Sim City (or SimCity) Series

(UPDATED: July 27, 2015)

I love game series like Duke Nukem and Gran Turismo, but I'm SUCH a fan of the SimCity games. This blog entry explains what I love about the SimCity series and what some of my memories of this series are. I'll share my experience based on games I've actually played. This is my chance to share with you what I love about a classic series like this one.

NOTE 1: Other games in the SimCity series (like SimCopter and SimEarth, for example), will NOT be covered in this blog entry. SimCity Societies also will not be covered.

NOTE 2: Some spoiler material may be featured, but there won't be too much context to spoil the games too much.

LATEST UPDATE(S)/REVISION(S):

JUL 27 2015 - embedded media updates

--- SimCity Series at a Glance ---

The SimCity series is about building a city from scratch. While this is fun, this game series makes you think. You have to build zones while also supplying civil services. Money is also a huge issue. Rather than build everything at once in the later SimCity titles (as I've been suspect to do), you'll need to generate some positive funds to keep your city financially stable. Then, you'll need to be concerned with disasters that may happen at any moment. Of course, you can disable automatic disasters.

As much as I tend to love city life, I've loved this series because I could build my own cities while also managing them. This game series just makes you think. It really challenges you to build a great city while also attending to a number of different factors and issues that determine whether you stay in office, or if the people want a new mayor. The SimCity series is considered a role-playing game. Most people associate RPGs with fantasy settings where you level up and fight monsters. This is a different kind of RPG.

There are a number of structures that resemble or are based on real-world structures. If you look at the covers of SimCity or SimCity 2000, you note one building that looks similar to San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid. In SimCity 3000, either the Kong Tower resemble the Empire State Building. The Silver Tower in SimCity 3000 resembles one of the World Trade Center towers. SC3000 also had the Quigley Insurance building, which resembles the Woolworth Building in New York City. There are MANY more buildings that even remotely resemble real-world buildings. How many can you identify?

Now that you have an idea on the SimCity series, let's talk about the games I've played before and what I think about them!

--- SimCity Classic ---

Versions I've played: SimCity (Super Nintendo); SimCity (PC)


^ from: photobucket.com - SimCity Classic, as seen on PC.

My first SimCity experience began on the Super Nintendo with SimCity. This game released in 1990 for the Super Nintendo was a special version from the ones popular on PCs. This is a version where Dr. Wright checks in to give you advice and information. The game allows you to build your own city or take on certain scenarios. You can even do a tutorial to set you up for creating your city.

There are over 999 different kinds of land to choose from, ranging from proper land to huge islands. You kind of just select a land to use when starting your own city. You can always choose others if you aren't happy with the one you've selected. Name your city (up to eight characters). Select difficulty levels (Easy with $20,000 - Medium with $10,000 - Hard on a $10,000 loan), and you're underway!

SimCity Scenarios.

The Scenarios consist of realistic and fictional scenarios. There are six scenarios for you to take on, and there are two other bonus scenarios when you're done with the six given to you. The scenarios require you to accomplish a certain task within a certain number of years (usually five or ten years). Here is a brief overview of what you must tackle:

• San Francisco, CA, USA
You have five years to rebuild San Francisco after the devastating Earthquake of 1906.

• Bern, Switzerland
Cure the traffic problems in Bern, Switzerland in 1965. You have ten years to accomplish low traffic density in Bern.

• Tokyo, Japan
In 1961, Tokyo gets rampaged by a giant reptile. Forget Godzilla, rebuild Tokyo from Bowser! Rebuild Tokyo within five years to win this one.

• Detroit, MI, USA
Rebuild Detroit in this 1972 scenario while also fighting crime. Clean up the streets while rebuilding the industry in Detroit within a ten-year span.

• Boston, MA, USA
A nuclear meltdown causes havoc in Boston in 2010. With only five years given to you, clean up the mess in this 21st century scenario inspired by the Three Mile Island accident. Can you rebuild Boston in the wake of this disaster?

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Your job in this scenario based in 2047 is to suppress flooding in Rio de Janeiro due to the melting of the polar ice caps. Can you rescue and restore Rio to its former glory within ten years?


(ADDED: March 7, 2012)
Here is a preview of the two additional scenarios for the SNES version of SimCity:

• ???, ???
UFOs have attacked (this city) in the year 2096! Rebuild (this city) after the UFOs decimate the
city.

