Rating: 
Summary: Fell Way Below My Expectaions
Review: All the simcity games over the years have got gradually harder. Simcity 3000 was quite a challenging game to start but you got the hang of it before a complete breakdown. On the other hand Simcity4 Has crossed the line. Services cost so much more and less taxes are paid (without a revolt). Although the game is called SimCITY it would be quite impossible to build say, a small farming town withouting spiraling into debt. The graphics may look excelent but even high powered machines with the best in graphics cards have problems, somtimes even chunks in buildings appear missing. Attention to detail is great, however attension to the game playability is poor. Games like these need easier beginings so you can get a foothold and a will to play without so many failures to then actually build a Simcity.
Rating: 
Summary: Patched Version
Review: I've been waiting to get this game for a long time, I even got a new computer. Only to find out that my video card wasn't supported and the game wouldn't even run. However after a long search I found that there's an 'upgrade' on simcity.com. I'd hardly call it an upgrade in order to just get it to run. I still have the problem of residential units complaining the have no road access even though they are right beside a road. It seems this game was rushed out.
Rating: 
Summary: BUYER BEWARE!
Review: I have a relativly new computer (about 1 1/2 years old) and I was so excited about this game! When I got it, I had a horrible time trying to install it. So I finally called costumer service and come to find out you need a specific memory card that is only standard in new computers. I don't remember reading anything about that. I'm very disapointed!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely frustrating. For die-hard strategists only.
Review: This game is definitely one of the most frustrating games currently out for the PC. First of all, you need a very, very powerful computer to even be able to play it. (I have a Pentium 4 computer with 1,024 RAM and a very nice graphic card and I still got a lot of slowdown)
This game is definetely for either, A. die-hard strategists who love complicated games that involve you knowing how to attract people to your city, keeping the taxes low, keeping the people happy, having enough jobs etc., all at the same time. Very difficult to do when you have your advisors screaming repetitive information back at you.
The music is something in it's own. It has a wonderful feature that you can access. That feature is the ability to turn the music off. The music has been repeated through every Sim City and will most likely be in the next one as well. At least they were smart enough to include the ability to shut off the sound.
One last closing note,....You know those wonderful pictures of that city with huge skyscrapers on the back of the box and the front as well? Well, good luck getting your city to look like that without cheats.
Rating:
Summary: Same old same old
Review: If you're a fan of simulations in general, you'll have a good time here. On the other hand, if you're a fan of the Sims, you might be disappointed. We're back to faceless city building here, which just isn't that engaging. I quickly found myself not really caring if my constituents found jobs or had power. There were too many different factors to keep track of to keep my interest or make the game winnable in any real sense.SimCity does what it does very well, but it's not nearly as interesting as the Sims.
Rating: 
Summary: Play GOD!!!!
Review: This game is so much fun to play. I have all the Sims games and I am a grandmother. My grandkids and I enjoy all the Sims. I recommend it for all grandmothers and grandfathers that have a lot of time on their hands.
Rating: 
Summary: good sim game
Review: i liked this game, it had good graphics and the gameplay was good, yet it was EXTREMLY hard 2 keep the budget in control while keeping the sims happy, but i do recomend this game when the price goes farther down.
Rating:
Summary: best Sim City series game this far
Review: I have been a Sim City fan since SC2K (remember archologies?). This game has fulfilled everything I wished SC2K AND SC3K had: great terrain generator, beautiful graphics, and almost extinct Lick's Disease (repeating building types), more realistic zoning (commercial office vs. commercial services).
If you are new to Sim City you should be aware this game is not for everyone and you might not find it "fast" enough. For the rest of us, this game far surpasses all of its predecessors.
