The word “Sim” is one the most famous in the video game world. Gaming legend Will Wright gave birth to a line of games that can trace its lineage all the way back to the original SimCity on the Commodore 64 released in 1989. I remember it fondly as the second video game I ever played, after Art Of War. Since then there have been a myriad of titles released by Maxis and later EA using the powerful “Sim” designation. A good half dozen titles and spin-offs exist in the core SimCity line-up, with even more titles existing in “The Sims” universe. And the future of the titles shows no signs of winding down, despite some serious blunders. Case in point; EA’s newest “Sim” game, SimCity Societies.

Find out what EA has done to their latest SimCity title after the jump!

The train wreck that is SimCity Societies is nothing short of a virtual kick in the pants to anyone who ever loved the SimCity titles. The fact that Mr. Wright was not on the design team for this game is obvious. The intrinsic use of checks and balances needed to maintain and run a city/society which are at the very core of every SimCity game ever are nowhere to be found in SimCity Societies. The game is so painfully easy a better name for it would be “giggling blond cheerleader world”.

Despite having a ton of buildings and decorations to create your city with, and some nice sound effects and visuals, the game has nothing at all to offer SimCity fans. There is no challenge in making your city, nor is there any noticeable connection between your design and Sim happiness. In fact the interconnectivity of most everything is terrible. On top of that you have a sluggish graphic engine.

I had not ventured into the world of “Sim” since the release of SimCity 4 in 2003. “The Sims” series held no appeal for me as dealing with my real life friendships and home life are more than exciting and time consuming enough for me. But with the release of SimCity Societies I was really looking forward to a bit of nostalgia mixed with a fresh version of my favorite city builder of all time. Thanks EA, once again you’ve taken a fantastic franchise and released what amounts to offal pressed into a cd.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go cry myself to sleep and wait until Will finally releases Spore.

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