SimCity Critic Reviews

A fantastic city simulation that meets all expectations. So perfectly balanced it makes it easy to pick up and enjoy, but proves to be very difficult to master. Funny, addictive and with great options for both co-operative and competitive online play - Sim City is a clear candidate for Game of the Year.

A near-perfect fusion of the classic simulation game with modern social and online play elements. It is in every way the fully realized evolution of the franchise and a much welcome iteration, perfectly engineered to dispense the maximum amount of fun in the most efficient way possible.

What SimCity offers is so much potential for so much expanded and persistent gameplay that its mindboggling. All I can actively offer you is what the game offers you upon firing up, and in that sense it’s a fricking addictive affair.

It’s a joy to see SimCity return in a better form than it has ever been. It is wonderfully complex, but very easy to play. The title is a massive undertaking and it has come together beautifully overall.

EA has listened to the community, improved, brought back what was good, improved again and made the most marvelous city creator you could ever imagine.

We've chosen to rate the game, not the service so far, and this new SimCity is a pure joy to play, a different but worthy re-imagination of the franchise.

SimCity is a fun and addictive game that offers an intuitive simulation interface that will help you create thriving cities that can interact and trade between each other. Even though it's launch was smeared due to server overload, once you start creating, you won't be able to stop.

The world’s biggest simulation franchise is back with a vengeance. We’ve all grown up playing SimCity, and it’s finally time to get back to living the life of a virtual city planner. Whether you play the game alone or with friends, SimCity proves to be a great deal of fun.

The new SimCity is a rich and fun computer video game, definitely a must-have, already on the list for best PC game of 2013: it's good, however, but it's not a massive game or a title with the fundamental component online, despite the need to be constantly connected to the network.

Controversy and technical issues aside, SimCity is deep, full of details and very accessible. No matter if you like this kind of game or not, we think it deserves a try.

Obviously SimCity is far from perfect and we have concerns about its small scope, but it's still an addictive and enhanced experience.

If the servers worked all the time and we could play offline then this game would easily score 9.5, but that elephant is huge and a problem.

SimCity is a game you can lose yourself in for hours at a time. It's a game where you can keep digging deeper and deeper in underlying systems and play a plethora of different ways. Mostly though, SimCity is a game where you can allow your creativity and organizational skills to work in tandem, just the way you wish.

Sim City engulfs you right from the outset, and everything is so intuitively designed that you're never in doubt of what needs doing, and what possibilities are available to you. It's a very ambitious game - although we'd wish that Maxis had set their sights just a little bit higher and made the playing field a little bit bigger, as there's a small tinge of unfulfilled potential. The rest is excellent, though, and Sim City stands as an incredibly well-designed and beautifully presented joy.

If you have a good look at it, you can see as many reasons to like this new SimCity as to hate it. The required connection offers plenty of possibilities but it is a pain in the ass to lonely mayors. The HUD is elegant and subtle but hides some curious flaws. Finition seems perfect, but several bugs will come to spoil your gaming experience. Anyway, SimCity will make you play again and again, and that's quite a good point.

Maxis set out to create a real living world for players to tinker with. At that, they’ve succeeded. Well, they’ve succeeded whenever the game actually works.

Aside from some issues with its online requirements, bugs, and restrictions on city size, it's still a satisfying and addicting simulator that will grant dozens of hours of entertainment with one well-designed city alone. It's best played with friends, but there's still plenty of fun in store for those who go it alone, and the work Maxis has done here proves that the beloved franchise can still hold its own in a gaming world vastly different from its first appearance in 1989.

Initially some of the decisions surrounding SimCity’s mechanics may seem frustrating, especially for diehard fans of the series, but give it time and you’ll realise – in spite of all of this – this is actually the best SimCity game yet.

Despite its tremendous launch, day one DLCs, and always online mode SimCity is still a really good game with some new interesting feature.

While it still needs more content and depth, SimCity is a fresh and exciting new start for the series.