SimCity Creator Hands-On

The SimCity franchise has been around for almost 20 years now, ever since the original SimCity was released back in 1989. With multiple successors and even more spin-offs, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't played or at least heard of one of the many games. Last year, Electronic Arts brought SimCity to the Nintendo DS in a version that was based on the original game. This year the company is coming out with SimCity Creator, also built on the same foundation as the other SimCity games, except that this time it introduces a variety of themes for your city as you progress through time.

We were able to spend some time in Challenge Mode and expand our city through a variety of historical periods. This mode is a fun new addition because it also gives you targets to meet so that you can continue along and feel like you're moving forward. The tutorial glosses over the main points, and after that it's up to you to take the time to expand your city. We began in the ancient world, when life was much simpler. Instead of worrying about pipes, electricity, and traffic, we focused mainly on food. Survival was the key, and to do so we needed to start our village where the food was, by the water or by the hunting grounds. When natural resources started to dwindle, we introduced farming. This set up was a great way of introducing the basic elements for those who may not be familiar with the SimCity series. Once we managed to get our population to 5,000, we moved on to the next era, the medieval times, during which we checked out the open Asia age. When you reach the era's population goals, you can choose whether you want to move forward with an Asian or European theme. One of SimCity DS's problems was that there was only one save slot. This time there are two, but there still aren't enough slots to let you go back and try to play through all of the different ages.

In the medieval era we had to keep other things in mind. It wasn't just about the food; you also had to watch for fires and crime while making sure that your citizens were educated and healthy. You can also start raising taxes in this era to cover the rising costs, but when you check in on your citizens, they're not going to be pleased. In the ancient times, we only had to worry about residential zones for the most part. Once we reached the medieval era, we had to consider commercial and industrial zones as well. These zones help stimulate the growing economy and push your civilization forward.

Natural disasters aren't too common, but when they do strike, they can cause quite a bit of damage. One thing that helped to prevent tornadoes was building altars so that the locals could pray, and ensuring that there are enough fire stations later on will help keep the fires under control. Giant monsters haven't made an appearance yet, but there's still hope. As you progress through Challenge Mode, you'll unlock various time periods that can then be used in Freeplay Mode, in which you build whatever you want without any guidelines. The save slot also poses a problem here, considering that if you've already used up the two slots for Challenge Mode, then there won't be any room to save if you play in Freeplay.

As your population increases, you will be introduced to something new at regular intervals. A character will show up and give you a brief tutorial about the latest structure that you can build, whether it's in regard to education or accommodating Westerners. It's a welcome break, and at least you will feel like you're accomplishing something for those who need constant reassurance that their efforts are not in vain.

All of the icons that you need are displayed on the top and bottom of your screen. The icons that you need for building are at the top; to build, you tap on one and then select the specific option. The bottom row gives you the sheets that you need to manage your city, such as the build sheet, which brings up the tools. The budget sheet is where you raise and lower taxes as well as track your expenses, and the sims sheet will zoom in on individual outlines of sims so that you can tap into their thoughts. The information sheet will give you details on crime, food, pollution, and other statistics that you may want to consider. A meter at the top of your screen indicates the balance that you have for residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial zones. The touch screen works well here and it's easy to tap through all of the menus, although if you're not paying attention, it's easy to bulldoze something that you didn't intend to, and you can't undo a wrecking job.

SimCity Creator is a good option for people who might find the usual SimCity games too complicated or involved. It's still a city builder, so it still requires patience and management. Given that the game is on the DS, your cities can only grow so much, and it's up to you to plan out your city so that it doesn't start to look repetitive. Look for more SimCity Creator coverage when it's released on September 22.