SimCity Societies?

I know it's not SimCity 5, but I'm interested in how it compares to Tilted Mill's earlier efforts. Have they continued improving, or did the SC franchise bring them down?

Reviews have been tepid at best.

For me, I have another reason I won't touch this either but I know it's one that doesn't affect everyone. Not only does this game have in-game advertising but it has a kind I really have a problem with. BP (major oil company) managed to buy placement in the game whereas their logo is on all the "clean energy" structures you can build and not the dirty ones. I find this rather detestable as its a company that like most oil companies, makes their money off dirty energy and has in the past, had a less than stellar environmental record. I know this doesn't matter to many people but for me, that's a real insult. Even if this game was good, I wouldn't be touching it.

Even the preview videos that EA released had frame rate issues, not a good sign.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

For me, I have another reason I won't touch this either but I know it's one that doesn't affect everyone. Not only does this game have in-game advertising but it has a kind I really have a problem with. BP (major oil company) managed to buy placement in the game whereas their logo is on all the "clean energy" structures you can build and not the dirty ones. I find this rather detestable as its a company that like most oil companies, makes their money off dirty energy and has in the past, had a less than stellar environmental record. I know this doesn't matter to many people but for me, that's a real insult. Even if this game was good, I wouldn't be touching it.

Wow, that's absolutely horrible.

Reviews so far indicate that they dumbed down the SimCity concept to the point where it's shallow as a puddle. Instead of having to think carefully about the future, you can just buy buildings and events that automagically fix problems. No more actually having to link up utilities, provide enough housing, etc. either; building a single power plant far outside of town with no links to the city is A-OK, apparently. Blecch. To quote the Gamespot review:

Gamespot wrote:

If you wanted an intricate system of checks and balances to hold it together, or economic depth, or something that would give you any sense of challenge, you won't find it here.

Thanks guys. Disappointing; I'll stick to their Rome game, which was very good and relaxing.

I didn't realize it was out.

I'm interested only because SC4 seemed like such a mess.

Parallax, thank you for mentioning the BP thing. I wasn't aware they did that at all.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Reviews have been tepid at best.

For me, I have another reason I won't touch this either but I know it's one that doesn't affect everyone. Not only does this game have in-game advertising but it has a kind I really have a problem with. BP (major oil company) managed to buy placement in the game whereas their logo is on all the "clean energy" structures you can build and not the dirty ones. I find this rather detestable as its a company that like most oil companies, makes their money off dirty energy and has in the past, had a less than stellar environmental record. I know this doesn't matter to many people but for me, that's a real insult. Even if this game was good, I wouldn't be touching it.

Now, perhaps this is a little bit "Devil's Advocate" of me, but BP is putting a lot of resources into developing cleaner fuels (BioDiesel, Hydrogen, etc.). BP Canada is a customer of mine, and I am in the business of providing environmentally conscious fluid storage systems. Our systems are unique, and our customers definitely do not purchase from us because we are the most affordable solution. Yes, BP makes a sh1t pile of money off of "dirty energy", which they have to do until the infrastructure, technology, and demand for these "clean energy" solutions are profitable. The state of the industry is in no way the fault of any single company.
As far as I am concerned, you could say that pretty much any energy company has a "less than stellar environmental record". I have heard from oilfield operators in various places, including Canada and the U.S. about standard practices that would make your lips curl.

I don't mean to be defending BP in all that they do, I just think that yes, there are some nasty things that have happened in the past, and no doubt will happen in the future to many companies, but the fact that they are actively developing alternatives to the norm, and are trying to raise public image by putting their logo in this game, is a good thing in my eyes.

From the desk of Aries, in the heart of the Canadian Oilpatch, take my view with a grain of salt.

I get your point Aries and fair enough. The thing that bugs me about this is that BP bought their way into the game and they are being portrayed in such a way to make them not look so evil. BP has been involved in several environmental scandals over the years and while they may be putting some money into cleaner initiatives now, most people would agree that the oil companies are putting a mere dribbling into these initiatives based on what they make from selling fossil fuels and they know where their bread and butter lies. That said, I don't want to turn the thread into an environmental debate. I'm against in-game advertising so whether it was BP or someone else, it would have still turned me off the game. Just the advertising they bought seems less an ad and more propaganda and that just irks me.

