SimCity

Every elected leader faces unexpected challenges upon assuming office, but not many are as widespread or headline-grabbing as those that beset the myriad mayors of the new SimCity. Almost immediately upon launching, the new Maxis-made, Electronic Arts?distributed game was beset with problems. Players overloaded the servers that the city-building game's always-connected design demands, EA declined to provide refunds to disgruntled customers but relented and promised to give each registered user a free catalog game, and then rumors arose that even those within the EA ranks were outraged at the way everything was handled. Though the worst of the problems were largely fixed by this past weekend, this was one of the rare releases that really seemed to push "there's no such thing as bad publicity" as its guiding philosophy.

With the smoke cleared and most of those woes behind us, it is finally time to judge SimCity by its worth as a game. And, sadly, it's not worth most of the trouble it's already endured. It is, above all else, the logical modern incarnation of the series that launched in 1989 and had its fourth (and most recent) official chapter ten years ago with SimCity 4?and that's not always a good thing. Although there are certainly moments when the classic fun and addictiveness bleed through, too many attempts have been made to make this a good SimCity game for today rather than simply a good SimCity game. As a result, the missed opportunities pile high enough to obscure the positives and prevent this from being an ideal purchase for all except the most patient and forgiving.

Ground Breaking (or Not)
Before you can make any other municipality-momentous decisions, you first must fixate your city within the larger, Internet-linked world it inhabits.? This means first entering a "game," or region:? You can either join one that already exists or create your own by choosing a map from among eight possibilities, each of which offers different physical features and a varying number of city sites (up to 16). Once you're in a game, you may claim one of those spots.? Some factors should guide your decision making, particularly the terrain and available natural resources, so you might need to do a bit of experimenting before you find your ideal location. Doing all this is a bit laborious, especially if you just want to get up and playing immediately, but it's a necessary first step now that cities no longer exist in isolation.

This change introduces some intriguing aspects to the game's mechanics.? Within a region, you can easily cooperate with mayors of other cities, either selling them your unused resources and capabilities (if, for example, you have more garbage trucks than you need to service your populace) or collaborating with them on "great works," large construction projects like solar farms, international airports, space centers, and arcologies that benefit everyone.? That's the kind of online component that, in theory, makes sense in this scenario.

But it also places significant restrictions on you as a player. We've already seen the flaws inherent in requiring a constantly active Internet connection to even log onto the game?one really would have expected EA to learn a lesson from the similar implosion Diablo III faced soon after its launch. There's also the question of sorely diminished city size (which we'll get to later). And, beyond that, the renunciation of SimCity as one of the longest-running and most impressive software ?electronic toys.? Because every structure you build or bulldoze, every deal you broker or refuse, or every tract of land you zone can have an impact on other players, you're no longer able to save and load your games. This obliterates the nature of experimentation and investigation that has always characterized the series, and forces you into a rigidly structured world that's always moving forward whether you want it to or not. This marks SimCity's inviolable transition from something you play to something you do?and it will have a significant impact on the fun some, maybe even many, buyers will derive from the game.

First Day in Office
Once you're actually ready to take your city?s reins, the action unfolds more or less as it always has: You face an empty parcel of land with only a pittance of a budget (50,000 units of the in-game currency, called simoleons) and a small selection of improvements you can make.? These include the traditional zone types (residential, commercial, and industrial); entry-level tools for dealing with water, power, and sewage; a few types of roads (from dirt to six-lane concrete affairs capable of supporting streetcars); and not much else.? It's from these humble beginnings that your next great urban center will theoretically spring.

You'll discover within your first few clicks that certain aspects of city construction have been enormously simplified.? Chief among them: You no longer have to place things like power lines or water pipes?the game just knows how to give every building, anywhere within your city boundaries, what it needs without your having to micromanage every cable or flange.? Though this alteration eliminates what could often be an early-game budget-buster, it also removes an often frustrating time sink that often prevented you from speedily getting to the meat of city management. This is one change we can definitely live with. The only connection you need to make involves laying a road from the freeway into your city so perspective residents will have a way to get there.

As always, the early stages of the game are beset by the typical problems of zoning plots of land and building the specific structures you need to occupy them, attracting residents, and then making sure you can pay to have enough places for them to live, work, and shop.? That 50,000-simoleon starter fund doesn't go far, and you'll probably run short on dough before your creation can even properly be classified as a hamlet.? But once you've built enough of the basics, the only other thing you need is patience: Assuming you have the homes, jobs, and roads they need, sims will move in, and your treasury will begin filling up.? That's when most of the fun, and the headaches, start.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/RTd7spTCQ8A/0,2817,2416191,00.asp

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