is fairly easy to grasp from the beginning and the controls are smooth. The only problem I had with the game itself is the maps feel a little small, meaning that your cities will become hard to control with so little space.

    My scoring: 10
    -0.5 for the small maps
    -0.5 for removing subways
    -2 for the DRM that ruined the experience
    =7/10

    Final notes- This game could have been an 8 or 9 but the DRM caused the servers to crash... disallowing me to play the game.

    also, you guys should stop giving this game a 0 for DRM... honestly that is ridiculous. I know DRM is bad and some may not be able to play the game but in my opinion, you should wait a day and play the game instead of giving it a zero. It is not the game that is terrible, it is EA and Origin that are ruining it.    … Expand
  46. ImRatherStartld
    Mar 5, 2013
    7
    To all the people giving this a 1/2/3 because of the always online DRM this is supposed to be a review of the game, not of a company's (poor) choice in piracy protection. Now i absolutely hate EA for their ridiculous DRM protection, but simcity is a beautiful game, with a good interface and is actually pretty damn challenging. yes EA are stupid with the always online drm. yes theseTo all the people giving this a 1/2/3 because of the always online DRM this is supposed to be a review of the game, not of a company's (poor) choice in piracy protection. Now i absolutely hate EA for their ridiculous DRM protection, but simcity is a beautiful game, with a good interface and is actually pretty damn challenging. yes EA are stupid with the always online drm. yes these probably will be micro transactions (once again, pretty stupid) but the game is decent… Expand
  47. ABoone
    Mar 5, 2013
    5
    I'll start off by saying its a good game, however the longevity has been completely spoiled by the map size and insistence on 'Multiplayer'. Maxis and EA have forgotten some of the key aspects of what made the SimCity franchise so great such as the aspect of individual immersion. When I play SimCity I don't want to talk or interact with anyone, the door to my room is closed and unlessI'll start off by saying its a good game, however the longevity has been completely spoiled by the map size and insistence on 'Multiplayer'. Maxis and EA have forgotten some of the key aspects of what made the SimCity franchise so great such as the aspect of individual immersion. When I play SimCity I don't want to talk or interact with anyone, the door to my room is closed and unless something important comes up all I want to do is make my city look totally awesome. The people who play SimCity tend to range from kids to people not too far off my grandfathers age and quite honestly I don't think these two demographics particularly want or need to interact with each other. Out of all the games that exist that EA could have chosen to force an 'Always On DRM' I don't think you could have picked a worse game than SimCity. Focusing further on the demographic for a SimCity game, it would appear that EA and Maxis now just assume everybody owns a highspeed internet connection and a relatively powerful desktop computer. One of the dev's I believe had been quotes as saying they wanted to make a game that 'Could run on your dads pc'. Well unless your dad likes to keep up to date with new processors, graphics cards and RAM I think this game will struggle with your every day family PC. As for having an internet connection, I'm sure the developers of a game called 'SimCity' must have come across a thing called a 'Village' or even a 'Small Town' because believe it or not some people who live in such places struggle to have an internet connection that will perform over 24 hours, let alone at a high speed. Moving on to gameplay however, yes, it is an entertaining game. Starting a new city is fun and you can easily get hooked for a few hours trying to manage your city and keep it both proftiable and expansive whilst maintaining your sim's happiness. Being able to choose different paths for your city is fun, going down the root of a Casino town, University town or Industrial town is a lot of fun and the process of achieving your goals is relatively smooth and cathartic. Then after two hours or so, you've filled the map and you have to start all over again on a new plot. How am I expected to grow any emotional attachment to my cities If I can't spend hours upon hours building it up and overcoming obstacles to gain a real sense of achievement? How can I build a city to look unique and have areas such as poor districts for my labour workers, rich districts for my city slickers and the suburbs along long winding roads for the middle classes if I am forced to create a generic high density city grid structure across the entire area? That is not how cities look like! EA may decide to fix these problems with DLC, however quite honestly if I were to buy any DLC from EA it would feel like supplying semtex to the IRA. Everyone knows that EA are quite shameless in their ability to charge people money for DLC that could have quite easily already been in the game, or to charge people money for the right to cheat. Or to charge people money for items within the game, which destroys any form of difficulty curve.

    This puts many people in a worrying position. As someone who likes many of the games and franchises under EA, for example FIFA, Mass Effect, Dead Space etc. If I refused to buy any game release by EA on moral grounds then I would be missing out on quite a lot. However, everytime I purchase an EA game, their disgusting money grabbing antics continue to ruin the market. What I can say though is don't buy SimCity, unless you have the money to burn and don't mind playing something you will get bored of in just a few weeks.    … Expand
  48. adamwouldcould
    Mar 8, 2013
    5
    Time for me to pile on also. I've lost several hours of gameplay due to server issues. I know it's ultimately my fault for expecting more... but the nostalgia of playing the original made me do it. The DRM is the problem for me.
  49. Mark2606
    Apr 13, 2013
    8
    When I saw the user score after I'd played the game for a week thinking they did a very good job on the game, I was thinking no way. Yeah, the server isn't ironed out, but overall I only had maybe two issues and they were temporary.

    Honestly, I've been through plenty of games that had issues on release date, but if you were to base your decision on how much fun the game is on a    When I saw the user score after I'd played the game for a week thinking they did a very good job on the game, I was thinking no way. Yeah, the server isn't ironed out, but overall I only had maybe two issues and they were temporary.

    Honestly, I've been through plenty of games that had issues on release date, but if you were to base your decision on how much fun the game is on a technical issue, you're stupid. Especially on a major title like this where you know making it right is a matter time.

    So, my first realization wasn't the technical stuff. Who cares. I set out on this game looking through 1 of 10 or 15 maps to start my city on. Let me tell you, when I was looking at those maps, the game didn't lead me to think "build a city", it was "build a continent".

    I got halfway through my continent when I started getting it. I'm thinking build a whole city on one grid. And, "wow, these are small grids." However, as I build my neighboring cities and my cities started interacting, it seemed natural to assume building "complete" cities on each grid was a critical error.

    That's when the grids stopped being small. One "city" would be (mainly) industrial, one residential, etc. If you look at the maps and study which cities are hooked together by road and rail. Those groups functioned more as a single unit with workers, police and fire working together.

    You can pick any map you want, and if you play the whole thing, and think of the entire continent being designed to function as your "megalopolis," small is definitely not what will be going through your head. If you're thinking you can try to jam your old strategies into a single grid, your frustration will probably put you in the dumb bunch who rated this game so poorly.

    This game is vast, dynamic, and nicely programmed. It's fun, fulfilling, and takes way more strategy than before. I haven't even scraped the surface tourism and trading strategies. So much to think about.

    So why don't I give it a ten? It is without a doubt in my mind the best iteration of the series. There are some things like schools. Once you build a university, schools as far as I can tell are useless. As a matter of fact, it looked to me like the total number of students simple migrated to the remaining educational facilities when I destroyed one.

