SimCity: BuildIt

Last updated

SimCity: BuildIt
SimCity BuildIt.png
Developer(s) TrackTwenty
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Series SimCity
Platform(s)
ReleaseDecember 16, 2014
Genre(s) City-building
Mode(s) Single-player

SimCity: BuildIt is a city-building mobile game. Developed by TrackTwenty and published by Electronic Arts, it was launched in late 2014. The game is part of the SimCity franchise, [1] and is available to download from the Google Play Store, [2] Amazon Appstore [3] and the Apple App Store.

Contents

This game allows players to solve real-life situations like fire, sewage, pollution and traffic, and helps in dealing with problems that the public faces. Players can connect and compete with other players for more connected gameplay. [4]

Gameplay

The game is freemium (free-to-play with pop-up advertisements and in-game purchases). It utilizes music and graphics similar to the 2013 SimCity game, although it is slightly downscaled in order to fit in with iOS and Android devices' graphic capabilities. The game's currencies include simoleons (standard in-game currency) and SimCash (premium currency).

Players play as the mayor of their city and make choices in order to keep their sims happy. When they do this, players can earn taxes from the City Hall. The more people in the city, and the happier the people, the more taxes are earned.

Players can trade, friend, chat, and join clubs with others players for connected online gameplay.

There is no zoning feature in SimCity: BuildIt. Instead, buildings are moved manually. Commercial and industrial buildings produce items, and residential zones require them in order to upgrade to a higher density. Factories can also be upgraded, although this requires demolishing the original building when it is not producing anything, then replacing it with a new one.

Players can only build two-lane roads using the build tool. Players cannot manually build higher-capacity roads; they must upgrade them instead.

Development

The game started development after the release of SimCity (2013) in an effort to develop a game quicker than prior installments and at a much higher profit margin. BuildIt uses many assets from SimCity (2013). [5]

Reception

As of October 2021, the application has been downloaded over 100 million times on the Google Play Store. [11] It ranks number four all-time in simulation games downloads operating on Android.[ citation needed ]

In 2018, according to EA Mobile, SimCity: BuildIt became the most-played SimCity game ever. It stayed in the top 10 in U.S. sim and strategy games on iOS platforms, in the top 100 for U.S. games overall and in the top 150 games globally. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Pocket Tanks</i> 2001 video game

Pocket Tanks, often abbreviated as PTanks or simply as PT, is a 1- and 2-player computer game and mobile game developed by Michael P. Welch from Blitwise Productions. It was originally released for Windows and Mac OS X in 2001 and was later released for iOS in 2009 and Android in 2012. It is available as shareware as well as a premium version known as Pocket Tanks Deluxe, which includes the content from all 30 expansion packs.

<i>The Sims</i> Series of video games

The Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. It is also part of the larger Sim series, started by SimCity in 1989.

Top Eleven is a football manager simulation developed and published by Nordeus in May 2010, and is available on both Google Play Store and the App Store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Appstore</span> App store by Amazon

Amazon Appstore is an app store for Android-compatible platforms operated by Amazon.com Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.

<i>Zenonia 3</i> 2011 video game

Zenonia 3: The Midgard Story is an action role-playing game created, developed, and published by Gamevil for Android and iOS. It was released on the App Store on April 28, 2011, on Google Play on July 1, 2011, and on the Amazon Appstore on April 1, 2012. On the App Store, Zenonia 3 is distributed as a premium and freemium title, whereas on Google Play and the Amazon Appstore, it is distributed as a freemium-only title. It is the sequel to Gamevil's earlier releases Zenonia and Zenonia 2.

Word Worm is an Android and iOS word game developed by American studio Hawk Industries, LLC.

<i>Pretty Pet Salon</i> 2011 video game

Pretty Pet Salon is a strategy video game developed by Hong Kong studio Dream Cortex and published by Animoca The game was released on January 26, 2011 for iOS and on May 13, 2011 for Android devices. An HD version was released for the iPad on February 26, 2011, followed by an Android version on May 13, 2011. The iOS versions were taken down for a time on January 15, 2012 but since then the franchise has reappeared on Apple's App Store. Pretty Pet Salon on the Android Market and on the Amazon Appstore were unaffected.

<i>Dead Space</i> (mobile game) 2011 mobile game

Dead Space (also referred to as Dead Space: Sabotage or Dead Space (mobile)) is a 2011 survival horror mobile game developed by Australian company IronMonkey Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS and Android-compatible devices. A spin-off within the Dead Space series, the game is set after the events of original Dead Space and prior to the events of Dead Space 2 and shows how the Necromorph outbreak began and spread through the Titan Sprawl. Gameplay features protagonist Vandal navigating through chapter-based environments, fighting Necromorphs.

<i>Zenonia 4</i> 2012 video game

Zenonia 4: Return of the Legend is an action role-playing game created, developed, and published by Gamevil for the Android and iOS. It is the sequel to Zenonia 3 and the fourth game in the Zenonia series. It was released on the App Store on December 22, 2011, on Google Play on February 13, 2012, and on the Amazon Appstore on May 4, 2012.

<i>The Simpsons: Tapped Out</i> 2012 mobile game

The Simpsons: Tapped Out (TSTO), or simply known as Tapped Out, is a freemium licensed city-building mobile game for iOS and Android, based on the American animated comedy television series The Simpsons. It allows users to create and maintain their own version of Springfield using familiar characters and buildings. The game is regularly updated with new content, often seasonal and holiday-themed, for example, during holidays like Thanksgiving, and Treehouse of Horror episodes-related content for Halloween. The game is available in several languages such as English, French, Turkish, Italian, German, Simplified Chinese, Peninsular Spanish and both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The game was developed and published by EA Mobile and launched in Europe on February 29, 2012 and in North America on March 1, 2012 for iOS and February 6, 2013 for Android. The game was released for Amazon Fire devices in several markets on June 24, 2013.

