Share
submit to reddit
Pin it
SimCity Buildit

A friend of mine introduced me to the social game SimCity Buildit, currently available for mobile devices and tablets. Since I currently lack a strong mainstream entry in the SimCity franchise, I thought I'd see if this social game does anything to fill my long-neglected need for spline-reticulation or if it presented any new features that could be worth pursuing in a full PC version of the game. I don't generally play social games. I dabbled a bit with CivWorld and Sims Social, but that's about it. So I lack a lot of reference for judging SimCity Buildit in terms of other social games.

SimCity Buildit

Most of the fundamental SimCity elements are here: you set housing, commercial, and industrial zones, link them with roads, and build service buildings in order to satisfy various citizen needs within a certain radius. None of the deeper simulation elements of newer city-builder games are there. Individual citizens don't exist; there's just an abstract population, and happiness levels are set for each residential building. It's understandable for the limitations of the platform, and it provides a retro quality that reminds me of the good ol' days of SimCity 4.

But since this is a social game, the design has to put up numerous barriers to restrict the player's freedom to construct the city that they want. You have to "level up" your city by building new buildings. The number of residences that you can build, as well as the availability of industry and shops are also limited by your level or by the city population.

Upgrading buildings and services

You also don't really have an economy to manage - at least not in the traditional sense. Citizens don't work at factories and shops. Instead, these buildings create certain building materials that are used to "upgrade" your residences into higher-density buildings that generate more tax revenue. This provides the core challenge of the game: you have to build the necessary materials in order to upgrade your buildings. Each of these materials take different amounts of real time to construct in your factories and shops (or you can buy the materials you need through real-money micro-transactions). As you level up, you'll unlock new materials, which residences will suddenly demand in order to upgrade their buildings.

SimCity Buildit - city
You don't have to manage employment, tax rates, or city ordinances; only resources and service coverage.

The ability to upgrade a building seems to be limited by its happiness level. Only happy residences can be upgraded, so you also need to provide city services such as power, water, waste disposal, emergency services, entertainment, and so on. But these services are very frustrating because they are tied to your city level. New services or entertainments become unlocked when you level up. That's fine. But once those services are unlocked, your entire city starts demanding them, and happiness plummets (as well as tax income, which is tied to happiness) because you don't already have the infrastructure for the services that you just unlocked!

It reminds me a lot of the core problem I had with The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: leveling up feels more like a punishment than a reward.

SimCity Buildit - placing fire station SimCity Buildi - building abandoned due to poor fire coveraget
Providing enough coverage for your services is one of the few challenges that is carried over from the PC version.

There are other minor challenges to the game, like having to keep dirty industry away from your residential zones. But these are usually trivially-easy to accomplish. Especially considering that buildings can be picked up and moved at any time. So even if you make the mistake of placing a factory too close to a house, or leaving a gap in your police coverage, you can just pick up the respective house or building and move it to a more appropriate open space on the map. And it's a good thing that EA included this ability, since you can only have one city in the game, and irrecoverably screwing it up at the beginning would have turned off a lot of players.

Expanding your city limits

Little balloons will pop-up with opinions of your citizens every now and then. Most often, they will be red icons that will tell you what service(s) they are lacking. But sometimes, they will be blue icons that will give you glowing praise. Reading these may award you with items that you can use to upgrade your city storage or buy adjoining plots of land to further expand your city. Having to expand the land area of your city is the one novel feature that I think should be incorporated into other city simulation games on the PC, since it would add both challenge and realism to such games.

It's a pretty simple mechanic in Buildit, and it does come with its annoyances. The storage and land expansion materials that you collect do take up space in your storage, so they kind of defeat their own purpose to a degree. They're also completely random, which can be frustrating if you're waiting for the one material that you need, but keep getting one of which you already have double of what you need. The city also can't grow indefinitely. There is still an absolute max size for a city. The developers basically just partitioned off chunks of the map for you to unlock.

Challenging yourself

SimCity Buildit - cargo challenge
Cargo challenges are trivial to complete.

There are also cargo missions and disaster challenges to make you think there are other fun things to do. These challenges award you with Golden Keys that are used to buy specialization buildings like schools, casinos, or theaters (hooray for yet another form of in-game currency!).

