SimCity Creator

Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: Sept. 22, 2008
Systems: Nintendo DS (reviewed), Wii
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

In a nutshell: A pocket metropolis.

0:00 I was a huge SimCity 2000 fan back in middle school, but I haven't touched the series since. Here's hoping this brings back my latent love of virtual urban planning.

0:01 "Build a city for the ages," says a plain white text message on a stark black background. Then a title screen in a penthouse office.

0:02 "Welcome! To the world of SimCity (tm)!" Why! Are you speaking like that!? "Out of all the games you could have bought, we thank you for choosing SimCity Creator." I don't have the heart to tell her I got my copy for free from EA.

0:03 The woman disappears and in comes the bespectacled, anime-styled "Mister! Maxis!" in a puff of smoke. "I've had my eye on SimCity ever since SimCity DS." That's some subtle name-dropping there, mister.

0:04 The measly six letters allotted for the city name aren't enough for either "Kyleton" or "Orlandia." I go with the more generic "Kville," but they change it to "Kville City." D'oh!

0:06 I get six more characters for a slogan. They suggest "Hello." I enter "E=MC2." How scientific, eh?

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer