SimCity 2013's Gameplay Restraints [ Edited ]

[NateNate60]

--This is an open letter to EA and Maxis.--

Dear EA/Maxis,

I have always been a big fan of the SimCity series. I really love the way it balances the sandbox aspect with some very in-depth gameplay. I was really excited to get  SimCity 2013. However, after playing it for a couple of months, I have noticed some very large restraints that make playing the game much less enjoyable. One problem is the way the "agents" in the cities work. I have a total of 32 buses, and they all crowd together, causing massive traffic gridlock. Another is the way the radiation is handled. 20 Sim years? The only way to speed this process up is the Academy's Ground Scrubber. I really don't like that.

     By far the biggest problem of all is the city sizes. Yes, I know that some people don't have the computing power to load and play such large cities, but there are many players that have the sufficient computing power to play large cities. It should be left to the players to decide if they want to enable "large city mode" or something like that. The largest city in SimCity 4 was about nine times larger than the largest city possible in SimCity 2013. Even if the technology argument were valid, it's been over three years since the launch date now. Computers have gotten much better and faster now. Why should we adhere to limitations that are no longer technologically relevant? At least it should be left to the player. Even a processor detection program would be good to determine if the cities should be enlargened.

     SimCity 2013 could have easily been the best game of the decade. But with the following problems on top of the many small bugs, I really don't think the game was worth the price I paid for it.

--Voice your concerns and support in the comments below.--

[ivrognard]

Best Sim City games were the Sim City 3000 Unlimited and Sim City 4. I love city builders and i've played a rather impressive number of them: indie, AAA and so on. From Sim City to the now defunct Impression Games city builders, from the Tropico series to Banished, from Settlers to Anno and Cities: Skylines. Sadly, Sim City 2013 managed to be only mediocre. And the reasons were already discussed to death. 

Sim City 2013 had to live up with the previous two Sim City games and fell short, unfortunately. EA should look to what Cities Skylines did right to become so successful, especially in the light of knowing that the game had a much smaller budget than Sim City 2013. So, if a indie company can come up with a successful city builder, why not EA, too?! I hope that EA did not abandoned the genre after the poor sales and they will try again to make a sequel, properly, this time around. Maybe a survey to get a vibe of what fans would like to see in-game, feedback on the boards.