I swore I wouldn't do it. "I will NOT get this game!" I repeated. I kept saying over and over again that EA is evil, they ruin my favorite franchises (see Mass Effect), they gouge me for money constantly with failed promises (see any EA sports release in last five years), and they've burned me before (see Sim City Societies), and they're evil (see Satan). "I'm not going to get it. I'm boycotting EA forever! I'm only going to buy their games used from now on." I repeatedly spewed to my co-author Brian.
But I made a promise to an old friend many months ago when I was still naive in believing the new Sim City would meet the hype. I promised that I would buy it and we could co-op a region and trade and do mayor stuff together. I was willing to break this promise and save my $60 but decided a free game from EA might sway me enough. I convinced myself that accepting their free game offer on Origin would allow me to gouge them back a little bit, so I checked the retail prices on each of the free offerings and downloaded the most expensive one, Dead Space 3 (going for about $40) at the time and took my Sim City with it.
Am I disappointed in the game? Yes. The maps are small, the cities are isolated, it's a bit too easy, and the multiplayer aspect is a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The simulations aren't always logical, the sims themselves aren't simulated people but more like simulated marbles, and the overall AI is terrible.
The multiplayer component is lacking in several areas. Exchanges like gifting can lag for up to twenty minutes in my experience and the game sometimes assumes you're sharing goods and services that you had no idea you were sharing. It's still cool to see a friend build a city alongside you. Maybe Maxis and EA can improve upon that in future patches, updates, or DLC.
Have I still logged over 20 hours in less than a week? Yes. It's fricking gorgeous. The tilt-shift makes it look like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. You can see distant cities your friends are making in your region, the buildings can be modified for your city's needs, and there are a couple distinct city types you can build.
While the game has been previewed, reviewed, previewed again, and then rereviewed into the ground, it's safe to say I'm not hitting on anything new at this point. But I will say, if you go into the new SimCity experience expecting SimCity 4 with better graphics and curvy roads then you will be disappointed. This is still a city building simulation but it's improvements lie more in aesthetics than actual big city simulation. I guess it can be more accurately described as a neighborhood simulation but building massive cities was never my goal in Sim City anyway. Simply building something believable and real is my ultimate desire and I can still do that with this release.
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