![simcity societies simcity societies](https://i.redd.it/vq6z0ni8o7c71.png)
This time around the concept seems much more thought out there’s actually a purpose to the specialisation – the online component of the game with its fake global economy, gives you drive to specialise. Larger concepts, like region specialisation, seemed both quaint and convoluted in Societies, but looks to be burgeoning in Maxis’ development. The need to lay pipes and power grids was removed a feature already scrapped by its 2013 counterpart. Societies does in fact do a lot of what the reboot plans to. SimCity Societies offers this as well, but its presentation gave the impression it didn’t have the necessary guts to be called a simulation. The Sims 3 is a game instantly accessible to all but at the same time, possesses a huge amount of functionality beneath its surface. The team has learned a lot from its work on The Sims 3. That’s not to say accessibility is a bad thing – if we look at Maxis’ return, there’s a refocus on what made the original games great while at the same time making it appealing to all demographics. Removing a lot of its simulative aspects without providing substantial gameplay in place was a risky move that resulted in failure. After all, SimCity has always been about depth. This belief transferred over to Societies and its fresh focus on social engineering as opposed to traditional planning.
SIMCITY SOCIETIES SERIES
Despite their often illogical behaviour, this Big Brother style insight moved the series from God Mode planner to cultivator of virtual humans. If you wanted to, you could plant an individual in your city and monitor their thoughts on your services. The ambition was there but it’s only possible now, as demonstrated by the individual intentions of every single sim in the 2013 version. When it was released, the technology and programming required for such complex simulation didn’t exist. Like Societies, Rush Hour’s execution might have been poor, but the ideas on show were certainly interesting.įor example, the transport mini missions may have been horrible to control, but the focus on your city as a living, breathing entity which you could drill down into was a step in the right direction.Īt the time, it was a rational development – The Sims offered the perfect crossover. We’re not talking about obvious features (zoning, power, infrastructure) which make SimCity SimCity rather, a shift to provide more life to your virtual metropolis. In fact, while this editorial’s main aim is to look back at Societies, you can rightfully suggest that SimCity 4 is equally responsible for the direction the new SimCity is taking. We’ll get to its strengths and positives later.
![simcity societies simcity societies](https://media.moddb.com/images/games/1/25/24876/260227-14.jpg)
The name was there, but the essence was indeed different. This is a fair point – Societies wasn’t even developed by Maxis instead, Titled Mill Entertainment took over the reins. The last ‘true’ SimCity game was SimCity 4 and its Sims-esque expansion, Rush Hour. For the majority of fans, Societies doesn’t even exist. Before we get to that, some history is in order.