Having been invited to the closed beta of SimCity this weekend, I thought I'd take to my keyboard and get some of my early thoughts out there.

Be aware though that the game is still in beta and over a month away, so any criticism here can be taken with a pinch of salt until the full game is out. You also only get one single hour, and any SimCity fan knows that it takes days or weeks of gameplay to get a decent city built.

As much as I'd love to post some videos or screenshots I took, I'm not 100% on how strict the NDA is for this beta.

So, without further ado, these are a few of the main additions, improvements and problems I found in one hour of the game.

Space

The real major complaint stemming from the beta is the issue of how much space you are given to build your city. I have to agree that upon being given my chunk of land, the first thing I noticed was that it was considerably smaller than past games. As the beta is only an hour, I didn't get the time to decide whether it was actually enough or not. What I can say, is that in one hour I had filled approximately half of the land. Part of this is due to the amount of road that is required for zoning (see below), and another part is due to the fact I was rushing, but even so it felt like it could easily be filled in a day of play.

It is a genuine worry, and in a recent Reddit Q+A, it was confirmed that the largest spaces available in SimCity are around the size of a medium landscape in Sim City 4. It's difficult to understand why this is, given that with the resources available today, you'd expect a bigger city if anything. If this game receives any negative reviews or comments, it's highly likely that the small spaces will be at the root of the complaints. It also leaves me wondering exactly what use an airport or rail system might be, unless of course they are linked to other cities.

Other cities are available to play in the same region, so if you find yourself out of room it is possible to make a new city and have it cooperate with the old one. The two will function and work together like neighbours if you allow it. However, I get the feeling that those empty spaces are really meant for playing with friends.

Zoning and Building Modules

After the atrocity that was Sim City Societies, it's good to see area zoning back. It's not SimCity without residential, commercial and industrial zoning, and it's all back with all the proper indicators and meters that you need. It has been simplified though, which I still can't decide is for the better or worse. The good thing is that it's no longer possible to control the zoning of different land values yourself. Where before you could zone residential areas for the poor, middle class and rich separately, the game now does that for you. You'll simply zone the area, and as land values rise (through low pollution, good transport, low crime etc.) the sims will simply upgrade the buildings themselves. It works, because it means you really have to work to keep land values up if you want big skyscrapers and large hotels.

One of the downsides of the new system though, is that zones now have to be placed directly onto a road. Previously, you'd zone a large square area and the game would add some roads in for you, leaving you to upgrade them at a later date. Now, you can only zone the edges of existing roads. It makes sense, but I found that space was very quickly becoming less as I had to constantly lay new roads to zone new areas. It means you have to have a line of road on either side of every row of buildings, or try to make the gap between two roads big enough to fit two streets of buildings without wasting precious space - which can be difficult to tell at first. It led to me often zoning an area and sims not having enough room to build on it, rendering it wasted space. I'm not saying it's a bad system, but it takes a little getting used to and could possibly result in a city with a LOT of road when given more than an hours playtime. This adds to the feeling of larger canvases being needed.

Gameplay footage showing zoning

Aside from zoning, you can still put buildings down ('plop', as the game puts it) singly in the form of fire/police stations, hospitals, schools and many more. A new feature to this however, is modules. They are extensions and add-ons to buildings you've already placed that enhance both its properties and design. It can include adding extra classrooms for a school rather than forking out for an entire new building, or simply adding some extra squad cars to a police station. The beta locked out most of the upgrades, but it's easy to see how adding modules to existing buildings will be essential later on.

City Specialisation

One of the major new additions to SimCity is what Maxis have called City Specialisation. It's pretty self-explanatory and can be seen in most of the videos that Maxis have put out. The beta only shows seven specialisations to choose from, but I'd say more are likely to be added post-release. Only Gambling was available this time, and then only a single casino. On my second run through, I flew through the things I'd normally plan carefully - zoning, road placement, pollution worries - and got right into placing my casino to see the difference it makes.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The casino brought in some criminals, crime went up dramatically and I hadn't yet placed a police station, causing chaos. Many of the buildings already built were torn down and new hotels put up to accommodate the tourist influx. Land values rose around the casino, and so did my funds. I placed a few modules - a comedy club and a room for reasonably rich folk. That brought more business. Coffee shops and hardware stores disappeared, restaurants and posh banks put in their place. The city suddenly felt more alive, like it had a reason for being there. Night fell and the casino glowed in the centre of my town as people continued to flock to it. It became instantly obvious that in order to get a bustling, vibrant metropolis like was shown in the trailers, you have to take up a specialisation. That's really the idea of the game.

