I too had a chance to try out SCS

[Kiya]

Today I visited DigiExpo and SkiExpo in our capital city. As I knew there are also many game companies I went looking for EA too. And right, they do have a huge game section there. And guess where I went right away! Yes, there are 3 laptops with SCS installed! WOHOO In a way I was lucky since not many were interested in trying SCS out, so I could play it 2 hours straight (until something else came up).

My very first impression was GREAT GAME! Very easy to learn, since the menu is helpful and intuitive. I first did a tutorial, so I wasn't able to do mistakes. Later when I was doing it 'on my own' it was already easy to keep an eye on the important statistics. Clicking on the 'numbers in red' would tell which buildings would help in that situation (bring the needed quality like creativity).

I will definitely buy the game, but my curiosity is satisfied...for a few days at least.

I took some pics there. First is Sims booth with EA booth girls (sorry if you compare them to the ones in Thai Expo).

First I thought the game is already for sale but no, just for preorder without any delivery costs. The last one is 'a murderous storm'. Later it says the material damage was 18900 $.

[Rnett]

Beautiful.

Another thing to remember is it will be on dvd rom.

[Kiya]

Yes the box says 'DVD only'.

One more thing I like very much was the game selecting menu right after the intro movie. You can choose a name for your city, the difficulty and the map, which game mode. Remaking the map is as easy as anything else. A slider for water, vegetation and so one. And there are lots of different climate zones from tropical to tundra! You simply click one of these and bit slider work, the game makes a map for you in seconds! Plus gives you a minimap before you enter it in case you still want to have something else. I think this is as easy as if made for a five year old. Sweet

[Urbanist]

Hey Kiya,

Did you notice how big the maps were?

Also did you try laying roads at a diag or even putting two together to see what it may produce?

[Kiya]

The maps seemed to be big enough. Since I was learning it all I didn't use much of the territory available.

There were ordinary roads, village paths which seemed to be as wide as the others , metro and bus stops, and something else too. While I was building my first two cities only the two were available. And I must add I quite forget to try what would happen if I put two roads side by side.

Buildings I was able to put diagonal but again I forget about the roads. I got mixed up with all of the hundreds of buildings... ivorytower, different tree houses, gingerbread houses, fantasy castle, Victorian and Tudor houses, huts and things...they all come in more than one different shape. BTW the haunted house is one of the first buildings they want you to build in the tutorial!

My third city was built using the free mode with unlimited money and all the buildings available. Soon I was simply trying out all of them, placing them all over the place. Although money was no problem people still wanted to have work, be happy ... so it wasn't all that simple after all. LOL

[Tinkerbell]

Thankx, Kiya! You said they had it on laptops when I had heard that laptops were not supported.

Looks like I will finally have to fix my dvd drive.

[Kiya]

Yes, all of the EA games were on laptops there. So SCS will work on some if not all laptops.

[Need_Help]

I think it will work on the laptop if the laptop has a 'real' graphic card and an above average CPU and RAM. Btw, thanks for the informations (I hope I can get it now :P)

[Keith]

You should have made an offer to buy one of the laptops that they had it running on. That way you'd have one copy that worked at least.

[King Faticus]

did you ask about the laptops themselves... do you know their specs?
and how well did the game run on them?

[Jodet]

Sounds like no campaign, just 'name your city, pick your options and start'.

A pity.

There was a city-building game released a year of so ago called '1701 A.D.' and it looked like a nice game, but took my criticism for not really having a campaign. There's a new add-on for it, guess what...a campaign.

We shall see....

[Kiya]

Hi Jodet, I should have written a proper review, and not just a few odd comments. My excuse is I came home very late yesterday.

Oh yes there is a sort of campaign. There is a tab on the left hand side (forget what it is called), it gives you a whole list of titles with the type of city you are building. Titles like Sheriff, Guru, Famous Pegasus (Kuuluisa Runoratsu, literally Famous Poetry Steed ), Bigwig, Industrial Tycoon, Mayor, Net Rogue (? Verkostoveijari, no idea how to translate that one!)...... Then under each of these titles there was a list of things you have to fulfill.... While I was playing I did get bonuses and prizes for fulfilling ...hm...something Since I was still learning I didn't pay too much attention to this part of the game.

