The original Simcity was released back in 1989, designed by Will Wright and published by Maxis. The game was unique, it was the first realistic simulation, it invented the “city building genre” and it was a mayor inspiration for many RTS generations to come. Maxis enhanced and expanded the concept, Simcity 2000 was born and it’s sequels Simcity 3000 and Simcity 4 were released over the past 15 years. The last Simcity dates from 2003, followed by it’s expansion pack Rush Hour. Since then it has been awfully quiet around Maxis former hit title, but not anymore.
Electronic Arts announced a new City building sim, Simcity Societies. This game is not a direct followup of the Simcity series, it’s a new game, with a different focus. And probably for a different audience. The game will be less hardcore ( some call it rather simplistic ), the graphics are more colorful and it’s build around the idea of communities and subcultures inside a city. The game is not created by Electronic Arts itself ( Maxis is just a brand name of EA these days ) but by Tilted Mill, a game studio that brought us games like Caesar IV and Children of the Nile.
Although the game is not released yet, Simcity Societies already received much criticism from the diehard Sim fans. Mainly about the lack of depth, the limited simulation options and childish looking graphics. Most early hour Simcity fans just want their favorite game to become bigger, better and preferably even more complex. But thats not what EA had in mind, they want to reach a bigger audience ( read the enormous crowd that plays the Sims 2 ) and make the game more accessible for new players.
The game must be nearly finished now, were just a few months away from it’s release date and pre-orders already started. For those who are looking for a more hardcore simulation experience, maybe this title is worth looking at, Cities Unlimited by Monte Cristo.
Tags: rts,
simcity
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