Was it Really That Bad?
Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor
2) It’s the Little Things
The “For Sale” sign is just one example of bringing the city to life in a way that also interprets data for the player. If an area of town has too much crime, each game displays this in different ways. Cities will have an icon appear above buildings, letting you know that crimes do occur there. In SimCity, graffiti will appear on building walls. Then thought bubbles appear, letting you know why some sims are becoming criminals. Finally, your news feed will be riddled with tales of serial arsonists (who travel from city to city within your region) and even murder sprees.
Fighting crime is also very different between the two games, in a way that we will discuss in our next section.
A major hangup of mine is the naming of venues in Cities. Assets in the game grow depending on which density of which zone is chosen, and then the game automatically selects a structure that fits the available space. The names are randomized, which can lead to some pretty odd choices. I had a massive super mall that was named “General Store.” It’s a really small gripe to have, but it does take away from the polish of the game. In SimCity, on the other hand, buildings seem to reflect their names perfectly. I had a pizza place named “Cheez All That.” If a gas station pops up, it is actually called a gas station. And the sims interact with these buildings in specific ways.
When people get sick in Cities, they are healed if they are close enough to a clinic or hospital. In SimCity, they will drive themselves to a clinic and wait to be seen. Depending on the education of the personnel operating the clinic, they may or may not be cured. If there is a fire, people will be injured and need to be picked up by an ambulance. If too much traffic keeps them waiting, they will die.
Death is one area that SimCity glosses over. In Cities, you need to manage your dead population as much as your living one. Bodies need to be collected from homes and offices, otherwise people will abandon those buildings. Bodies need to be buried, and eventually those bodies need to be cremated (or more cemeteries built).
But while Cities offers a much more comprehensive simulation of the life of a city, SimCity creates a more interactive world.