SimCity

Even with its much-publicized server problems resolved, the latest SimCity installment fails to excite or addict as much as previous games in the series.

In some ways I'd equate SimCity to an early version of Minecraft: a wonderfully creative toy attached to a barely functional game. The most important parts of something really cool are here already, and that's enough for me to recommend it to people with a tolerance for buggy but beautiful things. If you go in, do so with the understanding that you will almost certainly hit frustrating bugs like the ones I've mentioned, but the rewards can certainly be worth it. Of course, it should go without saying that if you're opposed to always-online games in general, you should sit this one out.

SimCity is a visually striking homage to a classic series that takes city building in bold new directions, but troubling business decisions and technical snafus spell trouble.

You’ve got to hand it to SimCity – some games are a triumph, some are a disaster, but it takes something truly special to be both at the same time. So much has been said about the game’s troubled launch, not least by us, that it’s almost pointless to repeat it. Requiring a constant connection to an online server only works if you have enough servers and they work reliably, otherwise you have a recipe for anger, resentment and confusion. That’s a problem for EA to sort out in the short term, however in the long-term the online focus of SimCity raises other issues, and while these don’t necessarily hobble the game, they do affect the way you have to play it.

Unfortunately, the sheer complexity of SimCity also has some negative effects. The game occasionally makes some bizarre decisions at times when it comes to traffic management, creating bottlenecks where there really shouldn’t be any bottlenecks. Build ample fire-stations for your burgeoning city, and you’ll still find cases where every engine reports to one burning household, leaving the factory on the waterfront to go up in smoke. Likewise, you’ll also find one store going out of business while its neighbour reports vast profits – all for reasons that you can’t begin to grasp.