SimCity - 2013

Overview

SimCity is a total reboot of the franchise and goes back to its roots as a true city-building simulator. There are several new gameplay elements, such as finite resources and upgradeable buildings, and Maxis promises to simulate everything you see, from the individual cars on the road to citizens facing everyday challenges.

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 28 expert reviews

Excellent:

5
Good:

5
Average:

4
Bad:

14

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Last revision on April 22, 2020

Reviewers Liked

Immersive graphics
Everything is connected
Incredibly rewarding experience
Complex systems that are easy to understand and navigate
Default co-op
Looks great
Easier City Building
Side Quests Add Some Challenge
Always On Means Loads Of Future DLC
Eats Hours Of Your Day

Reviewers Didn't Like

Always connected
Building grid feels a bit too small
Sandbox mode is fun, but lacks more tools to really take advantage of the term
Server Outages And Load Issues Mean No Playing
EA Is In Charge Of It
Eats Hours Of Your Day
Limited expansion options

Expert reviews and ratings

Before talking performance I wanted to quickly give my own impression of the game, since it is rare that I put in as much time into playing a game that we test as I did with SimCity. Obviously the lack of an offline mode is the game’s biggest shortcom...

By TechSpot on March 19, 2013

To many fans of the original city building simulation series, the idea of an online multiplayer game that required even solo players to be connected to the internet at all times seemed like a recipe for disaster. Maxis' latest creation is easily the...

By TechSpot on March 08, 2013

User interface issues aside, SimCity is a lightweight, accessible simulation for the kind of new audiences franchise reboots usually target.

By MacLife on September 05, 2013

Chances are you’re already well aware of the kerfuffle - the disaster, to be blunt - that has surrounded the release of Sim City. It has been one of the hingest-profile disasters in gaming, really, and one that has left EA smarting. The company has...

By Strategy Informer on March 26, 2013

Irrespective of whether you have played earlier installments of the franchise, if you love simulations or are a fan of building or want to unleash your creativity after watching all those trailers, gameplays and in-game images, this is just for you. A...

By TechTree on March 23, 2013

100

Solo play and sprawling cities and are so 2003, as you'll need social skills and more focused designs to prosper in this excellent update...

By Expert Reviews on March 21, 2013

With the largest of all elephants demanding our attention, let's get it dealt with up front: SimCity's launch has been nothing short of a shambles from both a technical and PR perspective, and it'd be disingenuous to suggest that hasn't coloured the...

By avforums.com on March 20, 2013

Name: Genre: Platform: SimCity is great. SimCity is bad. SimCity is intelligent. SimCity is dumb. SimCity is social. SimCity is antisocial. SimCity is all of these things at once because SimCity is broken. I can't think of any game recently that's...

By Tech Digest on March 18, 2013

Readers beware: This review doesn’t have a happy ending. We acknowledge that the SimCity franchise is much-beloved by many gamers (including this reviewer), however the score and summary of the game has to be given to the game as it was experienced,...

By NZGamer on March 18, 2013

I kept having fun, I kept trying new things and I kept convincing myself that I was a good Mayor. Now I know that it was never really down to me - because in the city of Jefferson, as in all the cities in the game, only madness rules.

By EuroGamer on March 15, 2013

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