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SimCity 4

SimCity 4

List Price: $39.99
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Very Dissapointing
Review: I cant give this game any more than a 1 because its practically unplayable. The requirements for the game are incorrect. If u only meet the minimun then dont get this game because it barely runs. The minimum requirements should really be the recommended requirements. I had to play the game on my friends computer because it didnt work on mine, and even then it was slow on his. As for the actual game, its not as fun as the previous sim cities. Micromanagement is annoying and very stressful. There are many missing features such as the tall skycarepers, annoying bugs, and again, constant slow down. The game is not worth it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It' waaaaay too hard
Review: I've played all of the previous Simcity games, and they were much easier. In this game, making money is practically impossible. You can cut funds just about everywhere, raise taxes very high, but i still only make about a $700 profit, after all that. Ive talked to some other people, they all said the same. They know how to play these games, but Simcity 4 has WAY TOO MANY ways for you to lose money, but not enough to make money. Also, for no reason, half my buildings abandon. Overall, I believe Simcity 3000/Unlimited was much more fun than this game. This game is nothing but good graphics and frustration.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Maxis Has Done It Again
Review: Just when I was getting bored with the umpteenth expansion pack for The Sims, Maxis gives us SimCity 4. Having played SimCity since the first, classic version was released, I can say without hesitation that SimCity 4 is one of the best yet. I have a feeling that much of the work that went in to the cancelled "Simsville" project found a place in SimCity 4.

First a word to the wise. If your computer doesn't meet the mininum requirements for this game, don't bother buying it as you will only end up frustrated. If your computer meets but doesn't exceed the minimum requirements, you're probably going to experience some frustration during gameplay. This is a game best played on a system that more than meets the recommended requirements.

The level of depth here is apparent upon coming face to face with the region screen. That's right. You're no longer simply creating a city, but you are in effect creating an entire "SimNation," made up of the city-states you create. Besides the ready-made regions Maxis provides, you can create your own in "God Mode," where you set about terraforming the likes of which have never been seen in previous versions. You even have the option of "reconciling" the borders of your cities to one another as you create them. Having an entire region to plan also changes the strategies you might employ. You might build a huge metropolis, and then build a series of smaller, sub-urban cities around it to supply it with workers, etc.,and then build a series of farming communities beyond that, and connect them all with rails and roads. The possibilities are endless.

The graphic detail is astounding, though things can get a bit choppy on the closer zooms when running a large city. But the graphics are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the depth of play that Maxis has added to SimCity 4. Perhaps the biggest change is the tax structure. It's now possible to tax citizens according to income bracket, as well as commercial buildings, and to tax industry according to type. Adjusting the local funding and scope of service buildings (medical centers, schools, etc.) adds another way of fine tuning budget your budget to meet citizen concerns AND attract certain demographics to certain areas.

With a little planning and attention to detail, it's not too hard to build a profitable city. The challenge is to keep it running, and you'd better have some sort of gameplan or vision before you start building, otherwise you may find yourself in the middle of one huge mess.

There are a few drawbacks here. First, there is no way to turn off disasters. So you have to manage them as they arise, and forget about setting up your zones and then leaving your city to run unmonitored, then coming back to see what's happened, as disabled. Second, Maxis has included a rather irritating "auto-road" function that will automatically place strees in the areas that you zone, but that might not fit with how you want to plan your city. This function can't be disabled, but there are creative ways around it. Finally, the "Manual" included with the game is, well, useless if you aren't already an experience SimCity player/mayor. If you're a newbie, get the strategy guide or look around online for some free, player-written strategy guides an FAQs.

