Sim City 5 announcement leaked!!!!

[Nexis4Jersey]

Looks very toyish , my hopes are going down everytime they post a picture...

[TWAK]

all they really need to do is just create almost the same exact game as SC4 (with the community add-ons) with a new graphix update.

[verttoit]

I used to be a massive Sim City fan until they stopped making games until now hah.
I much prefer Cities XL but I will give this game one more chance to prove itself!

[nito]

Maxis appears to have made several significant steps forwards in terms of a more immersive simulation. Yet there are several major issues that hold the entire experience back, primarily the limited size of maps which are the smallest ever (equivalent to a small city tile in SC4). Two additional problems are the absence of subways, and non-editable voids between cities.

Just as disconcerting is that during the beta, people were effectively maxing their cities out within an hour of gameplay with tons of money in the bank.

[architect1]

Yes I agree with everything you said as well. I thought it would be a lot more impressive then SimCity 4 but it looks like they stepped back and focused more on customizing the buildings and being more into the Sims. Also the graphic did do a nose dive.

I also wanted a huge metro and be able to merge neighboring areas to make and even larger city. I also noticed they didn’t have Highways just massive avenues, and from what I can see no mono rails and other city needs. But looks like they added a LRT to avenues.

[Nexis4Jersey]

They have a Sim City store like they have with other EA Games , so you will have purchase things like you had in Previous Sim cities like Building sets and more Transportation. It also eats up your Internet bandwidth according to some beta testers so if you have a monthly cap , your going to be in trouble.

[babybackribs2314]

I am so sad about this. I've been a Simcity fan since I started playing Simcity 2K as a 7 year old. Such an amazing game up through Simcity 4, then everything went to hell.

I had high hopes for Simcity 5 as it looked like it was going back to the roots of Simcity, but that is clearly not the case. It was not designed as a game that is supposed to be engaging for the user in the long term; instead it has been 'Simified,' and will surely feature countless expansions and tons of (costly) downloadable content. EA does not care about the player or the Simcity fanbase, and the Maxis of yesteryear is dead and gone.

It's horrible to see such an amazing franchise get run into the ground. Simcity 2013 looks incredibly dumbed-down, and I can't believe that a single-player game can only be run if you have an internet connection. Part of the fun in Simcity is having access to the game on your computer when you're in some random ass place (like an airplane) with nothing else to do. $$$$$$$$$$$$ ruined this franchise.

My only remaining hope is a game that rises from the ashes of Simtropolis. I don't see how the Simcity community can continue much longer, as Simcity 4 is now a decade old and there is no true successor. Simcity4 has had incredible staying power, so I guess it could continue... but we're getting to the point where crowd-funding could enable the Simtropolis community to forge a legitimate successor to the series, IMO.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Looks very toyish , my hopes are going down everytime they post a picture...

This pretty much confirms my expectations when the first images were released. Not that I'm saying "Told You So!" Really I wish I was proven wrong. I wonder if it's graphics limitation in a full 3d experience as opposed to an artistic problem. Looking close, you can see some of the more detailed elements appear as compressed raster textures...Much like the blur you see when zooming into google earth. However, simpler geometries like rooflines, columns, walls etc appear to have crisp rendition.

I think there needs to be more disciplined modularization of buildings. For example, a 2x2 building from the older series might be further subdivided as a 6x6. Buildings could multiply architectural "bays" instead of being these rigid standalone objects with setbacks on all side. There would also be a preloaded architectural catalogue of plug and play elements that would allow buildings to randomize facade characteristics.

So for example.... maybe you have 30 commercial skyscraper base files that are of different styles: classical, art deco, modern, pomo, etc. Say the game already loaded a 40 story glass and black metal modernist skyscraper. Maybe next time around, the black panel will be swapped out for red granite. Same could be done for rowhouses, or suburban neighborhood ranches... you name it.

I think EA or Maxis seem to invest alot of effort into experience, when alot of the loyal gameplayers simply like the art and aesthetics behind city building. There needs to be more focus on the architectural side. EA and Maxis should know better...after all several websites with thousands of modelers extended SC4's shelf life for nearly a decade.

That said, I hope there's the ability to add and create your own buildings, though I won't hold my breath.

