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/images/2004/reviews/917520_20040219_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