iPhone Games: SimCity Review
Posted: Wednesday, June 03, 2009
by Dan Fletcher
Dan Fletcher
The SimCity franchise has been overshadowed recently by its more famous sibling The Sims. Both games all but created their respective style of simulation play, which some have tried to imitate since and failed. While I enjoy The Sims a great deal, the incredible depth of SimCity, and the constant juggling required to build and sustain a massive city is far more exciting and challenging. Compared to the earth shattering concerns of whether or not your Sim might need a bathroom break, theres just no comparison in my book. I first cut my teeth on SimCity with the Super Nintendo version in 1991. Being but a young lad then, the scope of the game was riveting, and there was absolutely nothing like it at the time. Save for the ever present issues of never having enough money to play with, and constantly having to sit idly by until that next wad of tax money hit the coffers at the start of the New Year, it was a perfect game. I played most of the newer versions as they came out and enjoyed them all. After playing SimCity 4 with its nearly mind boggling amount of depth and replay value (with the inclusion of GTA style missions, and your own Sim creation), this step back to a simpler SimCity model was a nice change of pace. Its very much akin to the first SimCity released, though with some of the features added to the later versions of the game. The game may be simpler and a bit easier but it certainly is not a cakewalk. This is especially true if you are not familiar with this style of gaming. You are appointed as the mayor of a vacant piece of land and your goal is to build the city of your dreams. Of course, you are given the requisite funds for the task as well. Everything needs to be taken into consideration. You need a nice balance of residential structures, businesses, and factories. Too many or too few of one can lead to your entire system falling apart. You need to set the tax rates, build and fund police and fire stations, lay down the roads and power lines that will connect them all, and make sure you dont completely destroy the natural environment in the process. A handy tutorial feature should get new players up to speed on how the game is played, but experimentation will likely be the key. The graphics are one of the most impressive accomplishments yet on the iPhone. You can zoom in on your city and see the buildings in vivid detail, and watching your city grow and change from a distant view is equally impressive. The music is also great, with soothing songs and more upbeat inspirational tunes in equal doses. The controls do not leave any room for complaints. To the left and bottom portion of the screen, you have several buttons which lead you to menus when touched. Each button will give you information of a particular aspect of your city. You can go through your building options or seek guidance from your advisors with the help of these menus. To make structures on your map, it is advisable to use the zoom feature. SimCity is a great game with just one flaw- it is not suitable for the iPhone/iPod. Building your own city, focusing one each and every aspect of the city, enjoying the great graphics and audio and zooming in and out as and when you please- all this puts a lot of stress on your phone. The game lags and slows down very often and even crashes when the city reaches a certain stage of development. While earlier versions were close to being classified as unplayable, the latest 1.4 version does not improve things by much. The game is fun until your city is completed and starts growing rapidly. That is when the game crashes and keeps crashing. SimCity is an outstanding game that will provide gamers with hours of fun. Its a shame that the game becomes virtually unplayable once your city gobbles up the map. If you can overlook the end game instability, youll get a lot of mileage out of it until that point. Should these bugs be fixed in a future update, this game is certainly deserving of an even higher score. Game Score: 7/10
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