EA Mobile on Thursday announced the release of SimCity for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s available for purchase and download from the App Store for $9.99.
SimCity is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series, created by developer Will Wright. More comparable to SimCity 2000 than 3000, the SimCity iPhone game has all the features would-be urban planners expect in a solid version of SimCity. The usual assortment of zoning options, transportation methods, and civic buildings are at your disposal, along with famous buildings and other bonuses.
The controls act the same way they do for Google maps. Sliding your fingers together, inward, zooms out, while sliding them apart zooms in. Touching and dragging moves your view around the map, while continuous taps cycles through the zoom levels. Placing singular objects is simple, but placing large zones or roads can be tricky to maneuver. Once you've selected the zone you want, you touch and drag to the appropriate length and width. However, there are times when you may find zones overlapping or roads not lining up properly. EA allows for easy corrections as you can reposition or delete unwanted blocks by the touch of a finger. I found this to be a little wonky at times the more dense an area becomes due to the increased chances of deleting the wrong block or building.
SimCity for iPhone and iPod touch requires the iPhone 2.2 software update.