    In effect, "lower than university" structures like elementary schools lowered the overall educational level of my city because the "total number of students" would simply be divided according to the number of schools you built... not the type. So after my university was built, by destroying my "lower than university" schools all the students would just migrate to the university thus always maximizing the education level.

    There are some of these types of things that would cause me to thump the designers heads. The issues are small, but that makes the game not perfect. And that's what a ten is.    … Expand
  50. IGNsus
    Mar 25, 2014
    0
    Wow? From whence do I begin?

    Let's start by examining the critic score vs. user score. Never have I seen a more blatant example of EA exerting its advertising muscles and coercing good reviews. Is there actually anything good about this game? EA flat out lied about the game needing an Internet connection to play. Joke's on them, as usual. By enforcing a connection, they over-flooded    Wow? From whence do I begin?

    Let's start by examining the critic score vs. user score. Never have I seen a more blatant example of EA exerting its advertising muscles and coercing good reviews.

    Is there actually anything good about this game? EA flat out lied about the game needing an Internet connection to play. Joke's on them, as usual. By enforcing a connection, they over-flooded their servers so no one could play at launch. Nice job.

    You guys know about the horrendous routes Sims take to work already. You guys have all seen the hilarious terrain bugs, too. Ultimately, this game does not even deserve a 1 for the design decision of having a single city block constitute a "city". I hope EA lost millions on this game; that, however, is probably wishful thinking. Judging by the quality of this product, I doubt EA even spent a million on it. They just spent most of the budget advertising and callously deceiving die-hard Simcity hopefuls.

    I bought Battlefield 4, but I guarantee you it'll be the last EA game I am ever, ever going to buy.    … Expand
  51. godlymonkey
    Mar 19, 2013
    6
    Buggy gameplay leads to a frustrating gameplay experience. Resources not shared, or being used when readily available. Cant join multiplayer games, all suggested are always the same and are full.
  52. PlatinumFlyTrap
    Mar 22, 2013
    7
    This would be a 7.5 if I could rate that.The cities are very small but depending on the region you choose can have multiple cities. These cities can interact but not as much as I expected. Disasters have to be unlocked in regular mode and all... well everything has to be built along roads. Online DRM was a problem at first but it's perfectly fine now except on very few occasions. CityThis would be a 7.5 if I could rate that.The cities are very small but depending on the region you choose can have multiple cities. These cities can interact but not as much as I expected. Disasters have to be unlocked in regular mode and all... well everything has to be built along roads. Online DRM was a problem at first but it's perfectly fine now except on very few occasions. City specialization is vague but it makes you need to make a decision. Pro stadiums and expo centers can make TONS of money and are really "overpowered" in a sense. It is fun and beautiful but has it's flaws game-play wise. I am sure mods will allow for larger cities but until then, have fun in your village.… Expand
  53. BobLennon
    Mar 22, 2013
    6
    I really do not understand all these people who are giving this game 0's 1's and 2's. Ok, the game has problems: Servers that malfunction, no subway, small maps (this decreased my grade of this game by 1).
    But the rest, is, Awesome. Wether your city is bad or really good you are, in the end, really proud of your result. Seeing huge buildings pop up in your city is just great. The game is    I really do not understand all these people who are giving this game 0's 1's and 2's. Ok, the game has problems: Servers that malfunction, no subway, small maps (this decreased my grade of this game by 1).
    But the rest, is, Awesome. Wether your city is bad or really good you are, in the end, really proud of your result. Seeing huge buildings pop up in your city is just great. The game is beautiful (eats up resources though), the road system is almost flawless and the new module concept is enjoyable (sometimes annoying though when you have allot of money and you have to put the modules 1 by 1 instead of having some button that makes that building automatically go at max), the game is challenging and finally it is NOT buggy at all. Depending on how much you are a fan of the series, you will probably, like me, get 20 hours of super fun on this game (for myself 27 with the beta). The problem here is that after that 20 hours, the game will start being boring, even when you take your time. The biggest reason for this is the repetitiveness of the cities. They really will look similar. A 6/10 seems like a justifiable result for this game. Simcity 4 is definitely better but this game is fresh anyway. and thanks Maxis for the free game.    … Expand
  54. Painless73
    Mar 17, 2013
    4
    Now after a while, I've played a lot and sadly, the re-occuring bugs, graphical errors, the overall limits of the gameplay has made this game a lot less fun than I initially found it to be. The game gets boring fast. Sadly. I feel I either should have waited until the game had been reviewed and game tested a bit more thoroughly, so I could make a decision of whether to buy or not to buy,Now after a while, I've played a lot and sadly, the re-occuring bugs, graphical errors, the overall limits of the gameplay has made this game a lot less fun than I initially found it to be. The game gets boring fast. Sadly. I feel I either should have waited until the game had been reviewed and game tested a bit more thoroughly, so I could make a decision of whether to buy or not to buy, because at this point it's money out the window. I had such high hopes for this game. I even thought that if I tried it myself, see for myself, it couldn't be that bad? Unfortunately it was. I don't think this game can be fixed through patches and what not you need an entirely NEW game. EA/Maxis you f*cked up!… Expand
  55. Klubby
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Look beyond all the "0" reviews. Seems like there are a bunch of pissed off freeloaders who cannot play a game for free. The game is fantastic and improved on so many aspects from previous versions of the franchise. The new "bottom-up" approach is great. The way the Sims each have their own individual lives and are affected directly by what you do as mayor is amazing. TheLook beyond all the "0" reviews. Seems like there are a bunch of pissed off freeloaders who cannot play a game for free. The game is fantastic and improved on so many aspects from previous versions of the franchise. The new "bottom-up" approach is great. The way the Sims each have their own individual lives and are affected directly by what you do as mayor is amazing. The micro-managing of power lines and water pipes is long gone and everything is delivered via the road systems is a welcome added-edition. Get this game. Seriously.… Expand
  56. hoffymann07
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Note: Most of the reviews posted in the user section should be avoided, if not deleted. The people giving this game a terrible score are really the disgrace of the gaming culture, and not the DRM. Most people will be able to tell that the low scores are posted by people who have no actual imput of value. The game is great. Although it would be ideal to be able to play the game offline,Note: Most of the reviews posted in the user section should be avoided, if not deleted. The people giving this game a terrible score are really the disgrace of the gaming culture, and not the DRM. Most people will be able to tell that the low scores are posted by people who have no actual imput of value. The game is great. Although it would be ideal to be able to play the game offline, with online the game shines, and it can be seen why this was included. Lush visuals, appropriate music, and excellent sound draw you into the Sim City world, and the gameplay and mechanics will keep you coming back again and again.… Expand
  57. Klav
    Mar 9, 2013
    10
    I've been forced to leave another review. The first few days were horrid, but server issues are being worked out and for about 24 hours I've have uninterrupted game play. Let me tell you, this game is fantastic. Launch issues aside, I can't complain about this game. The social aspect is simply amazing. Graphics are wonderful although GPU utilization needs some work. The maps are great.I've been forced to leave another review. The first few days were horrid, but server issues are being worked out and for about 24 hours I've have uninterrupted game play. Let me tell you, this game is fantastic. Launch issues aside, I can't complain about this game. The social aspect is simply amazing. Graphics are wonderful although GPU utilization needs some work. The maps are great. Hopefully we will see the ability to expand cities in some future DLC. Overall, this is a must buy for all SimCity fans old and new. Don't hesitate.… Expand
  58. Digido
    Mar 10, 2013
    10
    Connection problems have been fixed. :P. Very impressive since the last game, even though some features were left out. People vote this down because of the connection problems, well they're fixed, so rewrite the review, because this game deserves a better score.
  59. BazingaUA
    Mar 18, 2013
    9
    9/10
    The game is just awesome. Graphics are really cute, and the game is not lagging at all. A haven't spotted any problems with servers, so thats not an issue for me. The only bad thing in the game is small city.
  60. AngryRob
    Mar 14, 2013
    10
    After spending over 80 hours constructing about 8 different cities each to a population of 100-250k, and with a few remaining very profitable and a few burning to the ground, i can say with all confidence that this is an excellent sim city game. not many games can suck so many hours of my life away in just the first 2 weeks of launch. sim city managed to do that, and it gets major kudos for that.
  61. bwheatley
    Mar 7, 2013
    10
    When i get to play the game i really love it. Though small city sizes are a pain, missing some of the features i liked (power,water lines, subway).

