"A shot at world class; yet merely American"

Maxis has proven yet again that it listens to the continued ramblings, complaints and wishlists of its adoring fans, myself being one of them. This latest addition to the SimCity line literally blew me away in a great many respects, and is a definite evolution from its predecessors. But enough vague and amorphous praise; this is a critical work!

The one thing that Maxis seemed to work on the most was the graphics, and without a doubt they are breathtaking to begin with. Shadows go beyond property lines, brown smog looms over industrial areas, the entire landscape goes from day to night and back! There's such a distinction as manufacturing! Imagine! A happy median between oil refinery and software designer that was missing in the last three installments of this game! Little streetlights go on and off, power arcs across overhead lines, windows glow with light pollution. It's cool. It's very cool. I was compelled to start fires and throw meteors and hurl lightning just to see the special effects, the emergency crews blazing down the streets to meet the blaze burning through the tenements, themselves burning with a deep hatred for our fair mayor. But then again, why else go about making a city if you can't experiment?

And the experiments are all the better with this much attention to detail. Cars have actual destinations in mind; ships and trains come and go - and here's the kicker - based on your imports and exports! Storefronts change, decals change, residential development works a block at a time - making rows of similar buildings. You can plop an imported or premade sim in your city and watch as he or she complains about the local commmunity college, the seedy types at the bus stop, the daily commute, the odd police outline on his front lawn. And yes, a police outline is actually one of the many, many ''details'' that adorn and render every building its own little bit of originality and flavor.

But speaking of the buildings, here's what I don't understand. I'm a city planning student (and this of course was a must-buy), and I can't quite put my finger on some of the oddities of the game. I have condos next to tenements, and neither seem to complain about it. Nor does the crime rate go up, as it would in such cases of extreme disparity. But hey, such egalitarianism is utopian, so it's not like I'm complaining. I like the fact that neighborhoods can progress, wax and wane; it certainly is a far step from SimCity 3000, whose neighborhood desirability was static and immediate.

Anyway, another new implementation idea that really hit the spot was the idea of the region, where one could design land on a grand scale (with dedication and a great deal of free time) and link multiple cities. No need to worry about whether neighbor deals will go through or work to your disadvantage, because you're now both sides! Say goodbye to your free time, as you devise complicated stratified plans to keep your region alive and your cities specialized and in the cash flow.

Back to the city view, I like how the buildings now face the streets, but here's the thing: A plot three spaces deep seems to use that third space always as a parking lot, or a parking garage. So, while Maxis made nice algorithms for more realistic building-lined streets, at least one third of all developed area is parking. At least. That's worse than Dallas. This fact, coupled with the observations that the grid can only be north-south-east-west (streets can't go diagonal, and while roads can, buildings won't face them properly) means that attempting to simulate anything but an inland American city is an exercise in futility. No more SimCity world edition. In fact, no Washington DC type plans or Boston harbors.

Then again, this was probably a design decision, as Maxis states that their three choices for city architecture was New York, Chicago and Houston. But even those cities have the occasional diagonal thoroughfare. I guess I won't be finding any places for a flatiron building landmark in the near future. This, however, doesn't explain another quibble of mine: City size.

You could squeeze millions in a SimCity 3000 map. On a large SimCity 4 map (provided you can run it with your gigabytes of RAM and experimental unreleased Intel chipsets) you can pump out maybe half a mil. Truly great metropolises seem to require multiple regions, but city budgets (and more importantly, city rewards) don't carry over. It really feels like a local affair when you've gone ten blocks and met the opposite side of a medium map. And considering that this is just what I have in two of my medium maps and can't seem to get an apartment building taller then five stories, this tends to hinder any grandiose plans of cosmopolitan wonder. It almost feels as if there's a predisposition towards suburbia. And suburbia is the anti-city. Unless you're in LA.

All in all, it's an amazing game, and finally managed to make single family homes look interesting, even in large numbers, but I don't want single family homes, I want tall apartment blocks that block the sun! When I was playing SimCity 3000, I wanted hillside development and odd angles! I got hillside development (thank you Maxis!), but why the grid? Grids are boring! Cities are supposed to be vibrant, man!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/03, Updated 03/05/03