It’s only natural to approach a Beta of any game with a mix of excitement tinged with a touch of apprehension, after all it’s not the finished product but I’ve been salivating over trailers of Sim City for a couple of months so when the Beta link arrived I jumped on and here’s wot I thunk.
Firstly, I was an original 16-Bit Sim City fan and haven’t played the series since the nineties so I was effectively a new comer this time round but pre-loaded with nostalgic love for the franchise which can work for and against a comeback title with Sim City’s history. After loading it up, the first thing that struck me was the smoothness and detail of everything that was rendered on the screen, the interface is clean and the tutorial helps you get to grips with the basic functions with ease.
The inclusion of layers, colour-coded zones, smilies, GlassBox view and 3D graphs work great for keeping up with your stats and city’s needs, and it’s really cool watching utilities flow through your homes and facilities, literally demonstrating the lifeblood of your creation. The population of your city seems to have taken centre-stage compared to the SimCity of old, making the new version feel more like “The Sims’ City” where what is possible is dictated by what the simulated population can access and how they will react to changes you make. This is made even more apparent by the ability to click on individual establishments or sim’s thought bubbles to get a better feel for the specific needs of your population.
The fundamentals seem to be well intact in this SimCity reboot with your goal as god town mayor being to balance the requirements maintaining appropriate and prosperous living (green), commercial (blue) and industrial (yellow) zones. It’s bright, easy to jump into and beautifully rendered with little-to-no lag, although my one criticism is that it feels a little small, but then again we were only playing the Beta, which was limited to an hour.
Either way, the good news is, we’re still looking forward to playing the finished version and this latest trailer showing off some of the deluxe features with the inclusion of famous landmarks such as Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower has helped to keep the fire burning. Bring on March 8!!!
Watch the new trailer here:
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