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Game Information
- Platform: Windows XP
- PEGI Rating: Ages 7 and Over
- Media: Video Game
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Back when designer Will Wright started making games it was SimCity which was his first big success, helping to define the concept of god games and social simulators. Over the years though the series got ever more complicated and less appealing, so that when The Sims was released in 2000 it put the old city simulators completely in its shadow. Now though the whole SimCity concept has been rethought to the point where this isn’t really a sequel to SimCity 4 at all but a whole new game somewhere between the original and The Sims.
There’s no zoning of industrial, commercial or residential areas in this game but instead you can just plonk down any building down wherever you want. In this sense the zoning concept is turned inside out with the buildings themselves casting an influence on those nearby, with various kinds of "energy". There’s wealth energy which radiates from industrial buildings, devotional energy from farms and churches, obedience energy from government buildings and so on.
As odd as the idea may sound it allows cities to be built up much more quickly and with a far greater level of control over the citizens that inhabit them. Whereas before it was a real effort just to get a small town working now you can raise giant dystopian towers wherever you want and see the population reduced to an Orwellian nightmare – or opt for a more pastoral layout and watch everyone skipping around the haystacks. The import thing is it makes SimCity, and social engineering, fun again.
Harrison Dent
Product Description
- Make an artistic city, a romantic one, a police state... or anything you want.
- Build the city with unique homes, businesses, and roads.
- Unlock new buildings as you city develops.
- Unique Sims appearance and behaviours fit each city type.
- Special lighting, music and details in world bring the unique themes to life.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
This is what happens with a merger that is never given the chance to consolidate: no one gets what he expects.
First of all, if you were expecting either SIMCITY 5 or THE SIMS 3 (or even the long lost SIMVILLE), this is not where to look: SC-SOCIETIES was developed not by MAXIS but by TILTED MILL (of CAESAR 4 fame) - but this in itself is neither good or bad. Definetely bad is where they decided to take both franchises though.
Gone are most of the gameplay options that made the SIMCITY series a city-management gem. The good old colored city zones are no more - instead you have to micromanage every single building. In place of the zones, there are now six nebulous "social energies" (:productivity, prosperity, authority, creativity, spirituality and knowledge). Every building either produces or consumes one (or more) of these energies. For example, a library creates knowledge but consumes...creativity. Yeah, I know, to add insult to injury, these "social energies" do not always make "real world sense" either. It's more of a trial & error learning process.
The functioning of a real city is not observed in many aspects: for example, utilities need NOT be connected to your buildings: if enough power-plants within the city limits, you are fine. I guess Tesla's theories of wireless energy transfer finally found their mainstream niche!
Even more absurdly, civic improvements, ornaments and decorations have a cumulative beneficial effect on ALL the city - not just on adjacent areas. This makes as much sense as, say, raising the property values of ALL apartments in a city with a Central Park somewhere...
Here is why fans of THE SIMS will be left disappointed as well:
sure, your Sims still have info-balloons (depicting moods and needs) but you can have no direct effect on them. You end up playing the...buildings, not them. So, if you though it would be fun to see your beloved SIMS interact on a larger scale...not yet.
Graphically, SC-SOCIETIES is a true eye candy! The buildings and city improvements are well and clearly designed (and they are abundant - over 500 distinct items!); lighting and shadows are not only impressive but realistic in perspective and scale as well; and the weather effects (not to mention the impressive natural disasters!) add another level of visual appeal.
Now, try placing a beautifully designed and perfectly shadow-casting building that can rotate only in 45degrees increments onto right-angled street blocks! It took me over 2 minute to place a single separating wall between two houses (at maximum magnification mind you). You see, beauty can only be a means to an end when it comes to game design.
For such a shallow game, SC-SOCIETIES does convey an illusion of depth. There are statistics everywhere - almost every object sports various info-balloons with them. For the casual gamer, who obviously this game is aimed at, this all looks very impressive. I very much doubt that more experienced gamers will enjoy this ride though.
Take you pick based on your experience level.
First of all, if you were expecting either SIMCITY 5 or THE SIMS 3 (or even the long lost SIMVILLE), this is not where to look: SC-SOCIETIES was developed not by MAXIS but by TILTED MILL (of CAESAR 4 fame) - but this in itself is neither good or bad. Definetely bad is where they decided to take both franchises though.
