SIMCITY

Here at last, after ten years of waiting, the true heir to the very solid but definitely older Sim City 4.

Simply called SimCity, this reboot of one of the biggest franchises in video game, however, was accessible only to volunteer to test a game session framed at Electronic Arts. Not the kind of exercise that we're really interested in Gamekult so we instead decided to cross the Atlantic virtually to access the game just out of our American friends. Will confirm our impressions of the many hours spent on the game already in the past and deliver a report on the latest from Maxis.

YOU CAN NOT CUT BACK ON FUNDING! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!

The new and is based on his shoulders the hopes but also fears of a community of countless fans addicted to the series since its inception. On paper, the concept has obviously not changed, it is always to propel mayor of a future city and propel (or not) on top of the modern metropolis by exploiting well (or not) the budget we are awarded. If this tradition remains true to its ancient origins, modernity SimCity catches up quickly: it takes just launched already retrieve and install both updates and impose an impossible zap inept tutorial, all for a banner ad presents the range of paid DLC already available for the game class.

We note in passing that the European servers are already online, which makes the output shift between the two sides of the Atlantic even tastier, and accessible to the player who does not want to suffer three-quarters of an hour a queue on U.S. worlds. Yes, SimCity is indeed a game constantly online and it will undoubtedly suffered the same problems (temporary, no doubt) what could experience some Diablo III last year. An odd choice for a game like SimCity, which has historically always been a hobby of solitaire.

Finally happened before the actual game menu, the apprentice mayor must now select a pre-designed area (eight available) in which to settle. Each has a different layout and a free location number (two to six) which to base our future cities. As we are constantly online, here it is possible to choose between creating a private area that can only develop and / or guests of our friends or public list to receive help from players world. Not sure it makes dream ochlophobes generally fans of the genre, but never mind.

View region obviously remember Sim City 4 although important small details can be quickly identified as the motorway network that will decide the division of citizens / resources between certain locations in a region or area "project" that will allow the construction of huge regional buildings. The display of a small list of resources (oil, coal, etc.) can also identify areas of interest for our future fall smelly industrial empire. We remind those who have not followed the development of the game terraforming is not in the program this time and he'll have to settle reliefs present or not in each game area

To built  his city in SimCity is a habit became almost mechanical player for a long time, will pose its first zones without a second thought. Of course, we find the traditional RCI system (for Residence, Commercial and Industry), even if a major change has been made on this side: density areas disappeared and their placement has become completely free. The roads are now decide everything (and also serve for the passage of water, electricity and sewage) and it will install the big avenue dearest to attract wealthy barge installed in our residential areas without no charge. This is obviously a very important but which we eventually adapt fast enough mechanical change. We even appreciate the opportunity to improve roads to low quality or higher versions with a single click, just to turn a potential slum bourgeois neighborhood without having to shave everything.

This ergonomic intelligence also find at all levels, the interface of SimCity is a true work of craftsmanship worthy of praise. It's simple, it never tries to find explanations, simply because we never really need. This example clearly is supplemented by data layers, a wide range of visual overlays that appear directly on the city to better communicate our important data. Level of wealth, pollution, time spent in transit and many other parameters can be seen from a glance with this great system.


LUXURY IS SPACE

In autofire mode, the regular install its energy sources, distributes neighborhoods to promote the value of land for residents and away from polluting industries (thanks to a very clever wind indicator) and very soon .. . walls is key. SimCity cards are small, very small, too small. It's simple, playing quietly and deliberately seek to spread too, as the player is unaccustomed kind of touch the edges after only two or three hours spent in the city. Of course, fill the card is not the end of the game because it is always possible to move vertically (by increasing the density, wealth and so on) once the horizontal expansion is no longer possible but we never felt so claustrophobic to be as fast in Sim City.

These rickety cards combine sadly with no terraforming and each body of water, every mountain will be seen as a tumor that we would like to be able to pull your hands. Similarly, the new road system of the game allows you to create curved and rolled quite nice tracks but we will return soon to Spartan angles to save space. This concern has quickly spot adverse effects on the pace of play since it reached much faster this "ceiling" where you do not do much more than watching our city grow, increase our number of people without too interact with anything.

