Like the Civilization series the core goal is advancing a civilization from the dawn of time to present.  The only problem is that unlike the Civilization series, the gameplay is rather dull.  The title seeks to combine aspects of both SimCity and Civilization and unfortunately this combination does not work very well.  As a result of this meshing, many of the gameplay elements that made the normal SimCity titles so great are toned down.  While the basic aspects of the SimCity games remain intact (creating schools, assigning different duties etc.) the feature set is quite lacking overall.  Due to the fact that the player advances through several time periods, they are often limited in what they can do; this is the main reason why the Civilization element hurts the game.  This weakness is most blatantly obvious in the beginning of the game’s Challenge Mode when pretty much all that the player can do is watch a caveman walk around until their civilization evolves.  As you progress through the different time periods, your pallet of options grows, although one never quite feels as powerful as one does in a typical SimCity game.

            The title’s other chief weaknesses are the graphics and the controls.  The game looks very similar to SimCity 2000 which was released on the PC 15 years ago.  Although this fact is unforgivable, it is not much of a detractor although I did find myself getting tired of looking at the game from time to time.  A much greater flaw is the controls.  I expected this title to be very responsive, as the DS seems like the perfect system for SimCity games due to the stylus, but this title proved my assumption to be wrong.  The stylus works horribly.  By the end of my first hour of playing the game I found myself naturally tapping twice on everything because the controls were so unresponsive that tapping on an icon never worked the first time.  This wouldn’t be so bad if the game was another genre, but in a strategy game like SimCity control is everything.

            Enough negativity!  While having some noticeable flaws SimCity Creator still manages to be quite addictive, borrowing some of the better characteristics of both the SimCity and Civilization franchises.  Despite the reality that the Civilization element of the game brings about some of the title’s worst gameplay weaknesses, it also manages to keep this new addition to an ancient series fresh.  Part of me is happy that this game is not just another copy of SimCity 2000.   The title also addresses fans of old school SimCity by incorporating a Freeplay Mode along with the Challenge Mode.  Freeplay Mode is exactly like any other SimCity game in that you start from the ground up and create your new city with all of the necessary tools which are available from the beginning.

            It’s easy to see that the developers of SimCity Creator took some risks by tampering with an age old formula.  As a result the game is both stronger in ways and weaker in ways.  While the Civilization like Challenge Mode helps to keep things fresh, it also hinders the title gameplay wise.  The introduction of new aspects and removal of some critical gameplay elements causes the title to be neither great nor horrible, it is thus simply average.  

7 out of 10