Review - SimCity
From the diary of Mayor Starkey:
January 1st, Unknown year, Day 1
It’s been almost ten years, but they’ve finally re-elected me as their mayor. We didn’t exactly part on kind terms, and I might have bombarded their town with meteors… and tornadoes… and earthquakes… also a volcano. BUT I told them I’ve changed. I’m really in it for them now. They need good jobs and schools and stuff… and maybe a giant lizard monster.
Day 2
Okay, I’ve laid down some roads, and gave the ants tiny houses. They have power and water now too, so they have everything they need to live and keep themselves warm.
Next I needed to give these guys jobs. I zoned up some industrial areas and watched as the little people built up some factories and got to work.
Day 7
The new town is coming along nicely. Industrial freight is moving to trade depots and then distributed efficiently between local business and global markets. I built some new parks to build up land values and help my Sims get a decent amount of equity going. That, coupled with the excellent cash flow from local corporations is keeping these new city running smoothly.
Day 10
Unfortunately I’ve hit somewhat of a brick wall. With 100,000 people in dozens of low-rises, all working in nice fancy office buildings, our city’s facilities simply can’t handle all that poop.
Initially, I built an outflow pipe – something that simply dumps the raw sewage in a field. I was content to kill the land value of my industrial center, but the whole system has started backing up into the yards of my citizens.
I decided I needed to start expanding to pull in some extra tax revenue so we could break ground on a brand new sewage treatment plant.
Day 12
My entire city has been engulfed in flames. Laying out high-density roads allowed them to build high rise apartments and giant commercial skyscrapers. I didn’t take the increased fire risk into account and I lost nearly half the city into to the inferno. What fire trucks and servicemen I did have on hand couldn’t get to the blaze because of traffic.
We’ll have to rebuild.
Day 15
Rolling fires have finally stopped. The city, like a phoenix, is being reborn from the ashes of its predecessor. This shall become a city of hope, a prosperous, wonderful place where any Sim can achieve whatever they want. They will be happy. They will be free.
Day 20
Yeah… that didn’t happen.
Apparently my Sims are too stupid to keep themselves out of trouble. A plague ripped through the renamed metropolis of Phoenix.
Ungrateful shits… how could they just sit there dying? After all I did for them!
Day 20 Part 2
My advisor has informed me that I didn’t hospitals.
Day 30
I’ve noticed my commerce sector is being overrun with criminals. I’ll need to secure enough funding to buttress my anemic police force.
Day 32
I’ve decided to start a new city, just a few miles away. We discovered some coal and raw metal ore that can be smelted into steel and alloys. Selling them off has given me an enormous influx of cash.
I can use this new city, which I’ve come to call “Cupcakes” to send Phoenix all the spare capital it needs.
Day 33
Well that’s strange. I keep moving cash over, but it’s getting lost along the way somehow.
Day 34
The problem seems to have resolved itself somewhat. I still lost over a million Simoleons, to thin air, but I have what I need to bankroll my new crack team of crime-fighters.
I built two new police precincts, fully loaded with helicopters, a dozen squad cars and crime prevention task forces.
Awesome.
Day 36
I want to take this to the next step, but I need a University to train in detectives and get special Hazardous Materials fire trucks. Surgical wards and the like would also be excellent additions to my new hospitals.
Day 40
Lacking sufficient space in Phoenix, I’ve started up another small town not too far from here. The entire area is zoned as residential and it has been purpose-built to educate the residents of Phoenix and Cupcakes.
Day 45
I’ve just put the finishing touches on the medical school at the new University. Everything finally seems to be coming together. Soon I’ll have clean, renewable energy, a healthy, secure populace and before too long, a space program to take the people of my own tiny hamlet to the stars. The future is looking br---
“Connection to SimCity servers lost.”
Okay…
“Unable to connect to SimCity servers. Please try again.”
What the hell is this?
Day 95
“Authentication successful. Your game is now ready.”
Where the F*CK IS PHOENIX?
“Unable to load city data.”
F*CK THIS.
I’m starting a new city and EVERYONE will die.
----
Real-talk time.
I chose this odd format for my review because I wanted to show just how great the game is… when you aren’t waiting in server queues, having your data randomly deleted, or are completely unable to connect or access the game at all.
