'SimCity Societies' is a perfect example of what happens when a gaming company is prepared to take calculated risks that pay off.

Being prepared to take risks is a necessary requirement with a popular series that's been around for as long as 'SimCity' has, where it's difficult to be original.

There's a special breed of gamer who enjoys the complexity of 'SimCity' but its bane has always been that although it was fun to a certain degree, after a while the gameplay — and, therefore, the series — was slowly but surely getting monotonous.

If it wasn't for 'Rush Hour' pushing the series' gameplay the franchise would have by now disappeared in a cascade of yawns.

Another issue that the series faced was that one tended to feel a bit removed from what happens in the city due to the relative lack of control over these events. To a large extend, the only control one had, was to determine where the individual zones should be.

It was difficult to build a city to one's liking and keep it that way. Outside factors tended to destroy what you've built and it often required a complete redesign and rebuild of entire sections of your city.

With 'Societies', the developers set out to give the player more control over how the city is built. At first gamer forums exploded with unhappy customers who didn't like what they heard. In fact, it almost chased them away.

'Societies' is definitely not the usual 'SimCity' fair, but this is actually a good thing. Two things stand out clearly: you have a lot more control, and the graphics engine is greatly improved, with great shader technology and brilliant-looking shadows making the city come alive.

The graphics plays a huge part in presenting the player with a game that is as unique in the looks as it is in the gameplay. The graphics sets out to create a vibrant atmosphere in a game where the cities tended to lean towards the impersonal. It succeeds in this aim with ease.

'Societies' gives the player the ability to create a city that reflects their personality. To do this, the city needs to reflect a certain mood and what better way to accomplish this than with the weather and strategic use of lighting. Sunsets and sunrises mix with fog and the occasional rain to create that extra depth in each unique city.

In a game like this, detail is very important. Fortunately there's plenty of that. The streets have crowds upon crowds of people wondering around while the roads are filled with vehicles in all shapes and sizes, which obviously changes with each society the player builds. Even the Sims' dress code changes according to the theme of the city and what type of shop is situated next to their humble homes.

One negative side effect of all this beauty is lag. Normally when you experience lag in a game, all you have to do is tweak the graphics settings until the game runs at the desired frame rates, but this is unfortunately not the case with 'Societies'. No matter how much you change the settings it remains a system hog.

The soundtrack of 'Societies' strongly reminds you of the previous game in the series. From the mumbling of Sims to the funky music playing in the background, one almost gets the feeling that you're still playing 'SimCity 4'. But this isn't a bad thing — it's entertaining and the best of it all is that the music score changes with each society you build.

With 'Societies', EA has focussed on keeping things Simple. Although the goal remains the same as in previous games, you can now earn rewards (nothing special, just bragging rights) by achieving certain criteria in the game.

The big difference from previous 'SimCity' games is that 'Societies' has moved away from creating zones. Zoning created a somewhat uncontrollable way of managing the city once it has developed into something bigger. Now, each and every residential and commercial building is built individually.

The Sims themselves are now also more important than ever before. Each Sim's mood is important to watch as this helps to improve certain areas in one's city. Certain buildings' influences still count a lot — e.g. where one negative building effects a residential building, etc. — but it is not so serious anymore, which further helps one to build a city to your liking.

Other new additions include generating "energies" from current buildings in order to build new ones, and special features in certain buildings that will help you generate more income or energy.

Even though it sounds like there is a lot of micromanagement involved, 'Societies' doesn't feel like an overly complicated game. It might not feel like a 'SimCity' game at times, but it grows on you. It's like a great song — the more you play it, the more you like it.