Introduction
Since the release of the original
SimCity about 15 years ago, the series have undergone some serious
changes. Since the original release in 1989 SimCity has kept the same
gameplay which is very addictive. SimCity 4 is not different in the
gameplay concept, but there are many factors which will make you realize how
great the game is.

Gameplay
SimCity 4 has progressed a lot since its prequel SimCity
3000 Unlimited. Before you were limited to one town, after you used up all
the space, it was over. You had to start a new city. Now, SimCity 4 offers
region play. Instead of forming a city you will have the opportunity to build up
many of them. Form a country, or how it’s called, a region. Region play is a
fine addition to game since you are able to interact with adjacent cities. Build
up connections and start doing business with neighboring cities. You can make
almost any type of connection, from roads to water pipes. It’s a nice way to
make extra money monthly and helping your pals out.

Story
For the ones new to the SimCity series the game’s objective
is for you to develop a city successfully. You will have many tools available.
You can zone terrain. There are 3 types of zoning. Residential, Commercial and
Industrial are the 3 types of zoning available. You can grow a city strongly
based on industry or in business. It’s up to you. You can motivate poor people
to move in or rich people. By using taxes appropriately and using the different
Zone tools. Each zone has 3 options. The options are low, medium and high
Density. Low will cause small houses to be built while High Density will give
you condominiums and other buildings according to the zone type. You will be
able to build from schools to jails, from water pumps to recycling centers. You
can build either The Bank of China or the Empire States. You can do almost
anything you can imagine the major is able to do. Yeah, you can be evil too.

Graphics
Region play may seem like one of the most notable features
SimCity 4 has to offer but it’s just the start. Based on the best selling
game The Sims, SimCity 4 offers a new advanced interface. The
interface like in SimCity 3000 has the same options. However it has also
a new tool and many new features. The My Sims section let’s you import your Sims
from any The Sims game. It’s amazing. You can let your sim move in your
city and you will be informed of whatever they are doing. You will see them
driving to their jobs or perhaps complaining about the lack of a service; or how
it should be, giving you positive feedback.

Sound
Another notable addition to SimCity 4 is the day/night
options. You can have it set to automatic/day only/night only. Thanks to this
new option you can watch with amazement your city lights turn on, the beautiful
skyscrapers, stadiums, what can you say? Night is beautiful. Even if you don’t
light darkness you will enjoy the day only feature. If your city is not big
enough and you are not suffering of deforestation you will be able to
contemplate the beautiful passage with animals running around. From wood animals
to savage beasts, SimCity 4 will amaze you any time, either at day or
night. 

Conclusion
Talking about Sims moving out of town, I mentioned before that you
can be evil. For those wondering how you can be, well there are many ways.
SimCity 4 offers advanced disaster features or simple destruction tools
(they are meant to be for good use). The simple destruction weapons are the
bulldozer tool and the obliterate city option. As you can imagine when you
choose obliterate city, your monitor will start getting white, it will blink and
you start from scratch again. If you are planning in being even more evil, just
use one of the many disaster tools. You can choose to control an alien robot.
You can choose to have a volcano eruption, or how about some meteorites from the
outer space?



If you are planning to be good then follow the advanced charts or
data view tools. Follow the news, build parks, more education centers, lower
taxes, in other words, be nice! Just don’t exaggerate or you will go bankrupt.




The graphics and the sound effects/music of the game are another
plus. The graphics are high detailed and as mentioned before you will be able to
see animals running in the woods and if you zoom in you can see your Sims
walking in the streets, playing in recreation places. You can see the car jams,
I mean, cars driving around your city. Basically you can see almost anything you
need to see (no, don’t be too happy, you can’t go inside a Sims house. Now that
I said that, I wonder where the “Drive your city” tool is. I remember that we
had something like that in SimCity 2000. Well I guess its history.
Getting over with the great graphics the music of the game will never get you
bored. Some songs even got me to invent new types of dancing. No, it’s not
embarrassing, it’s fun.

Well now from the good points to
the bad aspects of the game. First of all and perhaps the most painful aspect
are the system requirements. According to Electronic Arts the recommended
configuration is a 1.0GHZ processor, either AMD or Pentium; a 32MB Video Card
and 256 or more of RAM. That is exactly what I used to play the game and was
suffering from terrible lag after my city grew. A fire in my city was the worst
thing that could ever happen to me. When a fire breaks out the screen
automatically zooms in causing you to lag, after zooming back out your screen
will also freeze for a few seconds. It’s terrible. Yes, I realize that there is
an option that makes the graphics less detailed, but then the game loses one of
it’s major improvements; the graphics.



Here is something else that casual players are not happy about. The
gameplay is too difficult. No, there is not a difficulty choice in SimCity 4.
You will have to read a lot of instructions to get your city juices flowing
right. That’s why we have written this
guide
to help you start a successful city. It’s even more difficult because as soon as
you get a negative balance of funds, the game is over. It wasn’t like this
before and it would be a lot better if SimCity 4 kept the different
difficulty levels. Well for experienced players, this won’t be a problem but a
motive of happiness after you understand how to manage your city. What’s the
problem after all you say? Just try to keep your city monthly income higher than
the expenses. You will need to lower the budget of each city’s department and
higher it as your city grows. You will have to build smart roads and zone your
city slowly. Many friends have complained to me, they said the game is not like
before; they just want the difficulty levels back. “You just can’t start a game
and build a landmark, stadium, not even many schools! Well you can, try and
let’s see what happens.”



After I have said that, I realize that there are not anymore
negative accepts but here is a bunch of other positive features. Electronic Arts
is working on Regional On-Line play for SimCity 4. This project is called
SimCity Scape. This is a website where you will be able to build a city as a
neighbor of other major’s cities. You will face them and see who the ultimate
political machine is! This is another great addition to the gameplay and the
replay value, what could be better than showing who is the boss to other gamers?



Well, now what are you waiting for? Go grab the game, read our
guide
and start playing! You won’t regret it. This game is just amazing! Beautiful
graphics, excellent gameplay, and other factors add-up to the ultimate urban
experience!