Hands-on SimCity DS

It's event time here in San Francisco, and EA's gamer day is first on the list. With a mixture of sports, racing, and Sim titles, the event houses over a dozen upcoming titles spanning nearly every system in circulation. Tucked away in rafters of the warehouse balcony, however, is a title that may in fact become one of the more entertaining sleeper hits of this year for the DS crowd, as SimCity DS makes its event (and US) debut. We had a chance to go hands-on with the game briefly, and from what we've played it may very well be the best Sim title to hit consoles since the days of Super NES.

Taking a ton of inspiration from the original (and famous) SimCity design, SimCity DS is all about creating and exploring a virtual world, and acting as the newfound city's mayor in an attempt to build a bustling metropolis of your dreams. Specifically for DS the game features gameplay on both screens, using the top viewing area as the overall "city view", while the bottom touch screen is used for managing the city, building, and changing view modes to constantly monitor pollution, fire, water, energy, and environmental levels of the dream city.

From the get-go, players can dive into the world of SimCity in a number of ways. Accessible from the title screen is the ability to either start your own SimCity world from scratch, building the terrain, buildings, and establishing every facet of the world on your own. This mode is classic SimCity at its best, as it's a huge mix of economy, environment management, and DS mini-game events to keep the game from becoming mundane. On Christmas, for example, a Santa mini-game will begin without warning, and the player will have a chance to help good ol Saint Nick deliver packages to good little boys and girls of whatever-ville. The better you do, the more cash you earn for your city. Simple, but a nice break-up from playing God.

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