SimCity (2013) Beta?

[fafalone]

Damn I know my answers couldn't have disqualified me, must have signed up too late. Didn't get selected =(

I'm pretty sure they pulled off another fail like societies, but I did want to try. Have to wait now.

[Haljackey]

Can't say much based on the EULA other than 'I really like it', but I really need more than an hour to form an opinion of the game.

It's ridiculously easy to stay in the black, and there are still a lot of bugs to be worked out which is understandable. I had two suggestions for them so far:

1. There is no windowed fullscreen mode. I have two monitors and like to alt-tab the game to use something like an internet browser on my secondary monitor. Fullscreen minimizes the game and windowed doesn't give me the full experience. Most modern games have this like Starcraft II, and even old games like SimCity 4 were capable of this.

2. There needs to be an undo button. While this function was never in any previous SimCity title, there is no save feature this time around... Anything you do is permanent due to always-online. If I made a huge mistake in earlier titles I would quit without saving... That fail-safe is no longer there.

Everything else I have to say about it has pretty much been said before.

EDIT: Oh, and based on the what I've experienced in the beta so far, SC13 will need a NAM of it's own.

[BarbyW]

I shan't be buying this at 79,99€. I've had my beta key and can't decide whether to try it or not. I'll think about it.

Edit: I've thought about it and decided not to bother so if anyone wants my product key send me a PM.

[NCGAIO]

I think the problem is not only the key, there are even some keygens running on the network, the big problem is having to access Origin to see this.


I hope someone makes good advantage of this generous offer!

[mike3775]

2. There needs to be an undo button. While this function was never in any previous SimCity title, there is no save feature this time around... Anything you do is permanent due to always-online. If I made a huge mistake in earlier titles I would quit without saving... That fail-safe is no longer there.

Right there is a major reason why I wont even bother.  If I cannot undo something, its not worth it.  Plus I hate always connected garbage.  I don't allow many of my PC programs willy nilly access to the net, so why should I be forced to allow a game?

[Serkanner]

I have played a few one-hour sessions and have enjoyed them thoroughly. It differs is a lot from SC4 but nevertheless I had the real Simcity feel when playing. Having only tested a few of the possibilities I am pretty sure I'll buy this version and continue playing Simcity for perhaps another decade or two ( I played ALL versions so far ).

In my humble opinion MAXIS/EA did a great job.

[sunv123]

I've been thinking about it overnight and I have to say, no for me. Sorry guys, but it's a no-no for me. Anybody who want's my key just PM me and i'll just pass it over to you.

Thanks.

[Twyla]

If anyone's interested, someone (*ahem*) posted a comprehensive review of the Beta on EA's forums.

[BarbyW]

I am definitely not spending 79,99€ on this. Not impressed after reading the reviews.

[vortext]

Very thorough review Twyla, well done! Having read half of the pages, I'm still not sure if I buy it. And does anyone else finds it strange the beta is 1) restricted to one hour with many options turned off and 2) it's only a month before release? Can't shake the feeling it's a marketing ploy to make people feel like they're involved.

[fafalone]

Wow I knew there were going to be some things I didn't like but good god did they completely screw this up. Pretty graphics can't redeem the fact that every single other aspect is an enormous step backwards from SC4. I suspect everyone in the SimCity 4 community will treat it like Societies: ignore it and keep hoping that one day they'll actually make a sequel to SC4.

Let's stop calling it SimCity 5. It's not good enough to be called a successor, let alone a worthy one. SimCity Societies wasn't SC5, and neither is this.

[sunv123]

What should we call it then? It's clearly not Simcity like we know it, so maybe it's just Simcity Societies 2? Not worthy to be Simcity 5 if it's a $70 Facebook game.

Umm, anybody want my key? If nobody wants it, i'll just give it away at Simtropolis, where there seems to be a HUGE desire for Simcity Societies 2.

[sim_link]

I didn't sign up for the beta, largely because I'm a bit on the busy side this weekend. But judging by the reviews, I'm not sad I missed it. It'd be cool to get my hands on it, but I'm certainly not heart broken. But, based on the reviews, I'm going to wait for the price to drop to even consider buying it.

To have to have an internet connection for basic game functions is, IMO, unjustifiable with the price tag. If I have to wait years for it to come down to a price I deem fine, so be it. I have to say though, I'm getting the feeling there will be a lot of DLC for this game. Just go to the The Sims 3 store to see what I mean...

To those who've enjoyed, awesome. Glad you do. But for me, the more I see/read, the more I'm not going to buy it (yet).

As for what to call it, on my site (and on ST) it's reffered to as SimCity (2013)... maybe do that here as well?

[fafalone]

Call it by its real title; SimCity 2013.

Fits perfectly. Not a successor to SimCity 4, and a giant tumble backwards to barely better than SimCity 2000 (debatable, I'd still rather play 2000), and not even as good as SimCity 3000.

[catty]

Link to a New Zealand review of SimCity 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/blogs/game-junkie/8232089/Becoming-God-playing-the-SimCity-beta

if you are wondering why his internet connection dropped out a few times while playing it, this is New Zealand internet access to the world



the cable is 28,900 km long and travels from

1.  Alexandria, NSW, Australia
2.  Brookvale, NSW, Australia
3.  Suva, Fiji
4.  Whenuapai, New Zealand
5.  Takapuna, New Zealand
6.  Kahe Point, Hawaii, USA
7.  Samuel M. Spencer Beach, Hawaii, USA
8.  Hillsboro, Oregon, USA
9.  San Jose, California, USA (Terrestrial Connection only)
10. Morro Bay, California, USA

in a series of hops, Kim Dotcom (Megaupload) is talking about added a second cable always assuming he doesn't end in jail in America first.

-catty

[fafalone]

That's another reason why forcing always online is a bad idea.  So much of the world simply doesn't have a fast, reliable connection.

An even bigger problem is the fact that EA is not going to keep the servers around more than a couple years. We're still playing SC4 10 years in; nobody can think SC2013 servers will be around in 2023. Not that anyone would still be interested in playing, because the restrictions on custom content will limit the long term value of the game.

One day, after you've invested years into building your perfect cities, EA will simply delete it and you won't be able to play anymore.


And thanks for changing the thread title Tarkus

[fafalone]

Well I played the second closed beta today. There's a couple cool features, but the limitations are so overwhelming that I can't see spending $80 for the release.

Case in point, I had to download and install Origin to play it. I'm running a normal Windows 7 PC with normal hardware, nothing crazy. Download and install origin, and keep getting "Windows cannot access the specified file..."... despite being on admin account and using run as admin. When it wasn't giving that error message, it was because origin.exe kept deleting itself. I checked online, this was not an uncommon problem, although no one else's solutions worked for me. After a 20 minute wait I spent 45 minutes on the phone with tech support trying all the standard crap (from a guy who claimed to have never heard about this problem despite all the forum posts indicating it was far from unique), which ended with him referring me to level 2 support. No, it was not a call transfer. He said he'd submit a report and they'd call me sometime next week (after the beta ended). And even though I could run origin on my laptop, it's DRM crap so I couldn't just download what I needed then run it on my desktop. Good job guys.

So I fixed the problem myself by using last month's version of origin, which worked perfectly, making me all the angrier at being told it was my computer and I might have a trojan that was doing it. Yeah right. Anyone claiming this 'always online' crap doesn't hurt legit users is full of _____.

All the complaints against the new game have been gone over, so I won't repeat them, but I did want to add my personal assessment that the good parts aren't enough to make the game enjoyable.

It's another Societies... we'll just turn our backs, keep playing SC4, and longing for the day when they make SC5.