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Sim City DS: Reviews

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Game Score: 9/10

Sim. A little word that has become a bit cliche in gaming these days. Sim Tower. Sim Theme Park. Sim Golf. The list goes on, and on. But if someone said 'Sim City' to a pretty experienced gamer, they would know what game that was. The Sim City series has been around for years, even on the early SNES system, much regarded as the series' finest moment. But Sim City is very much now a PC game - you would consider it first and foremost to be on a computer. So how successfully did EA take a pretty fantastic series and put it into your hands?

Well, first and foremost, the original Sim City games were made by Maxis, the brainchild of the notorious Will Wright (The Sims, Spore). Maxis was bought out by EA, as far as I know now, and has become part of EA's world domination plan. Well, EA's division of gaming, at least. So whilst the developer's name has changed, to some extent, the same formula is there.

Sim City DS is based upon one of the most successful games in the series, Sim City 3000 on the PC. The graphic content in the game is beautifully presented to it's SC3000 brother, the exact same look is represented. It looks less clear than it would on a PC, but that's granted considering it's on the DS. It still looks utterly class to look at and manourvre, no doubt about it. You even have a very similar main menu to the SC3000 equivalent. Of course, these comparisons are no complaint - the less-realistic-but-still-looking-like-a-city look to the game works very well. Look carefully and you will see cars driving around and trains going back and forth. Small details but adds to the graphical content of the game. The design of characters such as the advisors are handdrawn by the looks of things but look pretty good, nothing really affecting the game completely but again, no complaints from here.

I wanna go back to a very, very worthy part of Sim City DS that I really want to emphasise on - the sound. The sound on this game is absolutely top notch, it's powerful, and it isn't annoying, yet it's incredibly clear it all sounds very, very good for the DS's speakers. You once again get the same music from Sim City 3000, all good music, and the small sound effects of course randomly found around the game. It's really excellent and impressed me as soon as I booted the game up in my DS.

Righteo, now the big daddy - Gameplay. How wel does it play, considering it's a PC game on such a small format? Well, great, great news - it works wonderfully, so easy and not very confusing at all. You follow the traditional Sim City formula - lay out zones (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) in different catergories, adding different types of stuff like Police Stations, Fire Stations, etc and building your city from a lowly village into a megatropolis of wealth and investment. Everything you do can affect your city, and it's a huge game for the small format of a DS cartridge, something that beggars belief. It's everything we see in the PC games and more! Yes, this includes DS-exclusive ways of playing - fires hitting your city? Blow them out on the DS's mic! City celebrating your success? Set off fireworks to create a cracking display! There's other exclusive DS-exclusive modes but I shalln't spoil them but they're al cracking fun and only add to the game. The dual screen provides no problem at all, with the top screen usually being the graphical view of your city as you watch it progress, building up and up. The lower screen, the touch screen of course, allows you to check different graphs, charts, budget data and allows you to build different items and areas whilst the top screen shows how it looks once added (the bottom screen acts as a blueprint whilst top screen shows how it looks). The dual screen system works very, very well and full kudos to EA for making it so easy and being implemented so well.

You will also find other DS exclusive things in the game - a mail mode, once a post office is built in the city allows you to send mail and present to fellow mayors over wifi courtesy of your friends list of codes. You will also be approached in your office by residents with problems and ideas to change the city, which is a nice little addition and adds some interactivity and personality into the game. Again, I'll keep wraps about other stuff to leave surprises but there is a mode that is mission based and you have to achieve certain targets to win, another addition I personally adds even more lifespan to an already huge game.

So yes, Sim City DS. Worth it? A big, big yes from me. It's basically Sim City 3000 in your hands but that is nowhere, NOWHERE nea being a bad thing. The new content adds more lifespan and depth and it's absolutely fantastic, a treasure of a game and I recommend it to any management/sim fan who owns a DS.