SimCity Societies [PC]

If you want an uproar, tell SimCity fans that their most cherished series isn't getting the sequel that they expected. When the first details and pictures crept out from Electronic Arts that SimCity would be heading in a new direction and that it would be developed by Tilted Mill and not Maxis, the community's collective head exploded and the Tilted Mill forums were splattered with the angry brain matter. While we were also a bit tempted to join the fracas (we're also fans of the series) we decided to refrain from comment until we'd actually seen the game for ourselves. We were afforded the opportunity yesterday at EA's pre-E3 event held down in their Los Angeles compound. Make sure to check out a quick off-screen video demonstration by Electronic Arts Producer Rachel Bernstein as well.

While most of the information on the games shown at the event is embargoed until E3, they decided not to put restrictions on SimCity in order to get the good word out. To tell you the truth, we're feeling better about the game after seeing it and believe it does have some good framework for a creative environment as well as some interesting challenges. At the same time, this is definitely not the SimCity of old, which still is sad in some respect. While SimCity 4 was a bit too complex for many of us to really dig into, we did love the managerial and planning aspects of the city simulation. SimCity Societies isn't SimCity 5 for a reason. It's a new direction, not the next iteration. At this point, we just want to get our own hands on it and play around with the various gameplay mechanics. It's worth giving it a chance to succeed. The guys at Tilted Mill have been making city building games for a long time in one form or another and having another from them certainly isn't a bad thing.

SimCity Societies is an appropriate title for the newest venture into city building. Instead of the management simulation having to deal with zoning, traffic, pollution, trade and appeasing every section of the population as mayor, Societies deals mainly with the interaction between "societal energies" which are all represented by different structures that either generate or use these energies. These energies include Knowledge, Obedience, Devotion, Wealth, Industry, and Creativity. All of them have certain qualities that you might expect. The Industry energies are all about production and making money whether the people are particularly happy or not while Obedience is all about keeping your citizens in line by throwing anybody too angry or too happy into a re-education center.

You'll be able to construct cities based entirely around one of these energies or mix and match all of them to your heart's content. We have a feeling you'll see much more entertaining results when mixing and matching societal energies that are at natural odds with each other like Creativity and Obedience. If any of the Men in Black generated by the Propaganda Ministry finds a mime trying to entertain the cow-like obedient masses, they'll slap the cuffs on him and enjoy watching him try to get out of a real cage in the Conditioning Theater.

Structures are broken up into three categories for each of the societal energies: homes, workplaces, and venues. Homes are needed for anyone to move into the city. Once placed, they stay the same. They don't upgrade automatically into new types of homes with more wealth or people. Workplaces are the industry that generates money for the city. These will vary pretty widely for the various types of societal energies and some will have effects on other buildings in the area such as the Atomic Test Site's effect of making all future government buildings cheaper. Venues serve as the entertainment for each of the different types of societal energies. Whether they're shops, dive bars, or tennis courts, they're necessary for keeping your citizens in line.