• ???
This scenario is set in 1991. There is no time limit, but your goal is to take (this city) and build it into a megalopolis (500K+ people). Can you turn this land into a Megalopolis?


(ADDED: March 7, 2012)
In the PC version of SimCity, there are two exclusive scenarios:

• Hamburg, Germany
In 1944, Hamburg is bombed heavily during the late stages of World War 2. Rebuild the city in the wake of the bombings.

• Dullsville, USA
You have 30 years to make Dullsville an exciting place in this 1910 scenario.

Building Up Your City.

As you build your city, be mindful of many challenges you face. To be relevant, try building your city up to 2,000 people. This will elevate your Village to Town status. Here are key numbers in building your city:

• Town = 2,000 people
• City = 10,000 people
• Capital = 50,000 people
• Metropolis = 100,000 people
• Megalopolis = 500,000 people (the ULTIMATE goal)

When you reach each level, you start earning more prizes. Use them to help expand your city all the further. Each prize offers both good and bad effects to your city. As an example, you can build a Bank. The bank is very helpful as you can take out a loan of $10,000 to repay over the course of about 5 or 10 years. A negative prize example is the Casino. The Casino can bring more money to the city, but may increase crime. The first prize you'll earn is the Mayor's House. This is where you build your own home. As your city grows larger, the Mayor's House will evolve. You go from this rinky-dink house to a beautiful mansion. You can also earn prizes for building enough of something. For example, build at least five police stations, and you can earn a Police Headquarters building.

SimCity Tips and Tricks.

Don't worry about Stadiums, Airports, and Seaports until your citizens demand them. Residents usually demand a stadium. Commerce may request for an Airport to help the commercial sector. Industry will want a Seaport to help ship their industrial materials onto boats. Forget about Seaports if you don't have a city with water or a river.

SimCity Disasters.

As many options as you have to build cities, you also have options to destroy your city. There are a number of disasters you can choose from. You can let loose a monster to tear up the city, you can start a fire, cause an earthquake, start a flood, let a tornado rip through your city

The only other version I've played of SimCity was the PC version. The PC version includes eight scenarios. One of them involves Hamburg, Germany during World War 2.

Here are some videos to demonstrate the game for you:


^ SNES Version of SimCity

--- SimCity 2000 ---

Version I've Played: SimCity 2000 Special Edition


^ from: levelselect.co.uk - Sim City 2000 for PC. A new beginning for a classic series.

In 1996, I got this as a Christmas gift. The version I got was the SimCity 2000 Special Edition collection. It featured all of SimCity 2000, but with many scenarios, the Sim City Urban Renewal Kit (or SCURK), and other things. This was back when I had a Packard Bell computer with 8 MB of RAM with a 75 MHz processor and a 14.4 modem.

SimCity 2000 continued on and expanded what the first title did. The game went from the perspective it came in and went with an isometric perspective. Your building options were improved. You also had many more responsibilities- supplying water to buildings, for one. You now have more options to power your city besides the Coal and Nuclear plants. You can now build zones based on density. The light zones allow for single-family homes for Residential Zones, small commercial offices for Commercial Zones, and small factories and warehouses for Industrial Zone. Dense zones allow for multi-story condominiums for Residential Zones, tall office towers for Commercial Zones, and massive factories for Industrial Zones. Also new for the series were facilities for schools, hospitals, and various fun facilities (like parks, zoos, and marinas). You could now zone for airports and seaports in this title. Also new is the ability to zone for military land (if you approve of military land). The military options install military building and structures in your city. They can be simple army bases, maybe a military seaport, or even a missile silo. Another option for RCI zones is the ability for those buildings to be abandoned. You'll know a building is abandoned once you see a dark structure that looks run-down.

The options for water are enhanced. You can set up water pumps next to water sources, or go with a more efficient water tower. Set up Water Treatment plants to aid in keeping water clean. If you're near salt water, you can build a Desalination Plant to convert salt water to fresh water for your Sims.

Subway stations can also be built along with Subway-to-Rail junctions. You can actually build bridges you have actual control over making. You can make anything from causeway bridge to a large suspension bridge depending upon how wide the water is that you're trying to cross. You can even name certain buildings to be able to identify them right away. Heck, you can even name your stadium and the team that plays there!

Residential buildings in the SNES version of SimCity can develop into schools and hospitals. In this game, however, you can build your own hospitals without needing to wonder if a Residential zone will ever develop into a hospital or school. Another service you can start up is bus service. It was also possible to connect to neighboring cities, but you have no control over those neighbor cities.

