SimCity BuildIt Review

SimCity BuildIt was released for mobile platforms the previous week. I downloaded it this week. Since Moday, SimCity BuildIt has kept me occupied. It is very addictive.

Unlike other Sims games where the user has to control certain characters and guide them throughout their day, In SimCity you're a Mayor of a city. It starts off slowly with no building/houses whatsoever. As you progress through the game, the city keeps evolving. Buildings can be upgraded so that they can accommodate more population which leads to more taxes. 

I haven't personally played the full fledged PC Version of SimCity, but I sure do enjoy the mobile version. It's obvious that the PC version is better than the mobile version with more features and better visuals. The mobile version has made me want to try the PC version. 

SimCity BuildIt is full of features. There's a lot to do. It requires precise planing or else you won't progress. The features as enlisted on EA's site include:

• Build a unique city that comes to life
• Unleash natural (and not so natural) disasters
• Create and trade goods with your friends and other cities
• Balance city Services, including power and entertainment, to keep citizens happy
• Pinch, zoom, and rotate 360 degrees as you manage your city on the go – both online and offline
• Complete awesome challenges to Specialize your city

I can assure you that there's a lot more to do than the things EA has mentioned. 

The visuals are good. I would say quite good considering that its only 221 MB. On my Nexus 5, there are occasional frame drops. But that's to be expected since it just came out. 

As with other EA games, there are quite a few In-App purchases. I have played for a decent period of time and till now, I haven't been forced to make an In-App purchase. I must mention here that I'm on level 11. I don't know how many levels there are but there are quite a few things that are still locked for me. So I cannot tell that whether I will need to make an In-App purchase in the future or not. 

I would end this review by applauding EA for making this game. It's quite fun. The few gripes I have with the game include that the trade market doesn't seem to work good for me. Other than that, the game requires you to be connected to a WiFi network all the the time you play it. I'm sure EA will figure these problems out in a future update.