All the screenshots in this post were taken directly from the game by me. The cover was made using canva and Bitmoji.
Although I've been on a crusade against mobile games basically since I started writing for Hive, I must admit that over the years I've found some experiences I've quite enjoyed, and while they're the exception to the rule, they demonstrate the format's potential when it falls into the right hands.
Titles like Fallout Shelter, Marvel Snap, and even COD Mobile are solid examples of good mobile gaming, taking advantage of a smartphone's limitations and hooking us from the very first moment.
The key is always the same: they have gameplay schemes that work very well on a touchscreen, they have recognizable franchise names, and although they include microtransactions, these don't obstruct the overall gaming experience.
Created by Will Wright in the late 80s (yes, the same creator of The Sims), SimCity is a game that, upon reflection, could work very well in the mobile market. In fact, it seems to be the indirect inspiration for many resource management games like Clash of Clans or the aforementioned Fallout Shelter.
The problem? Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest video game companies, with several of the industry's biggest names in its catalog, is also one of the most avaricious studios—a dangerous combination.
Like its PC counterpart, the premise of SimCity BuildIt is (relatively) simple: we are the mayors of a city that we must gradually build, managing all its infrastructure, constructing residential buildings, commercial premises, power plants, police and fire stations, roads, parks, schools, and so on.
The goal of BuildIt is to grow our population while trying to keep them "satisfied." It's a perpetual gameplay scheme where we decide how to approach things, although the ultimate goal is the prosperity of our fictional city.
Given its free-to-play nature, Buildit's main source of revenue is the existence of premium coins that players must purchase with real money. These coins are used to access special buildings and constructions, buy resources needed to progress, or reduce the waiting time to obtain specific items.
For those of us who choose to play without spending money, time will be our biggest enemy: it will limit our progress and have us constantly checking the app to see if we've obtained the resources we need.
Ironically, this is one of the most criticized aspects of this mobile iteration of SimCity, simplifying the management aspect of the original games in favor of a senseless grinding system. However, I don't feel this is the reason Buildit fails, and despite this, it's one of the aspects of the game I enjoy the most.
For me, the real failure of BuildIt (a game I must admit I've enjoyed immensely) is its insistence on adding absurd mechanics to a gameplay scheme that works perfectly well if you want to kill a couple of minutes of boredom during the day, adding premium passes, contests, and limited-time events that I have no desire to participate in.
I enjoy the idea of managing my city, and despite the lack of complex mechanics, it's satisfying to see everything progress little by little. However, BuildIt refuses to let me enjoy the aspects I do like, constantly warning me about those that don't interest me.
I don't want to fight a kraken, nor do I want to participate in a world "best city" competition; I simply want to collect wood and sell it to improve my city's buildings.
At the end of the day, it's still an entertaining game, with graphics that hold up very well despite being released over 10 years ago, and gameplay solid enough to make me want to spend a couple of minutes playing it every day since I downloaded it, but it falls far short of the greatness it could have achieved if the right decisions had been made.
Twitter/Instagram/Letterbox: Alxxssss
