SimCity 3000 Unlimited

"You can do ANYTHING with this game. Well, except for using it to fly to the moon"

I bought Sim city 3000 unlimited in September of 2002. And I swear that I never left my computer chair for about a week. This game is great, it is very detailed, you can build anything the way you want it, lets say you want to build a landfill around a ghetto, you can do that. Or you want to put Notre Dame, The Statue of Liberty, and the Sphinx all in one city, that is covered with snow, but still has palm trees, yeah sure, go ahead.

Story 1/10

Ok, there isn’t any story in this game, and lets face it, how could there be? The point of the game is to build a city, not listen to a story. There are however, some scenarios that you can play, these are good for a challenge, and you get a little intro in the beginning telling you what your goal is, for example “The city has been under mob rule for a long time, now you have to make the city safe again” it isn’t much, in fact, it’s near nothing. But it is the only thing that kept me from giving it a zero in this department.

Audio 8/10

The audio in this game is cool, mostly the sound effects, like the medical research center, if you check its stats (query mode) you will hear a drill go and a monkey scream. It’s funny stuf like that that makes the audio good. The music isn’t too bad either. It is kind of light jazz, I don’t mind it. But most of the time you are too focused on the game to notice the music.

Video 8/10

To some people video can make or break a game. Not really me, I mostly care about the game play. But the video in this game is great, everything is moving, the dice on the casino roll, the light pulses on the fusion power plant, smoke rises from nearly everything in the industrial zones (unless you have a clean industry of course). If you have disasters on (which I never have) then you can see people in riots throwing stuff, fires blazing, UFOs beaming people up, all the garbage that the tornados throw around. Lights flash on buildings, signs twirl and flicker. You can see helicopters, planes, and sometimes jets flying above your city. It is very detailed.

Replay Value 10/10

Ok, this game is definitely not short on replay value. I have been playing this game since my friend got it. And I’ve been playing it even more since I bought it. There is an infinite number of ways to make a city, you will NEVER come out with the same result as another city, and your city’s will probably never even look similar. If they do you need some imagination and creativity in your life.

Game play 9/10

This game is one of the greats, everything is customizable. You can make your city any way you want. You can make it a money maker while everyone hates the city, and their lives. You can make a city where the people love you and their city. You can make a city that is decorative and artistic, or just plain and efficient. The possibilities are endless. Especially with a massive sized city, but for new people I would suggest a miniature sized city. If you want to have some fun, then take one of your super big city’s and make some space junk fall all over town, put a bunch of fires all over, swarm of locusts, riots, earthquakes, tornado, whirlpool, and UFO’s all at the same time. But make sure not to save it. Unless you want to rebuild. There are a couple play control issues with this game, like when you are making a road, and you get the curser too close to the edge of the screen, your marker will zoom off into the distance. Another is when you are trying to select something, in some modes of selecting the curser will highlight the building it is over, not the square that it is over, this is frustrating with some of the tall buildings because you will be trying to highlight a square 5 or more squares away, and it will still highlight the building the curser is over, I’ve lost more than one rare/expensive building because of this. But I guess that is why you can rotate your city.

Should I buy this game?

I am not sure. It is up to you. If you like instant action, and want it NOW. Then probably not. But if you like the thought of making and being in control of your city, everything from taxes, to destroying it, then I would say yes, it is only twenty dollars. Some people might say that you should wait for Sim City 4. But I don’t care, this is a good game and people should buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/03, Updated 01/05/03