[youtube GwT0a2J4YD0 725 415]
A few months ago it was announced by Electronic Arts and Maxis that they would be phasing out the obligatory use of online servers when gamers went to play a session of SimCity on the PC or Mac platform. With the free update available from today, this becomes a reality, letting anyone unplug, build and destroy their cities without having to worry about being hounded by Origin Friends or running into frustrating server issues.
Maxis re-engineered the game in order to move the calculations locally to the player’s PC or Mac. Gains in optimization to the GlassBox Engine allow players to have a similar gameplay experience, whether they choose to play Online or Offline.
The Single-Player Mode retains the same feel of the core SimCity gameplay while adding more control over when and how their progress is saved. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they will be giving you freedom to build one city over the entire expanse of the world, but instead retain the same micro-city format that has drawn the ire from some gamers.
On the plus side we now have mods…. let’s see what modders can come up with to break the limitations currently imposed by the core gameplay.
