We’ve got our lengthiest look yet at SimCity gameplay in this ten-minute video where lead designer Stone Librande plans a casino city and sees it go from an empty canvas to the start of a bustling centre for gamblers everywhere. 

The video starts off with Librande placing a basic road network, adding residential, commercial and industrial zones; supplying his Sims with power and water and watching them obtain employment. The ten-minute walkthrough also shows us how buildings and facilities can be upgraded, and how they appeal to different types of Sims.

The basic mechanics of the 2013 version of SimCity appear to match closely with those in SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4. The addition of the ability to track all Sims easily as a natural evolution of SimCity 4‘s My Sim mode, plus the upgrading of buildings, are two new mechanics that clearly stand out in the video.

The largest deviations from SimCity‘s predecessors, or at least, the changes that had our jaws dropping in a cross between astonishment and horror, are the removal of power lines and water pipes, at least within your own city. Instead, roads are used to transport these two key resources around Simsville, apparently removing the possibility for building the all rail cities that were a challenge to even the most experienced player in other SimCity games.

The previous SimCity trailer unveiled SimCity World – an in-game social hub where you can interact with other mayors and view current global resource prices to determine where your city will make its Simoleons. We also know that SimCity will require a constant Internet connection to play.

This ten-minute video, although by no means representative of the final product, has definitely made us more optimistic about the SimCity reboot. The zoning looks quick, easy, and allows for us to use all the bendy roads we could ever want.

SimCity will launch in February 2013 on PC and on Mac at a later date.

What do you make of the trailer? Will you be pre-ordering SimCity, or are you still on the fence?