I definitely get what you are saying, Parallax. I agree, the effort put towards alternatives is not near enough.
I hate most in-game ads too, with the exception of billboards a la Crackdown.

I got Societies for the long weekend, and so far it's been pretty fun. Not oh heavens this is so good, but pretty fun.

It's a straightforward game compared to SC4 or Caesar; when it comes to difficulty, it's on part with original SimCity. But it more than makes up for it by having a wide variety of themes, and letting you build interesting-looking cities with lots of character. If you ever felt constrained by the economic requirements of SimCity 4, this game really simplifies them.

So far, it's been fun enough to play it for about an hour every day. I'm still discovering new things in the game, so it's lots of fun to build up new neighborhoods. But there's not enough depth to play it for hours, like I would with Wright's SimCities.

See that actually sounds like the kind of Sim City game I've always wanted and never gotten.

I never once actually made a truly successful city. I don't think I ever even made it to the "Metropolis" rating. I always got fairly big and then started to lose control of it all. Usually it would get to the point where I got frustrated and finally started calling in massive riots from the disasters menu just so I could in turn flood the city and drown every single one of the little whiny jerks.

What's that? You're rioting because I forgot to give your residential building water access? You want water? I'll give you water.

I bought this for my fiancee. We had a snowy weekend, and I wanted to put in some quality time on Super Mario Galaxy, so we ran to Best Buy and grabbed it.

It's definitely not a "City Building Simulation". You don't have to carefully plan your power grid or your water supply. You do have to maintain a decent road system and some public transportation.

Mostly, it revolves around a set of values.

Along with power, buildings consume resources such as "Authority", "Creativity", and "Prosperity", among others. Some buildings generate these resources, so you need to balance between supplying structures and consuming structures. Buildings also generate power-ups in the form of "Happiness" and money if you can get enough people to frequent them.

This mechanic is where the "Societies" part comes it. You can focus most of your effort on certain values and building sets to create "Romantic" societies, "Cyber-punk" societies, and things in that vein. However, the differences seem mostly cosmetic.

The game is not terribly deep, and even my financee has said that it seems pretty easy, she was a little dissapointed that she didn't come close to failing the first time she played.

I think the game's real value comes from its "toy" aspect. With varying difficulties and a plethora of buildings, you can spend a lot of time just playing with the game, not necessarily playing the game. As rabbit lamented in "Where Are My Toys?", there is a definite lack of games that just let you play. Well this game definitely does that. One difficulty mode gives you unlimitted cash, one removes all of the rules and just lets you build a picture-perfect city, and the hardest mode has all of the rules intact.

I would not recommend this game to a hard-core gamer, and it is definitely not a SimCity sequel. However, I think this game could be perfect for kids and casual gamers looking for a game they can play with, not just a game they have to play.

A friend of mine bought it, and lent it to me.

I had a few days of fun with it, mainly in created each type of city. For some reason, the Orwellian authoritarian city is the most developed (not only comprehensive, but pretty cohesive as well), and therefore the most interesting to create. If it was a console game, I would recommend a rental, there is a bit of interest in it. Unfortunately, it is way too easy (as mentioned), the unlimited cash mode is pretty unnecessary; unless you want to build a frame-rate crippling city immediately.

The resource mechanic sometimes doesn't make any sense, productivity often becomes a real problem. Prosperity mainstays like office buildings consume it, and the only buildings that produce significant amounts of it are low quality housing: worker housing and low-class tenements. Which doesn't make any sense if you aren't building an industrial city, office workers living in depression-aesthetic tenements?

It is also poorly balanced, certain city types require resources that are not produced by any building allowed by that set. You have to resort to stupidity like rows of decorations that produce that resource. At points I would have to build 6x6 groups of sad gardens or the like.