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DainBramaged

(39,191 posts)
Mon Mar 4, 2013, 11:53 AM Mar 2013

SimCity impressions: We waited ten years for this? (GOOD article) not worth the buy save your monies

Last edited Mon Mar 4, 2013, 12:26 PM - Edit history (1)

It's not every day you get a proper new title in the SimCity series. In fact, it's been a bit over ten years since SimCity 4 last showed us what it was like to control the fate of a vast metropolis (Socities and Sim City Social notwithstanding). So it's fair to say that our expectations were high as we sat down with final release code for the new game, which launches in the US tomorrow. Even without access to the full global servers, which EA hasn't turned on yet, we were excited to try promised new features like undulating curved roads, government buildings with snap-on expansions, and a regional commodity system that lets you buy and sell excess resources.

After spending around a dozen hours each playing the game this weekend, Microsoft Editor Peter Bright (who considers himself a bit of a SimCity die-hard) and I (Gaming Editor Kyle Orland) were pretty disappointed with what we found. What follows is edited excerpts from the various conversations we had over instant messaging this weekend, discussing how we were finding our initial time with the game. We'll have a more detailed review later when we've had a chance to try out the final release, complete with all the globally connected, Internet-enabled features EA has been playing up, but just going by first impressions, maybe EA shouldn't have messed with its successful city building formula quite so much.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/simcity-impressions-we-waited-ten-years-for-this/

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SimCity impressions: We waited ten years for this? (GOOD article) not worth the buy save your monies (Original Post) DainBramaged Mar 2013 OP
It is an unmitigated disaster DainBramaged Mar 2013 #1
Did you catch their attempts to astroturf the Facebook page using the wrong account? Posteritatis Mar 2013 #4
There are some things not improved on. NuttyFluffers Mar 2013 #2
You reminded me that Master of Orion 3 was a thing. Where shall I send the therapist's bill? Posteritatis Mar 2013 #3

DainBramaged

(39,191 posts)
1. It is an unmitigated disaster
Wed Mar 6, 2013, 08:23 AM
Mar 2013

go to the SimCity facebook page, their likes dropped from 3/4 million to half a million overnight Game won't download, servers overloaded.


Sucks to be EA.

NuttyFluffers

(6,811 posts)
2. There are some things not improved on.
Fri Mar 8, 2013, 07:43 AM
Mar 2013

For instance, the '2's of PC gaming: Sim 2000, Civilization 2, Master of Orion 2, Star Control 2, etc.

New gaming is made of bloated fail and pablum.

I shall join grumpy cat watching Rome burn.

Posteritatis

(18,807 posts)
3. You reminded me that Master of Orion 3 was a thing. Where shall I send the therapist's bill?
Sun Mar 10, 2013, 09:21 AM
Mar 2013

Star Control 2 was absolutely magnificent.

That said, with a lot of newer games you usually find better stuff when you're getting some distance from the A-list of companies and franchises. Independent stuff is hit and miss as always, but they're also a lot freer to make weird, experimental games that can be really interesting, and the mid-tier companies usually have more room to make more interesting projects as well.

The last big-franchise, big-company game I got was Mass Effect 3; it was a few years before that before there was another one that caught my eye, and nothing since really has.

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