Official Maxis Screenshot of a Casino City

Unfortunately, the other, larger casinos were blocked for the beta, but I'm incredibly intrigued to see what happens when the larger ones are laid down. I would assume that as you upgrade and build better things from the specialisation menu, sims will upgrade the rest of the city themselves providing the land value is kept high. Specialisations are what are likely to form the backbone of your town, and as a result the towns around you.

Verdict

It's far too early to say whether or not SimCity will be a huge success, and the beta didn't allow for enough access to different parts of the game to really give a definitive review.

The game does feel like it's been dumbed down slightly, perhaps for the benefit of younger players. Statistics about your city now appear less detailed than before, and while this could be seen as a negative, it does actually allow for smoother, more relaxed gameplay. I'll stress again though, it's entirely possible that some options were simply locked out for the beta.

Still, it takes a good hour of careful city building to be ready for a specialisation, meaning that most beta players won't get chance to really tinker with it unless they rush like I did. I firmly believe that the specialisations will transform your city in more ways than I mentioned above. Mining cities will cause pollution in the way that casinos cause crime, and it's sure to bring a new dynamic to the gameplay.

What I can definitively say is that I thoroughly enjoyed what I played and I now have no doubts about keeping my pre-order. I played through my hour about 5 times, experimenting with different methods, and each one provided a different experience. It's incredible zooming down to street level and just watching your city come to life.

With the only major worry at this point being the small city size, SimCity is shaping up to be an incredible game and one that should be enjoyed by most.

When something is 12 years in the making, it's quite normal for one to begin questioning whether or not it's actually going to be worth the wait. How can something that entered development at the turn of the millennium still be relevant and up to date with modern technology as it progresses at an ever-accelerating speed?

Often, a long wait is accompanied by increasing anticipation and high expectations. So high in fact, that it's impossible not to be disappointed in some capacity. We've seen it recently with films like Avatar and games like Duke Nukem Forever.

Thankfully, Diablo 3 has very few things to complain about.

Having entered development in 2001, the return to Sanctuary has been a long, long time coming. If you've been a Diablo fan since the last game, that is.

For many (including myself), Diablo 3 will be a completely new experience with much to discover and learn about. This is where everybody's in for a treat, because the game is full to the brim with stuff to do, none of which ever seem to get boring.

My first experience with Diablo 3 was only a few weeks before launch when I attempted to play the open beta, and admittedly, if it hadn't been brought to my attention by someone else that the open beta had started then I probably wouldn't have bothered. Unfortunately, the open beta wasn't a very smooth operation for anybody involved and I struggled to even get past the login screen for most of it.

It was enough to pluck my interest though, and upon release I managed to get hold of a trial code. Trial codes are found in all boxed copies of the game, so you can pass them to your friends if you bought a physical copy. It will allow the person to get to level 10 or play up to the end of Act I depending on which comes first - more than enough time to get a taste for the game.

I bought the game straight after and quickly realised that I'd be trading in the next few days of my actual life in order to live out a virtual one in Sanctuary. There are five available classes - Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor and Wizard. Each is fully voiced, has primary stats, unique powers and wields specific weapons, all of which you'd expect in a typical RPG. Nothing out of the ordinary. One small, yet early let-down was the inability to customise the look of your character, but that's really neither here nor there.

After choosing your class and giving it a hilariously geeky name, you'll find yourself in New Tristram, where the dead are rising like nobody's business. You're barely given a chance to walk five steps before you're slaughtering zombies and demons. In order to avoid spoilers, I won't say much other than what is obvious - you have to get to the bottom of the walking dead problem.

