By Dan Blomberg on July 12th, 2003

Presentation
SimCity 4 has some of the easiest navigation for the SimCity series yet. It is based off the same type of system as the hit game The Sims (review). It involves having data along the bottom of the screen and navigation along the side. There is a multi-tier system to allow for easy access to any type of structure or zone. The bottom includes everything from data charts to advisors, your budget, a map, the year, and even the time. A very ingenious addition is that you can overlay charts onto the city to see the traffic, fire danger, and other things.

Graphics
Graphics, one word, astounding. This game requires a high end computer. To enjoy the graphics at full quality you need at least 64mb of graphic ram, I have it running on a computer with 128mb of graphic ram. Everything is extremely detailed. Stoplights change colors, roads have trees and benches on the sidewalks. There are seagulls, clouds, lighting, even night and day. There are different types of cars, everything from trucks to buses and regular cars. You can watch individual people on the street. Even the fire is much more realistic with the fire growing if you don’t deploy fire units. The graphics pretty much epitomize how much has advanced in this release of the SimCity series.

Sound
Regrettably SimCity still has that "soothing" jazz music as the background music. Nothing has changed there. Other than that though you can hear sirens, honking and other sounds. Nothing really special, but not exactly a bad touch either. The sound helps to bring the atmosphere of a full blown metropolis to life.

Gameplay
This is where SimCity 4 really shines. SimCity 3000 lost it, the cities built so slow, you couldn’t build on hills, power lines were screwy, pipes had issues, and more. In SimCity 4 there have been so many new developments. There are even different types of streets. You can have roads which have a higher traffic capacity or streets. Of course if you have houses surrounded by roads there is more use and the traffic noise grows (and yes that matters). Abandoned buildings aren’t just black buildings anymore. They actually look like the original building, just kinda run-down. The same goes for your utilities as they get older. Their condition deteriorates and the get ugly. Soon enough it costs more for upkeep than they are worth and they have to be replaced.

The most admirable part of SimCity is the detail involved in the game. You can see everything, from kids jumping on a trampoline in their backyard to cars stopping when a light is red and going when it is green. You can even watch people get mugged if you don’t have proper police coverage. Another nice feature is that sims will build retaining walls if they are on a hill to allow them to build their house. You can make land value change by adding parks and trees. Then you can watch the trees grow as

When playing as mayor you control everything. You control funding for everything, and as you raise or lower funding the area covered by police, fire and hospitals changes, or the capacity of a school grows or shrinks. Changes in funding to power and water utilities changes the output capacities. If you take the funding too low workers will go on strike, you can even see them outside picketing. Mass transit can start to make a profit if you do it right and does actually relieve traffic congestion. Trains can no longer make 90 degree turns. They actually have to have a nice gradual turn and can’t just turn at a T intersection. That definitely changes how you plan your city. Train stations aren’t just general stations either, there are freight and passenger stations. Industry cares about how long a freight trip is just as residential people care about how long their commute is. SimCity isn’t about just cities anymore. There is a region you have access too. If you build multiple cities and connect them you can then watch your people commute to other cities for work or even send your neighbor all your trash. There are even different sized plots for you to build your cities on. Of course building means construction, and in SimCity 4 you watch workers build the roads, build houses with scaffolding, and things of the sort. Don’t just build a SimCity, build a SimWorld.

You can also play God in this version of simcity. Before you start constructing your city you can add craters, valleys, hills, plains, mountains and more. You can even have your land compensate for erosion. Once you have built a city God can make the city be at night, or in the day, or you could just let in cycle between day and night. And as the time changes the traffic changes, rush hour exists and at night there is almost no traffic on the roads (even though the streetlights are on). God controls disasters of course. Everything from volcanoes to robots and earthquakes can terrorize your city. Of course disasters such as fire don’t need to be started by God, no fire coverage, oops, that building is probably gonna

Conclusion
If you like any version of SimCity you need to have SimCity 4. If you like simulations this could be one of the most addicting games in your arsenal. Build a thriving city, then build a thriving nation. Wage war against criminals, fire, water failure, power grid problems, and of course the regular old sim who is unhappy about your taxes. SimCity 4 is definitely a game that any PC gamer should own.

The Good
+ Build simnations not simcities
+ The realism
+ A faster speed than SimCity 3000

The Bad
- Jazz music
- Criminals

The Stupid
? The impossible to place beach

*GamersMark.com reviewed this game with a copy of the title purchased from retail.