SimCity 4 or SimCity (2013)?

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

Yah, I know this is over discussed, but I just want to know the percentage of those who prefer SC4 over SC13, and those who prefer vise-versa.

[start rant]

SimCity (2013) feels too substandard for a SimCity game. Servers? Small city tiles? No highways? Gaps in between cities? No terraforming? This is not the SimCity that I'm expecting. A SimCity game qualifies with the following features: NO servers, can have a variety of city tile size, ability to edit the landscape (a.k.a. terraforming), and have modular highways. The game also looks half-finished when it was released back in March, and of course, you'll never forget the disastrous server issues that happened there. SimCity 4 is just the perfect city builder for me. No servers, variety of city tiles, have highways, terraforming, and also a plus for making the game better: modding. Full fledged modding for SC13 is highly unlikely to happen, due to the DLCs Maxis has been making for, of course, you know it. I also played the past SimCity games, and they all still blow SimCity (2013) off. So, for me, (and most of ST's members) SimCity 4 KOs SimCity 2013.

[End rant]

But everyone has their own opinions, if you prefer SC13 over SC4, go ahead!

-GMA

[BravoGreenONE 120]

Sc4. Not a difficult one for me.

[fefenc 77]

In my opinion, Simcity 4 have better graphics than sc2013 (with exception of 3d camera).

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

Geometry, I don't think we need  

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

Yah, I know, but this one's got a poll, so I could see how many people in the SC13 general discussion section prefer SC4/SC13 and vice versa.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Between the two, 'out of the box', I would prefer SC4. I simply like how that game has a lot of room to play around with (namely large city tiles), and inter-regional connectivity is secondary.

 

Nevertheless, SC13 still feels very much like a SimCity game to me, It's just that the style of the game doesn't connect with me personally. I've given the game more than enough time to try and open up to me but it just has not delivered.

 

To any naysayers about SC4,

-In my opinion, it's quite difficult to compare the two games.

[benno2005 112]

SimCity 4

[CaptCity 4,914]

As often happens in these comparison threads (yes, there have been several) the topic meanders into an 'us vs. them' discussion. Let's keep to the purpose of the topic. Point out likes and/or dislikes, but also remember that anyone is free to appreciate the game or not. Debating that usually becomes a fruitless endeavor...

[darkaliendude 44]

SC2013 by a long shot.

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

SC2013 by a long shot.

Why? In SC4, you can create a highway interchange like this:

(Credit from MandelSoft)

And this the only highway interchange in SC13:

And the highways in SC4 are draggable, too. But if you think SC13 is better, go ahead! I'm just curious why did you like SC13 more than SC4 despite SC4 having the best mods ever.

 

(Or probably, you are trolling, eh? )

[Monster's Cat 120]

 

SC2013 by a long shot.

Why? In SC4, you can create a highway interchange like this:

(Credit from MandelSoft)

And this the only highway interchange in SC13:

And the highways in SC4 are draggable, too. But if you think SC13 is better, go ahead! I'm just curious why did you like SC13 more than SC4 despite SC4 having the best mods ever.

 

(Or probably, you are trolling, eh? )

 

Not everybody has the skills like that! I don't. Stop assuming that everybody that likes Simcity is trolling which makes no sense at all.

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

Nah, I'm just kidding.

[Terring 6,476]

This debate is getting old. I don't like the new Simcity too for many reasons, but I have way better things to do than ranting every single time! Besides, it can't be as bad as other atrocities like Empire Earth 3

[KonstantinII 1,106]

I like the new future cities addition.

[RipRap 4,400]

Probably it is time to get it back to topic.
 
First of all, the two games have particular advantages and disadvantages. SimCity 4 is a game that has been properly tweaked by the online community, even Wikipedia describes it. It now has the options that 10 years ago, would not have been in fruition, such as the NAM. It would be really unfair for a new-ish game to be compared to SC4, because it is new, and probably the developers are attempting to give the game a new sense of direction (based on the statements made by MaxisGuillaume). Sometimes, that new direction could have upset many fans, but hey, at least it is worth a try.
 