The second huge problem SimCity, its simply ease. It makes you wonder why the developers have integrated tools for managing the budget so it is possible to completely ignore the financial aspects for hours without ever finishing in the red. Worse, it is even possible to take a loan, two loans, three loans well, and from the outset, without suffering too much in the long term. And if money is finally running out after gargantuan expenses? A small display areas RCI (free, remember) and a few minutes cheetah speed worth all the spoils of the world. Combined together, narrow maps and the simplicity of the game almost give the impression of playing in sandbox mode with infinite money.

This further increases the speed with which it will feel to have finished with a city, especially when you discover the misuse size buildings unlocked in "end game". Shaving neighborhoods to install the latest stage in fashion has always been a painful process but SimCity franchise turns the operation outright amputation. The buildings are huge, our tiny town and the more we advance, the less it seems to have spawned a wave rather than a city neighborhood. As a single card size is available, Maxis tried to correct this huge paradoxically tare literally forcing us to multiply cities ... with more or less success.

The pseudo-interactions with our neighbors (virtual) are also part of the history of the Sim City series SimCity but takes the concept much further than their elders. Fire trucks, police coverage, all kind of services (electricity, waste treatment, etc.), tourists, workers and shopaholics can now be shared in the joy and good humor between interconnected cities. If you play solo exclusively, it will therefore endeavor to generate several cities and seek to specialize a minimum so that each can compensate for the weaknesses of another. The concept of the city that has both residential, commercial and industry in sufficient quantity is almost impossible to keep realistically in SimCity and it will therefore seek to spread in the region.

The process is made a clumsy hair by loading each new city and predefined exchanges that often force us to go back and forth. If you decide to play in a public area, then you can inherit with players around even though the actual interactions are ultimately minimal. Our Korean neighbor has not been consulted when we wanted to buy electricity, the game simply calculated the excess energy produced by the city and we proposed without permission. Not enough to justify a permanent connection, except for the cat and pseudo-wall Facebook each region.


THE PRICE OF SQUARE METER

SimCity - ScreenshotOutre the vital need to not feel cramped, the multiplication of cities is also an opportunity to explore the system specializations SimCity. This will unlock access to special facilities to create monomaniac cities, whether an oil or a capital city casino. The interaction between this type of establishment (s) and their neighbors are often interesting online but would still prefer to create a simple, real big city with industry, commerce and residences. As a Sim City, basically. It was also difficult to understand the claims of expansionism as a narrow game, the concept of modular buildings that can be added to take advantage of bonus appendices, it would have been a much better idea if installing a hospital did not ask us already sauté 5% of the "city" with dynamite.

It is a pity that there is lots of good ideas in this system, which allows for example to create a specialized police base in hunting criminal or rather pre-emptive fight against emerging. The same goes for the overall market, which allows you to export / import raw materials sold by other players through virtual finance, but also asked the foundation gigantissimes buildings. Regional "major projects" which were obviously intended to justify the interaction between online players seem to leave everything in against the indifferent world at the moment. Yes, the fans wanted to work on their city, before anything else.

Not bad at all to play SimCity is still very fast routine due to a ceiling (and walls) with gameplay too fast. The simulation presented by the new GlassBox engine is impressive (just play with the traffic to see) but it has only rarely feel interact with what's happening on the screen. The developers have indeed tried to break the torpor by forcing us to face the disasters (which are now impossible to turn off), but we can not say that having to clean debris motivates us more than that. Especially when it's our big sprawling building full of a variety of modules overpriced just flying up in smoke. The game is definitely entertaining and the potential is there but everything is so narrow that it flew and never feels too involved in this world appearance model sanitized.

Also suffers from a string of technical problems that go well beyond simple queues and risk the wrath of his impatient. If a power internet connection is not immediately mean the end of the game, the slightest hiccup, bug or crash your Origin Client cause closing the game without any negotiation. Even funnier, synchronization problems will sometimes tell you that your city does not correspond to the automatically saved on the server version of Electronic Arts and an older version will be loaded in crushing all your progress along the way. There by cons, you have a choice, you can also decide to abandon our city forever. Chic. The lack of backup / disaster cumulative loading manuals and risky investments generated by the inability to manage the rotation of buildings will also cause great moments of joy and happiness among the fans.

There is also the usual syndrome Maxis games, which often become increasingly heavy, slow and long to load over hours of play particularly annoying in a way where they must undergo systematic loading screens each time from one city to another. Some relatively minor glitches but still elegant acting as much on this very sad olives pizza. And all this for only ten dollars more than the price of a normal game, that you ask ?