Common Sense Media Review
By Chris Morris
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Decent city builder marred by "freemium" model.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
SimCity BuildIt
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
In SIMCITY BUILDIT, players oversee a new city, establishing zones for commercial, residential, and industrial development. To build properties, you'll have to create resources -- such as wood, steel, plastic, nails, and lumber -- in factories and stores. This is a time-consuming process that generally requires you to wait several minutes (or make an in-app purchase) for them to be completed. As you build, you also need to attend to the needs of your city's inhabitants and solve problems that affect your citizens.
Is It Any Good?
SimCity BuildIt may look a lot like a typical SimCity game, but it's more like FarmVille or any other popular, time-based resource game. Although the city-building theme is fun, this is yet another app that tests your patience by forcing you to wait increasing amounts of time for resources to be built so you can expand your town -- or cough up some real-world cash to hurry things along. If those waits don't bother you, you'll have plenty of fun with the game, but there's little here that stands out from other titles in the same genre, despite the app's well-respected brand.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about individual wants vs. the greater good. How do you balance the needs of a large group of people?
What are the responsibilities of a city government? Does this game really replicate what it's like to maintain a city?
Talk about budgeting and how it's better to save your money than spend it immediately on a whim. Kids: Which parts of this game make you want to spend money?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects : Social Studies : government
- Skills : Creativity : brainstorming , imagination , Self-Direction : goal-setting
- Pricing structure : Free
- Release date : January 16, 2015
- Genre : Simulation Games
- Publisher : Electronic Arts
- Version : 1.2.23
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 7.0 or later; Android 2.3.3 and up
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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