EA's "Sim City" franchise has some great games, there's no arguing that. But what they're currently calling a "beta" must be a respelling of "joke".
This Friday marks the opening of the closed beta for the new "Sim City" game. Just like every other closed beta, this one is for selected participants only, and for the purpose of reporting bugs in the game play. But, really, how many bugs are you likely to find in one hour's worth of playing?
That's right. One hour. For three days between January 25 and 28, gamers will be able to get sucked into the world of "Sim City" with one hour of replayable game play on no larger than a medium sized map. After an hour, the game goes back to the beginning so you can start all over again, and again, and again.
This really takes the wind out of the sails of gamers. Part of the fun of "Sim City" is creating your city and watching it grow. Granted, a beta is for testing bugs and not really enjoying the game, we'll give EA that much. But how many bugs can you find in that amount of time? You can't even build a decent sized city with enough going on to test for bugs in that amount of time.
This beta is a joke, as it's really no more than a demo for a small amount of people to try out. If EA was serious about finding bugs in the "Sim City" game, then it would have a longer time frame in which to do so.
Other than this laughable attempt at a beta, "Sim City" does look like a decent game. The graphics look compelling, multiplayer mode is intriguing, and if the previous "Sim City" games are anything to hold it to, it shouldn't disappoint when it comes out on March 5. The only disappointment here is EA's attempt at putting out a proper beta test.
Do you agree that EA is trying to pull the wool over gamers' eyes by pushing out a demo as a closed beta release? Or can EA do their closed beta however they want to? Comment below, and share with your friends!
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