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Sim City 4 Review

Chris Leyton

20/01/2003

Sim City gets streamlined and influenced by The Sims, however it's still good old fashioned fun...

The Sim City games have rightfully earned a fond place in gamers hearts; certainly if you were making a list of the most important games to be created, Maxis city builder would have to feature in the higher end of the scale.

For anyone who doesnât know what Sim City is about, the game places you as a mayor of a recently required plot of land; itâs up to you to turn it into a bustling metropolis by developing the city, from zoning land right down to implementing a bus route. The charm of Sim City lies in the open-ended game design; itâs not a game to get stuck into and complete, instead this is a game youâll come back to for months on end.

Unfortunately this latest chapter in the legendary series is likely to disappoint initially; like myself, many people would have thought that now would be the perfect time to bring the series into the next-generation with a full 3D graphics engine. Unfortunately although the terrain is modelled in full 3D, the rest of the city uses the same isometric technique, allowing players to view the city in four different angles and with multiple degrees of zoom. To be fair Sim Cityâs strengths soon shine through and youâll find yourself forgetting about this fact, it also means that we donât need to spend money upgrading our machines, which a full 3D Sim City would most certainly require.

After spending an extensive time with Sim City 4, there are a few design features that instantly stand out to the Sim City fanatic. For starters it appears that Maxis have learnt from their experience with the mass-market title The Sims and included a few ideas from that title; for starters everything from the interface to placing water-pipes has been redesigned to make the whole experience as accessible as ever and removed the frustration that previous versions occasionally chucked up at you. If any more evidence was needed that Sim City 4 has been created to attract the mass-market, zones now come automatically equipped with the required roads for development to begin! Thatâs not to say that the game has been sacrificed in anyway, itâs just been streamlined to make the experience more forgiving for the Sim City newcomers.

Certainly if anymore evidence was needed of this, then the âSimsâ option would be more then enough. This new feature allows you to import your own or choose from a range of different characters each âliftedâ from The Sims, to place in a house and watch as they live their life in your town. To be fair, although this sounds like a gimmick and a way to cash in on the success of The Sims, it adds a layer of depth missing in previous titles; your Sim will highlight areas of concern and give you a good perspective on how your city is developing in regards to their life â“ a city that is kept in good condition will in turn lead to your Sim moving up the career ladder and buying a better house, whilst a city in neglect could ultimately see your Sim move away or die! It would have been nice to see a first-person perspective from your Sim; being able to view the city from one of your citizens perspectives is what Sim City fans have been crying out for ages, however in order to do that weâll need a full 3D engine first!

Elsewhere itâs the same Sim City that weâve come to expect; everything can be manipulated with down to the smallest detail. Beginning with an empty plot of land, itâs up to you to zone areas for residential, commerce and industrial areas, provide power and water, set taxes, implement neighbourhood watch schemes and ensure that youâre keeping your city in good shape â“ itâs as addictive as ever and for strategy fans it just doesnât get any better then this.

Despite our concerns over the lack of a full 3D engine, Sim City 4 is a beautiful game to behold; zoom in to the closest level and watch as Sims walk around the town, playing basketball, swimming in their pools, right down to brushing and layering tarmac when you build new roads and graffiti appearing in crime-hit areas; the level of detail is quite frankly staggering! Sim City 4 also features a number of next-generation visual effects that will make you gasp; the day/night cycle is beautiful, the weather effects look wonderful, and stunning fireworks help to celebrate monumental occasions.