[vid]

I think it's going to flop within months. If people were maxing out the game within an hour when they didn't even have all the features available to them, there is no way this will hold their attention for a long period of time.

[BoiseAirport]

And sadly if/when it flops, I'm sure game development companies will call it a signal that there's no market for city-building games.

[nito]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

They have a Sim City store like they have with other EA Games , so you will have purchase things like you had in Previous Sim cities like Building sets and more Transportation.

I think that is the major downfall of downloadable content; the perception that most developers/publishers simply cut a portion of the game out, and then sell it on top of the retail purchase price, rather than generating new additional content. You can't even build one-way roads.

I just can't get my head around how anyone thought it was smart to ditch subways, which form the backbone of many high-density cities across the globe. Might as well rename the game Sim Houston.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by nito

I think that is the major downfall of downloadable content; the perception that most developers/publishers simply cut a portion of the game out, and then sell it on top of the retail purchase price, rather than generating new additional content. You can't even build one-way roads.

And to top it off, the retail price is MORE expensive than the traditional PC game. Usually when you have games set up for microtransactions the cost to play the base game is free or minimal.

I was really excited when they first announced the game. Now I have no plans on even buying it unless the simcity community supports it, and so far that doesn't look likely.

[Rizzo]

I received Beta very early Sat morning. Unfortunately, I've been out doing stuff. Just built one city. I'll post pictures. now that I got back, I think i'll just stay up most of the night and play. I've sort of accepted the cartoonish look. I mean it's very enjoyable gameplay.

Kid you not, I went to Best Buy and bought the cheapest laptop they had just so I could play since I only have a Mac at home. It surprisingly runs very fast though despite that I maxed out all the graphics....and that's on a $360 laptop. The game wasn't all that demanding on processor power, memory or even the graphics card and the fans were pretty much silent the whole time. So I guess anyone will be able to play this with a decent computer purchased after 2007. Haven't tried running it on my Mac via Fusion but it seems like a lot of work and I don't feel like doing that. At least not during a 24 hour beta period. But it seems like there's very little differences in performance regardless of what computer you have.

One thing i'm struggling with right now is deciding how big to make my city blocks. I keep trying to plan things out way ahead of time. When you start out a small city, large city blocks with tiny houses in that economical. but they make complete sense when the city gets bigger and you want large stuff to fill in and look realistic. I suppose you gotta accept that there must be some level of demolition involved as you grow.

[vid]

You have to start off with a 6 lane divided avenue or your city won't be able to grow much. I eventually got up to 10,000 people with a handful of multi-storey buildings.

It was fun but not as realistic as SimCity4, and enhanced realism is what I wanted to see.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by vid

You have to start off with a 6 lane divided avenue or your city won't be able to grow much. I eventually got up to 10,000 people with a handful of multi-storey buildings.

It was fun but not as realistic as SimCity4, and enhanced realism is what I wanted to see.

Actually, I was able to pull off towers along the divided ave. You just have to hit the ground running when that hour long clock starts and build and zone aggressively. I made a huge industrial district to inflate residential demand, then wiped it out simultaneously while placing commercial zones and parks / plazas.

[Rizzo]

Here's a few screenshots of my cities. I had a busy weekend so I couldn't give the game my full attention, but here's what I managed to pull off in the brief hour intervals.




















Here was my 3rd city I created. I didn't quite come out the way I wanted, but there was some pleasant surprises. In the end, it population was booming, and the city was very profitable. Plunk down more parks and plazas, and it would have resulted in a boom.

[Derek]

I think I can safely say I won't be getting this one.

[Rizzo]

Hopefully you weren't judging on my shoddy city building skills in this game. I was pessimistic earlier in this thread and I still think the graphics could use major improvement but the gameplay experience was beautiful and fluid.

[Derek]

Don't worry, it has nothing to do with your city in particular....

[vid]

This beta was apparently a low-graphics version, so the clarity of the graphics will be improved on the final released.

It's fun to play but it's not realistic. If the city tiles in the actual released games are bigger I might consider it, though. It's definitely more fun than SimCity4, but not as detailed. It's more for a recreational player than a dedicated one.

The way the city is just kind of an offshoot from an interstate really bothers me.