SimCity Societies: Build the City YOU Want

I'm a gamer, through and through. I waste more time on games than practically anything else in life, often to the consternation of my hubby, but that's just me. I'm not such a fan of the typical shoot-em-up types though. To me, a game has to have a mental challenge involved to be interesting. My favorite games also have one other thing in common: many ways to play, so you can tailor your experience to your own personal tastes.

The Sims franchise is a great example of the custom-tailored gaming experience. It offers a nearly endless realm of possibilities. You can spend hours building the most fascinating houses, or trying to balance your sims' needs, or moving them through generation after generation to see how the great-great-grandkids resemble their ancestors. And after all of that you still haven't exhausted all of the possible gameplay options.

Another thing to look for in a game is a focus on strategy or logic. The Civilization series is great for this. You have to plan from the very start what you intend to do with your nation, in order to set up the proper technologies and diplomacy to accomplish your goals. Do you want to be a military might? Better work on building up your troops early on or you'll fall behind. Prefer to peacefully absorb other nations' cities? Invest your research efforts into the arts and build up the cultural centers of your cities. Again, plenty of possibilities, plenty of planning needed.

So now there's a new game coming out that has my full attention. It's no secret that I'm a huge Maxis fan. I've been playing Sim City since it came out on the SNES way back when. Of course, at the time the greatest joy in the game was building up a huge city and then setting lose a tornado or even Godzilla to wreak havoc on your helpless populace. These days though, gamers require quite a bit more from a gaming experience, and the last few Sim City releases just haven't really been quite up to par. They've lacked the creative drive and new features that would have put them back on top of the simulation gaming category.