10 Things you need to know about: SimCity

SimCity is almost upon us, and the first couple of reviews are dropping, so just what is there to look out for in this new reboot?

1. SimCity is a city-building and urban-planning simulator, based off the franchise originally kicked off with the 1989 title of the same name.
2. The new streamlined look and feel of SimCity does away with some of the infrastructural minutia present in previous SimCity games, in favour of more strategic and managerial choices.
3. The game can track up to 100'000 sims as they move about the city, each with their own place of work, home and needs, similar to The Sims.
4. New to the series are 'ploppables', which are additions to existing buildings which can be added on for additional functionality.
5. Cities are significantly smaller this time around, but there are several cities in 'regions' which interact with one another (you can sell your excess goods or services to neighbouring cities, for example).
6. Based on the type of city you create, your metropolis will start to become 'themed', by becoming a high tech city, and industrial centre, an entertainment district or more.
7. Another addition to the series is residential and other zoning areas conforming to the types of roads they're placed against.
8. Cities now have finite resources, meaning trade with nearby cities becomes essential. Those cities are controlled by other players in an online environment.
9. In accordance with the online play, the game requires connections to EA's servers, which has produced significant delays in people being able to play and caused a disparity between theincredibly high critical reviews and the user reception. Whether the same issues hit European territories remains to be seen.
10. The game is out in Australia and New Zealand on PC tomorrow for AUD$79.95 or NZD$99.95.