"Simcity4: A Great Game in a Great Series"

I would like to start by saying that the Simcity games have been some of my favorite games of all time. I started playing when the first one was released and I hope to be around when the last one hits the shelves. I will touch on a few points to give you a glance into what has become my favorite game.

Graphics and Sound 10/10

The graphics are a major step up from its predecessor. Now, your city can live in total darkness, perpetual light or a combination of both. Animals will roam the countryside while jets perform shows in the sky. In addition, the buildings are even more beautiful that in Simcity3000. The simcitizens that roam the street are also rendered in amazing detail. You can actually witness your outlaw Sims commit crimes as well as watch the law abiding ones go about their daily business. However, the audio is not the greatest, but what do you expect from this type of game. The ability to add your own music more than makes up for the shabby tunes that are provided with the game.


Gameplay 10/10

The gameplay, as tough as it maybe, is still great. Mayors still build everything like the previous games, but getting a working city is much different and much harder than in the past. Funding, placement and timing of city services needs to be managed very closely in order to stay out of the red. Some people have found this to be annoying, but I personally like the added challenge. If you fail to do this, Sims will not hesitate to riot. Fortunately, disasters are still included for those times when you get tired of the Sims complaining. When you want a touch of the real world you can still plop down one of many landmarks. There is nothing like the feel of building a giant city and watching it flourish. One of my favorite things about this game is the new region play. You can now build many cities in a region and these cities will interact and grow with each other.

Dislikes -1

Even a good game has its problems and Simcity4 is no exception. The user interface is not something that I like. It has been changed to a more The Sims look. While it is still easy to use, I am not a fan of the overall feel of it. There is also a lack of landmarks included in the game, but the Simcity website offers new downloads every week. Furthermore, the game was released with a few bugs (But what PC games aren’t these days). Some of them were fixed in the first patch and the as of yet to be released second patch is promising some additional fixes. My major complaint is that you need a top of the line machine to run this game on. However, even if you have a great computer, the game will lag immensely when a city reaches 200,000 people.

Overall 9/10

I have found this game to be one of my favorites in the past few years. The graphics and gameplay are both excellent. The only thing keeping me from giving this game a 10/10 is the bugs that I have encountered, although they could be fixed in the upcoming patch. I consider this one of the best games out at this point. I recommend anyone who has any interest in it to try it out and see why it is a popular game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/18/03, Updated 03/18/03