 Change is a fickle mistress that can breathe life into a game (think TF2) or condemn a franchise to bargain bin eternity (ala Pro Street). Change is vital for the video games industry but it’s not right for everything. Sometimes there’s no need to teach a dog new tricks (The Sims 2) but from time to time its needed (UT3). You can probably see what we’re getting at here. SimCity has been one of the staple franchises for the simulation genre since its creation, and apart from a visual makeover each time; it’s stayed pretty much the same. The problem is that SimCity has been about depth, challenge and planning and as a result it hasn’t exactly appealed to the mass market. Thus, EA decided that the game needed a fresh start. It needed to become a bit more ‘simy.’ They’ve removed the graphs, budgets and zoning and brought in a wacky graphical style, a smaller (but no mean tiny) scale and individual sims. The question is; has simplifying the experience shunted away the fans or has it opened it up to a whole new audience?
 Be aware, this SimCity is not developed by Maxis (the creators of all the previous titles). Instead, Titled Mill Entertainment (the minds behind Caesar 4) were called in by EA to freshen up the series. The best place to begin when concerning Societies is what’s different from the previous games. This time round you don’t zone land, but instead place every building individually. This may sound like a chore, but it allows for full customization and lets the player create exactly the city they want. Elaborate economic management is thrown out the window and the budgets that accompany it have vanished as well. This time round you get weekly income (every day, with the weekly value being its total) from workplaces. The game takes place in hours, days and weeks rather than years. The scale of time is both reduced and elongated but seems to logically support the gaming mechanics. The income system is a welcome change, as the biggest nag about previous SimCitys was how difficult it was to generate cash flow. Money is pretty easy to come by in Societies once you’ve got going so Titled Mill introduced five other energies that you have to gain. They are creativity, authority, prosperity, spirituality and knowledge. The city adapts and changes as you increase the generation rate (through buildings and decorations) of each. For example, have a high rate of authority and your city has iron fences, the harsh grey tones of correction centres, CCTV cameras on buildings and flashing police boxes. Alternatively, focus on the creativity side of things and you’ll have multicoloured circuses and castles filled with clowns. As you go through the game you’ll unlock new buildings, which require greater levels of creativity, etc. Without the specific amount, the building won’t be able to function. You gain +[STAT] by placing decorations, like parks, hedges, statues, fountains and the like. It’s all a balancing act. To use and unlock new buildings you’ll need increased statistics and you increase them with decorative objects. It’s simple yet effective, and allows for an easy learning curve. The energies aren’t the only thing that requires balancing. To gain income for your city’s coffers you’ll need workplaces. Each building, ranging from skyscrapers to butcher shops to observatories has a value representing how many people can work there. So place a skyscraper, which will allow 32population to work there (that’s not the actual amount of people). For it to generate its weekly income it will require workers, and those are gained by placing housing. Each housing type has a capacity, say 6. This doesn’t represent 6 people, but just 6. Therefore you’ll need to place enough housing for there to be enough workers, but then you’ll need enough jobs to stem unemployment. Hopefully you’re beginning to see what SimCity Societies is all about. Rather than balancing your books, you’re balancing your town’s needs. It’s an easy game mechanic to pick up, even for someone completely new to city building games.  You’re not just restricted to workplaces and housing. After work, your Sims will want to relax and you’ll have to provide venues. They have a capacity rating as well, so you’ll need enough for your city’s populace. Some are larger than others; like a zoo or shopping centre will hold more than a pub. They all grant varying degrees of happiness to your Sims and some give bonuses to surrounding buildings. Venues also have the chance to create special Sims; like a bar has a 10% chance of creating a pickpocket, or a Casino will produce similar criminals. Crime results in unhappy Sims which in turn results in riotous civilians and then you’ll need to call in SWAT. Too much authoritarian presence and you’ll get a city that looks like it’s been plucked from Nineteen Eighty-four (Big Brother style architecture and control). The game has been simplified and it follows common sense which means that entering the game is smooth (which is helped by the explanatory tutorial). Power management has also had its complexity reduced, where you have a small power bar and placing plants will keep it in the green. As well as that, transport has almost been cut out. You can place roads, bus stops, subway stops and dirt tracks and that’s it. Placing large amount of subway stops will eliminate a need for cars and you’ll barely see any pollution (as long as you’re using clean energy supplies). While statistical detail has been removed, EA have added much more life to the game. You’re able to follow any Sim on their daily routine, from their house to their job. You can zoom right down to the miniscule. Buildings are also fabulously detailed, with each one modelled realistically, brimming with character. With all the settings on maximum, the game’s very demanding, but turning off AA and shadows will remove most of the framerate issues. Whether zoomed in on a chess table in a park or basking over your creative ability from the heavens, the game looks pretty and has a huge amount of personality. Every city will look different, even if you prefer a specific design style. The sound is mellow and merges well in background, springing upbeat tunes as you build away.  As you can gather, the gameplay been radically changed and it’s probably not going to appeal to everyone, especially die-hard fans. It has great graphical charm and a new approach to the genre. At the moment, it still has some stability issues, with random crashes often appearing, but hopefully patches will solve that. Societies is a nice change and its concepts are well implemented, but for a fan of the franchise, it seems more like a spin off rather than a sequel. It’ll keep you entertained for hours (if the gameplay clicks with your gaming profile) otherwise you’re most likely going to load up SimCity 2000 again. It’s a competent game and most of all has a large degree of fun factor. It’s worth a try, but most likely a game for those long summer months when the market is sparse. Score: 7/10  Tip N4G About This!
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