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SimCity Societies (PC DVD) | 
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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: £34.99
Buy New: £4.95
You Save: £30.04 (86%)
New (15) Used (9) from £4.00
Rating:  53 reviews
Platform: Windows Xp
Genre: life-simulation-games
Rating: Universal, particularly children
Media: Video Game
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5030930058814
Release Date: November 16, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Back when designer Will Wright started making games it was SimCity which was his first big success, helping to define the concept of god games and social simulators. Over the years though the series got ever more complicated and less appealing, so that when The Sims was released in 2000 it put the old city simulators completely in its shadow. Now though the whole SimCity concept has been rethought to the point where this isn't really a sequel to SimCity 4 at all but a whole new game somewhere between the original and The Sims. There's no zoning of industrial, commercial or residential areas in this game but instead you can just plonk down any building down wherever you want. In this sense the zoning concept is turned inside out with the buildings themselves casting an influence on those nearby, with various kinds of "energy". There's wealth energy which radiates from industrial buildings, devotional energy from farms and churches, obedience energy from government buildings and so on. As odd as the idea may sound it allows cities to be built up much more quickly and with a far greater level of control over the citizens that inhabit them. Whereas before it was a real effort just to get a small town working now you can raise giant dystopian towers wherever you want and see the population reduced to an Orwellian nightmare - or opt for a more pastoral layout and watch everyone skipping around the haystacks. The import thing is it makes SimCity, and social engineering, fun again.
Harrison Dent
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 A Step in the Right Direction November 17, 2008
R. R. Patel (Netherlands)
As much as I have enjoyed all incarnations of Sim City, I've always dreamed of a game that incorporated personality and culture into the cities I was creating. Sim City Societies is a somewhat failed attempt at doing so, but at least its a step in the right direction which I hope they pursue more effectively in the future. In a sense, it does achieve its goals. Being able to place individual buildings, limiting the number of sims, and visual effects like weather in particular (with buildings lighting up at night, etc.) does warm my cockles nicely. Certainly I can think of a million ways off the top of my head of how they could have approached it better, but I applaud Tilted Mill for attempting to produce a game far off the beaten track into the realm of the unquantifiable and therefore impossible to program - personality, feeling, whatever you want to call it. The important thing is, concerning the game itself, is that I can play it consistently for a long span of time and feel good doing so. Although I won't play it for days on end, it (patched up of course!) is certainly worth a a sizeable chunk of playing time and gives its fair share of feelgood memories in the process. I just hope the corporates aren't scared of producing games like this in the future given the negative response to the game from those that prefer the more technical Sim City and not in search of the more abstract and emotional side of the human existence (yes, somewhat mystic there, but you see what I'm getting at... I hope)
billiant! October 13, 2008
W. gooch (norwich)
i have played all the sim city games, and have enjoyed all of them but this one is by far the best for me. Ok so it is easy but you get to play and build what you want, there are no "empty" zones and i think it is a really fun game.
 Bring back Maxis! August 11, 2008
Mr. W. J. Vallance (Sheffield, SY UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Why I think SCS is good:
- The graphics have been improved significantly since SC4; the detail is much higher, overall visuals seem more dynamic.
- Um...that's it
Why I think SCS is bad:
- Because they've made it fully 3D, you can't zoom out that much, and you can't pan much vertically either, making gameplay feel restrictive. The new viewing technique means that you can no longer build cities any where near as big as you could in SC4, and if you could it would take days. Populations of big cities is no longer in the millions, it's in the hundreds.
- The entire interface is patronising and goofy; every building has ridiculous icons hovering above them, and they secrete strange glowing trails from the roofs (I still don't know why)
- The developers go on about housing, workplaces and venues, because that's all there is to the game. Despite this, no matter what 'society' you choose, it's always soviet communist style, because all housing is free and you take every penny your sims make.
- Kiss goodbye to utilities, just plonk a powerstation down and wave your worries goodbye.
- You can place 'slum' housing in your city, which only increases fire hazard, disease, illness, crime and corruption. Given the choice?
- I don't know what engine they used, but my computer runs Crysis ten times better than SCS.
- There a lots of different buildings in the game, but having to place them individually makes the city look akward and unrealistic.
- There are now only two kinds of street, and they're stupidly wide and difficult to lay.
- The energies. . The buildings emit and/or consume different types of 'enrgy'. These include artistic (why?), knowledge, obedience... And no matter how wealthy you are, your infrastructure won't operate unless you gather points for the different types of energy.
The only good news is that Maxis win the concelation prize: They get to see how awful the game becomes when EA choose someone else to do the job.
BRING BACK MAXIS!!!
Failure! July 17, 2008
Aj (Basingstoke, U.K)
After the amzazing simcity 3000 came simcity 4 which was quite a mess really. So after that i thought this game would be top but actually it was a complete failure! I started playing and within an hour i was bored the gameplay is quite complicated and the range of buildings is very limited! Do not buy this game! I think the simcity enterprise is now dead. If you want a good city builder game try city life 2008!
 A great game in its own rigth June 27, 2008
K. Owston (UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are interseted in this game dont buy it if you are hoping for sim city 5 as while this is similar in concept its not that game. This is a very enjoyable and addictive game in its own rigth.
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