I've been playing almost all the Simcity-games. I think SC2013 is a step back. I like the idea that SC is a simulator more than a game. SC4 is a simulator that simulates city expansion. I like SC2013 has resources as oil and coal because a city starts of a reason. I think it is three cities in the world that was founded only of political reason: Washington DC, Brasilia and that strange new capital in Asia. Stockholm, for example, was founded by military and economic reasons. Other towns founded for other reasons - trade, natural resources, ports and so on. My dreams Simcity were a city, founded in the 1700s with the passage of building styles and with constantly changing building styles, and finally we have a city with an old town and newer buildings further out. As cities look like in Europe.
The cities of SC2013 look the same - square and tall buildings all over the city. It contained no major green spaces so therefore it becomes just a great neighborhood in the entire city. For that reason, needed more space to build on. The bigger the better!
If EA is not able to have large cities because the users have to slow computers, it's a big mistake, a bet on the wrong things.