Due to the community contributions, I would prefer SimCity 4.

[darkaliendude 44]

 

SC2013 by a long shot.

Why? In SC4, you can create a highway interchange like this:

(Credit from MandelSoft)

And this the only highway interchange in SC13:

And the highways in SC4 are draggable, too. But if you think SC13 is better, go ahead! I'm just curious why did you like SC13 more than SC4 despite SC4 having the best mods ever.

 

(Or probably, you are trolling, eh? )

 

I don't care to make those kind of highways. They take way too much time for me. SimCity 2013 is a game where I can get right into immediately. Plus I love the visual style way more. And I love how the simulation is deeper. And I don't mind the small city size. Specializations are something you don't get in SC4 also.

 

Plus I'm certain the modding scene will make SC2013 a lot better than it is, with time, especially when Maxis releases the tools.

[Mr Saturn64 742]

Sim City 4 , no denying it.

Seven flaws with SC2013 (or 7 deadly sins, if you will)

1. Forced mutiplayer.

2. Limited transit options

3. Issues with proportion.

4. Bad road connections

5. City sizes a medium city in SC4 could have for breakfast.

6. Limited buildings

7. High anticipations. Imagine playing it on my birthday and finding out just how bad a city building game can be.

[Monster's Cat 120]

Sim City 4 , no denying it.

Seven flaws with SC2013 (or 7 deadly sins, if you will)

1. Forced mutiplayer.

2. Limited transit options

3. Issues with proportion.

4. Bad road connections

5. City sizes a medium city in SC4 could have for breakfast.

6. Limited buildings

7. High anticipations. Imagine playing it on my birthday and finding out just how bad a city building game can be.

 I disagree with many of your "7 Deadly sins" you have listed.

First of all, multiplayer is not forced. Its an option. If you wanted to play with other people then join a region the someone else has made. If you don't want to play with anybody, simply put the region on private. That simple.

Second, I'm assuming you mean issues with proportion associating airports, shipping yards, etc. And if they put the actual size of what it would be it would easily take up half or even all of your city. So they miniatured it quite a bit.

My last reason is that everyone has different opinions about the game. A lot of people like it, a lot of people don't. Just because you hate it doesn't mean everybody else who gets it will hate it too. I myself love the game, I wasn't disapointed at all.

And what do you mean by "limited buildings?" There are no limitations, you can place a building when you have the requirements to build it. And the money.

[Robotica 36]

Hey guys, this subject is quite close to my heart. I have a huge problem here, I can't make a sound decision for which one I enjoy more. Here is my typical process. Play SC2013 for a couple hours/days and build a couple cities, at which point I start feeling bored like I have done all there is to do. After the new 8.0 patch came out yesterday I was really excited, got home installed the patch, fired up the game and immediately started building on a new region. About 2 hours later I had just bout completed my first city on the region and at that point there was not only no room left but nothing left to add... So, I start the next city. About 10 minutes into the next city I thought, why am I doing the same thing all over again but in a different part of the region? At which point I got really bored, turned off the game and went back to SC4.

 

Now, here is my problem, I get bored in SC4 as well. I love how complex and how open ended the game is, I really do... But, while I can build a full city in a matter of an hour in the new SC2013, building a full city in SC4 can take a week or longer depending! I feel like there is not a good medium between the two... But anyways, I am going to list my pro's and cons for each, maybe it will help someone decide!

 

SC4 - Pros

- Terra-forming

-  Ability to create unique and custom regions/maps, not to mention the thousands of custom maps you can download from others.

- Huge tiles, ability to create giant cities, even scaled to correct proportions and all.

- No forced online mode (aka offline mode)

- Modding (and not just textures but actual game changing features and addons). This also means that new FREE content is steadily available for the game

- Cheap, only 1 DLC to deal with, once you have SC4 and rush hour you will never have to spend another dime.