All in all, though, SimCity 4 is a worthwhile game, and one you'll find yourself coming back to with new ideas and strategies.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good ideas, sketchy implementation
Review: SimCity 4 has a great deal to offer the patient gamer. It is challenging, variable, and allows for extended amounts of gameplay. The features of educational incentives and inter-city trading of services offers the player proper motivation to build a workable city setup. In addition, the terraforming tools are easy to use, and can quickly shape the lands to the user specifications. Finally, the amount of variety offered to the visual representation of your city helps reduce the "xeroxed" effect that the previous SimCity games produced. Each city tends to develop its own special look and feel.
On the negative side, the game is slow paced, the controls are spotty, and the demands on the system resources are high. The greatest hurdle to the gaming experience is the time it takes to develop a city to scale. The inability to gain enough funds to maintain and develop your city rapidly results in a great deal of sitting and watching, rather than interacting with the game. Also, it becomes very easy to exhaust your funds (fortunately, SimCity 4 offers financial deals in term of army bases and missile test sites to offer additional revenues to your city), which results in the gameplay being reduced to watch and wait. The zoning tools and road tools occassionally have difficulty tracking the mouse position, and results in unintentionally zoned lands, and more lost resources. The feature to automatically add roads also serves to slow down the ability to quickly design your city. Also, the ability to alter the flow of time for your city can sometimes get stuck, and requires reactivation to get the timeflow started again. Finally, I operate my SimCity 4 game on a Pentium 4 with 1.4 GigaHertz processor and 768 megs of RAM, and my computer drags and churns when the city reaches sizes over 10 thousand. It can be quite distracting to operate the game under these load conditions, as it lends itself to choppy scrolling and delay of executing actions.
This game has a lot of complexity and thought going for it, but it will probably aggravate and irritate the lest patient gamer.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It was OK
Review: The title is absolutely right! It is a simulation,but that's it! You can't enjoy the game because you have to constantly worry about how much you spending for road maintance or whatever else there is. Bah! I wanted a game to enjoy not a game to add my stress to my life! But if you're looking for a game with beautiful graphics then I recommend it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible Quality for Maxis Game
Review: Sim City 4 is by far the worse Maxis game I have ever owned, and probly the worst game I have ever owned all together! The game is extremely slow and runs terrible on just about any system. It crashes and freezes every time I play it. My computer is not bad at all either, it fact it's quite good. I haven't heard one good thing about this game either. Go to the BBS at simcity.com and see for yourself. Not one good comment about the game, all complaints to Maxis/EA wanting patchs and other efforts to refurbish Sim City 4. NEVER again am I going to buy a Sim City game after my experience with this one. If you want a good Maxis/EA game, I would HIGHLY recomend The Sims.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Sim City 4 - Fancy Graphics But Not as Fun as the Original
Review: When I saw the ads for the newest Sim City (Sim City 4), I have to admit being pretty amazed by the graphics. Sadly, however, the graphics are about all that I found impressive about this newest version.

You have several regions to select from, and they can be altered via "God Mode". Once the real city building starts, though the game drags. I seemed to only be able to build on a few zones without exhausting my supply of funds. I spent more time watching a dwindling supply of money as opposed to building a city. (Once over a century went by and my city remained essentially the same).

The first version of the Original Sim City 1 that I purchased several years ago was enhanced with video clips from the various advisors and news teams. It was fun, challenging, yet quite doable. Less fancy game graphics were more than compensated for by a engrossing and fascinating game scenario.

No video segments (or even audio voice overs) in this new version. Gone are the pre-made scenarios. Also gone is the fun. It looks like the new region setup is designed for online multiplayer options but I won't be playing.

I think I rate this one about 2 stars, since there is some fun in the original setup using "God Mode" and in destroying the city once I get bored (less than an hour). I think rather than wasting my time playing this game, I'll go ahead and de-install it and go back to Sim City 1.

--RB

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: not quite there yet
Review: i have owned and played the whole sim city series, and to sum up #4 i guess i would say that it is visually pretty, has a wider scope and is somewhat more difficult to get the hang of than the other versions, but on the whole is somewhat underwhelming.

the computer is more creative dealing with landscape, and there are some refinements, such as different levels of roads, which are nice. however, there is also enough that is still unrealistic to make the game just not quite there yet.

on the other hand, for the people who like simple, pretty building games, this version might be too full of petty details. there is a lot to pay attention to. it is still as unrealistic as ever, but way more of a pain in the ... to play. if you have a slow processor, it will take you FOREVER to get anywhere.

in sum i found that i am just as happy with the limitations of simcity 3000 because the game play is more satisfying.

i am in city planning and personally could handle even more city building minutia--but this in between (neither realistic nor super engaging) isn't that great.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: You need a top of the line computer >> no joke !
Review: I read other reviews and thought...'oh well, my P4 1.4 Ghz computer can handle it.....surely all the other reviewers have P2 with 400 Mhz computers'.

They were not joking !
The game is awesome, with awesome (out of this world!) detail and complexity. It is a great great jump from Simcity 3000, yet...you do need a GREAT machine to play it right. Fortunately, the game does not crash in my computer as others have mentioned, but to have a barely decent game speed you need to put the game in a low resolution mode, where you loose all the visual goodies you can get.

I have a P4 1.4 Ghz witha a 16 Mb video card and 128 in RAM.

I would suggest you have P4 with 3.1 Ghz, 64Mb video card and 512 in RAM...and maybe, just maybe the game can play right.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: sim city 4 so-so
Review: this game is not for those casual gamers i searched day and night for web cheats which by the way do exist but it was the only way too beat the game its a challenge for the designers id wager if any one can actully make a city that makes money i applaud you my friend but its nearly impossible at least win you do lose horribly you can call down lightning or youre choice of a nice variety of effects to punish the misbigotten ones including volcanoes alliens and earthquakes then sit back and watch the pitiful fire fighters try too but out the destruction! HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAA


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