Will you buy Simcity 2013?

[Skizzik1 15]

I voted yes when this poll first opened, then I played the beta. Changed my vote to No.

[nats 99]

If Maxis/EA removed the always online protection and ridiculous map size I would definitely consider buying it, and if it was reduced to a sensible price - something like £30 and £45 for the deluxe version. But price, DRM and map size are all massive no nos for me at the moment. I do hate the idea of an online in game shop as well to buy buildings etc - sounds very commercial and exploitative to me. But of course I could ignore that.

 

It is a shame because otherwise the game looks quite interesting and the graphics are attractive. There's obviously been a lot of work put into it as well underneath the hood to make it quite deep. It's such a shame a few stupid elements are going to make this a definite no buy for most people I think. I could do with a nice modern Sim City game to play as I havent really played one since SC2000. But this obviously isnt going to be it.

 

I think EA are going to lose loads of potential DLC vendors. They must be starting to get very worried. And as we all know 6 months after a game has been released nobody wants to know.....wait too long to fix this rope and they will just end up with one massive turkey. Ubisoft learned the hard way maybe now its EAs turn. One of these days these massive developers will learn how to listen to the fans.

[OffTopic 3]

I most likely will.  I'm a tad bummed that the mac release isn't launching simultaneously with the pc version, but the very fact that we're even getting an OS X version strikes me as a miracle.  A lot of people seem to be complaining about the map sizes, but from what I've been seeing, the gameplay makes up for it.  I watched Quill18's playthrough of the beta and it's gotten me really excited for the game. 

 

We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

[beatle 24]

I've bought the game.  A lot of people feel that the game is too pricey, but most major releases are at that price level when a game comes out.  Look at every ps3 or xbox title, between 60-70 dollars.  You also have to think of the amount of time you invest in it - if you spend 80 bucks on the game and spend 200+ hours playing it, then I think it was money well spent.  Or you can wait a couple months and the price drops, like every single game in the history of the planet...

 

I don't mind the online only aspect.  The only thing that scares me is if the plug gets pulled on the servers after a couple months or a year.  But if the game is great, and the game gets updated constantly with addons, and we are able to mod it some time down the road, then it might last for some time.  Look at SC4 and how long its lasted.  It was too bad that Maxis/EA stopped updating that game with new features and fixes.  Online only also gives the ability for constant updates, and addons.  Why are people so afraid of online only??! I've heard people saying that they sometimes don't have an internet connection.  When was the last time you used your computer without the internet??! On a plane? Pretty boring without the internet.

 

City size isn't a problem with me.  I think it will allow me to focus on the quality of the cities that I will build and the simulation part of it, instead of building the same thing over and over in the same city.  Maxis has even said that they have the ability of increasing the lot size down the road.  I can see that happening.  But I can also see Origin/EA putting a price tag on "upgrading" your lot size, along with adding a price tag on every other addon they include.. 

[CaptCity 4,913]

A few over-the-top comments removed. Remember, it doesn't matter whether you like the game or not, name calling and insulting comments have no place here.

[SirChick 184]

After playing BETA three my vote has not changed from "no".... sadly the prices is just too high... if/when they drop the price then its a definite yes! Time flew by when I played it but im poor so I don't have the luxury to splash the money out. Fingers crossed i find a nice deal !

[City Planner 121]

Already bought it even though I swore up and down that I would not. Some of my friends on my CB forum started talking about playing on a region together and well.. One thing lead to another and it all sounded like it would be fun to get back into playing CB games with friends again so... EA/Maxis is $60.00 richer.

I know that I'm going to be a bit bummed out with building only Towns instead of Cities, but playing with friends is a hard thing to pass up the older that I get.

[nhgriffith 179]

I know that I'm going to be a bit bummed out with building only Towns instead of Cities, but playing with friends is a hard thing to pass up the older that I get.

I think that most of the people that are complaining about tile size, if they're actually purchasing the game, will quickly get over the tile size issue once they get into the joy of playing the game, especially if they're playing in a region with friends.

[Micah 16]

Definitely getting this game. I see it has potential. Just playing the beta, I could tell this game was going to be a lot of fun. Wish it had more realism but it's definitely a step in the right direction and has much potential.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

No. I feel it's been to "dumned down." The gameplay looks very cartoonish, from the videos of the beta I've seen so far. I'll stick to SC4. Way more customizable and detailed.

[Evandad 109]

I'm only buying sc5 if they remove the ridiculous scaling issues, the online only constraints, the lack of terraforming, the crappy cartoon graphics, all the bugs that we know are going to happen, the excessive price, the lack of modding tools, the market/business aspect of the game (or at least make it optional) and the troll-friendly environment.

 

So, in that case, I might as well say nope.

[Radioactive Chicken 10]

I've already pre-ordered from Amazon.  I do have all the same concerns that everyone else and I haven't bought a game made by EA for a few years because everything they do gets my hackles up but I played in the first beta and did really enjoy it so I'm going to put my EA hate to one side and give it a chance.

