Review: Sim City (DS)

SimCity DS delivers pocket sized entertainment – but it can be a fiddly experience.

For: It is SimCity; easy to play; “advisor” editions

Against: Stylus control can be fiddly; not train/bus friendly; only one save slot

Everyone knows SimCity and this DS version is basically the same game as SimCity 2000 but with the edition of some Japanese style advisors and the cool disasters from the SNES version.

The presentation is good with some gentle music and sound effects to accompany the functional, if slightly washed out, graphics. City creation is via the stylus, and the usual assortment of graphs, budget sheets and maps are at your disposal.

There are a couple of problems with the game. Firstly, the stylus control requires some very fine selection and movements. Trying to play SimCity on a bouncing train or bus is very difficult, which is a shame because that is where I play on my DS most of the time (it works better on the plane). Secondly, you can only save one city, although you do have the large SimCity 3000 style multi-city land mass.

If you are a fan of SimCity then the DS version will reward you in much the same way as its big brother counterparts.

7/10