SimCity Societies Fun and Interesting

by leora on January 10th, 2008

SimCity Societies

Even though this is a bit off the subject of the Sims and the Sims 2, I thought it would be fun to take a look at one of Maxis’ newest games that’s a big upgrade from one of their oldest. SimCity Societies came out just about two months ago and is the fifth installment of the SimCity series.

In this version, you get unprecedented control to build your city and mold its character by choosing to focus on any mix of six societal characteristics: roductivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority, and knowledge. Each type has its own unique class of buildings, benefits, drawbacks, and costs and many generate "specialty sims" that help regulate or confuse your city.

The graphic detail is absolutely stunning and, once you figure out the details of how each window and control panel works, gameplay is relatively seamless even at high graphic levels. Two drawbacks to mention: 1) The game often slows down when autosaving and its seems to do this about every 3 minutes. 2) Once you’ve built up a really substantial city, it’s a little difficult to maneuver through all the buildings and focus on their individual issues and functions.

Overall, I think this is a great game that’s well worth the $40 or so retail price (on special now at Amazon for $31.99). If you love the Sims and you love strategy-type gaming, you will get hooked on SimCity Societies. Check out the official website here and some of the better screenshots below.

SimCity Societies screenshots