Going Up: SimCity Timed Demo Released

I dream of a city: dense, apartment blocks and tight terraces, lots of parks, even more trees, great public transport, by a river or lake with forest nearby. I skipped last year's SimCity for obvious reasons but would like to build this dream in it, coo and aah as it bursts into an unconvincing simulation of life, then probably stop after, say, four hours.

Well gosh golly, as luck would have it that's exactly how long the newly-released demo offers.

EA yesterday released a demo for the city-building sim that's limited to four hours, with the timer ticking down as long as you're playing. It's singleplayer-only, without multiplayer bits like shared regions, and is limited to two of the full game's dozen-odd regions, the coastal Cape Trinity and tropical island Reflection Atoll. (Boooo! Viridian Woods looks like just what I want.) And it's only got two save slots, though saves carry over the full version if you do buy it.

But that's fine, it's fine. From what people scream on this here Internet, this is plenty of time to mess about and have a little fun, then stop before the cracks become too frustrating. I can treat the demo as its own thing, a short and pleasant experience which I COMPLETE and WIN after four hours. If I don't feel the problems that I'm told become more pronounced over time, maybe the demo is better than the full game.