 

The Digital Deluxe Download price is ridiculous though so I'm hedging my bets and bought the Limited Edition version (£35) from Amazon.  I was tempted by the Collectors edition from GAME but I had £20 of unused gift vouchers for Amazon so I'm personally only paying £15 which seems slightly less of a risk if they do pull the servers 18 months down the line. 

[DocWat232 5]

I have purchased a physical copy from Amazon (the $20 credit helps).

 

I have a few concerns (mostly with the online requirement and Origin), but from my time with Beta 2 I can tell this is a game I can spend many happy hours playing. SimCity is probably my most beloved of games, as I started with the original on a Commodore 64.

 

I will watch the future of SimCity with care, especially with micro-transactions. I trust the developers at Maxis. I do not trust the executives at EA.

 

Hopefully a balance I can support will be struck.

[Dr. Boom 37]

Sim City 2013 (I keep calling it SC5  ) definitely looks interesting. It seems like it was influenced both by Sim City Societies and Cities XL to a degree, so we'll see how it goes. I will buy it, but not outright. I want to see the criticism first, and also wait until it's price drops slightly.

[oze 0]

Definitely yes as soon as the Mac version comes out.

 

The Glass Box engine makes it so much deeper and fun than any earlier SimCities.

Last SimCity game I really enjoyed (and played for countless of hours) was SC2000. 3000 and 4 were too similiar so they didn't get me hooked up that way.

 

I Don't care about the online-only. I always have an internet connection on my computer.

I'm starting to like the idea of online interaction...

 

Maps could be bigger but I can play up to 16 cities in one region so it kinda makes it up. 

[CoolColJ 42]

Already preordered the download version for much cheaper than EA's price...

And I can add the extras by paying more if I want and still be $35 better off than the Digital Deluxe version!

[Ron1x 0]

i pre-ordered the second i found out the game was coming out.  after playing the beta, im pretty disappointed in what the game has to offer.  theres not much i can do about my pre-order now since the game comes out in a couple days, but i doubt i play it much.  the new nam mod just came out and sc4 is perfectly fine for me.  maybe we will get lucky for a proper sim city next year or something :-(

[shorty2 94]

I was really excited to see where this game would go, but the more i've seen the more disappointed i've been getting. There's a couple of reasons I won't buy this game.

 

-Firstly is the always online component in combination with not being able to save files locally to your computer. It makes me quite angry to see people saying "i don't care" about this issue too.. everyone not having an internet connection isn't the point either, the point is you paid for a product that has been delibrately functionally crippled. This is the kind of behaviour the entertainment industry engages in that the public should not support.. they do not care about your creativity, they only care about copyright, piracy, and making more damn money. This has been going on way before the internet existed too. For those who are interested in that there's a good TED talk on that issue under PIPA/SOPA. This is definitely the fault of EA.. big money hungry corporation and previous record of acting this way.

 

-Second is the tile sizes, spacing of tiles, lack of control over highways, and other little things that again just put a limit on your creativity. I'm not going to pay for a game where all my cities are town sized isolated islands because i'll get f-ing bored of it within 2 days. It also looks really, really stupid when you pull back to the region and see these isolated chunks of development. And given the size limits they will get packed out and make the contrast even more ridiculous.

 

-Always on disasters and claiming it will be realistic. Last time I checked no city has ever come under a UFO attack or zombie invasion. Having fires occur is good, that is realistic. But not every city is capable of suffering a tornado, earthquake, etc. The realism argument holds no water and again this function is basically reducing the creativity aspect by destroying planning in exchange for make-stop solutions to problems.. basically a way of keeping people playing the game for longer and not about realism.

 

-The game just does not look polished. I just watched the guys on letsallbemayor plop a golden gate style bridge and people were walking along the edges of the bridge/floating out over the water, and then when they got to the end of the bridge they all just bunched at one point and disappeared after awhile. The 3 lane bridge also joined to a 2 lane road and this resulted in cars driving up onto the verge.

 

===

 

I could probably think of more things. But I think the major deciding factor is definitely the always online-non local saving aspect.. I can not support that decision with my money because it is something I am opposed to. And if you're serious about entertainment and gaming in general you should be too. But obviously a lot of people are just fair weather gamers and people of no integrity. Beh.

[CaptCity 4,913]

Another reminder... This is a Poll topic. All that is necessary is to make your selection and state your reason, if desired, so this doesn't become jumbled. Debate and/or discussion can take place in the topics all ready in place for such comments. Please use them.

[JPV789 2]

After seeing the price and the Betas, I'm not buying this until it's far, far cheaper. Until then, I'll stick with SC4.