[Kiya]

Originally Posted by Keith

You should have made an offer to buy one of the laptops that they had it running on. That way you'd have one copy that worked at least.

LOL

Certainly not. I'm not going to buy a used laptop from an expo. If I get a new PC it'll be a desktop. This present laptop I have is good for everything else I do, except not for newest games.

In the pics: first the laptop I was using (while doing the tutorial), then ... something else.

[awtpSIM]

Originally Posted by Kiya

LOL

Certainly not. I'm not going to buy a used laptop from an expo. If I get a new PC it'll be a desktop. This present laptop I have is good for everything else I do, except not for newest games.

In the pics: first the laptop I was using (while doing the tutorial), then ... something else.

LOL No comment.

Anyway, did you have a chance to try out the disasters? Do they look cool?
Oh! And another thing! How was the music?

[Metrofinn]

Originally Posted by awtpSIM

Anyway, did you have a chance to try out the disasters? Do they look cool?
Oh! And another thing! How was the music?

I am going to DigiExpo tomorrow, and i can check out the disasters, music and other cool things for all of you.

[awtpSIM]

Originally Posted by Metrofinn

I am going to DigiExpo tomorrow, and i can check out the disasters, music and other cool things for all of you.

Oh cool!! Thanks!

[TeSiamese]

One disaster I know is meteor shower & it looks quit like ball falling from the sky and the corrupts of buildings are not quit good.

[Kiya]

Originally Posted by awtpSIM

Anyway, did you have a chance to try out the disasters? Do they look cool?
Oh! And another thing! How was the music?

There are 3 disasters: meteorshowers, 'murderous' storm and earthquakes, and then a random disaster (one of those 3 I guess). I tried all 3 of them, not very impressive. In my first post there is even a pic of the storm. My pic of the meteor shower didn't come very well, sorry about that.

Music, well I'm afraid all I was hearing was gun firing, cars and trucks crashing and creaking, noisy sing-a-songs / karaoke... even more noisy announcements.....

Metrofinn, it would be fun to hear your first impressions.

[Kiya]

Making your own maps is quite fun and so simple too. You choose climate area, add more water, vegetation or what ever you fancy, and the game makes you another random map. If you don’t like it you remake it using sliders. Terraforming is easy too. Some houses seemed a bit picky what comes to hilly areas but some aren't, as you can see in the pic I took. (I think it is a Baroque fountains.) Beautification is important too, not just because it’s pretty to look at but without it it seemed impossible to build a harmonious city. Actually the tutorial showed very clearly how important it is. Decorated wall was my favourite so far, it brought those vital points (forget how they were called……you don’t expect me to remember the names of all of the hundreds of buildings and other things in my language and then translate all of THAT into English now do you? ) Lots of Grills made wonders too.

My second city was doing very well after some time. Everything was balanced and on ‘green’, only my initial money was almost gone. There was some 700 simeleons left. At this point I had to go but I left the game run on its own. When I came back some 45 minutes later my city was doing fine, seemingly no other visitor had touched it (?). But to my surprise my city coffers had some 50 000 simeleons! Among the important news flash about the city I read about public opinion polls (sunrise, is one in a day enough? Oh yes citizens agreed that is OK) and such. One news flash said people were exalted but they just wanted to spend more money.

After playing the tutorial and this small city with game hints on it all seemed so easy and fun. OK now I try it for real I said to myself, and started a free mode city with unlimited money. Even if you are playing on easy citizens will become unhappy sooner than you think they would if you don’t pay attention to their needs. Well it isn’t quite as simple as just 'plopping' European themed buildings down to get a European city. Buildings are not grouped under labels like Asian, European….. To me it seemed like using the right kind of combination of different buildings and carefully balancing the main energies to effect the look and feel of the city the way you want. This adds depth of game play and something to try to learn and master. I am very much looking forward to having SCS and playing it many more hours.

[King Faticus]

Originally Posted by Kiya

In the pics: first the laptop I was using (while doing the tutorial), then ... something else.

did you walk into the men's restroom and sneak a few pictures??!!