Unlike SimCity classic, you now can create hills and valleys. You can create small lakes or cascading waterfalls. You can also plant trees and create forests. This game also allowed for better control of money. Get advice during fiscal reports to properly fund the city for the next year. You can also enact ordinances that may have positive and/or negative impacts on your city.

You have nine choices to power your city. The familiar Coal plant is the cost-efficient, yet highly-polluting option. The Oil Plant is not as polluting. It will take a few Gas plants to equal the output of a Coal plant. If you have waterfalls, you can use Hydro power from dams. Best aspect- little or no pollution! A hilly city can benefit from Wind power from placing super-clean windmills. Many of these will be needed to power a big city, and they may not fare so well if there isn't much wind to work with. Nuclear power makes for clean and efficient power, but there is always the risk of a nuclear meltdown. Solar power is very efficient with little or no pollution, but you'd better hope there isn't an extended period of cloudy days! Microwave power is low-polluting and depends on microwave lasers to a satellite in space. The microwave laser, however, may misfire... and end up hitting your city instead of back to the satellite! The final form of power is a Fusion plant. While very expensive, there are little or no issues or areas of concern with Fusion plants.

For a new challenge, you were able to build your city in a certain time of year. The years you can choose from are in 50-year cycles, starting with 1900. Whatever time of year you select determine what kinds of buildings you can make. So for example, you can't build a Microwave Power Plant if you set the time to the 1900s.

SimCity 2000 has a ton of scenarios (at least the one I mentioned). You can take part in many unique scenarios. These even include new kinds of disasters. You can start/stop things like volcanoes, riots, fires, floods, even UFO attacks! An important addition is the ability to request assistance from police, fire departments, and the military to handle certain situations. You obviously dispatch fire trucks to fires. You can request police to break up riots.

Many prizes are available for progress through the game. The biggest prizes are the Arcologies. Arcologies are futuristic structures that are both massive and consist of multiple environments. There were four of them in all and can only be built either in the 2000 or 2050 time frames.

SimCity cities can be imported into SimCity 2000. So you can give your SC cities new life with SC2000. There was also a version for the Super Nintendo which features a few exclusive rewards and scenarios (such as the Space Station). There were also versions for the PlayStation 1 and the Sega Saturn.

SimCity/Sim City 2000 Scenarios.

The scenarios below probably only pertain to the Sim City 2000 Special Edition version. This section includes a preview of each scenario in SC2000. How to beat these scenarios will be up to you.

• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
save Atlanta from a UFO attack. Have a residential population of 72K within 5 years to win.

• Barcelona, Spain
nuclear device detonated in 1992 Global Games. Put out fires and restore city to its former glory. Rebuild Barcelona's population to 130K (without Arcologies) in 5 years.

• Charleston, South Carolina, USA
rebuild Charleston after a hurricane goes through it. You have $20,000 in FEMA funds, and you must get a population of 45K within five years.

• Chicago, Illinois, USA
In 1999, rid Chicago of its pollution. Rebuild the industrial population to 44K in 10 years.

• Davenport, Iowa, USA
Take a trip to the Hawkeye state and rescue Davenport from a vicious flood. Based on The Great USA Flood of 1993, the Mississippi River floods, flooding Davenport with heavy rain for weeks. You have five years to rebuild the city afterwards and to a population of 118K to win.

• Dullsville
Add entertainment venues and generate tax revenue to this boring village. You have ten years to build up the population to 20K and have only $5,000 in bonds to do it with.

• Flint, Michigan, USA
Provide employment for your citizens in this industrial city in the wake of a recession. Build up the industrial population to 21K within five years.

• Hollywood, California, USA
a budget movie goes horribly wrong, unleashing a monster that destroys Hollywood. Rebuild the city in the monster's wake. You have five years to do this, and you must bring the city's population to 100K to win.

• Homestead, Florida, USA
clean up the mess and rebuild Homestead after a hurricane hits this city. Your budget is $20K of FEMA funds. Reach a population level of 65K within five years to win.

• Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Rid Sin City of crime. Bring down crime to 5% or below within five years to save Las Vegas' tourism center.

• Malibu, California, USA
Based on the Malibu Fire of 1993, several forest fires rampage southern California. Stop the fires from spreading and rebuild Malibu within ten years and with a population of 27,500.

