Machogames: SimCity Creator On Nintendo DS Will Invoke Fond Memories Of Your 486

If you own a PC, the chances are pretty good that at some point in your life you’ve played some variant of the SimCity franchise. The game was perfectly suited for a computer nerd, what with being able to play God and all. And the compelling gameplay made it easy to overlook the less than stellar graphics, which really only serve as placeholders for landmarks and utilities in your magical, fictional city anyway. If you’re looking to dive into some of that classic fun without a PC then SimCity Creator, available for the Nintendo DS from Electronic Arts, will not disappoint you.

The real charm of the SimCity franchise is that you get to act out your long held fantasy of becoming a city planning commissioner, if you dream low, or the Almighty, if you tend to think bigger. SimCity Creator lets you test your world-creating mettle from, basically, the dawn of time. In the game’s “challenge mode” the player is given the opportunity to build an entire civilization from scratch, starting with glorified cavemen up on through, and even past, the present day. The freestyle mode lets you play within any era that you’ve unlocked in the challenge mode.
The game features and undo feature, which allows for the easy correction of mistakes, and the controls and displays all feel very similar to past SimCity games, so you’ll have no real trouble picking this game up and jumping right in, even if you haven’t played a SimCity game in years. The AI constantly throws new challenges at you, so its never too long before it’s time for a new round of decisions. Ergo, nothing gets boring
If SimCity Creator has any significant flaws they are flaws that have nothing to do with the game itself, but with the design of the Nintendo DS. The screen just doesn’t feel big enough on the DS to really keep an eye on everything. Though, in all fairness, I never felt like a computer monitor was big enough to monitor all the action, so I might not be the best judge of that particular feature. The stylus can also be a bother if you’re not a Nintendo DS junkie. If you have the tendency to rush while you clear trees and build stadiums, the stylus will contribute to uneven lines and building drops in just the wrong spot. Thank heavens for the one-click undo feature.
But those are arguments against the Nintendo DS, not this game. If you have a DS, and if you have fond memories of the SimCity franchise, it’ll be worth your time to spend a few dollars on this title. If you’ve never played a SimCity title before, the game is very easy for beginners to pick up, and you’ll feel like an old hand in just a few minutes. Recommended.
Visit the official website for more details. List price is $39.99, but is currently on sale at Amazon for $29.99.Also available for the Wii.