    But this always on stuff is really a downer. Maxis is still one of my favorite game companies but this might just put a dent in that luster for me.
  62. MoreBokeh
    Mar 17, 2013
    9
    Politics around this game: 1/10
    Technical restrictions of this game: 6/10
    The actual game if you can get over those: 9/10 This game is smeared by politics. It's like anti-global warming people trashing Happy Feet for it's agenda and not the actual film. Or a movie about gun control being slammed before it even hits theatres. There was no hope for this title, and you can see that in    Politics around this game: 1/10
    Technical restrictions of this game: 6/10
    The actual game if you can get over those: 9/10

    This game is smeared by politics. It's like anti-global warming people trashing Happy Feet for it's agenda and not the actual film. Or a movie about gun control being slammed before it even hits theatres. There was no hope for this title, and you can see that in the 0-day reviews that already have it at 1/10.

    If actually intend to buy the game (instead of pirate it, as it's impossible to pirate it, and partially a reason for the outrage) and play on a computer with guaranteed internet connection, it's amazingly engaging and captivating. This version SimCity is more like Tropico than SimCity 4. Instead of Tropico's outlandish humour, SimCity offers a sense of sleepytown magicalness or pretty tilt shifted skyscraper landlines. It's really cute, engaging, and more fleshed out than Tropico. It's a shame that the Tropico series can get 8/10's but SimCity gets a 1/10 due to politics, as a "blind taste test" of these games would yield SimCity as the better game.    … Expand
  63. wernytitans
    Mar 17, 2013
    10
    The game is tons of fun, and I've experianced no problems. The real score should be 9.5, but of course the internet overacted to this masterpiece after some server problems that had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CONTENT ITSELF! Buy this game, it's worth every penny. Tons of fun, especially with friends.
  64. N7Maintank
    Mar 17, 2013
    10
    Despite the server problem earlier and a few bugs (the gift system kills me), despite the (stupid) DRM, despite the occasional failure to sync with the server, despite the absence of some of my favourite features in city simulation games (farm and underground etc.), SimCity is still the most well made and addictive city simulation game I've ever played. The amazing details of the city, theDespite the server problem earlier and a few bugs (the gift system kills me), despite the (stupid) DRM, despite the occasional failure to sync with the server, despite the absence of some of my favourite features in city simulation games (farm and underground etc.), SimCity is still the most well made and addictive city simulation game I've ever played. The amazing details of the city, the beautiful and dynamic infographics, and the occasional nostalgic elements (It brings tears to my eyes when I hear music from the Sims 1 starts playing when I click on certain buildings), nothing is confusing or redundant, I'd say the latest SimCity is Maxis at its climax.… Expand
  65. ansvver
    Mar 17, 2013
    10
    Server now ok, and the game it's so beautiful. I'm playng a lot of hour without connection problems.
    I'm building two infrastucture, with helpful of 2 my friend in a private region. The longevity is very long.
    Thanks a lot, maxis for this amazing game
  66. Glassbox
    Mar 17, 2013
    10
    The best game in its genre and raises the bar for it. Its only issue that it didn't release with day one DLC and season pass, but thats fine since I can wait.
  67. justcausetx
    Mar 6, 2013
    9
    I always find it funny when these site are overwhelmed by trolls posting ratings of 0 and 1 when they never purchased the game. Yes, the game had some issues at launch. Connecting to server but unable to claim a city, able to claim a city but the game crashed 2 mins later and no ability to invite a friend to a region. All these issues were resolved around 9 pm last night. If anyone hasI always find it funny when these site are overwhelmed by trolls posting ratings of 0 and 1 when they never purchased the game. Yes, the game had some issues at launch. Connecting to server but unable to claim a city, able to claim a city but the game crashed 2 mins later and no ability to invite a friend to a region. All these issues were resolved around 9 pm last night. If anyone has been through a Blizzard launch they will agree that these setbacks were nothing. People complaining about always on DRM, Hello and welcome to the 21st century. Everything is going this way. Unfortunately it is a necessary evil and wont be going away anytime soon.

    I must say this game is the most addicting one I have played in a while. It has been a good 3 or 4 years since a game has sucked me only for me to finally check the clock and realize I need to go to bed for work. I thought the city size was going to be a bad thing but it actually enhances the game play. You are able to start a second, third or even fourth city in your region.

    My first city is now over 50,000 residents and going strong. I have just started my second city in the region and can see myself being sucked in for a long time. Which is going to really put a damped on the Starcraft expansion coming out next week.    … Expand
  68. woromatt
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Don't see why everyone is bashing this game it's very fun. The city sizes are smaller but it focuses on making a specialized city to build up your region. Like I played for two hours so far and I have an industry and mining city and then I made a tourism casino city, later I'm going to develop a beachfront residential area. So each plot to develop is small but then you're alsoDon't see why everyone is bashing this game it's very fun. The city sizes are smaller but it focuses on making a specialized city to build up your region. Like I played for two hours so far and I have an industry and mining city and then I made a tourism casino city, later I'm going to develop a beachfront residential area. So each plot to develop is small but then you're also interconnecting and developing the entire region. Also for people complaining about being always online just get a better internet connection brah! I didn't have any issues getting into the servers today at all.… Expand
  69. MAD_JIHAD
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    Cons:
    Took 45 minutes after the game was supposed to be released before I could download it.
    3 Crashes which made the game lose some of my progress and an entire city. City size feels cramped. No offline play. People tend to go broke/afk/abandon citys in public games and it takes a while for someone to reclaim it. Pros: Best SimCity to date. Great tutorial for new players.    Cons:
    Took 45 minutes after the game was supposed to be released before I could download it.
    3 Crashes which made the game lose some of my progress and an entire city.
    City size feels cramped.
    No offline play.
    People tend to go broke/afk/abandon citys in public games and it takes a while for someone to reclaim it.