The cargo challenges just require you to construct some set of three resources before the cargo ship departs. It's pretty trivial, and hardly different than the fundamental mechanic of collecting resources to upgrade buildings.

The disaster challenges are similarly uninteresting. You expend some special items in order to trigger a meteor shower, tornado, alien attack, etc that destroys one or more buildings in your city. Then you just have to spend materials to repair it. You basically spend items to de-grade a building, then spend more materials to re-upgrade it again. Once the building is rebuilt, you get a Golden Key. Big whoop.

Dead ends and sloppy design

The most frustrating thing about this game is that it becomes annoyingly difficult to progress once you get far enough into the game. The fact that the important storage and city-expansion items clog up your inventory is just one such progress-blocking problem. And once you get to a high enough population and level to unlock the disaster challenges, then items for that start showing up too, which just decreases the odds of getting the storage and expansion items that you want. You'll even start getting the disaster challenge items before you've paid to fully unlocked the disaster challenges, and you can't turn them off in order to go back to getting supply and expansion items.

SimCity Buildit - upgrade
Residence upgrades rarely require the expensive items, so they feel worthless.

You eventually get to the point where you can't buy useful items from the exchange anymore because it is so full of useless crap like doughnuts and disaster batteries. These items have almost no utility in the game, so anybody who makes the mistake of actually creating or collecting them has to try to pawn it off on some other poor dumb bastard. But since they aren't used for anything, and they are very expensive, nobody buys them. In fact, simple resources like nails and hammers end up being the major bottlenecks, even after you've paid to expand the queue of the shops that produce them.

This is very bad design! If the advanced materials like doughnuts, wristwatches, and ice cream sandwhiches aren't used for anything, then why are they even in the game? And if they just aren't used until much later, then why are they available so early?

At this point, your only recourse is to just keep refreshing the exchange in the hopes of seeing the item you want, or spend your hard-earned SimBucks to buy the item(s) you need. Or, you can do what EA wants you to do, and spend real money to buy the SimBucks necessary to purchase the items that the game simply won't give you anymore, so that you can keep playing the game. If you're a sucker, then this is what you'll do. If not, this is probably where you will fall off the SimCity Buildit bandwagon.

And even if you're lucky enough to find an item you need on the exchange, you can't immediately buy it. You have to load up the other player's city, by which time, the item is probably already gone.

SimCity Buildit - useless exchange items
Eventually, the Global Exchange becomes full of useless, expensive items,
and you can't find the things that you need to progress the game!

And if you do stick around long enough to fully upgrade all your residences, you may be disappointed to see that there's only about half a dozen different skyscraper models. You can't upgrade your houses into palatial mansions; only the same five or six apartments and condominium skyscrapers. So the end city lacks visual variety and just doesn't look that impressive.

I also had trouble getting BuildIt to recognize my Facebook friends who play the game (since you can trade with them and earn achievements for having friends). I thought it was kind of funny that a social game had trouble recognizing my Facebook friends list.

Queuing, queuing, and more queuing, and waiting (or paying)...

Like most social games, SimCity Buildit isn't intended to be a game that you sit down and play continuously for hours on end; you're supposed to just sit down for a few minutes at a time to queue up resources, and spend real money to progress more quickly. It accomplishes this task perfectly adequately, and is a decent diversion for your cell phone. But it just doesn't require much thought or skill, and it eventually dead-ends. If I'm going to start gaming on my phone, I'd much rather play the active puzzle games like Candy Crush or Angry Birds that require active participation and genuine skill.

SimCity Buildit - achievements
Earning achievements gives you SimBucks that are otherwise only acquired via real-money micro-transactions.

But then again, EA is offering Buildit for FREE! (probably because they recognize that it isn't a worthwhile enough game to sell). So it can't hurt to download it and try it out. Just be careful about syncing it to your credit card or bank account. And make sure you have wi-fi access, since it can eat through your data plan pretty quickly.

