"SimCity 4, new and better than its predecessors"

“SimCity is the epitome of city simulation!” That's what I thought after playing this game. SimCity, the original, really opened my eyes and allowed me to realize the possibilities of this game. Then, SimCity 2000 hit the shelves, and I was blown away! For the first time in my life, I realized that the SimCity series could be some of the best games ever created, and I was not disappointed with SimCity 4.

Gameplay|Control

For those people that have never played SimCity before, let me enlighten you. The goal of the game is to start your own city and try to make it grow into a Manhattan-esque, sky-scraping capital. But the game does not limit your game play to just that. Sure, you can build a large city, but you can also build a rural town, a farming community, and if you really want, you can build a wilderness paradise. The great thing about SimCity is that it allows you more freedom than any game on the market, including Grand Theft Auto. The main reason for all of your freedom is the very easy to learn menu's. On these menu's you can control what type of power you city will run on, where to put schools, how many police stations you want, how much tax you collect, and even the flow of water from your plant to your residents. It's the fact that you control everything that makes this game so special..

SimCity 4 has a very easy menu system to learn, and the most exciting menu is “God-Mode“. The “God-Mode” menu lets you form your terrain in any shape you want. You can have islands, plains, mountains, and forests; whatever you want, you can make. “God-Mode” is easy to use because it offers so much freedom in what you want your land to look like. After you create your land, you have to start building, and that's where the city tools menu comes into play. Using this menu, you can basically do anything a real city would do; lay rail, build highways, make power plants, and the like. On the same menu you can also control the tax you collect and the amount of money you give back to the community thru community services, such as, Little League teams, Crossing guards, and more. But the actual building of the city is truly harder than it may seem, but the menu system is easy to understand, so even if the city building is hard, the game will still be engaging. It's all about your style. If you like big buildings, go build a metropolis, if you like rural communities go build a town. Whatever way you want your city to look like, it can be done in SimCity 4; it just takes some amount of practice and time. A third menu lets you input the Sims that you have from “The Sims” (the game), into your city. While this sounds very fun, it is actually very gimmicky and annoying. There is no goal for the Sim to accomplish, so your Sim will simply exist in your city with not much to do. This is the only real complaint I have with the game play, but one thing I really thought was amazing was the “Region”.

The new “Region” concept has basically changed everything about your neighboring cities. You can connect your cities via highways, roads, and rail and view your whole region of cities with the region map. And the great thing about connecting your cities is that you can make trades and deals. Lets say City A doesn't have any room to dump their trash, but City B is a small town with a large dump; then City A can make a deal with City B to send their trash and some cash over the border. This makes things much easier for you, especially when you plan to build many cities. All in all the game play mechanics of SimCity 4 go beyond any SimCity game ever created.

Graphics

Another great thing about the game is the amazing views that you can have over your city. The aerial views of your city can be absolutely gorgeous because of the stunning graphics of the game. Lakes look like lakes, trees look like trees, and buildings look like real-life buildings. You can also see the shadows that buildings cast on each other. Maxis have done a really excellent job in making the game exceptionally beautiful. The only complaint that people might have is the possible slow frame rate on slower computers, but even that doesn't hinder the game play too much. But Overall, the visual achievement arised within the SimCity franchised has increased once again and looks incredible.

Sound

The sweet sounds of jazz and mid-speed techno really help set the mood of the game. City building is fun by itself, but with the added orchestrated tunes, the game is simply a delight to play. The sounds of the city are absolutely first-rate. If you listen closely, you will be able to hear cars sputtering, police sirens wailing, and I think I even heard a baby crying. The game's sound is something that was sent down by the gods and should be treasured by all human beings.

Replay Value

SimCity 4 can virtually last you thousands of hours because you can create something different each time, but the game can get tiresome after many hours of play. The game has no ending, or final match, it is just a battle to build what you want, where you want, and that is why the game can last exceptionally long, but still provide a great experience.

Conclusion

Here's my final recommendation: if you enjoy simulation, or you plan on being a city planner one day, buy this game. If you don't enjoy simulation, then I do not recommend this game for you, but if you can, borrow it from a friend and try it out, it might be something you'll enjoy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/05