What was supposed to be the triumphant return of the SimCity franchise in 2013 turned out be a lot less than stellar. The launch was mired by technical problems as players couldn't connect to the game's servers and features began to be cut in order to get the title functioning properly.
Now you can safely uninstall SimCity and forget all about it, because you can get the classic (and fully functional) SimCity 2000 for free on EA's digital game service Origin right now. If you don't have an account, no big deal. Origin is free to sign up for and download, and works in many ways like popular digital game service Steam, except it's only for EA games.
SimCity 2000 is part of their "On the House" promotion, where EA will periodically give out older titles for free for a limited time. The game would normally run you $5.99. Check out some gameplay in the video below, courtesy of Bammer2001.
Yes, it may hurt your eyes. The game's graphics haven't aged terribly well; after all, the title originally released way back in 1993. But more than a decade hasn't changed SimCity 2000's top-notch gameplay. It strikes a great balance between accessibility and complexity, and is still a blast to play today for fans of management games. And if you don't like the management angle, you can always create your city just to destroy it. Be sure to add it to your digital game library soon -- there is no telling how long it will be free, so grab it while you can.
