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It got here super fast and was in perfect condition. The game is fun and had no issues with the seller.
The gameplay itself was very good, but this game is so full of glitches and bugs it's not funny. It was different but I found it gave me much more control over my city than previous versions, and a far greater ability to scape my city to my liking.Unfortunately, the gameplay itself is outweighed by the many glitches it has. I have a relatively new computer with 2GB of RAM, a 256 MB Video Card and a 2 GHz processor, and the game still freezes up at random and is very slow. I actually very much liked the changes made from previous versions. I had incredible trouble installing it, and when I began playing the game it froze after 15 minutes, requiring me to eject the disc and reboot my Computer.Overall, I would say this game is not worth the money unless you are incredibly patient and cool-headed. It's a real pity this game was so well designed and thought out, but so full of bugs and flaws at the same time.
The main annoying part about the societal values - although some might see it as a fun challenge - is that there often doesn't seem like enough to balance both sides of the city you're trying to build. It's a city planning game to be sure, but it's much more about societies than proper city planning. Unfortunately, particularly in the freeplay mode, you'll find it gets increasingly easy once your revenue starts rolling in - I've frequently gotten to over a million dollars in a very short amount of time, despite the nail-biting slowness of funds rolling in at first.There are a number of scenarios that ship with the game - all of which are quite challenging and addictive in their own way, albeit frustrating in others. Every single thing you place has a societal value falling under 6 key categories - productivity, prosperity, spirituality, authority, creativity, and knowledge.
If you have Destinations, start working on your tourist trade as early as possible to maximize revenue to build your town.Overall though, the game is flawed and not a traditional Sim City game. Unlocking certain buildings requires an excess of one of these categories, thus the city you create is very much based on the path you choose to take (the game also offers helpful filters to push you in that direction).What this essentially means is your city can be an authoritarian Big Brother-esque society, complete with conditioning facilities and the Ministry of Truth, or it can be a 'fun' city with a carnival, candy coated streets, and gingerbread houses. The more your city veers towards a certain aesthetic, it will actually transform - the streets will change their appearance, the background music will shift, and your overall city vibe will take on a certain light. I'm not entirely amazed this game has bombed the way it did - however a friend of mine had it and gave it to me to try out based on my own curiosity. Unless you want to repeat the same buildings over and over again you're forced to plop ugly decorations all over the place just to build or unlock something, which can ruin the aesthetic a player might be going for. Although some buildings that earn less have additional pros (and bonus cash), it does take some careful planning and thought as to what workplaces to put down, what venues to build, etc.
Additionally there's the 'expansion' Destinations which really should have come with the base game. It's the real money-maker, allowing you to turn your city into a resort town where tourist traps and residents must learn to coexist.
I get where EA was going with this - it's reminiscent of the long-dead but much hailed project Simsville - but I think their next Sim City installment better blow the roof off of everything to date - and maybe even incorporate a little bit of Societies. You have the ability to customize every building that populates your city - homes, businesses, 'venues' (to keep the workers happy), and decorations.
It becomes too easy - particularly with destinations - in the create your own city mode, but it also can be frustratingly hard in the scenarios - plus there are only about 7 or 8 scenarios to try your hand at. If you want a lot of prosperity be prepared to plop a bunch of pointless 'Baroque Fountains' around town, earning you 6 prosperity points a go.With the patch for this game, the main challenge in the early stages of the game is keeping yourself solvent.
Every building has a daily maintenance cost that may or may not offset the weekly profits it will generate for you. Additionally the societal values can be supremely annoying, especially as your city gets bigger.
Overall, I would say that this game is as boring as it is pointless. And all of the different "societies" (industrial, oriental, tropical, etc).
To start off, it's so full of little glitches and bugs you'll want to pull your hair out within five minutes of booting it up. It's as if none of the creators of this game actually PLAYED it before packaging it and selling it to the poor, unsuspecting public.
This game is wretched, plain and simple. Hand-picking each building that is placed sounds great at first.until you actually start doing it and realize that it's really just freaking tedious.
The game runs extremely slow on my brand new laptop and things are constantly jerking around as a result. The rules and strategies of the game aren't logical or even intuitive, and certainly don't resemble the traditional Sim Cities in any way shape or form.
really means that there are fewer buildings to choose from any ONE theme. Run, run away from it as fast as you can.
SC4 is not 3D, though, so if it's a good 3D game you want then I suggest the new Cities XL, which is far better than Societies, though still not well accepted among SC4 fans.You can add Desitinations to Societies (expansion pack) which helps make it a bit more interesting but it can also help make yoru city even more tacky to look at with all the resort hotels and carnival games. Besides that, every city you build looks generic.
I've always had a deep fascination with city planning, architecture and street layouts so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I saw societies was thw worst received but it had more of what I was hoping for, with it's 3D environment and so I tried it first.
I bought the SimCity box and had never played any city building games in my life. The cities you can build are very small, too.the other thing is you can't really get these gorgeous skyline shots because the buildings fade when you get far enough away.
It was pretty cool at first and I loved the buildings, most of them, but truthfully this game gets really boring really fast. It's far too easy and limited.
When you look at other people's cities, they all look the same.There are not enough options with the layout of the streets and things catch fire WAY too often for my taste.If you've never played a city building game you might like this but if you want a bigger challenge try SimCity 4, really just get the box set because you'll get them both for the same price and you can decide for yourself. Plus the airport that comes with it will take a huge chunk of your space.In all, it's okay at first but if you're not going to buy the box set, skip this one.
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