SimCity 2013: Hesitantly giving it another shot.
A few things have occurred in succession that piqued my interest about SC 2013, which I'd bought at launch, and like practically everyone else, quickly became very unhappy with.
But:
--Offline mode implemented
--Maxis continuing to release fixes and updates (I'm not saying the back-end simulation doesn't have problems, but I think some of the more egregious ones have been addressed)
--Cities of Tomorrow xpac (didn't buy it at the time, but was tempted)
--Discovering that there is an active modding community. After the spectacular launch fail I didn't really think anyone would bother.
--And finally: this mod here:
UniDirectional Networks (UDON). Basically, it vastly, VASTLY expands traffic/road/highway functionality.
So I finally reloaded the game and bought the xpac (I had a $10 BB GC so I paid ten bucks for it), and have now been...dare I say it...having a pretty good and addictive time and so far (at 100,000 pop with no cheats), my city hasn't broken in any overly egregious ways.
This guy has a lot of good videos, howtos, and mod reviews, and his enthusiasm is pretty infectious (not affiliated/do not know the guy):
http://skyestorme.com/
Here's another site with a lot of mods:
http://community.simtropolis.com/fi...y/19-game-mods/
Note: I'm not specifically advising anyone to rush out and buy SimCity 2013 or CoT, but if, like me, you bought it and then shelved it, I think it *may* be at a state where it's worth playing casually. And some of the Cities of Tomorrow stuff is pretty slick, like the Megatowers.