• Manhattan, New York, USA
This futuristic scenario takes place in 2007. A nuclear meltdown occurs, leaving radiation and fires in its wake. Suppress the damage in the Big Apple and rebuild the population to 130K within ten years.

• Oakland Hills, California, USA
Contain the fires after the historic Oakland Firestorm of 1991. Contain the fires, then rebuild the city to a population of 50K within five years.

• Paris, France
Contain the fires after a gasoline truck overturns and explodes at the Arc de Triomphe. Bring the population back to 169K in five years without Arcologies.

• Portland, Oregon, USA
Out of nowhere, a volcano erupts in downtown Portland. Can you rebuild the city to 115K within five years and contain the fires from the volcano?

• San Francisco, California, USA
This scenario is based on the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989. Save San Francisco from this large earthquake. Also, contain fires from broken gas mains. Rebuild the population to 68K within five years to win.

• Silicon Valley, California, USA
Silicon Valley developed microwave power to power the city. As this power was developed, the microwave beams (literally) backfires at the city! Rescue and rebuild Silicon Valley. The industrial population must be rebuilt to 48K in five years to win.

• Washington, D.C., USA
With lawyers on the loose, stop these rioting lawyers from destroying the Capital City! Build the population up to 135K within five years to win.


Well... you got your work cut out for you!


This YouTube video serves as a preview of SimCity 2000. It was made by my YouTube friend, CuteFloor. I think this is the Mac version (I've played the Windows version). Anyhow, here is a preview of SimCity 2000:

SimCity 2000 for the Super Nintendo.

SC2000 for the Super Nintendo is a very condensed version of the PC version. What makes the SNES version unique is that it features a few different things. There are a few structures featured only in this game. For example, this version features the Rocket Launching Pad, while the PC version doesn't. One such Residential structure not found in the PC version is a Japanese temple.

This game features five different scenarios. Here is a brief look at each one:

• Megalopolis - rebuild a major city after a fire causes major damage. You have eight years to bring the city's population to 50K.

• Mayor Training - as citizens don't like how you run the city, regain their confidence by achieving at least a 66% popularity racing in ten years.

• Global Warming - rebuild your city after global warming causes intense floods in your city. Build the city's population to 40K within ten years.

• Entertainment City - make a boring city for retirement lively with lots of parks and keep it safe from crime. Bring in a population of 10K people to this city within 15 years.

• Go to The Space - in an untimed scenario, help boost industry and education to give your city a Rocket Launching Pad to send your citizens into space!


So get to work, Mayor! :)

--- Sim City 3000 ---

Version I've played: SimCity 3000


^ from: lauppert.ws - SimCity 3000, a game that continued what SimCity 2000 started.

SimCity 3000 was far beyond the imaginations of SimCity veterans (like myself). The graphics are now more beautiful and more complex. A thing I liked most when first playing SimCity 3000 was the fact that there were actual grassy areas rather than barren wasteland tiles. Gone is the MIDI music (not that I have a problem with MIDI), and in comes XA format songs. More resources are available to you from your committee. Use their resources to help you build your city better.

A few fun options are included when you make your city. You can make "Starter Towns." All you need is water and electricity. Afterwards, your city grows and grows. You can even build cities using terrains from real-world cities. You can make your SC3000 city using terrains from cities like London, Houston, Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, and more. You now can choose whether you want to work with small-size cities or large cities.

SimCity 3000's Improvements.

Where do I start with SimCity 3000? Everything has been made bigger and better. A new aspect of SimCity was making things while also having to worry about extra finances. For example, building a school means that you'll have to pay monthly to support all of the schools in the system. You can still zone for RCI, but you now have options for Light, Medium, and Dense zones. The buildings are larger and more beautiful. You have even more services at your disposal as well as more prize structures. What kinds of structures? Try building a big university in your city! There are even mega malls you can build. There are also other options for powering your buildings. For the first-time ever, you can zone for farm land. The conditions have to be just right for you to build farm land. A new thing to zone for is for recycling. You can zone for landfills, build recycling plants, or build Trash Incinerators. You can also build proper beachfront that you could use to make a proper marina and for seaports.

