App Review – SimCity Deluxe for iPhone

Playing god is fun.  Just ask any leader from the slippery Tony Blair up to verbose Venezuelan mouthpiece Hugo Chavez.  Playing with the lives of ordinary citizens can be a bit of a rush.  Now thanks to SimCity Deluxe for the iPhone we can do just that.  Even when you’re sat on the toilet.  Yes it’s that good.

As the benevolent mayor of a fictional city you must guide your little cyber subjects through everyday trials and tribulations from powerfully annoying snow drifts and heatwaves right up to Hollywood style mega disaster such as meteor strikes.  Like any leader you will be insulted by your subjects through a small bar at the bottom of the screen, amongst other news items such as power shortages and blackouts.

You can even play God with the terrain, using your fingers to paint in water, land and trees.  You can also experience the joy of cackling like all good megalomaniacs as your city can hold the prestigious world games.

On the iPhone 4 the game can look very handsome as it shows you 360 degree views of your city as well as seasonal effects like fluttering snow.  It’s quite speedy too, much better than previous iterations on the iPhone like Sims 3.

On the down side the game is very battery intensive and there doesn’t appear to be much for the all new retina display on the iPhone 4 to show off.  We assume this might come in the form of an update as the app has been tested on iOS 4.0.  The maps are also on the small side which should really be improved in the light of the massive and excellent GTA: Chinatown Wars.  Also the shade of green used on the interface is also not exactly easy on the eye.

All in all if playing God is your thing and you don’t get bored of such niceties as building roads and power stations then you will find SimCity Deluxe a lot of fun.

SimCity Deluxe is available for £3.99 from the Apple App store.

App rating 3.5/5