SimCity 2000

"A different experience for me."

SimCity's fresh style of simulated city management has developed a cult of followers over the years, SimCity 2000 being the game that brought new life into the series(SimAnt, *shudder*), Maxis made a Gba port of the game. This is it.

Graphics-8/10. The game's crisp graphics are what I first noticed, no messy menu's, and hardly any lag when transitioning from one menu to another, however, The zoom and the rotation of the map were a problem, I found myself uncomfortable a few times when building my structures, the buildings are detailed and clean, the game's pace is quick, and it could sometimes cause a problem but overall they were great, better than what I expected.

Story/Plot-n/a. You the mayor of a new city, the game doesn't really have a story, therefore it doesn't end, its mainly just a city management simulator so the closest thing to a ''story'' is the updates that scrolls and informs you of things(ex:a natural disaster, residential needs, etc.), not really a problem.

Sound-6/10. The sound was average.....yet, I didnt hear any music besides the menu tune, and the sounds were pretty much bland-ish, nothing great, average at best.

Control-8/10 The control was great and easy to manage, all of the Gba's buttons were put to use, and with an easy interface, it brought easy play. My only problem though was the D-pad, it made my thumb a bit sore since you had to drag to make roads, and sometimes it was confusing trying to drag things, overall it was good though, really easy.

Gameplay/Replay-8/10 It was great, the game played out smoothly, with constant yearly budget updates and city updates scrolling across, you can easily manage your city, but it was a bit slow moving from one part of the city to the next, the piping system wasnt added which disappointed me a little, there is no counter for your citizens which kinda blows, and there is a short relay time before each structure was built, didn't bother me so much though.

Overall-8/10 Its a great game, considering the Gba's limited capabilities when compared to a PC, although there were some problems with the mapping interface and some things were excluded from SC2K for PC, In general however it gave a familiar SimCity feeling, 4 scenarios are included, separate from the actual game, each one has its own problem, 4 maps to pick from, which adds variety, the whole package is included, the amusement, the population zones, the police, the powerplant, the natural disasters, everything that makes a SimCity game what it is, is here, people expected a Gba version of SC2K, and this is what it is, although it has its own ''cons'', the games ''pros'' outshines them.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/03