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35 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice try but not good. I prefer Cities XL! It's what SimcitySocieties lacks. , July 14, 2008
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting what EA has done. For the first time that I recall, a expansion pack is not offered on its own and in a separate box. EA would never do this with The SIMS2. In this case, EA either lets you digitally download Simcity Socieities: Destinations or you can buy it in the new Simcity Box. Now granted you would think that The Simcity Box would include all the Simcity games from the original to the present one; Simcity Socieites (along with the expansion). This is not the case. Those people who already own Simcity Societies will have to either digitally download Destinations or buy Th Simcity Box. For those people who don't own Simcity 4000 and its expansion, Rush Hour, this is a great deal. You got to wonder what EA was thinking.
In the Simcity Box you get Simcity Societies, its expansion Destinations, Simcity 4 and its expansion Rush Hour, SimCarnival: SnapCity, and the trial version of Spore creator creator. All for $[...]. As I said before, if you don't own Simcity 4 and Simcity Socieites, this is a great deal. If you do, then it's best that you get the digital download version of Simcity Societies: Destinations on EA's website. Strangely it's $[...] which is a pretty hefty price for a expansion ($[...] less than the Simcity Box). Those who don't trust the digital download will buy this. So people will just pay the extra $[...] and buy the Simcity Box. Still, not a lot of choices given by EA.
In the Simcity Box, the highlight is Simcity Socieities: Destinations which is the first expansion for the new series; Simcity Socieites. Remember that Tilted Mill had thrown out everything that was built from Simcity (the original) to Simcity 4 and its expansion Rush Hour. Very bold move. Unfortunately, Simcity Societies angered a lot of people and Simcity diehards were very ticked off. Casual gamers liked it as well as others. In Destinations, it includes all of the updates (total of 5) that tried to increase the playability and fix the bugs. The overall meaning of Destinations was to create a vacation destinatation. This I thought was very intriguing. It was unique and would certainly help Simcity Societies to try to win back the Simcity Franchise diehards and try something new. Tilted Mill certainly tried something new at the beginning.
In Destinations more scenarios were added (although not many) ranging in difficulty. You were charged to create either a small vacation destination to a huge Las Vegas type of vacation megaplex. If you choose not to play a scenario you can either play in a sandbox mode where you are free to create and have everything unlocked, to a strategy mode where you have to be mindful of your building costs, maintenance, and unhappy sims which can create havoc on both your city and funds. The strategy mode was an update after Simcity Socieites shipped, so if you gave up on Simcity Socieities you missed the update. However it is included on Destinations. As I stated before, all the updates are included within the expansion Destinations. If you don't want to play in strategic mode, you can choose the difficulty, what type of land you want and how it might look (look at the preview screen). Do you want a desert, tropical, tropical coast land area? You also can pick up to three special landmarks that can have an effect on your tourism which also would effect your city coffers. Cha-ching! Cha-ching! Your main task in Destinations is to create a destination worthy that will attract SimVacationers. Will you build a beach resort? Las Vegas type of vacation spot? Will it have casinos? Minigolf? Motels? Shops? Tents for camping grounds? If you have accomodations for your tourists, you must have venues which are split up into adventure, dining, entertainment, gaming, leisure, and worship. Which kind of tourist do you want to attract? Can you satisfy all of them?The expansion adds taxistops, bustops, subways, airports, and seaports. Remember, how are your tourists going to get to your vacation spot? This is an exciting new perspective within Simcity Societies and brings in some much needed new content. Now for the bad:
Frustrating! Unfortunately, none of the bugs were fixed. The different socitiet values can be too much and it's very vague concerning their importance or why there are here in the first place. I've mixed a few including, spiritual, authortarian, and productivity; nothing happened either in a bad or good way. In other words, what's the point? The graphics of the buildings were nice. Yes, they produce that, or help this, but so what. Again what's the point. If I placed a few buildings that put me in the red, then I just added buildings that add value until I was in the green. In City Life, some of the social values couldn't live near each other. The game gets very slow when you build up your city. The graphics are very nice however, when the sims cross the street, they turn into invisible lines and reappear when they reach the other side....very wierd! The manual included within the Simcity Box on Destinations is not good in explaining all the new ideas and added goodies within it. The frustration factor is still present even when you want to create a vacation destination. A tutorial would of been nice for Destinations. There is none. The only tutorial that is present is the one for Simcity Socieites and even that one is very incomplete, vague, and not as helpful as Simcity 4 and Simcty 4: Rush Hour was. I wish that there was a type of helper that can guide you to help you move along and give you pointers. **WHEN YOU START A NEW CITY, IT'S LIKE YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN AND GOOD LUCK, which I think a lot of people will feel when playing this game. In Simcity4 you had the advisors. While they weren't a great help, they had decent advice. It would be nice to create parking lots, parking structures, malls, shopping centers, putting in parking meters (for revenue and the addition of a new character in your city- the always warmly greeted ticket agent---cough cough :-) It would be nice to walk or drive around your city either as a civilian, a police officer, a fireman, a mailman, or a tourist. If you walk around as the mayor, will you be greeted with handshakes or tomatoes? One thing I really miss is what I enjoyed in Simcity 4: Rush Hour concerning building up your transportation network. I would of loved to be able to have an effect on traffic control either directing traffic if there was an accident, power outage, or construction, and/or creating traffic flow using the traffic signals. The one thing I hated in Simcity 4: Rush Hour was how bland the traffic signals were and at times it looked like cars were stopping at a red light while others didn't. Controlling traffic would be an awesome feature. It would be nice to be able to place stop signs, street signs, signs in general, traffic lights (single or multiple), and turn signals. I also miss one-way streets as well as avenues. It would be refreshing to see your police keeping the peace and pulling over cars that are not following the traffic and parking rules. I would be nice to see cars parking, and entering and exiting driveways and parking lots and/or parking on the street. How about the possibility of you being voted out as mayor? Will the city council loose faith in you? Does Parliament give you the boot? Are you being investigated for taking bribes and/or kickbacks? Will the people keep you in office? If you are booted, you can become the new mayor but you have to change your policies and try a different root. If you get booted again, game over! How about a weather and natural disaster engine that is random. Earthquakes, severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes that can hurt and destroy; forcing you to send out the police to keep the peace, fire engines to stop the fires, rescue vehicles to tend to the injured or killed, and then set out to rebuild. I would of loved to have more city policies (Simcity 4 had more).
