When you think of Sim City, you think big, sprawling conurbations, intricate micromanagement of the economy and social provisions, along with cheesy music and annoying bugs. However, you're prepared to ignore these minor annoyances, because the gameplay is so addictive, creative and fulfilling. Don't be fooled by the "Sim City" in SimCity Societies though, as this is no son of Rush Hour.

Societies tries to form a delicate balance between Sim City and The Sims, but doesn't measure up to either in its present guise. It has some interesting concepts - like the focus on the happiness of actual citizens living in the village, town or city rather than just the economy, transport and layout - but it fails to deliver on the promise of quality that the 'Sims' name alludes to, or the relative innovation that EA games normally aspire towards.

Gaming at the moment is undergoing a positive revolution. With DX10 and new more powerful home computers we are expecting more and more from the interface and the visuals. Although not downright poor, Societies won't wow you with its graphics; zoom in close and not only are buildings patchy, but the variety of structures and citywide decoration is too constricted by the initial choices you make when starting out. Some of the reasoning behind city development and the people who come to live in your creation in the game don't bear any resemblance to the real world, where choice, diversity and cultural mosaics are the reality we all see around us.

The aim of Societies is to choose a scenario at the outset, such as a creative city with unlimited cash or a productive city with limits when you start out, where you try and develop a society that flourishes within the situation the selected scenario creates. For example, if you want your society to be creative then you need to have creative buildings in your town or city. In order to enable these buildings to work you need items called decorations in your city that make creative 'social energy' - these can be as simple as a garden or even a fountain. How these objects create specific social energy, or why the buildings need these to work remains a mystery, and in no way mirrors the real world. Why the people do not affect the buildings is another strange phenomenon - in Societies the buildings affect the people and the decorations in the city affect the buildings, all adding to a weird parallel world feel.

Once you have your society up and running, clicking on people lets you know what they feel and how happy they are, although in order to make them decidedly rebellious you really need to be a dictator from hell - it is really difficult to make the citizens anything but jolly! There is, on the positive side, a veritable wealth of statistics at your disposal while playing any one of the scenarios, thanks to the building and workplace information 'cards', which come in the form of popup windows that are just a click away. Also on the plus side, the tutorial is actually quite good and informs you how to proceed and get the most from the game. The sounds are quite atmospheric as well, generating a nice feel to the various terrains you can create, although while the music is quite soothing it does get repetitive and boring after a few hours.

Does anyone remember Sim City 2000? Of course we do! It's the granddaddy of what we have grown to love after all, but I want to make you remember is how the roads and building-laying tools felt in SC 2000; they were sketchy, buggy and had a mind of their own - rather like the crude city management tools in Societies. When a game released in 1993 can be compared to a new release in any way, it illustrates how far from the mark Societies is - for me at least! Roads can't be placed at 45-degree angles, but buildings can - much of the game makes little sense in the real world, or even the imagined one! Other than these obvious things, placement of buildings and roads are similar in essence to Sim City, including some buildings being unavailable until certain criteria are met and certain progress is made.

On the downside, the spirit of SimCity Societies is so oversimplified that it becomes boring after a while, even for the most determined sim junkie. The interface shows the present status of the various social energies that you must balance to have a successful society, but it's not very clear. At best it needs to be studied and at worst it becomes a blur of symbols with red for no and green for go. The graphics seem very inconsistent too - some screens look quite amazing while other look positively dismal, making it feel as though it has been released in an unfinished state.

I'm sorry if this review is depressing you a little, but the game depressed me and actually made me get out Sim City Rush Hour just to placate my desire for a real Sim fix - I really lost the virtual will to live! If you want to play Societies then forget everyone you know about the other Sim franchise games you have played - because not much makes sense here! For instance, early in the tutorial you're told that power stations don't need to connect in any way to the buildings they supply. This is true of buildings too; so if you want to boost spirituality in your city but don't fancy having a prayer bell in the town centre, you can plop one down in the middle of a distant wood in the mountains and it will add spirituality social energy points to your score. Another problem is the mechanics of the game: in Sim City there was a direct correlation between the size of the city, the types of buildings and zoned land and the number of inhabitants. In Societies you can forget this logic - build a tiny town and see loads of jobs from small businesses, with only a few cottages housing 4500 people.

If you like the look of SimCity Societies then my advice is to check out City Life instead, as it takes the social energy concept and actually does something interesting and believable with it. Sadly, it seems that Sim City without Maxis is like a pub with no beer - frustrating, disappointing and not worth a visit. Societies turns a new take on an old concept into a hotchpotch combination of weirdness, interface hell and downright dated visuals. It should have given me the same buzz as the other siblings in the Sim family, but unfortunately this firework has fizzled and died long before its launch to the skies.

Reviewed by Reuben Glossop for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).