SimCity 4

Rating:
Summary: Same Game, New Graphics
Review: I loved Sim City for years -- 2000, 3000 and Unlimited. But I'd gotten burned-out with laying roads and placing police stations. I thought Sim City 4 would refresh my love of Sim City, but it didn't do the trick. It's really the same old game with updated graphics. It's time to move on to something new.

Rating:
Summary: ALMOST TOO REALISTIC
Review: Well, it has finally arrived, and judging by the other reviews it seems that many people are not satisfied with Sim City 4. I, on the other hand, find it to be a great city simulator with high educational value, especially in the areas of mathematics, geography, sociology, engineering, etc.

You play as mayor, and you start a new city by building roads and establishing zones (residential, commercial and industrial). As time progresses, the land begins to develop, according to land value and access to resources. As your city's population increases, you add hospitals, schools, fire/police stations, courthouses, rail lines, seaports, airports, parks, and much more. Small fires occasionally break out, riots flare up; the city becomes alive. The toughest part of the game, in my opinion, is staying out of the red. City services cost money, and people do not like to be taxed. It's a complicated balancing act that gets harder as your city's population reaches one million inhabitants, and this problem is compounded by factors like crime and blight. If things get really bad you can resort to asking for loans and making business deals with other cities on the map.

This is a very difficult game, but I am sure that being the mayor of a large metropolis in reality is no walk in the park. Simcity 4 is a program that requires a high-end computer to run adequately, so keep that in mind before purchasing this product

Rating:
Summary: You won't play much
Review: I was excited about this game, I really was. Even if it wasn't *so* great as I was expecting, it's fun and it has good graphics. I also enjoyed that is way more difficult to play that the earlier versions. BUT, I gave up on it. It is TOO BUGGY! I couldn't play for more than 20 minutes straight. And it's not my machine or my video card. It crashes a lot, specially when you start having a big city. It's slow and... crashes again, losing all you have done in your city (wich are...virtual years ;)

So, I like the game, but this game, as some of the Sims add-ons, was released before being ready.

Rating:
Summary: It would be fun. . .
Review: Sim City 4 justp lain fails to run after a certain point. It will eat up all of your system resources. I have a nice computer system and I'm very good with computers, but this game just seems as if it is not finished. I'd buy GTA or Mafia instead of this title.

Rating:
Summary: It does not disappoint
Review: I have been eagerly awaiting SimCity 4 and it did not disappoint me one bit. It seems like they upgraded every feature in the game and expanded the possibilities of game play immensely. The only downside I might see is for fans of SimCity who might have older computers - with all the enhancements this game needs a state-of-the-art PC to run. I wouldn't run it on the "minimum" required. Make sure you have at least the "recommended" or better - to run all the new features this game really needs a PC with horsepower! (but its worth it!)

Rating:
Summary: Amazing...
Review: I have always been an avid fan of SimCity games, and this new installment give simulation a whole new meaning. You breathe life into your city. The graphics and sound are considerably better than previous versions. I run a 1 GHZ Pentium III with 512 MB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX, and the game performs fine. SimCity 4 is also more realistic than ever. Buses pull up to the school at eight in the morning. Schools only cover a certain district. A riot may arise when you place that new nuclear power plant in town. Watch as your sims live their lives, going to work, play a round of golf in your new resort, or enjoy themselves at the fair. You can even import your characters from "The Sims" into this game, and watch the live in your city as they give you feedback! I must congratulate the Maxis team on a job well done.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Disappointment
Review: I enjoyed Sim City 3000 Unlimited a great deal, and I was rather hoping its creators would use it as the jumping-off point for Sim City 4, but they've gotten rid of what I liked about that earlier game and added almost nothing I do like. Yes, the graphics are sharper and are really nice, but as one reviewer noted before, the game is now far more work than fun. I think that's a pretty fundamental complaint, really. I have a pretty powerful computer, and the game operates the way it should, but I must always restart my computer and repair the Internet functions before my system is in working order again after game play. Too, the cheat code dialogue box rarely opens as it's supposed to do, instead, hitting CTRL X turns the cursor into a smokestack. I'm going back to Sim City 3000 Unlimited. I regret my expensive purchase of Sim City 4.

