SimCity hands-on preview: building Port Foozle

A tale of two cities
I played SimCity for about five hours at Maxis' offices last week, and I started by building Port Foozle, a landlocked gambling town with a very deceptive name.

I played SimCity for about five hours at Maxis' offices last week, and I started by building Port Foozle, a landlocked gambling town with a very deceptive name. Following that, I built an actual port town in the same region, hoping it would feed Foozle with tourists. I didn't play long enough to realize all of my long-term plans, but I'm about to start over in this weekend's closed beta, and I already know that all I want to do is keep playing until the sun rises and my eyelids turn to lead.

I like a lot about SimCity, and it's going to murder tons of my time, but (aw, bummer that there has to be a "but") I have some early criticisms. It's like I'm eating my favorite ice cream, but it's dripping on my hands and making them all sticky. I hate having sticky hands, but I keep eating, because the ice cream is so damn good. Especially the first bite, so I'll start with that.