- Tons of unique content, tons of possibilities, extreme deep and complex systems for totally custom layouts and builds.

- Great community, amazing support from fellow players, thousands of tutorials, tips, forums, newsletters, youtube videos, etc etc to help new and advanced players alike further their mayor-cation.

 

SC4 - Cons

- Graphics are dated. With certain mods and some photoshop tweaking of screenshots you can make the game look pretty good, but no matter what the graphics are quite dated.

- No real 3d camera, no WASD movement (without mod)

- Game can be overly tedious (laying out water pipes, power lines, etc)

- Building cities can be rather complicated, a lot of the systems are not very clear and it's easy to get lost on what is going on and what you need to do/build next. Not to mention the damned advisers are annoying as hell.

- Though there is modding, official support for the game is long gone. Since the game is closed source, there are certain things that can and will never be fixed unless the source code is given out or made public.

- Game has some technical limitations, which is due to the fact it was built over a decade ago.

- And, just my opinion, but I really don't care for the interface, I have a hard time finding certain things and it's just clunky feeling.

 

SC2013 Pros

- Better graphics, full 3d support, built in filters and multi core support.

- Still officially supported by Maxis, continual bug fixes and patches at no additional cost.

- Multiplayer support

- Greatworks

- Professions

- Modules for customizing various buildings (though its limited and if you max each building then they all look alike)

- Vastly improved road system (even though the removal of highways and interchanges was an incredibly bad idea, but then again the tiles are so small that you really wouldn't want a full on highway and interchange there taking up space.

- Improved simulation (in some ways, like cars/sims not disappearing, etc).

 

SC2013 Cons

- Small city tiles (biggest complaint by far)

- Very few items to build. There are not many things to actually build, which leads to just about every city looking just the same as the last. However, I am hoping that the xpac will address this... but still we won't get things like seawalls, subways, advanced park structures, more road options, etc.

- Always online (not multiplayer, but always online)

- quite a few bugs, new patches also mean new bugs

-  Expensive game. I spent 60 bucks on the game and purchased all the $10 DLC and I will also pickup the $30 xpac, so I have spent well over a hundred bucks where SC4 I think I spent like 5 bucks... lol

- Slow to fix stuff. Some game breaking bugs were left in game for months, hell a few are still in the game

- Terrible community, just look at the forums, people are terribly upset (and I understand why) but it's a bit daunting to players who just want to play the game.

- And, here is the biggie... The one that takes the cake... it's not as addicted. The game is simply too flat, too systematic, every city looks the same and really there isn't anyways to create utterly amazing and unique content. Which is sad, because the game is so close to being amazing...

 

Anyways I am sure I missed a bunch of things, I am just rambling from the top of my head. Hopefully someone can get some use out of this. Oh, and if I had to choose between the two... I don't know, probably SC4 but it's situational. Sometimes its 4, sometimes its 2013... Depends on what I feel like.

[Rufus Honker IV 100]

Simcity 4 may be superior to Simcity 2013, but Simcity 2013 is the future and Simcity 4 is only updated by user-made mods, so Simcity 2013 for me. 

 

However to imply a person must go either/or is a false dichotomy - meaning (for our curious readers) one or the other must be "good" and "bad".  A person can like both, or choose not to "go there".  A lot of the back-and-forth on these boards is false dichotomy.  (not saying to OP is going that way - just the back and forth I see around.)

[Bipin 3,403]

Sim City 4 no doubt, for the two simple reasons that offline play is not possible in SC2013 and that I cannot feasibly (if at all) add my own, custom content in the form of the 3D models I produce. Models which frankly, are superior to the vanilla game content. I don't just mean my content, but rather the vast majority of the community's. As far as 3D building models go (and that's hardly the extent of the community's modding expertise), our work is miles ahead of the developer-produced items. Custom content allows us to break away from the predetermined cartoony aesthetic, or embrace it even more should a user chose to; custom content is versatile. As such, custom content will keep the game afloat and keep it interesting for many years to come. The phrase "history repeats itself" can be applied to this scenario, for it is evident that many of the most successful and proven games are ones which allow the end user to take the helm; to express their own creativity at the metagame level and break away from an imminently stagnating, finite method of gameplay. I'd be making these very same points had SC4 not allowed for such a plethora of 3rd party customization options.

