Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Loads of fun!, June 28, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
For all of us who have always wanted the ability to build a sprawling metropolis on a handheld gaming system (yeah, I didn't realize I wanted to either!) comes SimCity DS. This game is more or less a port of SimCity 3000 for the PC, so fans of that game will feel right at home with the DS version. While the game experiences some limitations it is, overall, incredibly fun and engaging.
Audience: Obviously Sim fans will enjoy having this game available on the go. But Sim City DS offers something for even the casual or non-gamer--the game is not that difficult to learn to play and successful gameplay relies more on good management and sense than on mastering some complicated control scheme.
Graphics: The graphics aren't great, but they're much more clear than I thought they'd be on such a small screen. There are just natural limitations in trying to fit a whole city, or even parts of it, onto a puny screen. So while it's difficult sometimes to see exactly what you're looking at/for, the graphics are as good as can be reasonably expected.
Gameplay: Build a City mode is the main game mode here, but you can also unlock a "Save the City" mode where you complete some scenario involving rebuilding or otherwise rescuing a distressed city in a certain amount of time. There are also several excellent tutorials and an advisor who, although he or she might annoy you to no end, can aid you in your city building endeavors.
Control: Building is done with the stylus on the touch screen. Again, size constraints are the biggest issue here since you'll sometimes want to build a road or something in an area larger than the screen.
Challenge: Several levels of difficulty, from a city with little water where you start with $100,000 to an island where you get only $10k to start.
This game is insanely fun. I've always loved the SimCity games and being able to play one on my DS was like a dream come true. And despite the game's shortcomings I'd definitely recommend the game for the city building experience alone. The good and the bad:
PROS:
-incredibly fun and engaging
-lots of unlockables and secrets to find
-great tutorials
-great, intuitive controls with an 'undo' type feature for the inevitable misplaced structure
CONS:
-you can only save one city at a time (the biggest flaw in my opinion--would be a dealbreaker for me except this game is so darned fun regardless).
-your city advisor can get incredibly annoying and you may feel like firing her after she chides you for not building a 6th zoo in your city of 25,000 people to please the local promqueen.
-no terrain editor or even a way to mildly alter terrain
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As Much Fun As The Original, June 22, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
If you're a Sim City fanatic, or a simulation game junkie in general, you'll love building a city and watching it grow in Sim City DS.
Similar to the original you start off with funds enough to zone some land and watch citizens begin to move in. All the classic favorites are here. You have to put up a power plant, get electricity to the masses, build roads, put up police and fire stations, and keep track of the wants and needs of your Sim citizens to watch your city prosper. The controls for the game were easy to use thanks to the DS touch pad. Before playing I was concerned the building areas would be too small or hard to use but EA has managed to make them just the right size for the DS.
To help you along in the game, or for those new to Sim City, there are a plentiful amount of tutorials which go through the mechanics of building a city as well as the mechanics of the DS version itself. I found the tutorials to be incredibly informative, even as a long time Sim City player. They helped me learn the controls of the DS version as well as refresh my memory on the specifics of city building. The only downside to these were that it took quite a while to get through them all. Once complete though you feel ready to handle anything your city might throw your way. You can jump right into building your own empire and know exactly how to work the game to its fullest. The adviser you choose to help you in the tutorials continues on with you to help advise you during city building as well. Sim City DS includes a choice of advisers who have a variety of specialties (like environmental background, etc) which also adds a new twist to the game.
Besides regular city building this DS version also includes some mission modes, where you run around the Sim City streets chasing bad guys or saving Sim citizens from danger. So if you're looking for a little action along with your city building, Sim City DS has it.
My one disappointment with this game is lack of WiFi. It would be nice to be able to connect to others and share content. Sim City DS does include a mode to connect with other DS users but it's the kind where they must be near you, and in order to do this you have to unlock the mode first. Still, the original Sim City had no online sharing aspects and it doesn't really make Sim City DS feel lacking, it would have just been a nice addition but doesn't really detract from the game.
The graphics are beautiful, the game play is the same (which for Sim City fans is a good thing!), the addition of missions gives you some action to switch to if you want some variety. This game is a definite must have for all the simulation game lovers out there!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
J MON$Y, June 23, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I just bought this game and it is excellent. Takes me back to my childhood of playing simcity on my old pc. The touch screen controls are great and the advisors add a new element to the game. This game is extremely addictive and made my fiance wonder if she was ever going to get her ds back.Simcity ds is also more challenging than the previous installments, which is good for those of us who are experienced players. If you are a beginner you can just change the settings to easy and work your way up. If you are a fan of any type of simulator style games, this is a must have for you.
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