Hands-on with SimCity BuildIt - EA's latest free to play reimagining

Make no mistake. SimCity BuildIt, is not a fully fledged SimCity game for mobile devices.

The game - which is currently undergoing soft launch in Canada on Android - is, as we all should have expected by this point, a light and fluffy free to play reimagining of EA's urban planning sim.

So while it has all the elements of a classic SimCity game - including roads, waterworks, pollution, government buildings, and simoleons - it doesn't share the PC franchise's depth of simulation or tricky governmental decisions.

Instead, it's about plopping down buildings, generating resources, fiddling about with your city layout, and waiting for timers to tick down. The game quickly settles into a familiar grind of resources, waiting, and upgrading.

As the game expands, you start to get lost in a complex chain of resources. New houses need nails which come from building supply shops which need girders which come from factories.

It's the same old tiresome micromanagement that we've seen in a hundred free to play city builders.

But if you've enjoyed those in the past, you may find something to like in BuildIt - especially the gorgeous presentation. For starters, the game borrows the stylised visuals of the most recent SimCity PC game, and crafts a full 3D city that you can spin and zoom.

As you play, little cars dart along your roads, smoke billows out of your factories, and lamps light up the streets when the sun sets.

There's also a swish visualisation system where you can focus on one aspect of your city at a time.

The city is dipped in white paint, while blue bar graphs rise out of houses when its residents are happy, yellow power lines connect up houses that are on the grid, and red zones show houses that are too far from a fire station.

Similarly, you can see a big brown blob of pollution around factories and coal-powered power plants so you can quickly see which houses will be negatively affected by your new manufacturing plant.

In fact, a lot of the game is about the placement of buildings, parks, and shops, and your sims will be content or on the verge of moving if you do or don't listen to their needs.

But, coming back to the idea that this game is ultimately a shallow simulation, you can just pick up and move buildings to more suitable locations, and draw out fresh roadways, without repercussions.

And you don't have to worry about whether your roads make sense, or how far your wind power plant is from your city. Your tax rate is set automatically based on the happiness of sims, and you don't have to balance a budget.

If you're looking for another time sink casual game, in the same vein as Tiny Tower or Megapolis, then you might find that SimCity BuildIt is your new jam.

But if you wanted something with the depth and complexity of the PC franchise or were hoping that EA would, just this once, treat a beloved franchise with respect and reverence, you're gonna be left disappointed. Again.