SimCity... the end is near

[Adagio]

As most of you know, SimCity 5 has been in the works for a few years. Now we finally get to see what they have been up to:



And this is more like what SimCity fans was expecting:




Can you see the difference? Sure, the screenshot might be an early version of the game, but I doubt they have changed it to be more realistic

Ok, sure... games are not all about graphics, so maybe there's still a good game behind... or at least that was my first thought, but the more I read about the less I believe in it:
SimCity has always been the history of Maxis... but it doesn't seem like it stays this way, as apparently it's Tilted Mill who's making this game (a game company who has IMHO never created a game, that even comes close to the quality of Maxis' games)

And to make it even worse, here's a quote made by one the Tilted Mills employees (on their forum):

This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is.

Just great...

The quote is found on page 2 in this discussion:
http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13032

And from what I've seen, there are heated discussions on pretty much all SimCity fansites





I'm scared... The failiure called City Life could end up being better than this

[Kuciwalker]

I want to play this right now.

edit: wait, the latter picture is what, fan-made concept art?

edit edit: WTF? It's outsourced? Is Will Wright even involved?

[Wiglaf]

SC has never really been a hardcore sim, sorry to disappoint you. Unless you think the government runs and constructs all hospitals and controls their funding as well as the funding of every institution in every city.

[Lazerus]

Damn is that second pic seriously an ingame shot ? it looks more like a digital photo. The reqs needed to play something like that smoothly would be massive.

[Wiglaf]

Judging by the way it says SIMCITY 5000 screenshot in crappy MS paint style, when the game is not called Simcity 5000, and that it is clearly pre rendered (looks like a photoshopped real pic actually), I'd say no there.

[RGBVideo]

They're milking the franchise for all it's worth. If you're buying this, you're suckers. And I bet many still will, turning SC5 into a impressively profitful project (compared to amount invested in $) for Maxis.

[Jonny]

I don't want to read too much into one lowly screenshot, but if SC5 really is as cartoonish and unrealistic as the first picture would suggest, this will be a major change for the series... and a horrible one, at that. Since it is Tilted Mill that is producing SC5, I fear it will be something like their other games, like Caesar IV in a modern dressing. Don't get me wrong: I have Caesar IV, and I enjoy it. But the Caesar games operate on an entirely different model than the SimCity games have. The former is a city-builder game, the latter is a city-simulation game. And if EA have dumped the latter style for the former in the name of profit, then I for one won't be touching this.


I hope that my suspicions are wrong, but I fear that they are spot on. And if they are, this very well may be the end of the SimCity series - which is hard to believe considering the series's fame and popularity, but, to quote a commercial I just saw, "even some of the great ones have come and gone."

[Wiglaf]

Oh, please. And this was better?

http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/ima...9_embed002.jpg

Yeah, what a sim. It's not at all cartoonish or unrealistic! How dareth Tilted Mill soil the series' decades-long history of realistic graphics with this one screenshot that displays bright colors!

[ZargonX]

Hmm... seems a lot of companies that get the reins of old series seem to think they know what the series is about better than that fans. The fans who, you know, have been playing it since the beginning...

[Wiglaf]

I don't think they have done anything wrong. Simcity has never been a hardcore urban simulator. Fans who think it is one have been deluding themselves.

And the screenshot is a lot more "realistic" than the ones from SC2000,3000 and 4 I could pull up, with aliens eradicating city blocks and funding sliders for every building in the entire city.

[DRoseDARs]

Oh Lord, this is going to be the "Star Trek: Enterprise" of the SimCity series, isn't it? Fine on its own, sh*tastic in the context of the legacy.

[Kuciwalker]

Fine on its own

I dispute this assertion.

[FrostyBoy]

The 1st screenshot looks worse than Simcity 4.

I agree, it looks stupid, I hope it gets cancelled.

[FrostyBoy]

Here's another screenshot of Simcity 5000 supposedly.



I'm skeptical as to where these screenshots are coming from, they look like early development shots which should not have been made public.


Looking at the 1st screenshot a bit more, I think I can safely say that it is not an in-game shot, because if you look closely, it looks like some video format.

[Kuciwalker]

That looks a bit better. It looks like they've finally fixed the problem of buildings on slopes

[Jonny]

And I see some buildings on 45 degree angles on the second shot, too. This new shot gets my hopes up a little... but I'm still waiting for some more solid information.

