SimCity for the iPhone and iPod Touch review

One of the most engrossing games of all time has been brought to the portable platform. Now users of the iPhone and iPod Touch can enjoy the stimulating city simulator ported from Sim City 3000 with some interface changes to make it easier to play. This game although not the perfect to play on a small touch screen as it can get quite fiddly, shows how much the iPhone can actually do. You’ll either love it or hate it but if you liked any of the SimCity series you’ll want to have a butchers at this.

EA have tried to design it to make it easy to navigate through frankly put dozens of menu and option screens.  From changing the industrial tax to enacting a non-smoking ban this game is full of things to do pretty much just like the full PC version.  We’re not talking about a cut down port and just a shadow of the full title but here SimCity for the iPhone is the real deal.  Obvioulsy with all this stuff to do why would you put it down? Well it comes because of the detail required and the fiddly motion of drawing a road does take getting used to and without a steady hand you’ll never create what you want and instead just make do with wonky roads. Just a quick not there are loading times in this game, especially when moving between menus with brief pauses that can get irritating in interrupting play.  They’ve tried their best though and it’s as easy as you could make it on a touch screen and to be honest shows the limit of the portable device.

That being said the graphics are exactly the same as SimCity 3000 and all the buildings share the same look so it will look familiar is you’re a fan of the series. On this front they’ve excelled and SimCity is a nice looking presentation.  Now remember there is no big objective in this game and it’s just really to make your city and constantly adapt and change it to suit your Sim’s desires. Remember they can’t live without water or electricity so don’t make them otherwise they’ll soon move onto another city!  This genre has been missing from the iPhone line up for some time and now it’s here I’m still not sure where it belongs but without a doubt it is a successful move from a full game on a computer to a fully playable game on a portable platform!