Gone are most of the gameplay options that made the SIMCITY series a city-management gem. The good old colored city zones are no more - instead you have to micromanage every single building. In place of the zones, there are now six nebulous "social energies" (:productivity, prosperity, authority, creativity, spirituality and knowledge). Every building either produces or consumes one (or more) of these energies. For example, a library creates knowledge but consumes...creativity. Yeah, I know, to add insult to injury, these "social energies" do not always make "real world sense" either. It's more of a trial & error learning process.
The functioning of a real city is not observed in many aspects: for example, utilities need NOT be connected to your buildings: if enough power-plants within the city limits, you are fine. I guess Tesla's theories of wireless energy transfer finally found their mainstream niche!
Even more absurdly, civic improvements, ornaments and decorations have a cumulative beneficial effect on ALL the city - not just on adjacent areas. This makes as much sense as, say, raising the property values of ALL apartments in a city with a Central Park somewhere...
Here is why fans of THE SIMS will be left disappointed as well:
sure, your Sims still have info-balloons (depicting moods and needs) but you can have no direct effect on them. You end up playing the...buildings, not them. So, if you though it would be fun to see your beloved SIMS interact on a larger scale...not yet.
Graphically, SC-SOCIETIES is a true eye candy! The buildings and city improvements are well and clearly designed (and they are abundant - over 500 distinct items!); lighting and shadows are not only impressive but realistic in perspective and scale as well; and the weather effects (not to mention the impressive natural disasters!) add another level of visual appeal.
Now, try placing a beautifully designed and perfectly shadow-casting building that can rotate only in 45degrees increments onto right-angled street blocks! It took me over 2 minute to place a single separating wall between two houses (at maximum magnification mind you). You see, beauty can only be a means to an end when it comes to game design.
For such a shallow game, SC-SOCIETIES does convey an illusion of depth. There are statistics everywhere - almost every object sports various info-balloons with them. For the casual gamer, who obviously this game is aimed at, this all looks very impressive. I very much doubt that more experienced gamers will enjoy this ride though.
Take you pick based on your experience level.
93 of 102 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
With SimCity4, EA knew they were painting themselves into a corner with the series, the 'game' becoming every less fun and more a delicate balancing act, the player juggling twenty different balls. So, EA decided that a radical rethink was needed, and, what seems an almost knee-jerk reaction to the cries of 'this game is too hard!' SimCity Societies comes along... a SimCity game only in name.
The concept of hand-crafting your cities, rather than zoning for construction is a big change, and of course makes the rate at which your city grows much slower. But it also means that realism gets thrown out of the window. Want a 'city' that consists of twelve tower blocks, two skyscrapers and a deli? You got it. The evolution and growth of your city is non-existent... once you place a building, it's there until it gets knocked down. Another big change is the fact that utilities are almost completely done away with. Laying water, waste and power networks is now a thing of the past... your only consideration is whether the city has enough power; no matter where all your other buildings are placed, they'll automatically be powered if there's enough juice to go round.
The third and for me most insulting change is the overall look. Of course, the change to full 3D means that the graphics can't be as sharp, and many games take on a slight cartoony look to both mask and utilise this current limitation, but SCS is just a riot of bright colours and cartoony graphics that is more fitting for CBBC than any gamer over the age of thirteen. Even the way each building's info is laid out borrows heavily from trading card games such as 'Pokemon.'
In conclusion, EA were so busy going in the opposite direction to their previous game that they didn't realise just how big a mess of purile drivel they were creating. Instead of making the game more accessible, they just gutted it of every ounce of depth it possessed. Not only have they completely alienated the entire (extremely passionate) long-standing SimCity fanbase, but they have failed to create a game that will increase this fanbase.
In short, EA has yet again destroyed a long-standing and well-loved franchise with their over-zealous dumbing-down techniques.
The concept of hand-crafting your cities, rather than zoning for construction is a big change, and of course makes the rate at which your city grows much slower. But it also means that realism gets thrown out of the window. Want a 'city' that consists of twelve tower blocks, two skyscrapers and a deli? You got it. The evolution and growth of your city is non-existent... once you place a building, it's there until it gets knocked down. Another big change is the fact that utilities are almost completely done away with. Laying water, waste and power networks is now a thing of the past... your only consideration is whether the city has enough power; no matter where all your other buildings are placed, they'll automatically be powered if there's enough juice to go round.