[Blake]

SimCity has always been the history of Maxis... but it doesn't seem like it stays this way, as apparently it's Tilted Mill who's making this game (a game company who has IMHO never created a game, that even comes close to the quality of Maxis' games)

And considering how low the quality of EA-Maxis games have been .

[:) Smiley]

This looks like something straight out of a Chinese real estate brochure.

Who knows, the Chinese probably will come out with some hyper-realistic SimCity in the next couple years. SimCity might as well be SimChina - where else do 5-million people cities get built from scratch?

[:) Smiley]

instant plaza and lake!

[:) Smiley]

generic Chinese skyline!

[bipolarbear]

I wish they'd do something Spore-ish and combine this with The Sims, so you can cycle between the micro and macro.

[snoopy369]

You're trying to give DrSpike a heart attack, right?

Anyway, eww. No. Not interested in that, sorry RoN was about as far as you can go in that direction (merging that macro with micro play), as far as I'm concerned. Spore is a continuous storyline; swapping from Sim City to The Sims would be insane.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Here's another screenshot of Simcity 5000 supposedly.

Looks better, but haven't heard about this being from SimCity 5

Originally posted by Lazerus
Damn is that second pic seriously an ingame shot ?

Nope, that's just most SimCity gamers dream: A more realistic and beautiful city

Originally posted by Wiglaf
SC has never really been a hardcore sim, sorry to disappoint you.

I never said that, but it sounds like SimCity 5 is going in the opposite direction than what I want it to go

[Nikolai]

I dream of the second screenshot, fear the first one as hell and can accept the third one if the game is better than the failure that was SC4.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by VJ
They're milking the franchise for all it's worth. If you're buying this, you're suckers. And I bet many still will, turning SC5 into a impressively profitful project (compared to amount invested in $) for Maxis.

You do realize the game will be made by Tilted Mill, and published by EA? No Maxis involvement at all, IIUC.

[lord of the mark]

ive only played Simcity2000, which was not an accurate sim in many ways. My understanding is that 3000 and 4, while improving realism of apppearance dramatically, and of gameplay somewhat, are still not realistic sims. But the spirit of the series is that "realism is good" - the fanbase had a fairly "grognard" mindset, which Maxis legitimized and encouraged, a very different approach in the "its only a game" ethos that pervades most big commercial games and their communities. I think losing that ethos is what the community is afraid of.

I will wait and see. I dont particularly want to see Caesar in modern dress (Actually that might be a good game, but I wouldnt want to completely lose this series to get it) OTOH I wouldnt judge the graphics this early, nor would I assume that they will make a game untrue to the series (though they may not push it further toward realism)

I likely wont have the PC power to run it anytime soon anyway.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
ive only played Simcity2000, which was not an accurate sim in many ways. My understanding is that 3000 and 4, while improving realism of apppearance dramatically, and of gameplay somewhat, are still not realistic sims

None of the SimCity games where that realistic, but for each game it became more realistic. And SimCity games are the most realistic city builder games there are
SimCity fans has been complaining about it being unrealistic, most see it as it's going the wrong way it if becomes less realistic


But of course there will always be some people who'll end up loving this game, just as some people love CityLife. But IMHO it's not a good idea to make all veteran SimCity fans angry, it's us who made SimCity the success it is today

[Maquiladora]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Here's another screenshot of Simcity 5000 supposedly.

It's so obviously a fake. Anyone that's used google maps should notice that.

And if it looks anything like the first shot in the OP then I ain't buying it either. Reminds me of Theme Park World compared to Rollercoaster Tycoon

[Spaced Cowboy]

Yes the 2nd and 3rd pics are definitely fakes, no way can they get that level of detail in repeating tile sets.

Looks like pic 1 has the best possibility of being real...LOL...1800s style architecture with 1950's cars.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Spaced Cowboy
Yes the 2nd and 3rd pics are definitely fakes, no way can they get that level of detail in repeating tile sets.

Looks like pic 1 has the best possibility of being real...LOL...1800s style architecture with 1950's cars.

Pic 1 is real AFAIK
Pic 2 is without doubt not from SimCity 5 (I believe someone created that to show how they wanted SimCity 5 to look like)
Pic 3 looks nice and shouldn't be that hard to accomplish, but I don't believe it's from SimCity 5 (haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else)


If pic 2 was real, then everybody would have been screaming "I can't wait to get my hands on that game" instead of "let's do everything we can to make EA cancel the game" like they scream about now