Aramation Games

SimCity has become increasingly complex as it tried to accurately model a real city environment. Spin-off SimCity Societies has plenty of good intentions, but the end result is too simplistic for fans of the SimCity franchise, and too boring for all others.

Instead of zoning, in SimCity Societies you place individual buildings. This allows you to exercise your creativity as you can finally build a city just the way you want, one building at a time. To develop your metropolis, you need housing, workplaces, venues and services such as police department. The basic relationship between housing and work has not changed: what has changed is the introduction of resource system. Money is used to buy individual buildings, but to make the buildings operational, you need one of 6 resources: productivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority and knowledge. Each building uses a different combination of resources, and generates specific resources. It is up to you to find the right mix of building to shape your city.

All that sounds good on paper, but execution is incredibly sloppy. Buildings can be anywhere on the map for its effect to kick in, so you can put a powerplant in the middle of nowhere, not connected to your city, and it’ll still function and give you the resources. Same with other buildings: essential services such as police aren’t required and your citizens won’t demand them, this intricate system of resources only affects other buildings which means your residents won’t care whether they live in an industrial dump or a utopian suburban neighborhood.

Unfortunately, great visuals and the name SimCity do not simply make an engaging game. This boring game offers virtually no challenge and no goals. You are in control of a sandbox that you can decorate as you see fit. This may be perfect for some, but any person who finds SimCity even remotely interesting is better off leaving this pale imitation alone.

Rating: 50%

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