You may have noticed that this review begins with two different scores, one that represents the worth of the game when it works and one for when it doesn’t. The score for when it works is for the publisher Maxis, famous for the SimCity and Sims titles; they have actually made a great game, which I will rave about soon. But first I must warn you about EA’s disastrous hand in this title.
EA are a lightning rod for criticism, whether it’s for day-one DLC or the acquisition and destruction of talented developers. They are generally considered money-hungry bastards who will screw over gamers at the drop of a hat for dolla dolla billz. SimCity exemplifies this mentality. EA decided that SimCity should only be playable online through server-based gameplay, arguing that this would best support the multiplayer functions of which Maxis had been boasting. However, it became quickly apparent that its only true function was as a piracy deterrent. This was already enough to annoy gamers, but the killing blow came on launch day last week when hundreds of thousands of gamers tried to get online to play their brand-new game and the servers crashed. EA has since said they simply weren’t prepared for the influx of players and their systems couldn’t handle it.
So the game is still almost unplayable due to the terrible technical support from EA. Though the situation is quickly improving, it is common not only to be unable to access the servers, but to be kicked randomly from the servers or, worst of all, to play for hours only to find later that the server has failed to save any of your progress.
Despite the technical nightmare I was one of the lucky few that did manage to play the game – and despite the drama the game is awesome. For those not familiar with the SimCity series, you act as a mayor whose responsibility it is to plan and develop a plot of empty land into a city. This challenge will see you balancing residential, commercial and industrial zones as well as utilities and city specialisations. The city specialisations allow you to choose how your town rakes in the big bucks through avenues from gambling to drilling for oil.
The game retains all of the things fans love about the games while also adding tons of new features to keep you interested. The multiplayer functions, which may well be the death of this game, are also some of the most interesting developments. Multiplayer allows players to develop cities with their friends in the same regions, so you can make neighboring cities with your friends and trade utilities, services and money with them.
This game is currently unplayable, but it is worth playing! So give EA a couple of weeks to get their shit together and then grab a copy.
When It Works: 8.5/10
When It Doesn't: 3/10
