"Maxis has released the 4th generation of SimCity"

Featuring a face-lift and a significant changes to game mechanics over SimCity 3000, SimCity 4 offers a host of new features. The player has even more control over your cities, and those who have ''The Sims'' can even import their Sims to let them live in your city and give feedback on life in the city. Due to the fact this is a Simulator, I will review this differently than other games:

Gameplay (10)

To summarize the changes from past games:

Regions: In SC2000 & SC3000, your city was part of a region with 4 generic cities on the border, whom you could interact with, especially in SC3000. Now in SimCity 4, you control the entire region! You can interconnect your own cities as you did with other cities in the previous games, but this gives you full control over deals. As a result, a whole new element of strategy is introduced as you now have many cities in one region to deal with, instead of each one individually.

Disasters & Landscaping: In SimCity 4, you now have god-like powers you shape and ravage the landscape. The landscaping tools have a bit of a learning curve though, but it can allow you to shape the land the way you want it. Disasters now work much differently: You have complete control over them. Wile random fires & riots can still occur, others like tornadoes, meteors, volcanoes, lightning, and even a giant robot are now under your control. Disasters you create can be controlled with precision, including a tornado's path. There are some disasters that may create fires that you can't control though. When it happens, just be sure you have fire stations to put them out.

Utility Systems: While the core of the utilities (power, water, and sanitation) are generally the same as they were in SC3k, there are a number of significant changes. Everything requires maintenance, and the consequences for not supporting it will come back to haunt you. Much strategy is needed so you don't bankrupt your city. As a result, Wind Power & Water Towers are the most basic power & water structures in SimCity 4.

Infrastructure: The transit system has been improved. There's now a lower capacity Street you can place, which could be upgraded to the more expensive road at any time. Rails now must turn at 45 degree angles like in real life. Industry will use rails to transfer freight. If a rail line is not adjacent to industry zone, a freight station can be built so they can ship it. Subways & highways still exist, but I'll admit I haven't even used them as of yet.

Zoning: Zoning have greatly changed, so much that I can't really go into detail. Demand is divided into types based on wealth and function. Industry is dramatically. ''Light Industry'' zoning is now exclusively Agricultural, which is a big improvement over SC3k's farms. High-tech industry has several new rules, requiring that they stay away from high pollution, which can make it tricky. One annoying aspect is that zones will auto-build streets to try and keep parts from being disconnected, but eventually you'll learn to work with it.

MySim's: It is possible to place Sims in your city who can give feedback on your city, though there are some issues with this feature that will hopefully be addressed in a patch. The game has presets for those like me who do not own the Sims game.

Graphics (10): The graphics are far better than SC3k. SimCity 4 will utilize 3D rendering for vehicles, disasters, etc. There are now some really good realistic particle effects for things like factories, power plants, even some other things like missile tests and fireworks displays. While some buildings are still prerendered 2D sprites, props such as tress can be planted on existing lots, the vehicles are now truly 3D, and even the advisors are 3D sims.Of course, this presents an incentive to have a 3D graphics card, stepping up the requirements a bit. In addition, you can get a nighttime view of the city for once, though the city lighting can slow framerate down.

Sound (10): Much like graphics, the sound is also a step up, though not as much. While the ambient effects from the city aren't much different than in SC3K, there's better sound effects in other areas, particularly disasters & other new effects. For instance, fireworks have a very realistic effect you can hear, combined with the lighting effects. The quality of the sound effects, like in SC3k, is very good though.

Music (9): The music is more of the same as SC3K, though the region music is very nice, and better than the city music though. Compared to other aspects this isn't much of a highlight. One upside is the fact you can add music to the game by placing MP3's in the game's music folder, so if you get sick of the existing music you can just put your own in it.

Challenge: This game is quite challenging, like the previous SimCity games, if not more so. There's quite a learning curve in this game, so don't expect to build the perfect city overnight.

Overall: This is a very good game, despite some major issues reported by some players. I haven't really had any problems myself. Definitely worth a look though.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/03, Updated 01/20/03