Create something fun (SimCity Creator (DS))

Member Name: Beth03

Product:	SimCity Creator (DS)
Date:	29/10/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A fun game for old and new players to the Sim City Franchise

Disadvantages: Having to start over

This Sim City game offers you not just the opportunity to manage your city well as in previous versions but the chance to manage the development of the human race and their progression through the ages.

Currently available new for £12 from Amazon and around that price from other retailers, my copy was £10 second hand. Therefore makes a perfect Christmas gift for your friends and family who own a DS.

The interface is basically the same as Sim City DS, however the panels develop as your city grows. For novices it is simple to use and to get the hang of. The game offers a new experience for veteran players of the Sim City games as there are many more factors to consider.

Your game begins at the dawn of Civilisation- that's right, Cavemen period. You don't have a budget your resources for building are trees. You are given a landscape with areas to gather food and should build your residential zones near food sources. Life is simple for the sims at this stage however problems include food running out and tornados, the game gives you the tools to deal with these problems though and you're soon ready to move onto the next time period, the game then offers you a choice of going to two different time periods.

This is when your game requires you to start building public service buildings it isn't until the third stage that you have to worry about powering your city with electricity which can lead to powerplant explosions. Then there is the final time phase.

The game talks you through the process of building your city more so than in previous games, and this is never more frustrating to your game play than when your account goes into the red, a message comes up asking if you would like to end the game since it would be too hard to recover from that debt.

In most games you can recover from debt by adjusting the budget and charging more in taxes or borrowing some money but this is not an option in the third phase if you have adjusted your budget within the last 6 months. This does make play hard and in the end I had to abandon my city and start over.

It is also useful to build the city as though you will have to fit in more buildings later- because you will and not planning for this can lead to your city experiencing problems at its core.

The game also has a freeplay mode where you can build your city in any timeperiod you have unlocked, in total this gives you a choice of 6 time periods.

Moving on from a level when prompted means you progress more quickly through history in terms of advances but if you stay with a level once you have been prompted to move on you can unlock more surprises to use in free play.

All in all this will keep your hands busy on journeys to work, or on boxing day as with all sim city games once everything is functioning time passing can be a bit boring but all in all it is a fun game and definitely worth its £12 price tag.

Summary: A worthwhile stocking filler