Daily News

Sim City Social While city building games are all over Facebook , it was nice to see the king return in 2012. Sim City has set the standard for city design since the 1980s, and the Facebook version brings back so many of the great features players love. Sim City Social capitalizes on players constructing cities with their friends, and how those relationships can form. While it still follows the conventions of a social game (energy consumption, bug your friends to improve), it offers a deeper and more customizable play experience. If anything, it serves as a nice way to curb the cravings for the PC Sim City release coming out next year.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable : What Parents Need to Know About Facebook s New Privacy Controls ]

Let's face it: Most Facebook games aren't great. The constant bombardment of notifications, the suggestions to buy extra stuff at every turn, and the zillion popups are all hallmarks of an ecosystem that irritates serious gamers.

Mark Zuckerberg asserted earlier this year that 291 million Facebook users played games through the social network. While massive titles like FarmVille and Words With Friends claim the lion's share of the users, Facebook has a diverse range of games that many may appreciate.

[More from Mashable: Can Facebook Make You Fat and Poor? ]

SEE ALSO: 7 Kid-Friendly Games for the Holidays

We rounded up our picks for the Facebook games that went above and beyond this year. Check out our list above, and let us know which ones you're really enjoying.

This story originally published on Mashable here .