SimCity Franchise Retrospective

[masochist 111]

Some shameless self-promotion here, but I recently wrote an article featured on a website called [Media Snobs] detailing my history with the SimCity franchise, from the wonder of discovering SimCity 2000 to my feelings on the latest iteration of the franchise, SimCity (2013) (I also name-drop Simtropolis, so I thought it only fair to promote it here ).  Check it out if you are so inclined!

[Vitoraju 675]

Our thought I was the only one, I'm really sad because I do not know anyone personally who likes to SimCity 4, and whenever I show it to someone else, usually she speaks the graphics are bads and the camera will not be in 3D. 

I met first and then SimCity 3000 SimCity 4 in 2012, I played in a lan house every day, until in March 2013 launched the SimCity 2013 I was created much anticipation about it, but I ended up not liking due to small maps broken simulation onlinne be totally without terraforming and etc.. 

Nowadays I play SimCity 4 for many hours, I'm usually pretty seeing the vehicles walking the streets, Sims walking and life that exists within the game.

[Xenocity 343]

Our thought I was the only one, I'm really sad because I do not know anyone personally who likes to SimCity 4, and whenever I show it to someone else, usually she speaks the graphics are bads and the camera will not be in 3D. 

I met first and then SimCity 3000 SimCity 4 in 2012, I played in a lan house every day, until in March 2013 launched the SimCity 2013 I was created much anticipation about it, but I ended up not liking due to small maps broken simulation onlinne be totally without terraforming and etc.. 

Nowadays I play SimCity 4 for many hours, I'm usually pretty seeing the vehicles walking the streets, Sims walking and life that exists within the game.

 

Well to be fair vast majority of those who bought Simcity 4 were turned off by all the peformance issues at launch including the pathfinding that caused massive zone abandonment.

Rush Hour also tanked in sales, thus a large portion of people didn't get the patches included with Rush Hour.

 

My step cousin told me when he was over on Thanksgiving, He has never touched another Simcity after Simcity 4 at launch due to all the issues he experienced. He  vowed never to support Maxis after that.

(this is coming from a computer engineer).

 

 

My first memory with Simcity was the Nintendo co-developed version of Simcity on SNES.

I still play it to this day.

I was captivated and annoyed by Dr. Wright always getting on my case.

I also remember "Brownouts build another powerplant!" message wondering when and where they were going to build said powerplant (I was young at the time).

Then I played the PC version shortly afterward wondering where the special buildings were...

 

Simcity 2000 blew my mind when I powered it up on My Sega Saturn.

I went crazy when 2050 came and my city turned futuristic.

I loved the futuristic cities.

Oh the moment when the arcos blasted off and the cutscene played...!

Sadly I was never able to balance the budget.

Also DAMN the city council to hell always passing ordinances, costing me money.

Oh I played the PC version at my cousins and realized my Saturn version was vastly superior.

 

 

Simcity 3000 I had to convince my grandmother to buy it for my cousin and I.

We had to wait all day for my uncle's internet connection to download the updated drives to play the game.

Then next year Simcity 3000U came out and I was furious.

Though I bought it ad enjoyed.

It was the only Simcity I played that didn't have any glitches.

 

Simcity 4....

I bought the Deluxe version in late 2003 on sale for Christmas.

I installed it, then experienced crash after crash.

I bought a new computer the following year with my HS graduation money, and it played a tad better.

Now in 2013 and numerous mods later the game finally is playable for the most part.

My one city still has 1/4th of the city being infected with disease despite having 6 hospitals in that area.

Yet the Sims will not visit any of the hospitals.

 

Simcity 2013....

After 9 patches and 1 EP, I am enjoying the game.

Granted it still needs some fixing, especially the commuting students.

I will easily pass 400hrs+ with this game.

  Edited January 19, 2014 by Cyclone Boom  

[NCGAIO 562]

Well to be fair vast majority of those who bought Simcity 4 were turned off by all the peformance issues at launch including the pathfinding that caused massive zone abandonment.

Rush Hour also tanked in sales, thus a large portion of people didn't get the patches included with Rush Hour.....

Hundreds of fans pages spread across all continents and hundreds of thousands of hours of development to provide customized content to the game certainly does not support that conclusion.

But anyway when someone like Frank Gibeau of E.A. recognizes that a loyal fan base was essential to selling the new Simcity despite the problems then others opinions become irrelevant.

  Edited January 19, 2014 by Cyclone Boom  

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

A small reminder:

 

The intention of this thread was to look back at past games in the SimCity franchise. This doesn't mean it should be a comparison of sales or which game is superior.

Anything based on personal opinion is subjective. Please keep this in mind when discussing the opinions shared in the posted article.

 

Off-topic posts have been edited or removed. Also moved to City-Building Games.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I've retailed my history within this realm many a time. The first game I ever knew of was Simcity3000 which I saw at a shop for sale back in 2000? but I couldn't afford it. Then in 2003 I discovered Simcity 2000. I bought Simcity 4 in 2004 and Rush Hour in 2005. I bought SC2013 last year and hated it. I've played 4 most out of all of them. SC2000 was probably the one I most enjoyed but the limitations became too much. I filled city tiles so quickly...

 

I never had any problem balancing city budgets and tended to have happy populations, well serviced, and aesthetically pleasing cities of a profitable nature.

[GrayAnderson 6]

My first SimCity game was the original, which I first played when I was about four.  I got most of the later Maxis games around their times of release (up through The Sims, at least) with the exception of SimAnt (never interested me), SimEarth (got well after release), SimLife (ibid.), SimHealth (have never found a copy), A-Train (got well after release and never managed to get a good feel for) and maybe one other out there.

 

By the way, this thread has led to me either repurchasing or digging out all of the older games I have.