The first major speed-bump that I found myself struggling to get past was that Diablo 3 is not World of Warcraft. It's an RPG and it's made by Blizzard, but that's where the similarities stop. Having not known what to expect at first, it took me an hour or so to really get used to the feel of the game. Once you get comfortable with it though, it's a complete joy to play.

There are four acts to play through before completing the game, each with a final boss battle, and you'll move to a new area at the start of each act. Overall, my first play-through took around 18 hours of me taking my time to see everything the world had to offer me. For the less patient people out there, you can probably speed your way through the campaign in half that time - although that's not what Diablo 3 is about and I really don't recommend it.

Like other Diablo games, the fun doesn't stop after the first play-through. As a matter of fact, you've only just scratched the surface. The game offers you the chance to play the entire game again on Nightmare difficulty, with much tougher enemies and better loot to destroy them with. If you manage that, you'll still have the Hell and Inferno difficulties waiting for you - both with increasingly better loot and frustratingly powerful enemies. This is what will keep players coming back for the years to come. Better still, thanks to the random dungeon generator, no area will ever be the same twice. This means that each time you decide to play Diablo 3 again, the layout of many areas will be different, keeping everything fresh and new.

As is the case with most games, Diablo 3 is a hell of a lot more fun when you play with friends. The entire game is designed to be fully solo-able, but you're free to join a friend's game at any point and slay demons together, making the game a lot more interesting and adding a new dynamic to your play style. In addition, there's no need to worry about having to scramble for the best drops after a boss battle, since everyone gets different items and you'll only be able to see your own loot, meaning you can take some time to clear out inventory space if needed. Be warned though, anything you drop on the floor after picking up is seen by everybody, and they'll be free to take it.

Think of the multiplayer element as a drop-in/drop-out kind of mechanic. Although, you'll find yourself being put back a few quests if you attempt to join a friend at a point in the story that you've already passed yourself. This means that if you want to run through every act together then you couldn't play that character unless your buddy is online too. It can be frustrating, but it's easily preventable by simply having separate characters for solo and co-op purposes.

Graphically the game is very nice. Of course, it's not the most beautiful game in the world, but you wouldn't expect that from a PC/Mac only title. Even so, animations are brilliant, shadows look great and character models are nice and crisp. Much of the game has a very depressing feel to it. Areas are dark and dingy with blood stained stone floors, skeletons lying around and destruction everywhere. The environments are immersive and the sound effects are fantastic too. If you like to play with headphones and you have a decent pair, then Diablo 3 will definitely surprise you with it's sound effects. However, while explosions, spells, and the sound of killing demons is excellent, the dialogue is often extremely corny and cheesy. It doesn't take away from the game too much, but there were a few lines that were intended to be deadly serious but I had to have a little chuckle about.

The cutscenes in particular really did blow me away. I wasn't expecting much at all in terms of story development, but after each act you'll be treated to a 2-3 minute CGI cutscene to move things along, and they're visually and audibly incredible.

In summary, Diablo 3 surprised me in every way possible. Considering I hadn't given a single thought to picking it up until a few weeks before release, it's turned out to be one of my favourite games this year so far. The replay value is nothing short of immense, and Blizzard are highly likely to release expansions later on if previous Diablo games are anything to go by. If you're even remotely thinking about playing it then my advice would be to do so. Trial codes can be found online if you're lucky enough to find someone who still has one. Whatever you do though, don't form a final judgement on the game based on YouTube videos or indeed reviews like this one. They don't do justice to the level of fun you can have with the game, and you really have to experience it yourself. I've clocked over 30 hours on my wizard and over 10 with my barbarian and there's no end in sight for me yet. While there's a few issues with the game such as the delay in the real-money auction house, connection/latency problems and the disappearance of items when they don't sell in the auction house, Blizzard are on top of most bugs and are fixing them all fluidly. Regardless, none of the issues really take away from the game, but combined with the minor annoyances mentioned about playing with friends and dialogue are enough to leave the game just short of a perfect score.

There's a reason that Diablo 3 broke pre-order records and became the fastest selling PC game ever (3.5 million copies in 24 hours), and if there was ever a time to apply the phrase "don't knock it until you've tried it," then this is it.

Score: 9/10


by Rob Best