For the first time, you can now add real-world landmarks to your city. They basically don't do much of anything except give people reason to visit your city. These consist of landmarks and real buildings such as Smith Tower in Seattle, the Bank of China Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Hagia Sophia and more. It even includes the Bank of America Center from right here in Houston (which makes me happy as a Houstonian). Sadly, the collection also included both of the World Trade Center towers. We all know what happened to them in 2001 (this game was released in 1999). Another new aspect of this game is the aging of certain buildings and facilities. You can see how many years are left for certain facilities (like power plants). You'll need to replace aging facilities for newer ones.

You can also see your Sims drive on the road and even walk on sidewalks. There is now a ticker that displays the latest updates on your city (and various forms of nonsense). The ticker features highlights that you can click on to view more information on something. You can also set up better neighbor deals for things like garbage, water, power, and more. Just like SimCity 2000, however, you have no real control of building the neighbor cities.

The one thing I'm disappointed about was that I wanted SimCity 3000 Unlimited, but never got it. It featured many more things and a much better experience than with the original game. One such aspect is in making cities with certain environments (such as sandy or icy environments).

--- SimCity 4 ---

Version I've Played: SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition


^ from: flickr.com - SimCity 4 (with some downloaded/created buildings).

SimCity 4 is the latest true SimCity title. Get ready for an incredible experience unlike any other! This game will blow your mind with all kinds of new ways to build and maintain your city. I got the Deluxe Edition, which includes many more facilities to use to push your SimCity experience to new levels. I recommend you pick this up because it makes SimCity 4 much better. Plus, you don't have to pay extra just to use the Expansion Pack called Rush Hour.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS SECTION: Not all facilities and options featured in this blog entry may not be featured in the original SimCity 4 package. I am solely going on the SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition here.

An absolute overhaul of graphics and gameplay was in store for this title. The biggest difference is that you're not just building cities. You're building cities within a massive region. Each region features segments that you can use to make cities with. Each region features small, average, and large segments. All the segments are connected together to make for the possibility of cities and suburbs. Use these segments to create massive and expansive cities by connecting segments together. The small segments can be small towns and small cities. The medium-size sections can be used to build decent-size cities. The largest city I've ever created in this game was created using on of these medium segments. The large sizes make it possible to create your own massive cities. It takes about four small city sections to equal one medium-size section, four medium-size sections to make one large section, and sixteen small segments to make one large segment.

Improving on what SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000 started, the perspective changed again. I needed to look up Wikipedia to explain what perspective the game uses. SC2000 and SC3000 are both in isometric perspective. SimCity 4's perspective uses (thanks to Wikipedia for telling me what perspective this game is in) trimetric orthographic projection. Unlike past SimCity titles, the game is almost totally 3D. When you rotate the view in 90° increments, you can actually and believably see four sides of the buildings in this game. Buildings are now much more realistic, and the chances of building massive skyscrapers is even more possible. Big and beautiful towers can be built for Residential and Commercial sectors to make the most believable cities in SimCity history.

New to SimCity 4 is the use of day and night cycles. You can set it for just day conditions, night conditions, or a nice 24-hour cycle. You can use the game's various environmental features to make absolutely stunning environments. You can create realistic mountains, large forests, valleys, gorges, canyons, plateaus, and more. You can also add in things such as wildlife to inhabit wild areas. When modifying regions, you can also auto-adjust the terrain of other segments to match other segments. So if half of a region is on a plateau, you can auto-adjust the rest of the land of other regions to match the terrain of a neighboring region. One last thing I'd like to share... as much as you can build your city up from scratch, you can also destroy EVERYTHING and start over if you feel you can only do so much with it. Everything you've built in the city will be gone, and you can start over in building the city.

The absolute overhaul continues in zoning and in building cities. Personally, I think SimCity 4 is the most significant leap in zoning in SimCity history. When you build zones, streets are automatically built in to give the impression of expansive communities. You can build a Residential community that comes complete with its own streets. You may also opt to build streets yourself. It's now easier to make farms in this game compared than in SimCity 3000. Be careful, though. Farms don't deliver loads of air pollution, but water pollution can be a tremendous concern. Make sure you invest in Water Treatment plants in the heart of water pollution farm zones. Unlike SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000, airports and seaports can not be zoned. You can also choose between four different building options for buildings in your city- Chicago 1890, New York 1940, Houston 1990, and Euro-Contemporary. Being a native Houstonian, I'm proud that my hometown gets some love in this game.

Facility Building in SimCity 4.