    Pros:
    Best SimCity to date.
    Great tutorial for new players.
    Multiplayer is tons of fun.
    Game is not an easy snooze fest.
    The attention to detail is amazing on the buildings.
    Tons of customizability.
    The data layer maps are sweet.
    Regions are very dynamic, the interaction between citys is amazing and brings the genre to a whole new level.    … Expand
  70. DubCheezy
    Mar 6, 2013
    6
    After a couple of days with the new SimCity game, my feelings are most certainly mixed. On the one hand, SimCity is an incredibly deep and engrossing simulation you could lose hours in. On the other hand the game is a flawed with bugs and backed by unreliable serves to maintain the "always online" requirement. There are also unnecessary limitations that appear to set the stage for DLCAfter a couple of days with the new SimCity game, my feelings are most certainly mixed. On the one hand, SimCity is an incredibly deep and engrossing simulation you could lose hours in. On the other hand the game is a flawed with bugs and backed by unreliable serves to maintain the "always online" requirement. There are also unnecessary limitations that appear to set the stage for DLC to be purchased in the in-game store down the road. Lets look at game play first, for the most part the game's engine is stable, I experienced no crashes due to the software itself. SimCity is a much more colorful and vibrant than it's predecessors, resembling the SIMs more than anything else. The depth and detail of the game engine is incredible when you consider everything that goes on in a city at once, all being tracked by the software. You can even select an individual SIM and follow them all around the town as they go from school, to work etc. Building your city has never been easier with a multiple road types including curved roads. And your buildings can be customized in new ways by adding modular additions to hospitals, city hall, and many others. I did however notice some hiccups in the game engine that need to be addressed by the developers; mainly erratic and strange behavior by certain SIMs on the roadways. Delivery trucks and buses would sometimes randomly stall out or just simply drive around aimlessly. Usually a restart would correct this problem, but these errors slowed my city's development to a craw. I also ran into irritating problems placing roads; the game prohibiting me from placing a road where I know it should be able to go. The New SimCity also uses much smaller map sizes for each city. I didn't mind this as much as some people, because once you fill out one map you can move on to the next-door map in the region. Since the cities in the region can share resources, jobs, etc I decided to dedicate each map as a "segment' of a larger city. Now my whole region is one giant city, with one map being the residential area, one map being industrial, and so on. The developers stated the smaller map size was due to limitations of people's computers to run the game with bigger maps. I call BS on that one, checking resources, my 3-year-old PC can run this game on max settings, utilizing less that 70% of the system resources to do it. I expect to see EA cramming DLC large maps down our throats at a later date. Most of my issues with the SimCity are a result of the "Always-online" DRM built into the game. This is not about, whether DRM is "right" or not, or even fair. The issue is the DRM was done very poorly and negatively affects the game-play to a point where it actually hinders the player's ability to enjoy the game they paid 60 bucks for. I was disconnected 5 times form EA's overwhelmed servers, two of those 5 times I had to wait longer than 20 minutes to log back in. Considering I was playing a SINGLE PLAYER game, and I'd paid 60 bucks for it, I didn't expect to have to wait in line to play the game. That's like being told by Ford that you can only drive your new car when/where THEY want you to. If the roads are open, they should be free, and I should be able to drive where I want. The reality is Game companies will continue to do this only if the consumer continues to open their wallets. That being said it's tough to punish SimCity for it's publisher's shady tactics, the game is very fun. But DRM IS PART OF THE GAME, it IS a FEATURE. If a game had a terrible installation program that didn't work on many computers, reviewers would most certainly account this into their review score. DRM must also be considered in the review scores of this game because it is part of the game, just like every other feature whether it be a building or a menu. The bottom line is if you love SimCity, you'll love this game, DRM or not. The DRM does limit the game (and that's the real reason they made smaller maps) and it does make the game downright unplayable at times. This is because when you buy SimCity, you're not just buying the game software, but your buying bandwidth and space on EA's servers, and quite frankly EA hasn't been up to the task so far.… Expand
  71. lemacanul
    Mar 17, 2013
    10
    A great game which is a new start for this incredible studio Maxis. A new game totally different of Sim City 4, a total recast of the city management, awesome graphics and gameplay for hours of fun. One last word terrific
  72. 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
  73. dkao12
    Mar 19, 2013
    7
    Simcity 5 is an intriguing game and has a lot of potential such as specialization and the complex gameplay. It isn't a bad game, it just had a really bad launch and EA is trying to fix their servers (heck they're willing to give out a free title with your purchase of Simcity). It's the steep learning curve makes it really difficult to start out and inability to change the settings andSimcity 5 is an intriguing game and has a lot of potential such as specialization and the complex gameplay. It isn't a bad game, it just had a really bad launch and EA is trying to fix their servers (heck they're willing to give out a free title with your purchase of Simcity). It's the steep learning curve makes it really difficult to start out and inability to change the settings and rules of the map is ridiculous. The tutorials don't help much and the in-game tips barely give me useful information. I couldn't even start my own city by myself because the amount of money is given to you at the beginning is too little (playing at normal) and the fact that I have to specialize on one thing and cooperate with the other city is even harder. Since you have to upgrade your town hall to city hall which needs a lot of residents then add a department of transportation to ship or gain workers and a trade depot to trade resources WITH ONLY $50,000 which I find ridiculous! It forces you to play with others or claim other lands which shouldn't make me do that and the land size is so small that I can barely call this game simCITY... hey I'm not talking about a metropolis here but the amount of space you get is a one block in the map. The more I played this game the lower my score got... and I'm not judging this game on its servers which I never do. It had great potential and I'm pretty sure it must have been awesome on paper! But I think this game falls short and it does not impress me very well. Bummer... I really wanted to immerse myself in this game but i can't unless I build multiple cities by myself or have to constantly rely on other cities. It's not a bad game but it is disappointing to anyone who is a SimCity fan, it just missing a lot things and the basics.… Expand
  74. Cordacc
    Mar 6, 2013
    5
    I have played, or at least tried to play this game. The tiny amount of time I could get on without crashing was fun and a real sim game with only the city size being any sort of major game play complaint. However I looking at the scores started wondering whether all of the people who gave it a 10 had well, even played the games, especially with many containing simple factual errors. SO II have played, or at least tried to play this game. The tiny amount of time I could get on without crashing was fun and a real sim game with only the city size being any sort of major game play complaint. However I looking at the scores started wondering whether all of the people who gave it a 10 had well, even played the games, especially with many containing simple factual errors. SO I have quickly done some excel work and I think when you take a look at this low user score, as low as it is, it should be lower. Of The current positive scores only 30% wrote a review as compared to the 58% of the negative ratings being reviews. Interesting isn't it that there were son many anonymous positives. Now if we look at the current 60 positive reviews, of the people giving these ratings the average of ratings given by each individual reviewer was 1.75, compared to the positives where the average number of rating per rater was (among the most recent 100) Was 4.33. Now why do you think this could be, I took a closer look and Of these 60 negative reviews 44 of them, 73%, of the raters had given exactly one review and one rating that is only for this one game. And of the remaining 16 people 9 of them had given only 2 reviews and 2 ratings. Leaving only 7 of the 60 raters with more than 2 rating and 2 reviews. People always say that the company will tell employees to rate their games highly or get people to do that for them, this is a little over the top. I just thought that if you are planning on buying this game, you should realize that only 12% of the reviews and probably a lower percent of the ratings were given by any sort of actual thoughtful human. This disgusts me.… Expand
  75. Vittor
    Mar 5, 2013
    8
    The game is excellent. I loved that it is not a single player anymore, it's a great multiplayer experience. My main complaint is about the very small size of the town, but I can solve it by having multiple towns in the same region. The game is fun, runs smooth.

