Sim City Societies: Video Game Review

Sim City has come a long way since the original game was introduced in 1989. Not only have graphics improved with the advancement of computers, but the game play has changed remarkably. I look forward to each new edition of Sim City as well as the Sims so I couldn't wait to play Sim City Societies. However, before I could play, I had to go through the normal "new game process" that has plagued me since I purchased my laptop, an Alienware Area 51 M7700.

The process goes something like this:
Open game. Install game. Register game. Start game to play. Have computer shut itself off. Disassemble laptop and evict a colony of dust bunnies. Reassemble computer. Turn on, allow to go through defrag and file checking processes. Restart game.

Yes, it seems like a lot to go through just to play a game. I am starting to understand why people like console game systems like the Playstation, Xbox and Wii. It's not such a process. Had I known when I purchased my laptop that it doubled as a dust bunny refuge I would have went with a desktop and saved myself some aggravation as well as having to make a trip to the local electronics store every month to buy canned air, the only known way to exterminate for dust bunnies. Having gotten everything in order I was ready to play.

I decided that since there was so much new in Sim City Societies I should actually use the tutorial. I seriously recommend this for anyone playing this game for the first time, even though it's easy enough to figure out without the tutorial. The tutorial is kind of like having the Prima Guide handy. You will come across that one thing that you had no idea you could do unless you are told. There is so much more to do in this game than ever before in Sim City. No longer are you just building a city and watching it run itself expect for making sure that you have enough housing and jobs as your city grows and rebuilding after disasters.

You now get to decide what kind of city you want to build from urban to futuristic. You can customize your buildings by changing the colors . Keeping your sim citizens happy is now an important part of game play. Before you were barely aware of them, now you have a chart that tells you how many content sims live in your city as well as how many are so unhappy they are starting riots and shutting down places of employment and venues. If they aren't happy they won't go to work. If they don't go to work productivity goes. Productivity goes down and the city doesn't make money.

This time around the city is built one city at a time. The game has moved beyond just zoning an area and hoping for the best. You need to balance out housing and employment. You need to add recreation facilities and venues. You get to choose from everything from tattoo parlors to a zoo. Housing ranges from a yurt to a mansion. As you reach goals you unlock more buildings, and each building has certain things that it needs to function. If your city doesn't have enough things in it to promote creativity, your music studio will not function. Certain types of buildings promote crime, like the pawn shop. Other buildings promote tranquility such as the meditation center. If your sims get really out of hand you can even build a behavior modification center.

The residents of your city now have different societal values ranging from authoritarian to hippies, spiritual to creative. The idea is to balance everything out, keep everyone happy and make sure the city thrives. You get to check in on them and their families to how happy they are, what job they hold, their mood and what sort of venues they visit and what their hobbies are.

Two things that Sim City Societies is missing that has become a trademark of anything Sims are the alien invasions and the 'reticulating splines' message. I am not sure which I miss more. The disasters you can unleash on your city this time around are pretty run of the mill as well, earthquakes, storms and meteor showers.

With Sim City Societies you get a much closer look at how a society actually functions and what it takes to keep it running smoothly. Being able to build the city one building at a time adds some ease to the game play in some respects while making other aspects more challenging, like making all the buildings work together in the best possible way. Anyone that is a fan of Sim City and has ever wanted more control over what goes where will enjoy this game.