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DS | Simulation | Sim City

Boxart for Sim City
Sim City 14 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 2.50
  • SOUND: 3.00
  • CONTROL: 2.50
  • FUN FACTOR 2.50
  • AVG USER SCORE 3.9
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.2

Review: Sim City

Review by EmaWii | 08/09/2007 | 16:46:55 PM PST

"Statistical evaluation shows this result is: 'Disastrous!'" No, seriously, tell me how you really feel! Servo3000, my trusty advisory robot, is not impressed with the current state of city finances. Though, it's understandable: a deficit of 30,000 does leave something to be desired.

I'm not the best mayor, but luckily, this isn't a peek at my future career as a political hack. No, I'm just screwing around with SimCity DS.

Hm, no one's living in my city. It must be because my power plant was running at full capacity but couldn't serve my new residential block. And any residents left after the tax hike are after me for libraries and fountains, so now I'm on the lam. The game must end soon so I can start with a clean slate.

Sound Familiar?

That's pretty much how Build a City mode goes: pick a slice of land with a starting budget (and consequently, difficulty) and away you go, plotting out those familiar tricolor zones. There's a comprehensive tutorial that can be utilized by newcomers and even veterans alike. Stylus controls take some getting used to, and you'll find yourself frustrated by constant errors due to inadvertent off-center movements when you're placing buildings. The undo button is there for your convenience, but I can't imagine playing this game on a bus.

Well, despite there not being a soul in town, Ayako Tachibana has found me, and is offering to replace my advisory robot. I figure it can't hurt. She then congratulates me for ten years of citiness and launches me into a mini-game I've played before: fireworks. The fireworks are launched onto the screen, and the player must tap and explode them--much like the Santa Clause mini-game which has you tapping him frantically while he zooms by, causing presents rain down. More like an midair mugging, if you ask me.

If you're having too much trouble watching over your own struggling city, you'll feel better knowing that there are plenty of places that have it worse, as proven in the "Save the City" mode. Unfortunately you can't save during this mode, so if you're planning on rescuing Africanus from the aliens or nurse Russeria's transportation system back to health, you'll have to do it all in one go. In fact, the entire game has only one save slot, so don't buy this for a pack of siblings who can't share.

SimCity DS doesn't thrill us enough to recommend it over the PC games. Unless you have really steady hands and are bent on being able to take the game out with you, stick to the desktop versions.


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