I wanted to take of my own screenshots to show you g1’s just how bad it is, but I can’t take screens from inside the game—not in the typical fashion anyway. I had to get additional software to get a shot of anything other than my desktop. Now, I’m somewhat of a paranoid man, and I’ve gotten to thinking that that was completely intentional on EA’s part.
All images courtesy of www.SimCity.com
Regardless, if you purchase a game you should be able to play it. When you don’t have access to a product that you have legally purchased, the company responsible is a liar and a thief.
Please, please vote with your dollars. If you’re okay with a corporation telling you when you can and cannot use a product that you bought, by all means support the game. If not, wait. At the very least until they fix their server problem, if not indefinitely.
SimCity is among my favorite franchises of all time, and already this game is among my favorite of all time. But I cannot play it. I have the game. I have the files. I have a computer that runs it. I even have a blistering fast internet connection. That’s not enough for EA, though. I didn’t pay for my copy, and I’m still amazed on the arrogance it takes to pull a stunt like this.
We all saw what happened with Diablo 3, we all know what launches are like. There is no excuse for this always-on connection. It is a vile business tactic that should be punished with all the hate we, as fans and as customers, can muster.
As of right now, it is a non-functional product. EA is shipping the equivalent of a disc snapped in half. For that, I can think of no appropriate score besides a 1.
Garbage
1 - Garbage: 1s have no redeeming qualities. They are a complete waste of time to everybody.
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Dan Starkey is the latest addition to the ScrewAttack Reviews Team. Some say he never sleeps and eats only gourmet amaretto cupcakes. Others claim he's a hyperactive optimist. To citizens of the Internet, though, he's Captain Starkey, Intergalactic Games Journalist. You can follow him on Twitter, or add him on Facebook. |
» Tagged In: #Dan Starkey, #EA, #Mayor Starkey, #review, #SimCIty, #wtf
g1 DISCUSSIONS
lev186211
We did this to ourselves. Pirates have robbed these companies blind for a decade+ and now we are carrying on about no offline mode. Yeah, I hate it. Yeah, I hate EA they are lower than Activision, but yeah, we brought this on ourselves. Sorry to any of you who have never pirated anything.
dbzfanboy-presshereformuffins94
Vegeta: The fuck is this?? Nappa: Oh, we can't sign on to the server. Vegeta: Why does it need a sever? It's a single player game! Nappa: You have to prove that you bought it. Vegeta: I have a fucking RECEIPT!! Who did this to me?? I'm gonna kill 'em... (fades out)
dbzfanboy-presshereformuffins94
The hell?? Am I the only one here who speaks English and isn't spam??
theentertainmentguy
I liked the odd format its always nice to try new things.
ThomasCro
Bought the game today, works like a charm, 8/10 because of no larger cities yet.
bigglou
I'm surprise no one has mention GT's review of the game. Which was a 8, but on the podcast the reviewer mention how he had no problems with the server while doing the review. When he did get bumped off it was only for 30 minutes. He did mention the issue as a last minute thing.
queazy03
This game got a the lowest score possible because you can't play the game, it's full of bugs, but its released by a major publisher...what happened? I also hit CTRL+F and there's no mention of "entitlement" anywhere?!? What is going on? Am I in bizarro world? Did journalists finally grow a backbone since last year's 8/10 score for Diablo 3 which also had pretty much the same issues?
Black_Star
EPIC Review, I usually only watch video reviews, but this is just too fantastic. You even mentioned Diablo 3, A game I wanted so badly but will never buy because of the need to always be online. Besides, this stuff doesnt stop piracy, it just makes them more creative, windows games on pc have the same problem, but at least you cant play them in a limited capacity offline. Sadly Game companies are really slow to learn lessons, Kust look at Sony, still going for more power over actual gaming, where are the damn games for my vita? its been over a year dammit! Thank goodness nintendo is finally learning, but EA and Blizzard just love to troll customers I guess....
CrazyDuck
*well that escalated quickly.jpg*
I think we can agree that a lot of people wanted to play a new Simcity game and are rightfully furious that another game that does not need to always be online is.
Yes to more games that are not CoD / BF3 or clones of them. No to these DRM always online games and not giving us offline single player.
Ferret75
This game isn't working because of online problems despite being a single player game. There shouldn't even be mandatory online connections if it wasn't for Electronic Arts trying to force DRM practices into their product. The online servers not working should not be an excuse for this paid product to not work since they shouldn't even be needed.
CACTUAR LOL
Lol, Your review and your number rating seem to contradict eachother...
