The SimCity name inspires fond memories for many gamers, regardless of which of the four main installments they have played the most. Wherever your SimLoyalty lies (personally, I’m a fan of SimCity 2000), the latest SimCity combines elements of your favorite entry with new features to ensure your urban planning experience feels both familiar and modern.
With a few months to go before the game’s February release, I played two hours of an early SimCity build at Maxis. The first lesson I learned is that smart city planning begins with building a road that connects your patch of land to the regional highway. This is how you open the lines of communications and trade with other cities in your region. These cities might be controlled by your friends playing simultaneously, or they could be your own carefully constructed communities running automatically. Your interaction with these nearby towns plays a central role in your own planning – but more on that later.
Yes the game looks fantastic, yes the game play looks complex and invigorating, but ultimately no I won’t be getting it, simply because of the forced online requirements.
1) I don’t want to have anybody influencing my game, in any way.
2) I don’t want to have to save/load online.
The first is a matter of personal taste, the second a necessity. I don’t always have access to an Internet connection either due to poor lines (the UK is dreadful for this) or cost (I can’t afford access outside the home).
So with one fell swoop EA prevents me from playing the game!
What;s worrying is the rumours that are starting that The SIms 4 is going to be implemented the same way with Online Only saving and forced interaction with other players!
If so that will be the end of the line for me, which will be sad for two reasons… Firstly I have played The Sims since The Sims 1 first came out and secondly it is the last game I play on my PC, so without it I will stopped playing games altogether.
I may seem old fashioned but I don’t like all this online aspect to gaming, I like to play my games alone, and non competitively…. that’s why I play the Sims (and used to play Sim City) as there was no ‘winner’.