SimCity Societies | A highly innovative title that merits a look

SimCity Societies | Not bad...

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SimCity Societies

	SimCity Societies Windows \| Electronic Arts, 2007 average customer review:based on 80 reviews view larger image
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A highly innovative title that merits a look

It is unfortunate to see that this page of reviews is plagued with people merely complaining, "OMG, this isn't SimCity... I've been a fan for years and I am SOOOO disappointed." What these overly critical reviewers do not realize is that this is not supposed to be the next big SimCity game (as they say, SimCity 5). This SimCity game is made for those of us that don't enjoy lying down overly tedious power lines and sewer systems, but to focus on creating a beautiful and unique society that appeals to our interests and tastes. This was the intent of Tilted Mill and EA.

The focus of the game relies heavily on what the box states (and a lot of people seem to overlook the "Societies" part of the title): Your city affects every individual life in your city. You can actually see all your workers moving about the city when zooming in close. You can check their status and their inventory, their problems and their job, etc. Every building you place in your city has a major effect on the lives of your citizens. The more of one type of building you place (from the range of six cultural values that the game capitalizes on), the more your society changes. Eventually, the entire city will change to reflect the major decisions that you made. I, for example, created an authoritarian city, in which my city was plagued with secret police, security cameras lining the streets, mind controlling facilities, etc. The music, streets, and atmosphere change with your decisions.

When original SimCity fans look for the same features of the previous titles, they are instantly confused and frustrated, and simply look over the complex system that Tilted Mill developed: Every building interacts with each other, and how they interact, reflects in the Sims that live in your society. If you play the game all the way zoomed out, you will not notice anything spectacular. However, if you zoom in close and watch the interactions on the streets and around your buildings, the complexity of the game is apparent.

This game is for people who'd rather be creative and focus on creating a beautiful city of their dreams. They have the ability to decorate, and build their city in any manner that they desire. That was the objective of the game designers. It is for those people who always couldn't stand SimCity because of all the tedious micromanagement and always thought when placing city-zoning that "I'd rather be placing the buildings themselves." It is meant to be a creative experience.

In this case, it is true that the player has to remain motivated himself/herself to continue building his/her city. The game is purely open-ended, and while you do receive rewards, they are rather easy to get. The "full-strategy" mode that is included in-box is actually relatively easy and the rewards come fast (but, let's keep in mind that this was not the original game designer's intent). To our benefit, the developers have released a patch that includes a new gaming mode (they are obviously listening to the complaints of consumers about the lack of strategy) that is labeled as "Strategy mode." This mode makes the game a bit more of a challenge to handle: building maintenance costs are introduced, citizens work more play less (making them harder to please), and other more "micro-management" aspects. This mode gives that extra edge for those of us that need the "extra-motivation" to keep building. It's a nice addition, and will simmer some of the overly critical complaints of the game.

Overall, this game is fantastic. I have yet to experience any crashes or bugs. The game does begin to lag when cities become massive (which is, no doubt, from the complex interaction of all citizens and buildings). I say that if you are not a fan of the regular SimCity, then you'll enjoy this game. If you are looking for SimCity 5, then realize that this is NOT what this game is supposed to be, and move on. This game deserves MUCH MORE credit than what it has been given.

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Not bad...

I enjoyed playing SC Societies much more than SC 4. I found dealing with zoning and budgets to be tedious and boring. I disliked the fact that I had no real say regarding the demographics of my cities. Societies is for players, like myself, who are more interested in the sociopolitical dynamics and personality of the city rather than the economics. I don't think one game is better than the other...I am just glad that there was a version created for those of us who were looking for something else in the game. The only real negative is that there are no real goals other than gaining trophies, but other than that my playing experience has been very pleasant.

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Exciting New Game

I found this game to be very entertaing. I had a lot of fun placing my own buildings instead of having them randomly appear. Many people compare this game to SC4 saying it's not the same. You can't compare the two because they have different types of gameplay. Sim City Socieities was made by a different developer. It's not called Sim City 5 afterall, so why should it be like the others? I think its an interesting new way to play and will enjoy it for a long time.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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