Rating:
Summary: Great for hardcore fans, fascinating to newcomers
Review: This is a really great game if your very good at it.If your new , it should take awhile to the hang of it.First off, I think the graphics are amazing.It is highly detailed and polished.I have a p4,2.53g,512mb,and a Ge force fx 128mb video card.The reason it probaly runs slow is because,you need a better video card or a new proccesor.The gameplay is smooth and easy to understand.It has more options and and info,so you can handle your city better.The new region mode is good also.You can connect multiple cites and share reasources among them.You can even create the entire region into one huge metropolis.The god mode is good too.You can sculp and shape the landscape any way you want.You can set animals and disasters.The game also has more freedom to make a infinite amount of different cites and landscapes.To make a good city is hard to do.You have to handle the budget first.With a good budget you can succesfully create a good city.The manual is okay ,but I wanted more info.Anoter great thing is the music.It is very smooth and relaxing.One bad thing is the regions do not have many cities in them.There is not any city that is really big or deveolped.One surprising thing is the game has two cds for even more city making.The bad thing is the 2nd disc is like the first one, nothing brand new.Overall you need a powerful computer to make it work. The graphics,gameplay,and music are great.The modes are good.The only bad thing is the short manual and the somewhat empty regions.As the title says it is great for hardcore fans and fascinating for newcomers
Rating:
Summary: Imperfect, but many good ideas
Review: SimCity 4 is the latest in the long-survived SimCity series of games. Much like the others, the goal of the game is to contruct a burgeoning metropolis from the ground up. There are no set goals or parameters, it is very much like a sandbox where you can dictate your own expectations and try to meet them. As the Mayor, you lay roads and zone land for development as residential, commercial, industrial, seaport, airport, and others. You build power plants and water pumping stations. You approve and reject city ordinances, keep the city safe from crime with police stations, and entertain your people with massive stadiums. All while keeping an eye on your annual income. Make no mistake - it's complicated, filled with micromanagement, and sometimes feels more like "work" than a "game." But the rewards for your labor are pleasant to watch. From SimCity 3000, SimCity 4 has several major deviations - for better and for worse. Here's a brief rundown of them: - In a nod to The Sims (which you can also import into your city), SimCity 4's world is somewhat persistent. You have a large "world" to develop and any given SimCity occupies a space in this world. But, they are all interconnected. The problem here is that "neighbor deals" - a substantial source of income in previous games - suddenly cease exist. You are responsible for building your neighboring cities. It would have been much cooler if the map was already dominated by a few larger cities. On the other hand, specialization is key as the world grows. You'll find yourself building "the industrial city," the sleepy "residential city," and so forth. Another annoying side effect of the world system is that backing up your cities and work is rather strange - as you have to dig around in the game directories to figure out where the heck they stored your work. - There is only one difficulty level, and it starts tough. In some ways, I appreciate this. Early on, you have to be a serious penny-pincher, viciously slashing funding for schools and other public services just to make ends meet and become profitable. This feels much more realistic as most modern US cities face the same troubles. On the other hand, it makes the game hostile to newcomers, and don't expect those tremendous skyscrapers to appear anytime soon. You'll be the proud Mayor of a slum for a while. - The game makes a distinction between streets and roads. It goes insofar as to automatically place the weaker of the two when you zone land. The problem is, the automatic placement doesn't always make the best use of land, nor jive with your intentions or existing road layouts. You can't turn off this "feature" either, which is disappointing. - On the flip side, the game has a neat implemention of day and night cycles. Perhaps the coolest aspect of the game, early in the morning you witness a mass exodus of automobiles and vehicles from the residential zones to the industrial zones. As night falls, the street lamps and headlights turn on and the exodus happens in reverse. It's really a sight to behold and a testament to some of the intricate programming that's behind the game. However the game was, and still is, quite buggy. While recent patches have improved its stability, SimCity 4 is still quite vulnerable. There have been cases where it would crash the venerable Windows XP such that a reset was necessary. The game is also on the sluggish side, so you'll want a high-end computer for this one. This thing taxes my machine more than Unreal Tournament 2003 does! It's for these reasons that I find SimCity 4 a difficult game to judge. While I appreciate the inspired focus and vision of the game and just how beautifully many parts came together, the performance and stability issues cannot be ignored. So, in closing, I rate this game as many gaming magazines have - giving Maxis the benefit of the doubt and an above-average rating. Hopefully they'll iron out the last of the severe bugs in future patches. By the way, I'd like to make special note of the game's music. SimCity 4 has an absolutely fabulous soundtrack that easily ranks as one of the best I've heard in a long while, surpassing even its predecessor in my opinion. You want to listen to the included MP3s outside of the game - it's that amazing. From hurried rush hour beats to soaring atmospheric pieces, this soundtrack is breathtaking!
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