[JaceTwice 115]

Why? In SC4, you can create a highway interchange like this:

(Credit from MandelSoft)

And this the only highway interchange in SC13:

And the highways in SC4 are draggable, too. But if you think SC13 is better, go ahead! I'm just curious why did you like SC13 more than SC4 despite SC4 having the best mods ever.

 

(Or probably, you are trolling, eh? )

 

Genuine question: Does the the way the highway is built in that sc4 screenshot actually make significant difference to traffic running across it? I've never taken the time to build something like that myself because I find I can't focus on a big project like that in a game if it's just for show and as far as I can tell, the traffic simulator in sc4 is not quite sophisticated enough for an interchange as sprawling and realistic as that to make a big difference in commute times. I could be wrong though.

 

That's one of the main reason I like SC2013 a whole lot. With the way they've build the simulation I get a better sense of what everything I'm putting down is doing. Even if it's not as pretty or diverse as what's possible in sc4.

 

When it comes down to it though I like both a lot, but for different reasons.

[marky1211 1]

Really question?

 

Simcity 5

[r00n83 12]

I like both of them equally and enjoy them a lot. I just can't vote for one of them. It would be unfair to the other. Please add another option for both.

[Genosha 0]

 

...

 I disagree with many of your "7 Deadly sins" you have listed.

First of all, multiplayer is not forced. Its an option. If you wanted to play with other people then join a region the someone else has made. If you don't want to play with anybody, simply put the region on private. That simple.

Hmm, yes. Sounds simple, but the inter-city simulation doesn't work if you control all cities in the region. That's the only flaw about it. You can build a 14 city region on your own, but it will never generate the same worker/tourist flows as a region with 14 cities by 14 owners. The real flaw on the 'forced' multiplayer is that people just leave the region after 2-3hrs of playing, abandoning their plots with no option for the region owners to reset that plot. I hate claiming abandoned cities in regions and finding out the previous owner poluted 50% of the ground and maxed out all bonds. There is no way you can recover from that unless you destruct everything (causing more popultion) and trying to start from 0 without any funds.

 

All the other Sins mentioned by Mr Saturn are caused by (in my opinion) EA and not Maxis.

If Maxis would've been in full control SimCity development would've been way bigger with and more complex with probably more standard options. But EA are greedy dogs wanting to make money out of DLC and expansions. I think the Cities of Tomorrow expanasion should've been a natural result of extended gameplay in one city by gaining high education, tech levels and money.

 

My vote goes for SimCity over SImCity 4.

SimCity 4, just the core game, has a way to high learning curve to start off with. A lot of time is needed to get things going. Unlike Sim City 3000 which was way easier to get started with and buld a succesful city.

[Xenocity 343]

Honestly both have failed to match the quality that was Simcity 3000U

[APSMS 1,893]

Genuine question: Does the the way the highway is built in that sc4 screenshot actually make significant difference to traffic running across it? I've never taken the time to build something like that myself because I find I can't focus on a big project like that in a game if it's just for show and as far as I can tell, the traffic simulator in sc4 is not quite sophisticated enough for an interchange as sprawling and realistic as that to make a big difference in commute times. I could be wrong though.

 

That's one of the main reason I like SC2013 a whole lot. With the way they've build the simulation I get a better sense of what everything I'm putting down is doing. Even if it's not as pretty or diverse as what's possible in sc4.

 

When it comes down to it though I like both a lot, but for different reasons.

