Humble is hopeful that the appeal to new SimCity players won’t turn off the enthusiastic hardcore audience, many of whom have been dubious about the game ever since the new direction was announced. They are optimistic that the game will maintain the series’ complexity without being complicated.
The interface is clearly inspired by its parent companies. The large icons at the bottom are reminiscent of The Sims, and the easy-click city overlays drawn from Caesar IV. You can follow your citizens around their work day, just like in Tilted Mill’s earlier games, but they have a glowing Sims diamond on their head to reflect their mood. Many of the six societal values (Productivity, Prosperity, Creativity, Spirituality, Authority and Knowledge) have rough analogs in the Sims series, only now they apply to buildings instead of people.
In the hands-on time, building a balanced city proves very easy. As you reach landmark ratings in specific values, new buildings are unlocked. Larger condos, new education facilities and less filthy power plants become available (there are hundreds of building types) opening new possibilities for your city design. Once you get subways, traffic becomes easier to manage. Nuclear plants make all that pollution a thing of the past. The challenge of freeform play seems to be limited to using the available space and getting over early financial crunches.
Much of the challenge of Societies, according to Bernstein, will be rooted in designing a specific kind of city. If you want to make a rural hamlet that looks authentic you will encounter issues that the freeform player will not. A clown college might solve Mayberry’s need for amusement, but it would ruin the look of the place. Or, if you want to build that Spiritual paradise, you will need to find ways to keep the money rolling in as everyone goes off to pray.
Finding the building you need is, at this point, a challenge. The filters will need to be streamlined a bit, and still must deal with all the information thrown at you. What value is produced? What value is consumed? How many people can it manage? Any special problems you need to aware of? The icons are perfectly clear but a better sorting tool would be appreciated.
Your cities will give you visual cues about the direction your city is moving in, from security cameras in Authority conscious towns to candy cane lanes if you push hard in the Creativity direction. These tend to only appear at the extremes, though, so, in typical SimCity fashion, you will mostly rely on charts and graphs that track happiness, crime and people playing hooky from work.
At this stage, there are no firm commitments to scenarios. Clearly eager to emphasize the player directed experience, the mission to mission nature of Tilted Mill’s earlier titles has been set aside for the time being. The sandbox style of play in Societies, like the original Sims, will mean that players will have to find their own reasons to keep going. Cities have no “aspirations” and your citizens can be pacified with a wide range of venues. This wide open design should appeal to those gamers who like to tell stories about their creations. Without set objectives or a campaign system, the ease of freeform play might make it harder for those with less focus on personalized objectives.
