Sim City DS (20 Characters)

Didn't see any posts about this, but I just purchased the JPN version and am waiting for it to come in the mail. I know the US version just was announced for a summer release, but I just cannot wait. I will write some impressions when it arrives. Any other Sim fans stoked about this?

I was very excited about it...until I played it. For all the raves I've read about the menu system, I'm not that thrilled with it. I wish that they had kept the city view on the upper screen and transferred it to the bottom only after you selected what you wanted to "plant."

Don't get me wrong, it's done very well and it's nice to have a good portable version of this but the controls are a little wonky to me. Maybe some extra time with it will cure that.

How is the speed when scrolling through the city? Is the DS powerful to process all that data?

Definitely interested in this, I'd love to have a portable version of SimCity considering I played way too much of the SNES version. Probably wait for the US version though.

I'd love to hear more impressions of the game.

Eldios said:

How is the speed when scrolling through the city? Is the DS powerful to process all that data?

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i haven't built a city yet to see - scrolling around is a pain in the ass - a real exercise in patience. there's gotta be a way to slow it down because it's hit or miss with scroll sensitivity via the stylus.

but then again, my touch screen's been screwy as of late.

bugula said:

i haven't built a city yet to see - scrolling around is a pain in the ass - a real exercise in patience. there's gotta be a way to slow it down because it's hit or miss with scroll sensitivity via the stylus.

but then again, my touch screen's been screwy as of late.

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I got this game about 2 weeks ago. I really wanted to put some time into it before I posted so not to judge prematurely. I am glad I did. Let me say that if you are a fan of Sim City, you will love this game. It is just as addictive as the PC versions, and offers the same challenging yet fun game play. I was experiencing the same problems as bugula with the scrolling, but then I realized that you should not drag your stylus across the screen (because it will scroll too fast) until you get the timing down. Instead, if you tap the stylus, then magically it scrolls at a perfect speed. Getting use to the DS is tricky at first. Really plan on giving yourself at least 1 hour to get the controls down. I will guarantee you will place shit in the wrong spot. It is just the nature of the beast. However, luckily EA was kind enough to include what I like the call the "Oh Shit" button. This button basically allows you to erase what you just did if you press it within a few seconds of placing a piece in a square. This has saved me tons of cash, and also can be used to test out how things will look if you are not sure where they should go.

Graphic wise I am a bit disappointed. The graphics are decent, and there is a zoom button to see your buildings up close, but it is nothing like Sim City 4. The city does animate, but again, nothing like Sim City 4. Still, the DS pushes a lot of info pretty well, and then game runs smoothly. It is a handheld after all, so maybe I am being too harsh.

Sound is ok. Nothing great. Sim City 4 music was much more soothing in my opinion. Music changes after you hit certain population milestones.

Anyway, just some quick thoughts. I am extremely proud to say that my little city just hit the 100,000 pop. mark last night while still netting around $4,600 a month. Personally, I am loving this little game, and can recommend it to any fans of the series. This is, by far, the best airplane game for the DS because time just melts away (which is why I was up until 4:30 last night trying to get 500 more sims to move into my city in order to reach 100k).

One final thought. JPN one is not too import friendly in my opinion. Lots of kanji and Japanese text. I would say if you have studied Japanese for a solid 3 years and don't mind looking up and memorizing some really frequently used Kanji, you could probably get through it. However, you really need to know whats going on so that you can listen to your advisers and give the people what they want. Luckily the English version (which I will probably pick up as well) will be out in a few months. However, the JPN is cool in that it has all of the Japanese castles in Japan as winnable prizes. Kind of cool in my opinion as this will probably be taken out for the local versions.

Well, you touched on something I loved about previous versions (and pioneered on the SNES edition, I believe): prizes/gifts. I am a now-latent SimCity fanatic. I played it religiously on my Commodore 64 (v1.4), and then it was the reason I got an SNES (just the core system + SimCity). I then played SC2k to the point of being a freakin' master, then took it to the next level with SCURK's toolkit. I later dabbled a bit with SC3k, but didn't have as much time as I used to --I haven't player SC4.

The game seems perfect for those flights I'm always on --I assume music isn't important to the gameplay, and it's great for just mindless hour-wasting while monitoring city growth and getting that quite little buzz when you get a high-end commercial building to sprout...

I'd hate to ask this sort of backward-looking comparison, but how is it like compared to SC3k or 2k (since I've never owned or played 4).

Thanks

Bobak said:

Well, you touched on something I loved about previous versions (and pioneered on the SNES edition, I believe): prizes/gifts. I am a now-latent SimCity fanatic. I played it religiously on my Commodore 64 (v1.4), and then it was the reason I got an SNES (just the core system + SimCity). I then played SC2k to the point of being a freakin' master, then took it to the next level with SCURK's toolkit. I later dabbled a bit with SC3k, but didn't have as much time as I used to --I haven't player SC4.

The game seems perfect for those flights I'm always on --I assume music isn't important to the gameplay, and it's great for just mindless hour-wasting while monitoring city growth and getting that quite little buzz when you get a high-end commercial building to sprout...

I'd hate to ask this sort of backward-looking comparison, but how is it like compared to SC3k or 2k (since I've never owned or played 4).

Thanks

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To be honest I started my Sim addiction with 4, so I never have played 2k or 3k. The DS game, however, is based on 3k, so I would assume it is very similar. I imagine those chose to base it on 3 because 4 would not work well on a handheld because there is a hell of a lot more micromanaging than the previous editions, and trying to do that on a small screen would be hell.

Oh, you are so right about the high end commercial buildings. I feel like a kid in a candy store when they sprout up. Such a feeling of accomplishment.

Eldios said:

To be honest I started my Sim addiction with 4, so I never have played 2k or 3k. The DS game, however, is based on 3k, so I would assume it is very similar. I imagine those chose to base it on 3 because 4 would not work well on a handheld because there is a hell of a lot more micromanaging than the previous editions, and trying to do that on a small screen would be hell.

Oh, you are so right about the high end commercial buildings. I feel like a kid in a candy store when they sprout up. Such a feeling of accomplishment.

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Wow, late to the party --but welcome aboard!

Here's a video review I found on youtube. Should give you a good idea of what to expect.

My city is at 110,000 pop and I am in the black netting around $4500 a month. Once you hit the 100,000 mark and start running out of land, game gets very hard as the population starts to level out. Trying to figure out how I can make people move in. It is strange because my residential demand bar is through the roof, but pop is increasing very slowly. Any advice from 3k players?

Bump

Just wanted to point out that the US release date is June 20th.

Can't wait...

I guess disasters can be turned off in the options.

No fires, no need for fire departments.

Bonus!