Gameplay videos are of limited value. We saw "gameplay" videos of Colonial Marines. They turned out to be faked, but everyone published them in good faith.
Of course Maxis/EA didn't publish gameplay vids showing the traffic being completely borked, the servers being horrendous to connect to, the RCI balancing being screwed, or the inter-city trades etc. being broken - nobody would expect them to highlight the game's problems. They showcased the good parts of the game, as you'd expect - so gameplay vids aren't worth much.
And review sites that had a copy before launch couldn't actually play them, because the servers were only enabled on launch day. A few journalists had played the game before launch, but only in a closed door session on a private server - which meant they had no connection problems and had bigger city limits (the two main problems most people have had with the game). They were effectively playing a game that's different to the one released.
My point was that it's often not safe to preorder games these days, as you can't be sure how good the game is or how well it'll play, and I'll maintain that SimCity falls firmly in that category. I'm certain there's a gem of a game in there, and I'm still tempted to get it - but the problems it's suffered definitely mean it's not the same game they were trying to get us all to preorder, and if I'd had it on day one I would've been furious. (Perhaps not as narked as
Francis, but pretty angry all the same...)
I wanted to stay away from
IGN's review of Bioshock Infinite, on the basis it's got a good chance of being biased - but I couldn't resist having a quick look. Pleased to see it's scored very highly
There's been a lack of reviews, and a LOT of good pre-order bonuses - and both of those are usually signs a game isn't going to live up to it's hype, but this might be the exception.
I'm nearly finished Sleeping Dogs now. Have finished the stories and the races, and have collected all the collectibles, etc.
Still a few things to wrap up - a handful of cars and clothes still to buy, and a few fight clubs to beat, etc. but there's not much left to do.
Fantastic game - I highly recommend it to everyone (except Harv*). It's a serious contender at the top of the open world sandbox genre, duking it out with GTA and Saints Row, and in some respects beats both of those franchises...
Next game for me might be "Catherine". Picked it up cheap, and it gets high reviews, but it looks a bit weird - like you'd probably ask for a paper bag to hide it in before walking out of the shop with it...
Time will tell.
* Sorry - it doesn't have Mario or any horsies, and you control it with a game controller rather than a magic wand and/or a touchscreen.
