Pros and Cons

I’ve been playing SimCity BuildIt for a few weeks now. I’ve reached level 32 and have a population of 308,982 and counting. I haven’t spent a single penny of real money on the game and this hasn’t diminished my gaming enjoyment at all.

I thought I’d list some of the pros and cons of the game for those thinking about trying it.

PROS:

SimCity BuildIt is more like the Facebook game Cityville than the SimCity PC game that I used to play in the 90’s, with one notable exception. I played Cityville for about a year when it first came out but ultimately I stopped playing it because I got sick of having to make requests and posts to my wall for parts and items needed to build things. There is none of this in SimCity BuildIt. You can obtain everything you need by either creating it yourself in your factories and stores, or by purchasing it in the Global Market. A lot of people complain about having difficulty finding what they need in the market, but I would much rather spend a few minutes pressing the “Refresh” button to find what I’m looking for than have to wait and hope that one of my gaming friends on Facebook responds to one of the many posts that used to clutter my wall.

For a freeplay game, you can earn a surprising amount of Sim Cash (the premium currency) by completing achievements in the game. Also, there was a recent promotion for iPhone users that gave me 100 free Sim Cash and a limited edition park. I’ve only used this precious currency to open slots in my market place and production ques in my stores. I currently have 12 slots in my market and 6 slots in all my stores, except the fast food restaurant and the appliance store which have 5 slots. I still have many achievements to unlock, which will earn me more Sim Cash to purchase more production slots. In my opinion, this is the only thing in the game that is worth spending the Sim Cash on. I don’t see any need to spend it on completing production early or buying parts that you can obtain in the market or make yourself. With a little patience this freeplay game can really be played for free quite enjoyably.

The graphics and animation are stunning, even when I play on the small screen of my iPhone (I usually play on my Kindle Fire). The details are amazing, with hot air balloons flying overhead, tiny cars driving all over town and the disaster animations are great. On that note, the game progress is automatically saved so that I can play on my Kindle at home, then check in on my city on my phone when I’m out without having to do any uploading, downloading or updating of any kind. It is always current, up to the minute.

CONS:

Storage! I can currently hold 200 items in my city storage. When I first started the game I could only store 40 items, then for one of each of three items (locks, bars and cameras) I could increase it to 50, two of each item for 60 and so on. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well the last upgrade from 190 to 200 costs 16 of each part, 48 total. I’ve done the math. To increase my storage from 40 to 200 I’ve needed a total of 408 parts which cost 650 coins each in the market for a total investment of 265,200 coins. To put this in perspective, this is more than twice the cost of the most expensive feature in the game, the airport, which costs 120,000 coins. But the expense is a minor issue compared to the availability issue. I spent many hours in the Market Place, refreshing again and again to obtain all these parts. More often than not, once you find one, it is gone by the time you reach the seller’s town to buy it. The whole thing was an exercise in frustration, so much so that I won’t be upgrading my storage any more (the next upgrade to 210 would require 51 parts!) There is a storage maximum of 350, but I can’t even imagine the perseverance required to meet that goal. 200 will have to suffice for me, because I’ve reached my annoyance maximum! For those thinking of buying these parts with Sim Cash, here’s some more math: each part costs 18 Sim Cash, so 408 parts would cost 7,344 Cash, or close to $100.00 of real life money!

Land expansions! The parts needed for land expansions are even scarcer than the parts for storage unit upgrades so that it can take quite a long time to save up the parts needed to open up the next little rectangle on the map. Meanwhile these parts that you’re saving up take up valuable space in your city storage until you get the last one you need.

Road upgrades! I understand the need to upgrade the roads in your city as it grows but do they have to be so expensive? I’ve spent more coins on road upgrades than on anything else in the game, including the huge investment in my storage. 20,000 coins to upgrade a small section of road from an avenue to a boulevard is lot, especially when you’re trying to save up for something else you want to buy. All those little sections add up so that you will spend hundreds of thousands on roads before you’re done.

All in all, for a freeplay game I would highly recommend SimCity BuildIt, but be warned, it is a bit addictive. My husband and I both play it and find ourselves checking in on our cities throughout the day, even while we’re in a restaurant waiting for our dinner. Being a Mayor is a big responsibility, afterall!