    I personally hate EA and origin and this is my first game bought there, but I'm not letting my hate interfere in my opinion on    The game is excellent. I loved that it is not a single player anymore, it's a great multiplayer experience. My main complaint is about the very small size of the town, but I can solve it by having multiple towns in the same region. The game is fun, runs smooth.

    I personally hate EA and origin and this is my first game bought there, but I'm not letting my hate interfere in my opinion on this game. Game's great.    … Expand
  76. Tomlius1
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Do not listen to all these people reviewing the game as zero, the game is good but all these people are just about EA. And to the people who say its nothing like the originals, thats because its no longer the same game, its a complete reboot of the series and as for the small maps they said they will enlarge the maps in time
  77. jerudamaja
    Mar 6, 2013
    10
    this game is fun and certainly not desrving of 0-6 scores..come on people stop with the agenda.
    Makes me have to counter it with a 10 score.
    Its such a breath of fresh air in this game market. Everyone that is commenting that this should be a single player game is obviously thinking of past versions of the game. All the hard work and creativity this team has given should not be    this game is fun and certainly not desrving of 0-6 scores..come on people stop with the agenda.
    Makes me have to counter it with a 10 score.
    Its such a breath of fresh air in this game market.
    Everyone that is commenting that this should be a single player game is obviously thinking of past versions of the game. All the hard work and creativity this team has given should not be overshadowed by a vocal group of emotional nerds.
    This is not a forum for activism, its a review site for legitimate reviews. Play the game and enjoy all the great things about it instead of focusing on 3 things like some OCD child.
    Yes.. first day launch was bad, what did you expect Blizzard even screwed this up, and they have tons of experience in this realm.

    If your going to write something negative, please stop beating a dead horse, say something new.
    As a player I would much rather hear about problems you had or a bug report or something like that versus your unique way of repeating how boxes should be bigger, and DRM doesn't work, and online only why?!!!, in the same cut and paste way.    … Expand
  78. Kel
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    This game brings back the charm and magic of the SimCity series. It truly is a game worthy of the name, unlike the SimCity Societies and various DS/Wii titles. I was wary of the online only thing when I first heard about it, but I think it was done very well and it is not some 'Facebook game' as others have said. The interactions between cities is nothing like the spam your friendsThis game brings back the charm and magic of the SimCity series. It truly is a game worthy of the name, unlike the SimCity Societies and various DS/Wii titles. I was wary of the online only thing when I first heard about it, but I think it was done very well and it is not some 'Facebook game' as others have said. The interactions between cities is nothing like the spam your friends nonsense and micro-transactions to build things of value. Everything is there to build fully functional cities and the interactions between the cities is amazing. The deals between neighbors are sweet that they use up the excess of power, water, water treatment, and other services to make money for one city and save the other one the cost of building the services. If the mayor selling services wants to they can increase capacity to make sure that the other city will have enough or they can shut down capacity and make the other mayor find a different way to meet their city's needs.
    Region play can be either open to the public or private with just friends or only by yourself. You can work together to make thriving cities and great works. The interactions between the cities is very nice and detailed and has been stated by the developers during interviews, lays the groundwork for even more amazing regions and larger cities in the future. Right now though, the game is balanced very well for meaningful decisions in each city that affect the surrounding region and the small city sizes seem to actually be more meaningful than just a large urban sprawl with everything possible built into it.
    Overall it has personality and charm between the names of the sims, houses, businesses, and factories and the general atmosphere and mood of the game. The music and visuals change as your city changes in amazing ways.    … Expand
  79. depl0y
    Mar 12, 2013
    9
    The servers are now very respondent and the game is very cool.

    Still, a very bad launch, but I would like to ask users to update reviews accordingly.
  80. MythWaker
    Mar 13, 2013
    9
    Never written a review on here but feel this is worth it!! Ignore the 0 marks as this game is far from it. Let me put it in perspective came home from work at 4pm, loaded this game up and could not pull myself away for 8 Hours straight it was that good! Yes the cities are not as big as before but you soon forget that as the game is so deep and addictive. (EA have said bigger cities areNever written a review on here but feel this is worth it!! Ignore the 0 marks as this game is far from it. Let me put it in perspective came home from work at 4pm, loaded this game up and could not pull myself away for 8 Hours straight it was that good! Yes the cities are not as big as before but you soon forget that as the game is so deep and addictive. (EA have said bigger cities are coming, DLC no doubt) This game is gorgeous to look at and everything runs smoothly. Coming from a sim city background it didn’t take me long to pick up the basics and all these reviews saying you will fail on your first attempt I don’t think so! I found as long as you follow the basics everything falls into place start small and work your way up to big.
    The only issue and why I gave it a 9 is that I had to wait an hour when I installed the game before I could play due to the updates that were needed to patch onto the game and I don’t really like the whole Origin thing, but once you’re playing you soon forget.
    Buy this game you will not be disappointed I can already feel months of my life slipping away to this game its that good!!    … Expand
  81. Grafeaux
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Absolutely and amazing and engrossing and engaging game! I think all the user scores ae so low because the high score critics are too busy playing. I picked the Deluxe version on Origin yesterday. It downloaded 2 minutes before midnight and has worked flawlessly since. This is not Sim City 4 and it is not trying to be like it either. It is a game all to itself and should be rated asAbsolutely and amazing and engrossing and engaging game! I think all the user scores ae so low because the high score critics are too busy playing. I picked the Deluxe version on Origin yesterday. It downloaded 2 minutes before midnight and has worked flawlessly since. This is not Sim City 4 and it is not trying to be like it either. It is a game all to itself and should be rated as such. Always on online DRM thingy...yeah...ummm I am not sure what the problem is. I think some folks are just a little too paranoid. Who plays computer games and is not always online???? I say kudos to Maxis and EA for taking an interest in supporting their product on a regular basis.

