- Bring your city to life - Create and control the most life-like metropolis you can imagine..
- Form ains, carve valleys, forests and raise oceans. New landscape creation features give you unprecedented control to lay the groundwork for your ultimate city..
- Experience life in the big city - From mellow traffic flow to commuter hell, noontime crowds to nighttime calm, partygoers to troublemakers..
- Touch your creation - Feel the pulse of your city in the most responsive, personal, and satisfying SimCity yet..
- Protect your Sims - Dispatch cruisers to fight crime, wrestle control of a tornado before it strikes, or cap an erupting volcano threatening your citizens..
Product Description
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Right from the start in SimCity 4, players will experience new
God-like powers of creation as they lay the groundwork for their
cities by moulding ains, carving valleys, seeding forests
and laying rivers. With these new landscape creation features,
players can now construct the most realistic metropolis
imaginable. Unlike earlier games in the series, SimCity 4 cities
do not live in isolation from the world, they are part of an
entire region.
Each city a player now creates will become part of an
ever-growing tapestry of municipalities that, once connected by
transportation networks, can share and compete for resources.
Depending upon the choices made by a player, this multi-city game
play can result in a variety of outcomes within that region.
Players can follow a Sim as they go about their life in the city.
Players can personalise their Sim and immediately move him into
any area and watch him experience life in the city, first hand.
Is he or she enjoying a happy existence in an urban utopia or
enduring a futile fight for survival in the inner-city? A
player's Sim will provide valuable clues to improving the city.
SimCity 4 will allow players to actually touch their handiwork
and feel the pulse of their creation. Whether a metropolis is
booming with expansion or decaying through neglect, SimCity 4's
new simulation engine will give players immediate feedback so
they can react to its every need.
.co.uk Review
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The latest sequel to one of the early pioneers of the god-sim
genre, Sim City 4 is a polished, challenging evolution of the
concept, which doesn't break much new ground. However, it
certainly broadens out its challenge, making previously fiddly
tasks a lot easier in the process.
As ever, the task is one of balance. You're Mayor of a city, and
you need to strike the right mix of commercial, industrial and
residential areas, while keeping an eye on finances, the
transport system, fire, education, landscape--the list goes on.
To its credit, the game is as straightforward or hard as you want
it to be, and it's surprisingly easy to get into. While you don't
directly control individual buildings and people, the decisions
you make have repercussions throughout, and need to be taken with
care. After all, agreeing to build a landfill site may bring in
some much needed revenue, but it's unlikely to go down well with
the locals.
As with its predecessors though, it's in the small details that
Sim City 4 really scores. From residents going on the rampage
through to full-scale disasters taking hold of your city, the
complex game barely gives you a moment to rest. You can zoom in
to get very close detail of what people are up to. And in a nice
touch, any families created in The Sims can be moved into town.
These characters are a real bonus when assessing the needs of
your burgeoning city, as they tell you what they like, dislike
and will positively not put up with in your metropolis.
The lack of clear goals still haunts the franchise though, and
despite the well-thought-through user interface, the casual gamer
may still struggle to get to grips with the challenge. However,
there are months of gameplay to enjoy if this kind of title is
your bag, and Sim City 4 is another excellent addition to an
already top-notch franchise. --Simon Brew