"A Must Have for all SimCity Fans!"

The new age of SimCity has arrived in SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition. EA has created yet another fantastic game for the PC and they have succeeded in making it work. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition is a marvel, because it's like you are building a real city on real terrain. You control the city in every way possible. I got this game because I am a SimCity fanatic and I couldn't wait to try it out. Once I finally installed the game I did the Tutorials (which are optional) and finally got to create an entire region! That's rite I said region, an entire state seems to be at your fingertips! You can make Oceans, lakes, rivers, mountains, cliffs, and even plateaus with GOD mode. Forests and animals alike can be created as well! In this game you are finally in control.

Graphics 9/10
Now I'm not one to judge a games graphics, because to me, that doesn't make a game what it is but this game is different. It looks as though you are in an airplane looking down on real forests and buildings that you yourself created, now that is what I call the work of EA.

Game Play 9/10
Now this is what makes SimCity what it is, you have control of everything on your map, the terrain, the animals, and obviously your city. You make your city from the ground up, you start with nothing but level land and then you make residential, commercial, and Industrial areas along with a power plant. You work your way up and begin adding schools, police and fire stations, library's, water plants, and so much more. Before you know it your small village where everybody knows everybody becomes a bustling metropolis, complete with towering sky scrapers and traffic problems, which brings me to my next topic. The expansion Rush Hour comes complete with the Deluxe Edition making it possible to drive cars, boats, and airplanes in your city. You can be a police officer chasing down a thief or you can be an evil scientist attempting to transport dangerous chemicals across your city. You can really be anyone and do anything in this game. There is also a mode in which you can move your sims into your city, where they can gather opinions from civilians that live in your city about how good of a job you are doing. In MAYOR mode you build your city and make complex road systems, airports, seaports and massive bridges to cross seas. You can design a sewer system or even create a vast country side of ranches and farms. The best part is in GOD mode, where you can unleash a hoard of disasters on your city, from fires too alien invasions you can re-create judgment day on your defenseless sims.

Replay Value 8/10
You can never finish the game but after a solid good 6 months of playing it you will feel like you have done everything there is to do, but in this game, the sky is the limit. If you had the energy and lived in a decent sized city you could recreate it rite on your computer, that is just how detailed this game really gets. This game gets more complicated the bigger your city gets and sometimes you get so confused that you just give up playing for awhile.

Do not rent this game, just don't buy it if you don't like simulation games. It goes for about forty dollars and it is a good buy so if you are really into the SimCity games you can mow a couple of lawns, but if you just like any good simulation game go ahead and buy it if you have forty bucks laying around.

Overall rating 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/04