    Now to the actual game. Beautiful. Detailed. Easy to play. Complicated choices. Choices that actually mean something to your sims and the city you are attempting to sculpt. The learning curve is not terribly steep, but figuring out how to manage things gives you a real sense of the stresses of being in city government. I loved Sim City 2000. I adored Sim City 4. I am enamored with Sim City. There is so much to do in one single city. I am not extremely concerned with the map size (the only reason this review is not a 10) because I haven't even been able to perfect my gameplay in a small singular city. I can't destroy my city and start over...boooohoooooo! This is forcing me to actually play the game. I have to figure out the mistakes I make. I can't just delete the city and start over fresh. I have to figure things out. Sounds kind of realistic to me...something like a realistic sim...hmmmm...Sim City! I have not spent much time in the multiplayer universe yet. I am more of a solo player and guess what that is what I have been doing all day. Solo play. So stop crabbing about the multiplayer aspect! I cannot express it enough for fans of Sim City 2000 and Sim City 4...get your hands on this and play it for what it is. It does not claim to be either of those two games. It stands on its own and it stands tall. When you have the smallest detail such as: the moving trucks that move your Sims in have spelled out on them 6AM you know it has to be a great game...a great Sim City game. Good work Maxis! Good work EA! 5/5 97% and two thumbs up    … Expand
  82. sykokila
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Sorry to disappoint all the naysayers of this game. But I really like it. It is a very deep city simulation that relies on relationships between cities in a region and not just one city. Yes, the game is online, yes your single city region is smaller than people from 10 years ago are used to, but I prefer to have fun in my life and not dwell on such trivial BS. My wife and I are having aSorry to disappoint all the naysayers of this game. But I really like it. It is a very deep city simulation that relies on relationships between cities in a region and not just one city. Yes, the game is online, yes your single city region is smaller than people from 10 years ago are used to, but I prefer to have fun in my life and not dwell on such trivial BS. My wife and I are having a great time and enjoying SimCity. A must buy for fans of the series and gaming. I would say it is not a buy if you are a pessimistic entitled whiner that doesnt enjoy games as much as enjoy spewing negativity in a public forum.… Expand
  83. Anitaaa
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Playing with my boyfriend and a couple of other friends right now. We're playing on a 16 city region and it's a ton of fun. we're enjoying the game very much. I recommend it
  84. PureAqua
    Mar 5, 2013
    8
    I understand that DRM might be for problem for some people, but seriously you can't give the game 0/10 because of one element of the game that you don't like, regarding the city size limits; you are meant to build upwards and develop your city that way, build sky-scrappers, the developers intended to restrict the city limits to make you have to think through and choose your actions. TheI understand that DRM might be for problem for some people, but seriously you can't give the game 0/10 because of one element of the game that you don't like, regarding the city size limits; you are meant to build upwards and develop your city that way, build sky-scrappers, the developers intended to restrict the city limits to make you have to think through and choose your actions. The day 1 dlc is basically a skin pack for buildings and a preorder bonus, I wouldn't exactly call that day 1 dlc myself. Regarding to the "Oh my gash" Simcity has changed from Simcity 4, "Simcity 4 is so much better than this crap", the developers have adapted to appeal to a larger audience meaning that some elements of the game may have been altered. And I also don't personally like EA and DRM being used in video games but I don't hate on the game and give it a 0/10, it obviously deserves more score than 0/10. The game is greatly designed and has great interaction with different cities, the amount of work put in the game and the potential that can come out of this game is amazing, and still people hate the game because of one aspect.… Expand
  85. kazy
    Mar 6, 2013
    9
    Ignore the people complaining about the "always online" part, they do not get that we live in 2013 and everyone is perfectly capable of being always online. Sure, there are some server issues currently, but that's something to expect during a huge launch. EA does need to fix up their servers, and there is a "queue" (spoilers: it's just a reconnection timer, relaunch the game) to get onIgnore the people complaining about the "always online" part, they do not get that we live in 2013 and everyone is perfectly capable of being always online. Sure, there are some server issues currently, but that's something to expect during a huge launch. EA does need to fix up their servers, and there is a "queue" (spoilers: it's just a reconnection timer, relaunch the game) to get on the servers, even to play single player. But the thing is, there really is no "single player" mode. Even in what could be construed as a single player mode, you're invited to invite friends to take over other cities in the region.

    Definitely a fun game, no matter the DRM, and I found my self up way past when I should be playing it. Fun as all hell.    … Expand
  86. EyEmAtchOo
    Mar 12, 2013
    7
    *Reviewed after 30 hours of playing* (This game has some wonderful potential, yet see below for game play issues.) If you like city sims, I still think this one is worth checking out. The graphics are beautiful and the game play has a lot of polish and fun factor. We spent an entire weekend lost in the fun of nurturing our towns and taking pride in our metropolises. The DRM issue is*Reviewed after 30 hours of playing* (This game has some wonderful potential, yet see below for game play issues.) If you like city sims, I still think this one is worth checking out. The graphics are beautiful and the game play has a lot of polish and fun factor. We spent an entire weekend lost in the fun of nurturing our towns and taking pride in our metropolises. The DRM issue is offensive, the day 1 server problems were inexcusable, and the handling by EA has been somewhat contemptible. (EA refuses refunds to customers who bought the game directly from them and couldn't play it due to EA's incompetent server scheme!) But, all that said, chances are none of these thing will affect your enjoyment moving forward. The actual game is largely as good as you hoped it would be. The city land size is not huge, but it's sufficient for an interesting city to be built. Being able to follow your citizens around in full 3D really makes you feel invested in the community you're creating. The amount of detail can be a bit mind blowing. Yet there are still several issues you should be aware of: //

