Rating: 
Summary: The Almost Perfect City Simulator
Review: Once you get the hang of this game, it becomes a lot of fun! More fun than any previous version, and not just because of the cute graphics. At first, it feels the same as SimCity 3000, but you eventually discover that there are important differences behind the scenes: The internal algorithms that drive the city's development have been reworked to run more realistically. (SC 3000 was more "fantasy-based", in my opinion.) But, you never have to delve into too many complicated details to enjoy it! Once you understand a few zoning concepts, the game is very intuitive.My computer is fast enough to handle it, most of the time, but those who attempt to run the game at its minimum requirements might suffer. There are also some visual bugs to work out, but none have been detrimental: Sometimes cars, trains and pedestrians run over each other. Sometimes traffic signals and train crossing arms do not sync properly, but these are purely visual anomalies, and do not really affect the game. Sometimes, ugly dark bars appear in the middle of large cities, but they seem to go away soon enough. Some important new features include controllable disasters, true agriculture zones, improved terraforming tools, distinction of streets from roads, and better visual feedback with props and "zots". The most annoying thing about SimCity 4 is that it forces a new "Region" system on you. This makes it more difficult to load cities from other sources, and it lacks a "Save As" feature. I also wish they had more starter towns. Overall I am very pleased with the product. But, I guess you just can't have everything.
Rating: 
Summary: Better Interface
Review: It is complicated in understanding the reasons for growth. I have the manual for it and that has helped to understand the mechanics of building a city. The graphics are much improved. Seeing homes build on the sides of hills is delightful. Always a waste of space in past versions. The agriculture is handled much better now, where before you had to spend too much time trying keep it from converting over to industry. I like the way the staff members interface. The challenge is to keep the income above the expenses.
Rating:
Summary: great game
Review: the game is better and worse than expected... it's very fun to play. you need a newer computer for it to preform well and have good graphics though. i tried it on one system with 850 mhz and 512 mb-ram and it preformed poorly, i think i may need a newer graphics card. it runs wonderfull on my 2 ghz system though.
Rating:
Summary: Bugs? Slowdowns?
Review: I have owned this game for the past week adn have played at least 12 hours so far and i dont know what some reviewers are talking about. The game has had no bugs and never slowed down on my 2GHZ, 512 RDRAM, 100GB Hardrive, w/a GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB graphics card so those who have faster machines and complain are either messing with the game configurations OR complain for no reason. The only valid points are that YES you do need a faster than the minimum requirements PC to run SimCity4 at optimum rates but the game will run if you turn all the graphics and lighting down... It will run! Hence the MINUMUM requirements the game will run fine on its minimum settings! If you have a slow PC and want the full affect of SimCity don't buy this game buy SC3000 but if you have above a GHZ of Speed on your PC it will run excelent. Oh and if didn't say it before the game is AMAZING!
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT GRAPHICS/HUGE SYSTEM OVERHEADS
Review: The new version of the greatest sim of all time has ravishing on-screen graphics and a greatly improved user interface that could and should have gone into SC3000. However, there is little new here apart from further complexity, and you should check the minimum system requirements before you part with your hard-earned cash - this eats up processor time and memory. Personally, I won't be buying this or any other SC update until designer Will introduces the properly rendered 3D fly-through feature that has been talked about for so many years without ever hitting the streets; it's no longer possible to say that platform limitations rule it out.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult but goobs of eye candy
Review: The look of the game itself is wonderful. The region concept and the god mode are also new perks that make this version interesting. The game however is very hard to get going. Trying to get a city budget to balance requires intense monitoring of resources and spending, down to the building. The main negative for me is that you cant turn off disasters. And, for those of out there who want to plan the perfect city and maintain it in a bubble this is no longer an option. So, eventually as your city grows you have to spend on Fire and police. There is an auto-goto disater option btw, I previous reviewer was incorrect. Overall, I would have been more satisfied if the game had been [less expensive], but [$$$]is way too much. Be prepared to do some intense monitoring or plan to use this as a ...coaster. I run a 2.2m, 736 RDRAM and a 128 ATI vid card on a P4 and I saw few hangups in the game play itself. Though the scroll is different from previous versions and it takes awhile to get used to the sensitivity. I enjoy the intense managing and I would rate 5 stars but for the high price.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much detail/Older computers not compatible
Review: I bought this game via pre order. I installed it and during the tutorials it crashes my game, why, because to run it I would need to buy a new $... video card! I did get to play some and there are just too many options, functions, etc. that you have to do in order to play this game. You have God Mode, Mayor Mode and Sim Mode which can only be played if you own The Sims. The graphics are great, very detailed, but everything is really small because of the massive detail. The gameplay, interface are very different from SimCity3000 and I didn't like it. I was very dissapointed and am sending it back. All in all, too much detail, slow, too much to do to actually build a city! Too much like work and not enough fun!
Rating:
Summary: Constant Lockups and Crashes
Review: I would wait for a newer version or a patch. I am so disgusted with myself for buying this and wish I could take it back. The game would be wonderful and there are some great graphics in it but it locks up constantly. I have a brand new computer that I had built especially for "gamers" with high end everything on it. But I start to build a city and get excited about it and it either crashes or locks up. I've started saving every single time I do anything anymore and that makes the game not very fun to play. If you haven't already bought this game, don't waste your money. I will only be happy after the first patch or two comes out. Until then, I will be playing something else.
Rating:
Summary: Bugs?
Review: While the game may have some glitches i hav seen none yet. I play on a 1.8 GHZ 512 DDRAM and 64MB Ti4200 GeForce4 graphics card. The other reviewers have either something wrong with their computers or are potheads. If u think im crazy than see my validation at IGN.com, Gamepro.com, Gamespy.com, or Gamespot.com. Buy the game and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Same OLD SimCity
Review: I got this game the day it came out and I am allready bored of it. It was fun in the beginning, but the longer you play this game the more repititious it gets. The graphics are great but the toolbars are sometimes confusing because there are no words, just picture menus which can be annoying. Once you have built one successful city you will most likely never play this game again. I also think that the whole region/neighbor set up needs to be tweaked a little which might add more hours of gameplay. That seems to be the only major difference between this simcity game and simcity 3000. I would not spend 50 bucks on this game because after a few days of gameplay you will most likely put this game away for good.
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