<i>The Sims FreePlay</i> 2011 mobile game

The Sims FreePlay is a strategic life simulation game developed by EA Mobile and later with Firemonkeys Studios. It is a freemium version of The Sims for mobile devices; it was released for iOS on December 15, 2011, released for Android on February 15, 2012, released for BlackBerry 10 on July 31, 2013, and released for Windows Phone 8 on September 12, 2013.

<i>Star Wars: Tiny Death Star</i> 2013 video game

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is a business simulation video game developed by Disney Mobile and NimbleBit, and published by Disney Mobile for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 8/RT devices. It was based on NimbleBit's previous game, Tiny Tower, and was set in the Star Wars universe.

<i>Township</i> (video game) Freemium city-building game

Township is a casual farming and city-building game developed and launched on multiple platforms by Playrix in which players develop starter towns by building factories, harvesting crops, and creating goods. The main goal of the game is to link one independent agriculture operation into a complete set of industrial chains, increase income, expand the territory, and make your town more prosperous by increasing the population. Township was originally available as an Adobe Flash application on WhatsApp Social and was later released on the App Store, Google Play, Appgallery, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store & Mac App Store.

<i>Minions Paradise</i> 2015 mobile game

Minions Paradise was a mobile game based on characters appearing in the animated comedy film franchise Despicable Me. The game was developed by Electronic Arts in partnership with Illumination and Universal Partnerships & Licensing. It was given a soft launch on April 21, 2015 and was later given an official release on October 13 of the same year worldwide on Android and iOS.

<i>Dungeon Keeper</i> (2014 video game) 2014 video game

Dungeon Keeper was a freemium mobile massively multiplayer online strategy video game developed by Mythic Entertainment and released by Electronic Arts in 2014 for iOS and Android. A reboot to the Dungeon Keeper series, players construct and manage a dungeon, recruiting minions to run it, although the gameplay had a tower defence style, featuring frequent raids of others' dungeons and the defense of the player's. Players could participate in tournaments and leagues online.

<i>Bit City</i> 2017 video game

Bit City is a 2017 city-building and clicker game developed and published by the American studio NimbleBit. In the game, the player must generate a steady coin income to build a city that meets a population quota. They may buy in-app purchases to boost their progress in the game and can prestige, which returns them back to the first city with their upgrades and the in-game currency Bux kept. Teased in July 2015, Bit City was released on March 13, 2017, for Android and iOS. The game's initial reception was mixed, with praise for its graphics and soundtrack but criticism for its performance and repetitive gameplay.

<i>The Sims Mobile</i> 2018 mobile game

The Sims Mobile is a life simulation game based on The Sims 4 for Android and iOS, published by Electronic Arts and initially developed by Maxis. It was announced on May 9, 2017, and was released on March 6, 2018. It features a multiplayer component and includes story elements.

<i>Airport City</i> 2011 free-to-play city-building simulation game

Airport City is a free-to-play city-building simulation game developed and published by Game Insight. Airport City was first launched on the Facebook social media platform on September 1, 2011. The game was released for Google Play on February 11, 2012, and for iOS on August 16, 2012, followed by Amazon Appstore on October 26, 2012, and Microsoft Windows on April 3, 2014. The game features mobile cross-platform play, allowing players on any supported device to cooperate and compete with each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of mobile games</span>

The popularisation of mobile games began as early as 1997 with the introduction of Snake preloaded on Nokia feature phones, demonstrating the practicality of games on these devices. Several mobile device manufacturers included preloaded games in the wake of Snake's success. In 1999, the introduction of the i-mode service in Japan allowed a wide variety of more advanced mobile games to be downloaded onto smartphones, though the service was largely limited to Japan. By the early 2000s, the technical specifications of Western handsets had also matured to the point where downloadable applications could be supported, but mainstream adoption continued to be hampered by market fragmentation between different devices, operating environments, and distributors.

References

  1. "SimCity BuildIt – Free Mobile Game – EA Official Site – Electronic Arts EA.com › games › simcity-buildit". ea.com. January 13, 2017.
  2. "SimCity BuildIt – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  3. "SimCity BuildIt:Amazon.co.uk:Appstore for Android". www.amazon.co.uk. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  4. ARTS, ELECTRONIC (January 22, 2018), SimCity BuildIt, ELECTRONIC ARTS, retrieved February 11, 2018
  5. Bains, Callum (March 7, 2023). "SimCity launched a decade ago, and it was so disastrous it killed the series". PC Gamer . Future plc . Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  6. "SimCity BuildIt for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  7. "SimCity BuildIt – IGN". IGN.com. November 25, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  8. "SimCity BuildIt review – iPhone reviews Pocket Gamer". pocketgamer.co.uk. December 18, 2014.
  9. Ford, Eric (December 23, 2014). "'SimCity BuildIt' Review – Actual City Planning Has Timers Too". TouchArcade . Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  10. "SimCity BuildIt (for iPad) Review". PCMAG. September 5, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  11. "SimCity BuildIt – Apps on Google Play".
  12. "SimCity BuildIt – The Best Construction Game". August 15, 2019. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.