    Game Breaking Problems:
    - Water is a finite resource, sometimes shockingly limited, and there is no way to import it from outside the region. The workaround seems to be to have a sewage outflow pipe dump sewage in the ground, and have a water pump with only filtered pump modules running next to it. This is pretty lame.
    - Recycling Centers are bugged, causing them to stop working, and leading to a pile up of recyclable garbage that is followed by massive ground pollution and a crippling health pandemic.
    - Traffic becomes very difficult to mitigate in a city of only 200 thousand residents. There are no highways you can build, only avenues, and every intersection results in more stop and go bottlenecks. If you make a road higher capacity, that is intrinsically connected with allowing higher density buildings there. So better roads actually causes more traffic there, and don't fix the problem for long.
    - Sims on the road don't yield to emergency vehicles. Soon crime, fire, and health problems can't be kept in check because all service vehicles all stuck in traffic with their sirens on. Garbage collection also starts to fail completion due to traffic, and also because garbage collectors seem to only randomly wander looking for trash to collect. Thus adding more garbage trucks to one garbage center becomes less and less helpful, since they tend to clump up near that center and follow each other around, leaving distant areas without any coverage. Adding a second center, even one with no dump of its own, seems to help. The region's Wind speed starts dramatically dying down after a few game years, making wind play like an unrealistically limited resource. Annoyances:
    - The game must be played by connecting to one of the (now many) EA servers. These servers don't coordinate at all. You might start a city on one server, and later find it is too crowded to connect. EA says "just connect to a different one", but then that server won't have your city available, and perhaps your friends are still on the first server. Even worse, the first time you connect to each server, it makes you play through the first time player tutorial all over again. The sim is great about showing you how things are right now. But it's hard to appreciate this in context with practically no historical data available. There no longer seem to be any graphs over time, aside from population, unlike the past SimCity games. I would really like to observe cause and effect by charting things like ground pollution over time alongside health problems over time. Or city income compared to education levels over time, or any of a large number of things.
    - You can't upgrade a road to an avenue without destroying every building on that road. If this is your $150K municipal building, too bad, you'll have to destroy and rebuild it.    … Expand
  87. Squall87jp
    Mar 6, 2013
    10
    This game sucks! I can't even save the game, my game is lost because disconnected from the server! It 's frustrating! diablo 3 should teach that this is not the right way. How to ruin a brand
  88. OnlyJoe
    Mar 6, 2013
    6
    This game has many good parts to it, as well as some frustrating parts. I was amount the group of people who couldn't actually download the game until hours after it was released. So that put me in a bad mood at the start. Then there is the whole cloud and always online issue, being online didn't seem too much of a problem for me, but not know when it saves is annoying. A number of timesThis game has many good parts to it, as well as some frustrating parts. I was amount the group of people who couldn't actually download the game until hours after it was released. So that put me in a bad mood at the start. Then there is the whole cloud and always online issue, being online didn't seem too much of a problem for me, but not know when it saves is annoying. A number of times it has crashed, and taken me to the desktop, so I log back in and the city has gone. But the good things are the sims, amazing seeing every person and every car, and you can follow them all the way to work. It like they are actual people, and traffic is real because too many cars. Public transport does seem very used by sims, put in busses and the car more than half.
    They have put more focus onto having to get the buildings to upgrade, which give more of a challenge. And upgrading buildings is great, and means you spend less time waiting to save up to buy something. Bad things: 1. the map size feels so small, and there is not enough space to match the demands. For me sim city was always about rapid expansion.
    2. When you play with other people, there are loads of plots of land someone has claimed and then not built anything in. And other cities are really important in this version, you have to share sims and resources. And people don't really work together, they just make a tiny city the same as everyone else on the map. Plus everyone wants to get the nice flat area's first, leaving just the cliffs or island levels.
    3. There feels like there is so much missing content. One way streets, highways, subways, etc.    … Expand
  89. CazzaCanola123
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Such a great game. Everything is perfect! you dont wanna miss this. Graphics are amazing as usual and the gameplay makes you want to keep coming back. Playing with friends is the best experience but alone is great to. you have to get it.
  90. artbot345
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Multiplayer is well integrated. A better and more fun simulation then previous games. Good and easy to use interface. Good graphics for high end PCs and runs well on my 2009 HP G60 laptop.
  91. kameeleon
    Mar 7, 2013
    10
    Just trying to balance out the vast amount of negative reviews. Since Metacritic doesn't require proof of ownership this whole section is useless anyway Or at least would be if people didn't read it and take user scores seriously. Anyhow If people have issues with DRM or online play then write a letter to EA or don't buy the game. Don't punish the dev's that poured their heart and soulJust trying to balance out the vast amount of negative reviews. Since Metacritic doesn't require proof of ownership this whole section is useless anyway Or at least would be if people didn't read it and take user scores seriously. Anyhow If people have issues with DRM or online play then write a letter to EA or don't buy the game. Don't punish the dev's that poured their heart and soul into this game for the past 5 years. There's a reason why it's sitting at 91% from the critics right now. This is the direction games have been going for years. Get over the fact that you'll have a harder time downloading it from the pirate-bay. This is going to be one hell of a game. P.S. I also find it amusing that a game that has only been publicly available for a few hours has so many negative reviews. Why don't you actually try playing it first?… Expand
  92. matthatter
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Haters... sheesh. Game is great. Not the game developers' fault if EA can't keep it up. :)

    I haven't explored mult-play yet, but building up a city by myself was FUN.
  93. SolsticeGaming
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    Alright lets be realistic here, this game isn't even remotely close to a 5/10, as shown by the critics. This review forum is filled with more immature reviewers having a temper tantrum then anything else, And why would you complain that it requires an internet connection when it even advises you that in the description and on the box itself, but they didn't read that. Either way completelyAlright lets be realistic here, this game isn't even remotely close to a 5/10, as shown by the critics. This review forum is filled with more immature reviewers having a temper tantrum then anything else, And why would you complain that it requires an internet connection when it even advises you that in the description and on the box itself, but they didn't read that. Either way completely disregard what all these other reviewers say as the game is quite refreshing, it's been 10 years since the last one and it couldn't come any sooner. They also added a lot more and fixed many things from the previous games, like the road placement. The glassbox engine is neat, very little flaws and neat as you can see and interact with all the sims in the game. One of the biggest complaint is the server itself, i can almost guarantee if the publisher see's heavy log on rates they are just bound to increase it. The maps are indeed small but that's nothing to complain about as they have already promised bigger maps, and they will likely be free to heal the wounds of these hurt fanboys. So far it plays nicely and there are plenty of things to be done as well, lots of fun i might add. The save feature is lacked but have patience everyone. And most importantly, the internet itself. We live in a day and age where we could walk up and down the street and connect to at least 15 different wifi networks, password protected or not. Origin indeed sucks but ive gotten used to it at this point and frankly its not that bad, but when you put it up to heavyweights like Steam which have a crazy amount of innovative tools it's nothing. Yes it would be nice to have been on steam but the game is incredible and hats off to Maxis for the incredible game. Disregard the immature folk and just work on the flaws.… Expand
  94. Positron3006
    Mar 5, 2013
    10
    It's brilliant!!
    The game design was helped by a city planner and it shows. You never stop having fun with it. I loved every single minute of playing it!
  95. gibbsman
    Mar 6, 2013
    9
    Granted EA screwed up with the whole server load issue, but the game itself is great. Very deep, very enjoyable and overall a great game. It's a great upgrade from SimCity 4 and certainly better than Cities XL.

    Is it perfect? no, definitely not, but it's very very good. Does "always online" suck? Sure it does. Are the cities small? yep, at least to begin with. Once the initial wave of    Granted EA screwed up with the whole server load issue, but the game itself is great. Very deep, very enjoyable and overall a great game. It's a great upgrade from SimCity 4 and certainly better than Cities XL.

