If you're on the fence about whether you want to play Sim City or not, then take a seat and have a read. I will share with you my experiences in playing Sim City and why others hate it.
So let's start off with the hate, why DO people dislike this game so much? There are many reasons, but it all started with the release of the game. It was one of the worst releases in EA history, the servers didn't work, progress didn't save, and people couldn't play. It was frustrating, annoying, and it wasn't resolved as fast as everyone wanted.
That was strike 1.
Then came the issue of always online multiplayer. In theory, this should have been a wonderful idea that would have created a community of players who would trade resources with each other and create co-operative cities. Well, it turns out that people didn't like being dependent on others when it came to managing city services.
Sure, it'd be great if your neighbor would spend all his money on a police force while you spent it all on garbage collection. But when you start hitting traffic at the entrance of your city or the player suddenly demolishes his building. Players are quick to get angry that their services have been cut off. In a sheer twist of irony, the player ends up feeling like the sims do when their services are denied.
There was no real reason to trade with one another because players wanted to be self sufficient.
That was strike 2.
The final strike came when players realized just how small the city size was. The limitation of the glassbox engine made it so that you could pretty much fill out your entire city in a matter of hours. Not days, hours. People would switch on the cheetah speed and start maxing out their city in maybe three or four hours. Then, once the city was maxxed, they wondered what they should do next.
To add insult to injury, with the expansion pack. You are now forced to demolish huge swaths of land in order to make space for the towers.
Strike 3.
But readers, trust me when I say this. There is still a lot of fun to be had with Sim City, but it requires a different mentality. It's like the difference between an FPS or a Strategy game, Sim City plays on a much more different emotional level.
And that emotional level is your inner child.
What Sim City does so beautifully, including with the expansion pack. Is that it gives you the complete freedom to design a city the way you want. Sure, you get slapped with rules like city limits and such, but when it comes to aesthetics. You can build tunnels, overpasses, bridges, highways, rail networks, all with how you envision a beautiful city to be.
Where I found the most enjoyment playing this game, was through playing it slowly. I would set the speed down to turtle and just build a city from scratch. It would start off simple enough, small town USA. I'd build the layout with dirt roads and try to anticipate where all the traffic issues would happen ahead of time.
Then, as the Sims would start to come in. I'd start to build the city one piece at a time. Waste management here, sewage disposal there, police station here. And before long the small town would start to grow into a small city.
Then as more people started to come, I decided I wanted it to be a university town. So I made the University the central focal point of my town and the main hub for all education in the region.
and then finally, after all the research was done and there was no more for me to do except for a great works project. I decided to turn my little town in a future metropolis.
[Serenity Beach The Future]
And all of this was done, by just taking my time and enjoying myself. It didn't require me to sit in front of the computer for 8 hours a day just because I was playing on turtle. I'd play for 1 or 2 hours and just slowly build my city over time. The fun, was in watching the model city come to life. To see how they respond to disasters, to see how you can fix problems, to see just how far you could push your city within the limits you've been given.
No, it's not the Sim City 2000, 4000 that everyone loved. It became less about spread sheets and ideal grid spacing and more about having fun in the way that a child would. It's innocent, it's relaxing, and it's beautiful to look at. It's a perfect game to play if you're on the go or if you want to simply relax.
If you're one of those people still playing this game. The expansion pack is totally worth it. It makes your cities look like a true utopia and gives you access to some really cool looking technology. Aesthetically, it's beautiful, slick, and improves the original game by leaps and bounds. The skytowers take a lot of space and that's a bit of a drag, but watching your city futurize never gets old.
It's not a game for everyone, but it can feel very rewarding for those who do enjoy these types of games.