Thinking of getting SCS

[soldyne 111]

so, I am a huge SC4 fan and I have no intention of letting SCS replace SC4 (that's just blasphemy).  I also think that the one major flaw of SCS is that is has Sim City in the title and I think EA really needs to release SC5 as their next City Building simulator game.

anyway, I think SCS has some interesting ideas and has the potential to be a fun game when not thought of as a SC4 sequel.  I am ok with the idea of SCS as a stand alone or spinoff title.  I have played other tilted mill games and enjoyed them (I think Ceasar 4 is one of them).

because of my anger at the "SC4 sequel dissapointment" I want to make sure that EA has understood their mistake before I give them money for SCS.  I have seen a lot of press releases and ratings for the game that seem to indicate that EA has indeed seen the error of their ways.  Do you guys think it is safe to purchase a copy of SCS without giving EA the wrong ideas?

[mkaustin 1]

I think it is "safe." EA knows good and well that SC4 was very successful. They also know that SCS was a spinoff intended for a different audience and different kind of games. It is apples and oranges. Even if SCS was a huge success, which it isnt, EA would be insane to take that as a cry from the public to not make another city simulator.

You should buy SCS if you are interested.

[baertooth 330]

I am a hardcore Simcity vet, bought Simcity classic within a month or two when it first came out back in the late 80's.  That doesn't make my opinion more valid than the next, just wanting you to know where I'm coming from.

It's not Simcity.  It is a pretty decent builder game though.  It's pretty versitile in the range of what it can do, and I think it has lots of potential.  The biggest problem I see is it's half-baked and needs another year or so to cook.  But the agent based simulator is pretty cool.  It's pretty easy to play if you play mismatched cities, but if you play with the filters it can be really challenging.  Especially if you use the new stratigic modes, namely Nightmare mode, it can be challenging just playing mismatched cities let alone filter cities.

What's in the game is highly customizable.  I know little about programming but I have made extensive changes to my game easily enough.  There is a promise to release tools for custom content but for the moment, very little past reskinning can be imported into the game.

I miss regional play and the transit system of SC4.  But in Societies, it's kinda possible to break the lots apart so you are plopping the building and then "painting" the lot around it.  In the future, customized content will make this apply better, but for now, I'm enjoying being able to really put my towns together like I want them.

It's also possible to build roadless towns too.  Since the agents, or sims, can walk around, you can build a city that is totally roadless.  I have, it's challenging, and it looks really neat.

Another possibility is to build no-power towns.  Some buildings don't require power so you can build a functioning town completely void of powerplants.

Between roadless and powerless towns, I can make very small towns that work very well and this is one area it beats the crap out of SC4.  I loved making small towns in SC4 on expansive regional maps, but it's very limited in how you can play small towns.  In Societies, you can make really neat small towns, but no regions in which to interconnect them and that sucks.  Either or? Depends on what you want to do, but it would have kicked-booty if you could play Societies' small towns on SC4's regions.

There is a few economies to follow too.  I'm not so hot on the societal values and the way they play, it's interesting but I think can be unnaturally restrictive in I need to place some object just to make another work and it seems, weird.  But on Nightmare mode, you have to be conscious of money, happiness, travel times, work and venue capacities and balancing them, balancing maintainace costs, placement of your buildings, matching the right buildings with your sims preferences, and I could go on and on.  You don't get this so much in non-strategic play modes, but then again, they're not for strategic play and rather for sandbox playing.  Also, you can shoot for trophies and rewards but to be honest, I haven't really bothered with that aspect of play, yet anyways.

I don't think it's a bad game.  I have fun playing it and I think it's a much more replayable than Ceasar 4 or Tropico.  I have about 40 towns now and many ot them are significantly different.  Everytime I play I think of something new to do and that's cool.  The advice I would give is wait for the base game to be sold with the first expansion pack as one game, that way you can wait out the beta testing that's going on *rolls eyes* and not have to plunk down $30 twice to get the same thing.  Only thing is, is you'll have to wait. 

[bluebonn 0]

For me I am holding onto my money. I really hate SCS with a passion. My 6 year old would probably like it. being involved with EA at one point in my life I can guarantee there will be a new SC that will please all die hard SC fans. Especially since Monte Cristo is working on a new one.

[joe2102001 19]

I bought it, its kind of like purgatory.... Not good, Not bad, just kind of is.  I think if you go into it forgetting the fact that SimCity is in the title, its not as disapointing.  If it just had a different name I don't think anyone would complain about it aside from the technical issues.  If you are thinking about it I highly recomend waiting until they release Patch 3 sometime this week or next and watching the forums at Tilted Mill to see if it aleviates all the tech problems.  For a lot of people the game is unplayable, no matter how low the price is, its not worth it if you can't play it.  For me it works ok it consistently crashes to desktop though.  The problem is not so much the game itself as much as it is Windows Vista which doesn't work well with any games.  Hope that helps!

[Spinmaster 75]

Check ebay. Lots of people trying to dump it off already. And a few "buy it now" options for as low as about $20. EA doesn't really care about "learning the error of their ways" ... the more $ they get, the less of an error it was. I agree it's not as bad as many - including myself - make it out to be, when taken as its own game. But still not worth full-price, in my opinion. That is what they "feel bad" about, if anything. Not the negative reviews and scathing opinions, but simply the fact that after only a few months, SCS is already a bargain-bin item... while SC4, released 5 years ago, still sells and could probably still fetch near-full-price (though rarely found at more than $20 these days... I'm just saying it probably would still sell even if it was $40). That's what they clearly missed out on with SCS - a long-lasting profit margin.

[wir3d 2]

I wouldn't buy it. But it is your choice. Oh and look at the community poll that will give you some anwsers.

[Sim-Maire 2]

I buyed SCS without reading reviews, i was not deceived

[amdinside 2]

I got SCS as a gift. Some features are a plus from SC4 (graphics,sandbox mode) but they also took away a lot of good features that SC4 has (transport options,region play). I also do not like having to plop each building, there is not enough diverse buildings of each type to make a really good looking large city I believe. I would buy it if you want to. I don't think you can make a statement to EA buy not buying it. It will make money for them either way since there are players who like the game a lot. I am sure they have a pulse on the community and know what the players have been saying about the game. The question is, what will they do about it?

[soldyne 111]

Thanks everyone for your replies and well thought out comments. I think I will give it a try although not right away. I have other games on my to do list but I will put this on my game queue for later.

[JoshuaH 1]

Being the loyal SimCity fan I am, I purchased the game the day after it came out, regrettibly. I can't think of anything useful to say about it, other than that with an urban design oriented development team I think that the game could have been much more than it is.

[lucashp 1]

You came to the wrong place looking for reviews, Everyone but a few set of people (Like me) seem to dislike it.

[leemarc 0]

I didn't want to pay full price. I waited until it was on sale. Circuit City wanted to get rid of it, so they sold their remaining copies for $10. I jumped on it. It was a good buy. But, not for $50.

Mark

[jadebullet 0]

all SCS is is a "prettier" version of SimTown. I think that is sucks, but thats just me.