Other Game Reviews I've Published

>Observer_>Observer_12 Minutes12 Minutes
35mm35mmAce Combat 7Ace Combat 7
ADR1FTADR1FTAlan WakeAlan Wake
Alan Wake 2Alan Wake 2Alien: IsolationAlien: Isolation
Amnesia: a Machine for PigsAmnesia: a Machine for PigsAmnesia: RebirthAmnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia: The BunkerAmnesia: The BunkerAmnesia: the Dark DescentAmnesia: the Dark Descent
Among the SleepAmong the SleepAssassin's Creed IIIAssassin's Creed III
Assassin's Creed IV: Black FlagAssassin's Creed IV: Black FlagAssassin's Creed: OriginsAssassin's Creed: Origins
Assassin's Creed: ValhallaAssassin's Creed: ValhallaAtomic SocietyAtomic Society
Axis Football 18Axis Football 18Axis Football 2019Axis Football 2019
Axis Football 2020Axis Football 2020Axis Football 2021Axis Football 2021
Axis Football 2023Axis Football 2023Axis Football 2024Axis Football 2024
Back to the Future Episode OneBack to the Future Episode OneBackbreaker FootballBackbreaker Football
BanishedBanishedBatman: Arkham CityBatman: Arkham City
Battlefield 1Battlefield 1Blair WitchBlair Witch
BloodborneBloodborneBloodborne: the Old HuntersBloodborne: the Old Hunters
Call of Duty World War IICall of Duty World War IICatherineCatherine
Cities SkylinesCities SkylinesCities Skylines IICities Skylines II
Cities Skylines: After DarkCities Skylines: After DarkCities Skylines: AirportsCities Skylines: Airports
Cities Skylines: CampusCities Skylines: CampusCities Skylines: Financial Districts + World TourCities Skylines: Financial Districts + World Tour
Cities Skylines: Green CitiesCities Skylines: Green CitiesCities Skylines: Hotels & RetreatsCities Skylines: Hotels & Retreats
Cities Skylines: IndustriesCities Skylines: IndustriesCities Skylines: Mass TransitCities Skylines: Mass Transit
Cities Skylines: Natural DisastersCities Skylines: Natural DisastersCities Skylines: ParklifeCities Skylines: Parklife
Cities Skylines: Plazas & PromenadesCities Skylines: Plazas & PromenadesCities Skylines: SnowfallCities Skylines: Snowfall
Cities Skylines: Sunset HarborCities Skylines: Sunset HarborCities: Skylines: Match Day & ver. 1.4Cities: Skylines: Match Day & ver. 1.4
CitiesXL & Cities XXLCitiesXL & Cities XXLControlControl
Crusader Kings IIICrusader Kings IIIDark SoulsDark Souls
Dark Souls Artorias of the Abyss DLCDark Souls Artorias of the Abyss DLCDark Souls IIDark Souls II
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First SinDark Souls II: Scholar of the First SinDark Souls IIIDark Souls III
Dark Souls III: Ashes of AriandelDark Souls III: Ashes of AriandelDark Souls III: the Ringed CityDark Souls III: the Ringed City
Darker SkiesDarker SkiesDawn of ManDawn of Man
Dead Space (2023)Dead Space (2023)Dead Space 2Dead Space 2
Death StrandingDeath StrandingDeath's GambitDeath's Gambit
Deliver Us The MoonDeliver Us The MoonDemon's SoulsDemon's Souls
Demon's Souls (PS5)Demon's Souls (PS5)DepravedDepraved
DeracineDeracineDevil May Cry 5Devil May Cry 5
Disco ElysiumDisco ElysiumDmC (Devil May Cry)DmC (Devil May Cry)
DOOM (2016)DOOM (2016)DreadOutDreadOut
Elden RingElden RingEndling: Extinction Is ForeverEndling: Extinction Is Forever
Event [0]Event [0]F.T.L. (Faster Than Light)F.T.L. (Faster Than Light)
Fallout 4Fallout 4Fallout ShelterFallout Shelter
Far Cry PrimalFar Cry PrimalFinal Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy XIIIFinal Fantasy XIIIFinal Fantasy XVFinal Fantasy XV
FirewatchFirewatchFive Nights at Freddy'sFive Nights at Freddy's
Game of Thrones (Telltale series 1-2)Game of Thrones (Telltale series 1-2)Ghost of TsushimaGhost of Tsushima
God of War (2018)God of War (2018)God of War IIIGod of War III
Gone HomeGone HomeGran Turismo 7Gran Turismo 7
Grand Theft Auto VGrand Theft Auto VGreen Hell VRGreen Hell VR
Hell Let LooseHell Let LooseHellblade: Senua's SacrificeHellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Her StoryHer StoryHumankindHumankind
Imagine EarthImagine EarthKayak VR MirageKayak VR Mirage
Kingdom Come: DeliveranceKingdom Come: DeliveranceL.A. NoireL.A. Noire
Layers Of Fear 2Layers Of Fear 2Legend BowlLegend Bowl
Letters To A Friend: FarewellLetters To A Friend: FarewellLifeless PlanetLifeless Planet
Lollipop ChainsawLollipop ChainsawMad MaxMad Max
Madden NFL 11Madden NFL 11Madden NFL 12Madden NFL 12
Madden NFL 13Madden NFL 13Madden NFL 15Madden NFL 15
Madden NFL 16Madden NFL 16Madden NFL 17Madden NFL 17
Madden NFL 18Madden NFL 18Madden NFL 19Madden NFL 19
Madden NFL 20Madden NFL 20Madden NFL 21Madden NFL 21
Madden NFL 22Madden NFL 22Madden NFL 23Madden NFL 23
