I think the trend with EA is catering towards casual gamers. Spore wasn't really a game, if you remember.
The cell stage was a game, just a very casual one. My eldest daughter enjoyed it quite a bit when she was 3-4. She's 5 now, though, and has kind of moved past it.
Now, that doesn't line up with the claims they made about what it would be.
Exactly, the game is for four year olds. I purchased it expecting an experience where the choices affected not only how you played, but how far you can get. For example, if I create a piece of crap species with zero survival traits, shouldn't the game be harder? Shouldn't I have to run away from species that have aggressive traits? I quite easily moved around the entire planet with nothing to fear, and in the end you still get to create a base even if you are a peaceful leaf eater.
In short, the creature creator was the best part, and the game never played with your choices.
Anyways, back to the SimCity nonsense, EA is all about selling the most games to the most people. They will cater to the lowest common denominator. It's like Chucky cheese: everyone's a winner! What they could have done with SimCity is allow people to create towns (notice I did not say "city") that don't work. It would be just as entertaining to see power outages, crime going rampant, houses not developing. It's okay if you don't create Gotham city. One of the most gratifying things about previous entries in the series is figuring out the balance you need, the patterns you need, how to solve the game. And once you solve it, there's still plenty of fun to be had in wrecking it. It's like they forgot how to have fun or play with the player. Instead, fun is being equated with some kind of miniature city pop-up book.