    Is it perfect? no, definitely not, but it's very very good. Does "always online" suck? Sure it does. Are the cities small? yep, at least to begin with. Once the initial wave of launch traffic dies down nobody will think about these issues. Overall I would recommend this game to everyone. Please ignore the bad reviews on here as most are complaining about the server issues upon launch. While those do contribute to the game, the depth of the gameplay itself is not reflective of these launch issues. Let's give Maxis and the SimCity team some credit for all the hard work they did on a great game and not base everything on EA's lack of ability to have a smooth launch.    … Expand
  96. Zudeare
    Mar 18, 2013
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let me start off by saying that this game is really good, but the main reason why this game is getting such awful scores is the launch (which i'm sure of many have heard about by now). followed by the fact that the city sizes are too small. but those issues personally don't bother me right now, it seems like most of the server issues have been fixed and since i never played other simcity titles, the small city sizes don't matter to me. i am sure that many people will utterly enjoy this game despite its flaws.… Expand
  97. ans247
    Mar 10, 2013
    10
    I just purchased this game over the weekend even though I heard the servers were having trouble. I know they will fix the servers soon so that was not an issue for me since most games have some issues around launch. I have not had any issues with the servers, I was able to play fine last night and today. I am having a great time! This is such a fun game that hours just seemed to fly byI just purchased this game over the weekend even though I heard the servers were having trouble. I know they will fix the servers soon so that was not an issue for me since most games have some issues around launch. I have not had any issues with the servers, I was able to play fine last night and today. I am having a great time! This is such a fun game that hours just seemed to fly by without me even realizing it. I let my husband try it on my computer since he was curious about it as well. He didn't expect to play it long and about 3 hours later he was still playing! It has such addicting gameplay that just makes you want to play for hours. Needless to say he purchased a copy shortly after. We are now looking forward to building cities together. Minus the server issues that people seem to be having, Maxis deserves praise for creating such a fun game. … Expand
  98. naxhi24
    Mar 6, 2013
    8
    Going into this game I had high expectations. Being a player of simcity 3000 and simcity 4 I expected this game to be a great game. When I played it, it fullfiled all my hopes and desires for the series. Now most people judge games hardly, one thing out of place and it gets a zero.
    The two biggest reasons are:
    Drm servers, which ea said they would fix. the size of the City and region    Going into this game I had high expectations. Being a player of simcity 3000 and simcity 4 I expected this game to be a great game. When I played it, it fullfiled all my hopes and desires for the series. Now most people judge games hardly, one thing out of place and it gets a zero.
    The two biggest reasons are:

    Drm servers, which ea said they would fix.
    the size of the City and region is smaller, which doesn't bother me because having too many cities in a region made multitasking hard, here I can easily manage the cities in my region without going back and forth every five seconds.

    The gameplay is also much simpler then simcity 4. In simcity 4, none of my cities lasted longer then a day, in this simcity I can easily keep my city going for a long time. The multiplayer is also a good feature because I can now play with other people, and enjoy it. Zoning is also easier, I don't need to do high density, low density, or any of that, I just need to put a road down and BAM, I get skyscrapers. Also the deletion of power lines and water pipes and making it flow by street is also a good bonus making it simpler then it's predecessors.

    Though all this simplicity makes the game to easy at some points, making it tedious to keep going. Though it's not a big deal, I can just make another region with a different play style, or blow up the current city with disasters. In all, simcity is a great game, though flawed in non gameplay components, I give it an 8 out of 10    … Expand
  99. tjejen
    Mar 5, 2013
    9
    Personally I haven't had as much fun playing in years. No I couldn't download at 12.01 but my pre-order told me 5th of March. I downloaded in minutes this morning, and when I had some free time today (which is still the 5th of March lol) I managed 3 hours of extremely enjoyable, uninterrupted playtime. No bugs, no crashes, just fun.
  100. FleetAdmiral
    Mar 6, 2013
    9
    Ok, first things first: Does it suck that you have to always be online, rely on unreliable servers, pay for DLC (which will definitely happen), and blah blah blah with this game? Yes. Does it suck that we are falling hook, line and sinker for these big business gimmicks? Yes. But, for me, being a gamer, it is the price to pay so I can play...at least now-a-days. Is it worth it? YouOk, first things first: Does it suck that you have to always be online, rely on unreliable servers, pay for DLC (which will definitely happen), and blah blah blah with this game? Yes. Does it suck that we are falling hook, line and sinker for these big business gimmicks? Yes. But, for me, being a gamer, it is the price to pay so I can play...at least now-a-days. Is it worth it? You be the judge...everyone is different. I mean, look at Metacritic (no offense Metapeeps), in order to even write or comment on here, you have to sign up, give them your email addy, birth date, blood type, first born, etc (ok, kidding on those last few...I don't want to get any Meta-lawsuits). Why? Cuz they want to just keep things organized? No way! They want to email you stuff that makes them money. I don't like it, but I put up with it (and also check the box that says "don't send me your crap"). Why do I do this, because I'm "paying for the service." I weigh the pros and cons and figure, "ok, I like Metacritic, so I'm willing to give you my email address, etc, so that I can use your site." So, the same thing goes with EA and all they're BS. I don't like it, but it's the price to pay. For those who are just protesting, good for you. But sadly nothing will happen, guys. I mean, if Occupy Wallstreet didn't really do anything, do you think Occupy EA is really going to do anything? Pick your battles. Instead of protesting, design your own stuff. Competition is how you "change" big business, not picketing. Now with that all behind me, here is the truth about the game a real score to get a sense of what this game is really like (with above problems "ignored"...or just not worried about). If you like Sim City games, you will like this game. If you like city building games, you will like this game. If you like being creative, you'll like this game. This is a cool, fun game. The graphics are modernized Simcity graphics. Do they look like Battlefield 3 graphics? No, but they're not going for that here. What they're going for is Simcity graphics, and they look good (and for some reason they just make me happy). The music and sound fx are great, too. As for game play, being able to zoom in and really get a VERY good sense of how things are going, is really amazing. The simulation is out of this world. I am surprised the game runs so smoothly considering how much computing all that unique simulating must take up. To be honest, I think that is why the map sizes are so small. They just can't run that sort of simulation on a map the size of the ones in Simcity 4. Which leads me to map size. Yes, they're small, and at first (before really playing), I was bummed out about it. But then I started doing what I think the Maxis people wanted us to do, and that is specialize cities, and make your region be one big city. So, instead of setting aside one area of my map for industry, the other side for residential, etc, I use one map for things like power, water, etc, and the others for things like education and big buildings...or whatever else you want to do. If you go at this game with that sort of goal, you really start to not mind the smaller plots (but hopefully future DLC give us bigger plots). Other than that, the game is a lot of fun. On a fun factor scale, it's a solid 10. Most people say prayers or kiss their wife good night right before falling asleep....losers like me found themselves thinking about this game and what I'd do differently next time I played, before going to sleep. So, be warned, you will waste hours and hours on this game. In conclusion and in my opinion, get the game...it's really fun. Yes, the required-to-play servers will eventually be turned off, but that won't be for a long, long time (there will probably be a new Simcity by then). In the meantime, you'll be able to enjoy a lot of time playing this very fun 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 »