I’ve played Sim City alot over the years. I started with Sim City 2000, then 3000, and most recently Sim City 4. Now I can say I’ve played it on my iPhone.

I first expected Sim City to be either very basic, or very difficult. I didn’t think you would be able to easily manipulate the controls on a touch screen as easily as you could with a mouse. I was pleasantly surprised that it is not a stripped down version of the game, and it actually is pretty easy to play. Buttons are large enough for even my fat thumbs to manipulate without accidently hitting the wrong one.

Gameplay is more in line with Sim City 3000, although it does take some cues from Sim City 4. When you first start your city, you get to pick the basics of the city, then move on to the terrain. You can’t really customize the terrain like you can on the desktop game. You can pick water and forest percentages, and basic terrain style. Once you have the desired terrain, you can start building your city.

As your city grows, you’ll have to build important buildings like a police station, hospital, or even the mayor’s house. When choosing these buildings, the city fades away and the building chooser pops up, somewhat like coverflow, only buildings instead of album artwork. Scrolling is very easy, and the buildings are drawn as they would appear in your city, 3D and full of beautiful pixels.

The Verdict

I was expecting to be somewhat disappointed with Sim City. I didn’t think it would be very easy to play, and controls would be sluggish and difficult to manipulate. Within five minutes I knew that EA actually did something good. For a clone of a desktop game, and an excellent clone at that, it plays very much like it was on a real computer.

If you are a fan of the Sim City series, and you are looking to play it on your iPhone, this is your chance. It’s an easy game to pick up if you only have a few minutes to play, and you can easily come back to it. Available now in the App Store for $5.99.