Agatio
Look at it this way. Right now it's a 1/10. Once they get it fixed, it'll be a 7.5 out of 10. He doesn't really convey this but it's not RARE that you can't get in. It's the norm. And plus after literally days of waiting they'll sometimes have just outright deleted your city. As the game stands now it's basically unplayable.
Metroidvania98
For all the people complaining about this review, think about Final Fantasy 14 for a moment. That game may eventually be good. In fact it may eventually even be great. Hell, its from Square Enix and if they decide to put the right people and enough resources into it (would be a waste but they could do this) the game could even be excellent. Same thing with things like Day Z and, in my opinion, the PS3 port of Skyrim. These games were, and for the most part still are, broken messes that are nearly unplayable as of this moment right now. Should the game be forgiven because it couldn't be reviewed properly?
Hell, I bought a Wii U. I love the Wii U but if someone comes out and gives the Wii U a review of a 6 or even a 4 right now I would think it would be fair for where it is right now. Its not a worth while purchase as it costs $100 more than a PS3 bundle with several times more memory and way more games available. The Wii U doesn't have the virtual console service active (other than the Wii one which I use) and the OS is slow right now. There are virtually no exclusive games to play and the games that are available are old ports. Its not an appealing system right now. I see its potential, I know this time next year the tune will have changed, but its not worth buying for most right now. The same goes for Sim City here. Its a mess right now. You can't expect a reviewer to wait several weeks for the problems to be fixed before writing up a review.
It would be unfair for the customer (the reviewer is there to protect the customer and not to protect the corporation) to give this game a good review as it would be deceptive. I was lied to by the reviewers into believing Skyrim on the PS3 was great. I bought it and it was such a broken mess it was unplayable. The PS3 version was rushed but the reviews did not reflect this. I felt lied to and cheated. And its unfair to the customer to do that. So no, this game does not deserve a higher review. The quality of the product may be high but if you cannot play the product it doesn't matter how good it is.
Black_Star
Ive never played an elder scrolls game before skyrim, but even i knew that the best choice by far was the PC, the mod community is just amazing.
Metroidvania98
Well obviously thats the best choice, but I don't have a several thousand dollar gaming PC. I have a 13 inch macbook pro with retina display for work related stuff and a bunch of Nintendo and Sony consoles but I don't have a custom gaming PC.
choninja21
What I love (and by love I mean HATE) about this WHOLE situation is that despite this always-online DRM will continue to be used in games no matter what we do for one reason and one reason only: people buy games with it in them despite the backlash. If and only if we as consumers boycott ALL games with always-online DRM in them, then companies will stop including it. The fact that there are people defending practices such as this proves that companies can do this and get away with it. I say they can't and personally I am not going to even touch this game until this is 100% resolved. If you can't live without your Sim City fix, just get Sim City 4 or 2000, they are just as good if not better than the new one and you can play them without an internet connection.
werdman24
Sure is a shame when a game cannot function without an internet connection. This is the sort of thing Bob Chipman has been preaching about. It's a nice addition to have internet connectivity for a game, but what's the point if you can't play it; as such, games should be focused on being played offline. Let this be a shining example of how not to create a game.
chainsawgrizzly
I feel bad for Maxis. From what I've heard, the problem is completely on EA with their server infrastructure. Maxis made the game, which looks pretty solid, only to ship it out and have EA fuck up the always-online aspect.
BigBossofMoss
Um, you take screen shots of the game by pressing the C key. I was even able to figure this out by reading the game manual.
joeshadowman
Everyone who claims that this is an unfair review doesn't understand the meaning of unfair. Because it's completely unfair that a game that doesn't work most of the time is something you have to pay money for. It's unfair that when it does work you lose all the work you put into it. It is also unfair that you have to wait any length of time after you bought the game in order for it to work. Like it or not, the review is even more fair then the game itself. At least he admits that when the game works it's good, but the problem here is that the game hardly works. And yes that alone is enough to score something as low as this.
Now everyone stop white knighting this game. Releasing a broken product isn't fair. And its also why this generation of gaming will always be a joke when compared to older generations. A game that is released with its bugs is the finished product and patching up those bugs doesn't justify releasing a game in this condition. Complaining that someone should wait until a game is patched in order to review it is like complaining that one should wait for a chef to fix his meal. If i were to server you a dish that wasn't satisfactory to you then you should complain about it. Why is it that games shouldn't be ratted based on if they work or not? That is the most important thing about a game. It should work all the time, not some of the time.