[ShadeSigma 16]

No I am not buying. It's a completely different game now. I tried to find ways to like the game, but keep running into ways the game will suck. Personally, I don't get what they were thinking. And they don't care about the creativity and original concept. Their job is to keep you connected online as long as possible so you can keep cranking out money on the DLC. If they improve things on the game then I might consider it for the future (assuming the servers are still up right?) but since they have so much stuff to work on, I don't think that'll happen most likely.

[vonhaubitz 5]

^{When I looked at the videos of the Beta testers on youtube, I thought that all the limitations were due to the Beta version (very small cities, no underground, only flat land, etc). But now I find out that people} at EA/Maxis  ^{are serious about this Android like small edition of a city-like simulation. Wasn't there an epic fail like CitiesXL when developers concentrated on the wrong aspects of a city simulator? With all the limitations in place, I have serious doubts that the new SimCity will ever meet my expectations, so, I cancelled the pre-order immediately and might check back in a year or more. Maybe, something will develop over time....}

[TheeLord 42]

It's far too restricting and not what I expect from Simcity, I will not be buying unless major changes are made to the design post launch.

[nats 99]

I will have to change my vote to no. I just spent all my money on ARMA2 Combined Operations instead - I think that will give me far more playability. I've also just bought SC4 which will appease any citybuilding desires in me for the forseeable future. There are so many good games around at the moment Simcity has a heck of  lot of competition for my money.

 

I think the game does look 'quite' good fun overall but the sticking points for me are too numerous and the main ones that of DRM and plot size are not likely to be sorted anytime soon and I cant afford to pay £30 for something I am going to get fed up with in a week and then not be able to sell on. Money is very tight, I cant afford to buy any games on chance that they might be great, like I did a few years ago. Maybe it will be a great game after six months or so. Usually once I go off the idea of buying a game, for whatever reason, I dont usually look at it again for ages (years usually) by which time its usually come down a lot in price, has good mods out to resolve the issues, has the buigs fixed, any DRM has been removed, and then it becomes a possible good buy.

 

But you know what is really putting me off buying it the most recently? All the Simcity spam in my Facebook. Every day up to release they are bombarding my Facebook with loads and loads of spam. That to me is hard sales technique and that puts me off buying more than anything else.

 

Cheers EA you have just saved me £30!

[ReverendBeel 8]

That's odd.......I woulda sworn I left a post around here.....

[mastorofpuppetz 199]

First off, it is not called Sim City 2013. The official name is Sim City. I plan on buying a few copies no matter what, even though I have had the privilege to play the game already. Forget everything you know about Sim City. NONE of the games released to this date compare to the new Sim City. The best way to compare this game is not to compare it to any other version of Sim City.... but to compare it to the Sims 3!!!

Where as before you could lay out residential, commercial and industry and sit back and watch your city grow, you will not be able to do that here. There are all sorts of "mini games" or "challenges" that you need to complete in order to build things. Also you need to have a more interactive attitude in your city. Being a far away mayor is not enough anymore. You will have to set your industries to create products and then sell them to your sim city residents. But keep in mind that some items will be wanted in some areas and not in others. You will have a more 1 to 1 interaction with your sims that live in your city too.

I can only say this, if you like the Sim City games and you like The Sims games, you will absolutely LOVE The New Sim City!!!!

Crime doesn't decrease at night, in fact it gets worse when the sun sets.

You will need to learn stocks and using a buying and selling system. Where as, in other sim city games you can not control what is made and sold in the city, in this version you NEED to in order to make your city grow.

You should always make sure you have plenty of fire departments in your city because here the fires can spread rather quickly and destroy your city.

You might want to have tons of industry in your city, sure it wil grow rapidly but the health of your sims will decrease rapidly as well. And if your sims become too uphappy they will kick you out! Business and Industry are VERY& important in this game unlike in other versions. You will NEED to take an active part in your city if you want it to grow.

And yes, you can go play at the Casino in multi player and see if you can make it on the leader board.

So if you like the older versions of Sim City and you like the Sims games.....

YOU WILL LOVE THE NEW SIM CITY!!!

HUH? everything you said sounds horrid, this is not sims, i dont want challenges to build things, i dont want to talk to sims on the street, wow, is it this bad? It's a citry builder seems EA is trying to make it something it isn't.

[eriktorres 3]

sim city societies 2 Period!

[supercity124 8]

I've decided not to buy it because, of small city tiles, cartoonish look, no overhead power lines, and no option to make & add custom content to the game.

 

I would rather stick with Cities XL because it's maps are large and the city you're building in Cities XL looks

super realistic and it has the option the create custom content just like SC4. Also, Cities XL really does cost less

than the new Sim City 2013.

 

 

 

Cities XL:    $40.00 - Best Choice City Building Game I Want

 

 

 

Sim City 2013:   $60.00 - Not what I want or I expected

 

 

 

I will have to consider Cities XL as the new "Sim City 5" in my opinion when I play it.

[CoolColJ 42]

Cities XL is pretty boring though, and lacks any sense of gameplay and simulation....