There were some good things within the new expansion but the game still is frustrating and still needs quite a bit more content and bug fixes. Then, just maybe all will be forgiven. I still haven't given up hope. Sadly, when I play Destinations, I'm not on it that long because it's just too frustrating and not as fun as Simcity 4. I get all happy thinking what kind of destination am I going to create, then it fades.
SnapCity is bad although it might be appealing for kids. Anyone who doesn't have Simcity 4 and Simcity Societies should get this, it's a good value. Simcity Socieites has improved but there is still more room for improvement. If it blended City Life, Simcity 4, and Simcity Societies together, then it could of gotten the seal of approval of most Simcity diehards. I've been playing Simcity since the original, and I still have hope that Tilted Mill will improve it. For now, Simcity Societies is still a letdown. While not as bad when it first was released in November, it still needs some work. Maybe this is practice for Tilted Mill. I would love to see this game go DirectX10 (or the new DX11). I would also love to see a city management game that would blow even the Sims and Civilization franchises away.
Something to look forward to is the upcoming release of Cities XL. I've played the demo and so far it's way better than Simcity Societies and mixes both City Life and SC4k with a multiplayer (hybrid MMORPG) aspect to it. I've preordered it. If amazon doesn't sell it, I'll somehow put a review of it on here. Im posting this because city-building fans should watch Cities XL. It's got some kinks but it has a great tutorial- something ScSocities was missing. It's even more fun that it lol. No, I don't work for the company that makes Cities XL. I'm just saying this to spread the word for people who were disappointed in SimCity Socieities. Something to look forward to :)
Update:
While Cities XL...
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great game collection!, July 28, 2008
A Kid's Review
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
The SimCity Box features:
SimCity 4: The best game in the collection, SimCity 4 is the 4th in a line of city-building simulations (and a TRIAL of Spore Creature Creator) which has amused fans for about a decade (I think). You simply zone resedential, commercial, and industrial zones, Then connect them to bring power, e.t.c. but you also need to balance your budget, gain happiness, and improve your mayor rating!
SimCity 4: Rush Hour Expansion Pack: An expansion pack that adds new roads, highways, ferries, and such. It also adds U-Drive-It, where you can drive, fly, and boat across town! Not much else to say.
SimCity Societies: A different game than SC4, it isn't made by Maxis, but instead Tilted Mills ( The In-game description of the windmill is "Some say this mill is tilted.") Instead of all the stuff in SC4, in it you place buildings individually, don't worry about power lines, or water pipes. As a side effect of the missing features it can become bland and repetitive. It does however add Social Values, which buildings consume or produce.
SimCity Societies Destinations: The (as I write this) newest SimCity game. It allows you to attract tourists to visit your city, introduces new buildings and landmarks, and a couple of other things.
Spore Creature Creator Trial Edition: It is not SimCity but it is also very good. You can add Mouths, Sensory Organs, Limbs, Graspers, Feet, Weapons, and Details. You can then size an morph parts for (almost) Endless possibilities.
THIS IS A TRIAL! It only contains SOME pieces! The Spore Creature Creator is available for U.S. $10.00.
Snap City: I haven't actually downloaded this do to poor reviews, but I hear it is part of The Sims franchise (also by Maxis) that spoofs SimCity and it is also similiar to tetris. By, Beth Smiths Grandson CJ.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SIMply fun and entertaining., January 6, 2009
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Great game for whiling away the hours- and I do mean that literally- I've lost track of time, and stayed up till one in the morning building my cities.
Only complaints are: the problems that come up with water pollution, and the inability (at least, mine) to control the terra-forming tools accurately.
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