Daniel Starkey
A few supplemental notes to the review: 1) this is only vaguely similar to Diablo 3. D3 did not delete your saves. Blizzard did not remove features in an attempt to make things better with the eventual and non-guaranteed hope of it ever being better. Diablo 3 also worked when you were able to log-in.
2) We do not, as reviewers, give the affordances many of you have requested for games like Fallout: New Vegas. Eventually, yes games do get fixed. But as of right now, it's unplayable. I have tried, unsuccessfully, for three days to get back to any one of the cities I had before. It is not possible. Even if I was able to log-in properly and get a game going, features have been cut from the game.
When New Vegas was found to be incredibly buggy, nobody asked reviewers to "wait for patches". When a game is too short people don't say "BUT THE DLC FIXES THAT". No. We review what we have, when we can. We always have and probably always will. Nothing else makes sense, because we have no way of knowing if a game will be "fixed". If it never is, then we waited for nothing.
Most consumers won't wait either. Time and time again it has been shown that a huge portion of sales come in the first month. If you believe the goal of a critic is to be one that informs the consumer, then waiting does everyone a disservice.
3) Even if it was the best game ever made or ever will be made, if it cannot be played its quality is irrelevant. If EA shipped discs broken in half it would be the same thing and I would have given it the same score.
4) Last but certainly not least, as several other journalists have quickly pointed out, a few weeks ago, Ars Technica ran an interview with some folks from Maxis. At the time they Maxis said they were completely ready for launch day. That has been proven hilariously wrong. Look, this kind of behavior is not okay. People should vote with their dollars. If you, personally think it's okay for EA to put their customers through this, after they paid for a product, then by all means be happy, buy it again or whatever else you feel would help produce more always-on DRM in games. If, however, you think that this should not be allowed to continue, and EA should be deprived of the monetary resources it needs to continue to make these kinds of horrendous missteps, then don't buy the game -- at least until they've fixed their problems or given people an offline option.
The fact that EA is refusing to honor or offer refunds, that they have suspended all advertising and marketing campaigns for the game tells me something. It shows me that they knowingly sold a defective product, and they don't know when it will be better. Why on earth would they suspend marketing for a game that is launched this week? There's no way of knowing when or if the game will ever work properly. The situation has not improved and I have no faith that it will anytime soon.
vinicius fatality
You nail it man.Evrything you said here is absolute the real deal.
joeshadowman
This is the perfect example of why the game deserved the score it got.
3DMaster
More than not buying the game, if you've already bought the game: demand your money back!
Hell, I don't even understand why anyone would buy a game that demands persistent on-line connectivity anyway.
misiek82
I hate when a game force me to be online all the time i like to play my gemes alone i hate multiplayer and this game dont allow me to play like that
AJFay77
I like how you say this is among your favorite games, yet you give it a full review when it's in a nonworking state due to server failures. Diablo III didn't get nearly this much flack when their stuff broke. I've been playing this game like mad the past 2 days and it is extremely addicting/fun and has way more pros than cons. I highly recommend it an this review is more garbage than EA's servers upon initial release.
grimorum1412
Way to go EA you fucked a potentially good and fun game for every one with your stupidity did you not learn anything from the diablo 3 fuck up. and funny thing is that hacker all ready can and no how to get around DRM.
sprode
Why do people defend a game when the systems necessitated by it are down, thereby preventing a valid gaming experience?
Also, eff EA and their DRM.
caboose_-1
Because the point of a review is to talk about the merits of the game. 6 months from now the servers won't be in the same position but the only thing you get from this review is that the servers were down when it launched. That's why a lot of review sites and individuals are giving a partial review and then doing a rereview later when the servers aren't dead. I can see this being the second ever ScrewAttack review to get a rereview.
vinicius fatality
what was the first game?
Thejackel79
OoT 3D, mostly because everyone hated the fact that Craig had said F it.
LordoftheDerp
Well done Captain! You and Drake shall rule my Fan-Fiction kingdom for years to come!
zihon
the ones complaining about the review, day z could work and be fun with the cosmic alliangment and be cool, but that you need that to happen its stupid if the game that you bought dont work a 50% of the time they are making you pay for something that its not fully done and that its garbage, a 1 its deserved, and i stand behind that.
