...the widely expected, always-network-connected, DRMed-to-hell problems. Ben Kuchera at PAReport:

It’s sad that EA couldn’t launch an online game this large smoothly, but when have they ever done so? It would have been news if they had gotten it right, not the other way around. This sort of situation makes reviewing SimCity nearly impossible.

Polygon is updating their score as the servers go up and down, and that’s one way to handle it. We’ll be following the game with ongoing coverage, and that’s another. Both approaches have their flaws, and it may be that SimCity is simply immune to the idea of a classical “review.”

Reminds me of wanting to throw my copy of Diablo 3 through the internet at Blizzard in unplayable frustration. It was the first $60 computer game I'd bought in around ten years. People wonder why console or "traditional" gaming is on the wane.

I think both review approaches are flawed. Reporting on "live-connected" content experiences requires a new style of reporting. Publish a light pre-launch "under ideal conditions" preview, with the review following the launch week with data of the content performing in the wild.