
Where to buy: Uh, well, you can get it for $19.99 on Origin - if you still want to buy games on that service. And since it’s 10 years old, so it’ll run on anything. How it’s different from SimCity: Well, again, this one works offline, but it also has a large and active modding community. Finally, a My Sim mode enables people to create or import Sims characters to live and work in the city.


Mayor mode is where you build and manage the city. God mode is where players terraform the actual landscape and start disasters. It spruced up the franchise with 3D graphics, regional gameplay, and several different modes. Prior to SimCity, the last game in the series was 2003’s SimCity 4.

How it’s different from SimCity: Well, CityVille is always online, but it separates itself from SimCity by actually working. The title brings a casual and social flare to the well-worn city-building genre. Zynga released CityVille in 2010 on Facebook. When Zynga was looking for games to, er, inspire it, the social-gaming developer definitely found something in SimCity. Where to buy: $39.99 on Amazon (download) Even if the developer shuts off the servers, gamers can still access their cities. The difference? The game still works in offline mode. How it’s different from SimCity: When Monte Cristo debuted Cities XL, it featured massively multiplayer online functionality not unlike SimCity. The 2012 standalone update introduced new structures and units, as well as opening up the modding tool to the community. The sim introduced depth by offering four different kinds of residential lots based on social class: unskilled workers, skilled workers, executives, and elites. Players lay down roads and zone residential, commercial, and industrial areas. In July 2011, the developer debuted an updated version called Cities XL 2012. Meanwhile, the Tycoons utilize industry to quickly expand, but they burn through resources and create massive pollution.ĭeveloper Monte Cristo released Cities XL in October 2009. The Ecos can build sustainable metropolises, but they’re slow to grow. Instead, the factions determine what kind of cities you can build. The global-warming scenario leads to an interesting situation where the world has no competing world governments.

How it’s different from SimCity: Anno 2070 has a deeper narrative than Maxis’s games. In a world where the polar ice caps melted and rising sea levels have covered most land, gamers must design efficient cities using one of two factions. It’s a futuristic city-building game with real-time strategy elements. In November 2011, publisher Ubisoft released Anno 2070.
