This is the first "real" mobile SimCity and it's a nice game, but it's more Clash of Clans than classic Sim City and the free to play model doesn't work very well.
To enjoy the game, the secret is NOT paying money. When following this advice, the game becomes a fun game of trading and revenue from building, demolishing, and time management. With money, the game becomes one of instant gratification and only visuals - which takes all the strategy out of it. I recommend saving up for those large items like you would in a non paid game. It I think the most frustrating thing is dealing with those taunts from the game trying to get you to spend money, but you get used to them.
If moving buildings around all the time to squeeze in a fire department or a police station, while waiting for the slow trickle of money and resources that you need to expand, sounds like fun, then jump right into SimCity BuildIt. Just be aware, patience is necessary, and don’t expect to have marathon sessions with the game.
Sim City Build It is a strange mishmash of free-to-play trappings, resource management, and other oddities that don't necessarily make sense within the context of the game as a franchise or even as a stand-alone app. Pass on it and choose something much meatier to spend your time with.
This is the first Simcity game that I have ever played and I gotta say it is quite fun.
The it's nice to be able to create the city you want, although there aren't a lot of customization for the individual buildings, it's not bad for a mobile device that is free.
Only downside is editing my city. If I wanted to recreate my city or slide a couple of house down one block to make more space, it is a pain since you have to do it individually.
But overall definitely fun to play for the cost of $0.
I've been a SimCity'er since playing the first one on my sister's Apple IIC. I remember SimCity 2000, in its full color glory, and then from generation after generation, I kept losing interest. The charm wore off, and it just felt clunkier, more graphics heavy, and excuses to incorporate The Sims or other aspects that I was never interested in.
This is the first SimCity that I've gotten re-addicted to. The game is still not what it used to be, about collecting money, keeping citizens happy, and figuring out how to balance R, C, and I zones. The focus is now on farming commodities, and strategic placement of Police/Fire/Hospitals, or the city will just die. The commodities themselves can be sold or used for other achievements in the game.
I think it's fun initially as you are unlocking new resources and a few new challenges (like the shipping dock, the HQ's for buying/selling, etc.)... each "level up" introduces new resources to gather. But after a while I started to dread the level up, which would tend to unlock things that I couldn't afford, add on resources that meant more work, and then also citizens would begin to expect new services, become picker about traffic etc. etc. The game progressed from novel to feeling a bit burdensome.
I think if you're willing to play really casually, or you're ready to spend a few bucks to expedite the advanced parts of the game, then this game is awesome. But as a 100% free player who doesn't want to play all day and night to get ahead, it gets too taxing at a certain point. I realize that is probably the goal of the developers anyhow - make it tempting to spend money, or just quit, ya know?
A good idea buried inside of pay to win mechanics. As someone who likes the SimCity franchise (yes, even 2013) I was interested. Instead, I found a worse-than-usual pay to win mechanic. Cities Skylines costs less than 1/3 of the price of the largest payment here. Just another part of EA's plan to ruin every good game there is. The game's AI purposefully prevents the items you need from getting onto your hands by the market. EA, I'm not interested.
My nostalgia kicked in when I saw the app on google store and wanted to check it out. The game starts quite slowly but very soon, after less than 30 minutes the game already feels like a grind. I know it's a freemium game but seriously... seriously??? Too bad about the shinny graphics that are overshadowed by the grindy mechanism behind the game... too bad.