Rating:
Summary: SimCity4 Rocks !...
Review: SimCity4 is the best computer game you can ever imagine. You get to make up your own town and watch it change. You go from a flat piece of land to a mega-city. It is really cool. I bet you will want to play it.

Rating:
Summary: A snap reaction
Review: Well I just got the game the other day. I was a casual fan of sim city and sim city 2000, and own sim city 3000 unlimited. I was really excited about this game when I read about it. Perhaps that is why I feel a little disapointed in my purchase.

Take into account I havent spent a hell of a lot of time with the game yet, but I will rewrite this review once I have a better and more exact apraisal of it's merits and faults. This is a first reaction.

For starters, the game feels slow. I have a brand new 2.4 Ghz machine with 512MB of Ram and a Geforce 4. So it's not my machine... for real. Not that the game grinds to a hault, it just FEELS sluggish in response time. Anytime you move around your city it doesnt feel 100% fluid. This is a minor to moderate complaint, but I'd really like to see the game have a much smoother engine.

This time around the interface is brand new. They tried to work in the interface from The Sims. Well... I hate to say this, but I hate it. Atleast at the moment. It is more confusing to me than the one used in previous versions, and too flashy. I much prefered the interface of sim city 3k. Also there are only a small handfull of disasters which really disapointed me. The ones that are there are moderately well done, and now you can direct them (which is cool). Although it's fun to steer a meteor into a loathed neighborhood of your city, I wish there was a wider scope here. A larger variety of disasters would be much apreciated. I'd like to see varying intensity disasters too, so the difference between an F1 and an F5 tornado could be illustrated in the game... but no.

The paradigm of the game is also changed a lot... for the better AND for the worse. Many aspects have improved, but many have changed in ways that will leave traditional fans frustrated, disapointed, or confused. You can now create a whoole region of cities all interlinked, which is a greta improvement, but I dont see scenarios present. I also hate the startup screen. No menu really... just right to a region... it's a bit perplexing. And perhaps the BIGGEST COMPLAINT I have is that I dont beleve you start in 1900 anymore! As far as I can tell you ALWAYS start your cities in the present day! What a huge loss! I alsways loved starting a city in the beginning of the century to watch it progress over the years as new technologies change the world, and to watch the events occur in the game. Im not 100% sure about this, but if I knew for a fact it was true I would definately be upset!

On the up side there are a lot more buldings and seems like a lot more depth in the game as far as complexity. There are now local budgets for schools and more emphasis on the people of your city. You can even throw your own sims into the city and they'll report back to you. The day/night cycle, is a nice touch, but can be distracting. The graphics are a BIG imporvoement, yet at times fall short of what would be expected. Sound is generally very good, though at points it's obvious they used and built on existing sim city sound effects. Economics in the game is much more detailsed, but the graph features are a little less helpful than we have come to expect in the series up till now.

All in all.... I must admit a heavy sense of disapointment. I very well may come to love the game in some ways, but for now I am still stuck with the feeling of disapointment with the shortomings and unwelcome changes. Don't get me wrong it's still a good game, you'll just have to try it out for yourself and decide whether or not you like the changes and can live with it's few hiccups.

Rating:
Summary: The lag is a big problem...
Review: There is no doubt that the graphics in Sim City 4 are better than those of SC 3000, but the lag you get in return is not worth the relatively puny graphic improvement. Originally, I thought the problem was my computer, but after meeting the requirements, defragging (and going on a deleting spree), and reading similar complaints at both Amazon and Simcity4.com, I'm disspaointed to realize that there is probably something wrong with the game.

Hopefully a patch will fix this...