Sim City: The Real Review

I was finally able to log into Sim City to play this weekend.  Now that I was able to play, I was able to confirm what I thought all along: Sim City is an awesome game.  It still doesn't excuse the DRM and launch debacle, but at least I can play now.  I was only kicked out four times.

For starters, the game is partially usable at 10ft away.  My gaming PC is hooked up to my HDTV and I tend to play from the couch.  I had to play for about an hour up close to the TV, but as I got used to the interface, I was able to play farther away.  There are still some scenarios where you need to get close for.  Specifically, when you need to place a building in a small space or when you are reading something that a sim is saying.  I am really glad I can play from my couch.  I purchased Dark Spore and it wasn't usable from my couch.

I found the finances to be different but good.  The buildings tend to be more expensive, but I found it a lot easier to manage a balanced book.  In older games, it was a lot easier to build to quickly and have a negative income.  Also, the game/advisors/protestors tend to direct you to the infrastructure that you need at the time.  This helps to prevent over building.  Also, the bond's tend to be more reasonably priced.  This is the first game that I actually took advantage of bonds.  The bonds allowed me to gain some quick capital to purchase some of the expensive buildings.  I usually buy the bond to buy a building that increases my income rate.  After a few game hours, I regain enough capitol to pay back the entire bond.

I have a habit of trying to use the right mouse click to rotate around.  This comes from my AutoCAD experience.  I haven't quite gotten used to using the left mouse click to rotate around.  I don't quite know how I feel about having to expand the City Hall to be able to build certain structures.  I love the ability to expand the other buildings, however.  I love the Upgrade Road feature.  I didn't know about this feature at first, so I built my first city with more expensive roads right off the bat.  When I started my second city, I was able to build using cheaper roads and updated them as I need them upgraded.  This helped out a lot, since sims told me when they were ready to expand.

The non-DRM portions of the game are really well done.  If (and its a big if) you can get passed the logon and DRM issues, then this is a great game for Sim City fans.