BigBossofMoss
...Man, I love this game and now with this review, there goes my plans for a g1 nation...
Ivan2294
"I can't login so I gave the game a 1/10 even though I didn't play the actual game"
Seems legit.
firewoven
I assume there will be a re-review once the servers are fixed, or a solution is presented. I hope so anyway, because the game will deserve higher when I don't feel like I'd be wasting my money by owning it. I'm actually going to get Origin for this game. Something I said I wouldn't do.
firewoven
You would know that the reviewer has actually rated this game in his favorite games of all time, if you read the review. Whether a game is good or not is beside the point when it's not able to be played. A game shipped with a bug that causes it to crash on launch would get the same score, until such bug was patched. Even if a workaround existed and the game was the greatest thing in human history, and the reviewer knew that.
chicken45
Way to jump on the bash the game bandwagon. This is sensationalist journalism at its worst. SimCity is a GREAT game, its just that there are technical issues NOT GAMEPLAY RELATED interfering. This review is garbage, with no redeeming qualities and a complete waste of time to everybody.
LordoftheDerp
Huh, Funny, EA said the same thing about your mother. LET YE NOT BE BLINDED BY FANBOYISM! INSTEAD, BE BLINDED BY ONE SIDED HATRED!!!! CURSE THE ONES WHO BEFOUL THE NAME OF DR. WRIGHT!!!!
chicken45
Don't talk about my mother. Also, I was in on the closed beta. The game is great. I don't know what you're getting at.
southsing
EA: ALWAYS ON DRM IS GOOOOOOOOOOD. WE ARE YOUR MAAAAASTERS.
hazelnut1112
I wonder how EA will pull out of this one? I seriously mean it, holy hell this is worse thing to happen to EA in recent months. For some reason, I like it.
SierraFoxtrot
Is this supposed to be an official review? Because if it is, you're going to have a hard time having people take you seriously. I mean, there was nothing wrong with the mayor's journal and I can understand a low score but a 1 simply because there is always-on DRM and server issues is kind of upsetting. It doesn't feel that you are actually reviewing the game based on it's merits. You even say in your review that it has become one of your favourite games so why would you give it a 1? This honestly reads like a Metacritic user review. It's bush-league and unprofessional. I could understand if you gave it a low score because you didn't like the new additions or if the gameplay wasn't up to par with previous entries in the franchise but knocking it down to a 1 because of server issues and DRM is rather upsetting. Let me be clear: this isn't me complaining about the score; this is me complaining about the way it was given. It certainly isn't helping this site's credibility as a good news source or website to be taken seriously.
But this comment probably doesn't matter since people are still going to say "He's not the reviewer we deserve, but the one we need" or some other B.S. All aboard the hate train everyone. WOO WOO!
Ferret75
There shouldn't even be an online-mandated DRM component to this game. Why do I need to be logged onto an online server to play a primarily single-player video game?
This shouldn't even be a problem with playing the game since the online shouldn't even be mandated, but it is because of Electronic Arts' necessity to have complete control over their products. And sometimes, like here, that creates major problems.
A Zero 2 Hero
Took the words right out of mouth SierraMist. This may be a funny segment, and the review might be in the right state of heart, but this is just unprofessional. Because this seems to be a good game on its own, claiming to already claimed a spot as one the reviewer's favorite games, the inability to play the product 50-60% of the time due to DRM should deduct the score by 5 points at most, giving the Unfinished Score of 5/10, with a Fixed/Repaird Score for when hopefully things settle down and problems are solved.
I see this as no better than a MetaCritic review.
On a game-related note, would this game be recommended over Civilization V once it is hopefully fixed? Do the two games even belong in the same category to be compared to?
UnholyUrine
The best thing to do would be to give the game a score WITH the major problems, and a score of the game WITHOUT the major problems, much like what Angry Joe did with Magicka. Then it'll be up to the consumers to decide.
vinicius fatality
that sound fairs
joeshadowman
Dude, if a game is unplayable, then 1 is perfectly reasonable. He even states that it's because the game can't be played. I don't see you're point and find your comment as being smug for the sake of being smug.
Skovia
then, by your logic, Diablo 3 score should have been a 1/10 when it came out.
joeshadowman
Yes. I completely feel that it should have. A product should work when released. It shouldn't have to wait months after its release or anytime what soever before you can access your game. Like it or not, since EA released a broken game it deserves all the bashing it gets.