While a lot of it is for eye-candy only, the highway is not only fully functional, but will allow for decreased commute times due to the NAM traffic simulator. The RHW has speeds much higher than the road network, which greatly increases it's usage. I've never had as much usage as Haljackey on my highways, but watching his videos gives you an idea of the potential for the network. Thankfully the NAM's policy is functionality first, aesthetics second, so all of the items have to serve some purpose (save for cosmetic pieces, but that's a given).

 

The on-line requirement and the small city tiles (coupled with lack of terraforming) to me mean that potential is limited. In even vanilla SC4 (before I knew Custom content existed--and this was 2010, mind you) I could choose to build a farming village or a giant sprawling metropolis, or a small suburb, and did build all three, though admittedly I wasn't very good at any of them. I think that for a while my biggest city was Big City Tutorial with around 60 000 Sims (and then jumped to 350 000 after I got serious). This was all in vanilla (well, vanilla SC4Deluxe) and I can safely say that I was never bored, though frequently discouraged.

 

Having never played the new game, I can't pronounce an honest judgment, but I will say that I'm not going to hold my breath when it comes to considering lasting playability. I really think that the fact that you can't ensure the longevity of your creations is the single most damning factor yet; hopefully the development of offline functionality can fix this.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Regarding this:

 

This would be a fairer comparison.

 

Ortho:

https://s283.photobucket.com/user/foolilo/media/SimCity%204/Laurent-Feb53501205731502.png.html

 

Diagonal:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/haljackey/5585658836/

 

As these are included in the base game.

[APSMS 1,893]

Those are indeed more accurate comparisons. It should be noted that you can place those wherever you want in the base game of SC4Deluxe, while you're stuck with them in the new game (sans mods)

[Akerbeltz 33]

SC4 without a shadow of a doubt. The reason is simple: SC4 has a much more larger functional scope, more features, more indicators, more management options to take into consideration - even the vanilla version. The functional scope is fundamental as it's the framework the modders work upon. It feels like a proper simulation of a city - for example, you are able to recreate your hometown, to see it develop and change dramatically throught years, you are able to diversify or specialize its industry, to perform civil engineering, to adapt certain living areas to certain age brackets. You can play with a single city for hundreds and hundreds of hours and you'll always have things to do. Is it perfect? No there's a vast margin for improvement as modders have shown. But it feels satisfactory from the point of view of a city simulation.

From my point of view Simcity 2013, on the contrary, is not a city simulator. It feels more like an arcade that tries to pander to the players that don't like to put much attention on things and that look for instant gratification. Everything is pretty limited: not a lot of features, controls or indicators, way too much streamlining (AKA cut features), way too flashy, and cities have a very short lifespan.

In my opinion, glassbox has been a bluff: It fails to provide with a deep simulation (sims don't have a stable job or house and hence it's pointless to monitor them, for example) because from a mainstream perspective we still don't have the technology to work with an agent system that delivers a deep simulation. It had been more realistic, efficient, bug-free and satisfactory to keep on the statistics model and just use agents-models for punctual aspects: trading, to monitor a few sims that the players would select (as in SC4)...

In brief, Simcity 2013, besides being a casualty of the casual, is the consequence of:

- Bad management of the project.

- Bad business practices and this wretched business mentality where products that by its nature should be specialized (simulation, strategy, RPG) are designed to cater to the maximum amount of possible players, resulting in shallow, boring, arcadey experiences.

- Speaking of the latter, we have a very serious systemic problem in the videogame industry. Basically videogaming companies have been turned into investment companies that look for a ROI on the shortest possible time, no matter the means. This industry has been literally kidnapped by indivuals that have no idea of what gaming genres are about and that perform the same shoddy practices that have been carried out in the banking or real-estate areas, to put 2 clear examples. Again, the result are products that are not solid, lack quality and scope and that are consolidied under just one banner: ARCADE (the oldest and more accesible). An absolute regression that only the ignorant or the low-standard ones could tolerate.

 

EDIT: typos