I am a wait and see on this. I loved Sim City 3000 but I loathed 4. I didn't like the way they handled road building and zoning at all. This wasn't a problem for most people but I disliked it that much. I also felt a lot of what they added didn't really add that much.

I have CitiesXL and that takes to a SimCity sort of thing that I like.

I also had no problem with Sim Societies. It was a fun experiment in a different way than what people were use to. I had fun corrupting sections of my society and watch things clash.