They also have an insane attention to detail and that "charm" that keeps me pulled in. The depth that it lacks in the city building department is made up with the other focuses, so it seems to really hold my attention. They aren't pure city builders, but building up your city and providing services is a big part of the game, although the real focus is on resource production, supply lines, and trading. Like someone else mentioned, I also really enjoy the Anno games. I still keep jumping into Cities Skylines every once in a while, it's far from a perfect city builder, but it's by far the best today. But after playing Sim City 4 for almost two decades, it's hard to go back, even for nostalgia's sake. The DLC adds a lot of new customization options and things to build in your city, but the core of the game is still the same. It even has a much better "agent" system than SimCity 2013 (even if the pathfinding can be kind of dumb), but it doesn't feel like a living, breathing city. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but I just don't feel connected to any of my cities. My problem with the game is that it doesn't have the "soul" or charm of the Sim City games. I have almost all of the DLC and over a hundred hours of playtime in Skylines, but it just can't seem to keep my attention.
#SIMCITY 4 VS SIMCITY 5 FREE#
It is incredibly easy to make money and provide services to your city, after you get over the initial "hump" of starting a city, there is no challenge to create a perfect, pollution free society where everyone is highly educated and happy. The real challenge in the game is managing traffic and public transit. But honestly, if the maps were the size of Sim City 4's, they fixed up a few of the other issues with the game (like the way the "agent" system works), and they had some decent DLC/expansions, I'd probably be still playing it today.Ĭities Skylines is your best bet for a modern city builders, but like many people say it is a great "city painter" but not a good "city simulator". I get that they wanted to create a "social" game where multiple cities could work together, but they are small to a point where it restricts how you want to build your city. SimCity 2013 could have been a great game, but the city size restriction just ruins it. Back when it came out it was the standard, but it's really hard to go back now after playing modern city builders.
My biggest "problem" with the game today is that it's a grid based game, so you are limited to how creative you can get laying out your city. It spruced up the franchise with 3D graphics, regional gameplay, and several different modes.
#SIMCITY 4 VS SIMCITY 5 SERIES#
I still think it holds up graphically in a lot of ways (I think a lot of these classic isometric games still look great) but certain things look off, but nothing unplayable. SimCity 4 Deluxe Prior to SimCity, the last game in the series was 2003’s SimCity 4.
The ultimate "city simulator" and my favorite of all time is still Sim City 4, but it's 17 years old now and can still feel dated, even with mods.