My fears about SimCity Societies? Completely unfounded. This one's called "societies" thanks to the emphasis it's placing on the feel of your city. Its vibe, if you will. See, rather than just giving you a single city template to work with, this new game will see your metropolis evolve to reflect the way you're managing it, sort of like Black & White but without a giant, pooping tiger.

Example: say you rule your city with an iron fist. Zoom down to street-level and your city will look like an Orwellian utopia, with surveillance cameras on every corner. Your rule will also affect things like the design of your buildings.

Other big changes include the fact Maxis aren't behind this one (instead Tilted Mill are at the helm, which is fine because they made the awesome Caesar IV), and that a lot of the more tedious micro-management aspects are gone. Which means, FINALLY, no more pipes. I hated pipes so bad.

Tilted Mill assure us that the core experience of SimCity is still present, they've just trimmed a bit of the fat the series picked up over four previous outings. All of this sounds good to me. Every little bit. Luke Plunkett

Previews: SimCity Societies [1UP]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/needs-more-industry/hey-simcity-welcome-back-265947.php