Sim City 4 - EA Games Strikes Again
Not exactly a new title I know, but hey, after being enslaved to WoW since 04, and due to...other RL complications, I didn't get a chance to play SC4 until recently.
I'll start off, with the spirit of overall fairness in mind, that i'm old school enough that i'm comparing this game to the immortal Sim City 2000. SC2000 has the amazing distinction of being the only game in existence that, if given the chance, I would rather play on it's original platform, the Macintosh. Don't bother asking me what type of Macintosh, only that it was the ambient Macintosh used in public schools of that era.
God that was an amazing game! You build a city, fulfill society's "edutainment" quota, and oddly enough, have some fun in the process. Looking back though, after you know how to size zones, you're pretty much set in SC2000. Failing to budget in SC2000 means you're probably brain-dead, or close to it.
Ok, where was I? Yea, Sim City 4....
I don't really know how to start talking about it given the fact that it's been ages since I was into any Sim game. Even still, I find myself very....NOT-enthralled by the whole experience. I mean, everything seems a lesson in bitching people, overpriced utilities, and fire/police that can't seem to "dispatch" themselves without an executive-order from their commander-and-chief, aka: The Mayor.
Honestly, I love player interaction. I love the control factor in most Simulation games. But this is just an exercise in micro-management as has never been seen. Gone are the days of leaving your computer, watching a movie, and coming back to 250,000+ in cash to play around with. With absolutely no way to disable Disasters, forced-manual-dispatch of fire fighters, and never staying on the level with city services (Schools, Healthcare,Parks...etc), you constantly find yourself in the Red and scrambling to make some form of correction(s). Now, in terms of realism, it's probably not that far off from the totally assed up real-world that we live in. However, for my money, a game still has to be a game, not an emulation of the jobs of real life. When a game feels like a job....yeah....it's time for a new franchise.
On the flip side of this problem, would be the people who'd shout at me, on a number of levels, complaining that i'm taking away from the Realism and Gameplay aspects of Sim City 4, if my comments were implemented in a future version of the franchise. My answer to them is a simple one: Fun over Realism. Realism has it's uses for education, biographies, history books (sometimes)....things of that nature. But if at the end of the day if this overdose of realism is killing, probably, the most fun Simulation franchise on the planet, then I think my point speaks for itself. Implement different difficulty settings with no Disasters, auto-dispatch firefighters, and city services that don't break the bank. Leave the higher difficulty settings for those who -choose- it, not as an automatic punishment for everyone who opens the box and installs the game. See, I am totally in favor of having lots of choices for players of Sim City, or any other game.
In the end it Sim City 4 probably sold well...I don't have any specific figures on hand at present. I'm biased in so far as I truly -hate- EA Games and all that they stand for. Maxis, the original creators and marketers of the Sim City franchise, were a noble and creative group. They made truly enjoyable simulations without making it devoid of realism or relevance to real life. I don't claim to understand all of what the original Maxis employees went through after the buyout, but if Sim City 4 is even remotely a reflection of the work ethic of EA Games, then no more words need-be uttered by me.....
R.I.P : Maxis
An "Old School" Gamer,
DKnight2066