Madden NFL 24Madden NFL 24MADiSONMADiSON
Mars Rover LandingMars Rover LandingMarvel's Spider-ManMarvel's Spider-Man
Marvel's Spider-Man 2Marvel's Spider-Man 2Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles MoralesMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Master of Orion: Conquer the StarsMaster of Orion: Conquer the StarsMaximum Football 2018Maximum Football 2018
Maximum Football 2019Maximum Football 2019Maximum Football2020Maximum Football2020
Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom PainMetal Gear Solid V: the Phantom PainMiasmataMiasmata
Middle-Earth: Shadow of MordorMiddle-Earth: Shadow of MordorMiddle-Earth: Shadow of WarMiddle-Earth: Shadow of War
Monster Hunter: WorldMonster Hunter: WorldMoons of MadnessMoons of Madness
NCAA Football 11NCAA Football 11NCAA Football 12NCAA Football 12
NCAA Football 13NCAA Football 13NFL Pro EraNFL Pro Era
NiohNiohNo Man's SkyNo Man's Sky
ObservationObservationOuter WildsOuter Wilds
Outer Wilds: Echoes of the EyeOuter Wilds: Echoes of the EyeOutlastOutlast
Pacific DrivePacific DrivePapers, PleasePapers, Please
Portal 2Portal 2Red Dead RedemptionRed Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption IIRed Dead Redemption IIResident Evil 2Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3Resident Evil 3Resident Evil RemasteredResident Evil Remastered
Resident Evil VII: BiohazardResident Evil VII: BiohazardResident Evil VIII VillageResident Evil VIII Village
Return of the Obra DinnReturn of the Obra DinnRock Band 3Rock Band 3
Room 404Room 404Sekiro: Shadows Die TwiceSekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Settlement SurvivalSettlement SurvivalShadow of the Colossus (2018)Shadow of the Colossus (2018)
Sid Meier's Civilization VSid Meier's Civilization VSid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New WorldSid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & KingsSid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & KingsSid Meier's Civilization VISid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering StormSid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering StormSid Meier's Civilization VI: Rise and FallSid Meier's Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond EarthSid Meier's Civilization: Beyond EarthSid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth Rising TideSid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth Rising Tide
Silent Hill 4: the RoomSilent Hill 4: the RoomSilent Hill HD CollectionSilent Hill HD Collection
Silent Hill: Shattered MemoriesSilent Hill: Shattered MemoriesSilent Hill: The Short MessageSilent Hill: The Short Message
Silicon DreamsSilicon DreamsSillent Hill DownpourSillent Hill Downpour
SimCity (2013)SimCity (2013)SimCity BuilditSimCity Buildit
SomaSomaSong of HorrorSong of Horror
Spider-Man: Edge of TimeSpider-Man: Edge of TimeSpider-Man: Shattered DimensionsSpider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Star Trek ResurgenceStar Trek ResurgenceStar Trek TrexelsStar Trek Trexels
Star Wars Battlefront IIStar Wars Battlefront IIStar Wars Jedi Fallen OrderStar Wars Jedi Fallen Order
Star Wars SquadronsStar Wars SquadronsStellarisStellaris
Stellaris mod: New HorizonsStellaris mod: New HorizonsStranded DeepStranded Deep
StrayStrayTacomaTacoma
The Amazing Spider-ManThe Amazing Spider-ManThe Amazing Spider-Man 2The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The Callisto ProtocolThe Callisto ProtocolThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLCThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLCThe Evil WithinThe Evil Within
The Evil Within 2The Evil Within 2The Last GuardianThe Last Guardian
The Last of UsThe Last of UsThe Last of Us Part IIThe Last of Us Part II
The Outer WorldsThe Outer WorldsThe SaboteurThe Saboteur
The SwapperThe SwapperThe Witcher 3 expansionsThe Witcher 3 expansions
The Witcher 3: Wild HuntThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntThis War of MineThis War of Mine
This War of Mine: the Little OnesThis War of Mine: the Little OnesTomb Raider (2013)Tomb Raider (2013)
Total War: AttilaTotal War: AttilaTotal War: Rome IITotal War: Rome II
Total War: Shogun 2Total War: Shogun 2Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the SamuraiTotal War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
TrineTrineTropico 5Tropico 5
U-BoatU-BoatUltimate General: Civil WarUltimate General: Civil War
Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionUntil DawnUntil Dawn
VirginiaVirginiaVisageVisage
What Remains of Edith FinchWhat Remains of Edith Finch 