The third and for me most insulting change is the overall look. Of course, the change to full 3D means that the graphics can't be as sharp, and many games take on a slight cartoony look to both mask and utilise this current limitation, but SCS is just a riot of bright colours and cartoony graphics that is more fitting for CBBC than any gamer over the age of thirteen. Even the way each building's info is laid out borrows heavily from trading card games such as 'Pokemon.'
In conclusion, EA were so busy going in the opposite direction to their previous game that they didn't realise just how big a mess of purile drivel they were creating. Instead of making the game more accessible, they just gutted it of every ounce of depth it possessed. Not only have they completely alienated the entire (extremely passionate) long-standing SimCity fanbase, but they have failed to create a game that will increase this fanbase.
In short, EA has yet again destroyed a long-standing and well-loved franchise with their over-zealous dumbing-down techniques.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
I was really looking forward to this and have been completely let down. It is a travesty that this bears the simcity name.
The game play and senarios are truly awful. Manual adjustment of the camera angles is annoying.
You can't trace an unhappy sim except by searching the entire city for them street by street and hope you haven't missed them while they are in a building or in the subway.
Overall, after several weeks of trying this, I can say that - the game play is annoying, the buildings are badly thought out and created and, even in beginners learning mode, there is little help with the reasoning behind the placing of buildings. Some buildings have somekind of impact on other buildings (but which ones is not explained in the game play or in the in box booklet. It's no wonder the user guide (available for purchase) is the size of an american phonebook - WHAT A LET DOWN !!!!
The game play and senarios are truly awful. Manual adjustment of the camera angles is annoying.
You can't trace an unhappy sim except by searching the entire city for them street by street and hope you haven't missed them while they are in a building or in the subway.
Overall, after several weeks of trying this, I can say that - the game play is annoying, the buildings are badly thought out and created and, even in beginners learning mode, there is little help with the reasoning behind the placing of buildings. Some buildings have somekind of impact on other buildings (but which ones is not explained in the game play or in the in box booklet. It's no wonder the user guide (available for purchase) is the size of an american phonebook - WHAT A LET DOWN !!!!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
I love this game
If you are into city/community building and enjoy the sandbox elements of city building games then, this is the game for you. I love it and it's add on - destinations. Read more
Published 2 months ago by C4cats
Very different to usual SimCity games
A warning. This game is not the same to normal simcity games. Instead of placing zones etc. you place individual
buildings in Societies. Read more
buildings in Societies. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Monkeyjam
Beware the pitfalls of windows 7
A decent game although no nearly as entertaining as previous SimCity games. It did fail to hold my attention for long and the scale is much smaller that SC4. Read more
Published 17 months ago by AmmoMonkey
What Are You Talking About!!!
I am an adult gamer and I have tried all the city building games from Caesar to City life, yes that includes the famous SimCity set. Read more
Published 20 months ago by C. BLACK
Sim City Societies
SimCity Societies is very different from other games that begin with "SimCity...", and I think that people that play SimCity (I, II, III & IV) will not enjoy this one.
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by A. J. Alves
Don't waste your money on this game, buy SimCity 4 instead
As a great fan of SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition, I was really looking forward to this game as a new release should technically be better than its predecessor, right? Wrong. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2009 by Christian
Don't waste your time.
Quite boring really. I got tired of it after playing it for an hour. It crashes all the time as well, so it just put me off. Played once and it's now lost somewhere in my drawers. Read more
Published on 28 May 2009 by Mr. Guilherme Ottaviano
great game!
a really fun game to play!many different building, venues, houses, workplaces, and decorations to choose from to make your town or city yours. create your town how you want. Read more
Published on 10 April 2009 by A. jackson
Disappointing to SimCity Fans, but...
As a fan of the SimCity series I was a bit disappointed with this edition. The graphics have improved greatly from SimCity 4 but this is to the detriment of the entire excellent... Read more
Published on 9 April 2009 by I. M. Knight
Doesn't deliver what it says on the tin!!!
A few years ago I discovered Sim City and loved it. Played it for ages and ages then life got in the way and didn't play for a long time. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Glimmermatrix
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