Comments (3) -

02/15/2015 13:51:37 #

Funny, shortly after you published your review, now the last few days, Jason and I don't see batteries and donuts anymore Smile.

I don't know if now we've leveled high enough where it's not an issue too much or if they patched it. It was a very inopportune time though, because we finally did need donuts LOL.

Also, we don't get nearly as many Remotes, Batteries, or Gloves anymore. We've mostly been getting useful items (expansion and storage upgrade items). It could just be RNG and we've been lucky now though.

02/15/2015 14:39:02 #

Yeah, I've actually noticed that too. I still play every now and then when I'm really bored and have wifi access. Either the devs patched it, or players wised up and stopped making the crappy stuff. I actually think it might have been a patch, because I'm noticing more building upgrades are requiring doughnuts, watches, and stuff like that. Still not very many though...

50HellsofPain
50HellsofPain
06/26/2022 04:03:44 #

great game

Contribute Comment

avatar


We'll incarnate your avatar from the services below.
PlayStation Network Steam Xbox LIVE Facebook MySpace Pinterest Twitter YouTube deviantART LiveJournal



biuquote
  • Comment
  • Preview


Grid Clock Widget
12      60
11      55
10      50
09      45
08      40
07      35
06      30
05      25
04      20
03      15
02      10
01      05
Grid Clock provided by trowaSoft.

A gamer's thoughts

Welcome to Mega Bears Fan's blog, and thanks for visiting! This blog is mostly dedicated to game reviews, strategies, and analysis of my favorite games. I also talk about my other interests, like football, science and technology, movies, and so on. Feel free to read more about the blog.

Check out my YouTube content at YouTube.com/MegaBearsFan.

Follow me on Twitter at: twitter.com/MegaBearsFan

Patreon

If you enjoy my content, please consider Supporting me on Patreon:
Patreon.com/MegaBearsFan

FTC guidelines require me to disclose that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made by clicking on Amazon product links on this site. All Amazon Associate links are for products relevant to the given blog post, and are usually posted because I recommend the product.

Without Gravity

And check out my colleague, David Pax's novel Without Gravity on his website!

Featured Post

The Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season RecruitingThe Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season Recruiting08/01/2022 If you're a fan of college football video games, then I'm sure you're excited by the news from early 2021 that EA will be reviving its college football series. They will be doing so without the NCAA license, and under the new title, EA Sports College Football. I guess Bill Walsh wasn't available for licensing either? Expectations...

Random Post

New Horizons space probe completes NASA's planetary collectionNew Horizons space probe completes NASA's planetary collection07/16/2015 NASA's New Horizons spacecraft set a major milestone for human space exploration earlier this week. Its approach of Pluto means that every solar body that is now - or ever has been - considered a "planet" has been visited by at least one NASA space probe. The probe was launched in January of 2006 (back when Pluto was still a...

Month List

Recent Comments

Comment RSS