Your city-building options are much deeper. I'll break this part up into segments:

• Police options have police stations of multiple sizes ranging from a simple kiosk to a proper large police station. You can also build prisons to house many more criminals. Place these facilities in your city depending on your budget and your city's population. Do not go right away for the largest police station if you can't afford it or have a large enough city.

• Fire options range from small fire stations to larger fire stations. Later in the game (and with a bigger population), you can make a Landing Strip for fire departments. This will allow for fire helicopters to take to the skies and put out fires from above.

• Health care is extremely important to keep your Sims healthy. You can build clinics to handle a good number of cases. Once your city grows larger, you can then make hospitals for extended care for patients. Fund these facilities to match the needs of your city as well as your budget. Keep a close eye on health facilities as you may have a strike on your hands if there is not enough funding for any such facility.

• When it comes to education, you have lots of options. You could only build regular schools and colleges. This game allows you to build elementary schools along with secondary schools. As your city grows and as demand grows for larger schools, you can invest in larger-size elementary and secondary schools. Libraries and museums can also be built to enhance the level of education for your Sims. Certain prizes will allow you to create many more options for students. Prize structures that boost education include things like a university, a major art center, city libraries, opera houses, and more. Fund these facilities carefully to avoid having any strikes against you.

• Entertainment options are the best in SimCity history. Let's set it up before I talk about the new options. SimCity only allowed for a Stadium for entertainment along with other prize facilities. SimCity 2000 featured parks, a stadium, a zoo, and marinas. SimCity 3000 featured a huge variety of parks, zoos, a Stadium, and a Marina, along with some other fun prize facilities. Now on to SimCity 4's Entertainment options. The most basic thing you can use is to create simple open areas of grass. You can even build plazas, proper parks of various sizes, basketball courts, tennis courts, vertical skating ramps, softball parks, soccer/football fields, and a handful of reward structures. The least of the reward structures include marinas, cruise boat services, a minor league soccer stadium, and things like that. More major structures include a professional baseball ballpark among others.

• Airports and Seaports used to be expensive ventures. SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000 let you build your own Airports and Seaports using various grid spaces. Well in SimCity 4, you have pre-determined size Airports and Seaports. Seaports help expand your Industrial sector. They cost about 10,000 Simoleons, and you can build more than one in a city. For the first time in SimCity history, you don't need to spend and invest lots of money to build an airport. The basic airport you can build is a simple landing strip. You can use airports to help expand your Commercial sector, give your Sims places to fly around, or even (especially with the Rush Hour package) have some fun flying planes in the sky. When demand grows, you may either upgrade your current airport or go with larger airports. A larger airport you can build is a Municipal Airport. These handle many more flights. The biggest-size airport you can build is the International Airport. Here's a great idea- DO NOT build an International Airport in a small segment! These are still expensive ventures, so do not consider building these until your city can support them or if you have enough finances to support the building of these structures.

• Rail and Subway options return and with many more options. It's even the debut of a new kind of transport- monorail! Rail options have standard thoroughfares such as basic rail and the train stations. A new option is a freight train station, which helps your Industrial sectors move materials quickly and effectively. The best way to cap off a delightful rail system is with a Grand Railroad Station. You can build subways and subway stations to have underground travel. If you want to REALLY get your Sims moving, consider the Monorail. Be warned that Monorail transit does NOT come cheap. There is a more cost-efficient alternative- elevated rail. Subway-to-elevated rail systems can be used to link subways to your elevated rail system.

• Travel is also enhanced with more options. You may have noted earlier that I talked about streets and not roads. Streets are for lower roads and minimal travel. Roads are the maximum-use motorways. You can even build one-way roads and avenues. You have many more bridge options now. The system was tricky in SimCity 3000. Depending on what kind of bridge you build, you can build a bridge to allow for boats to safely pass through. Depending on the growth of your city and the traffic your city gets, you may need to build more bridges. I'm sure it would be very impossible to have as many bridges as the lovely city of Pittsburgh, though. In addition to basic roads, the highway system is even more realistic. You can come along with various overpasses and all kinds of roads to help your Sims travel far and beyond in your city and in your region.

• The Reward structures are incredibly insane. Some Rewards aren't even featured right away. The first one you'll likely get is the Mayor's House (600 residents). There are many more Rewards you can use to further expand your city. Some facilities are offered with hardly any hit on your city's finances. Here are some of the many Reward structures (as many as I can remember): Major Art Center, Opera House, Zoo, Stock Market, Bureau of Bureaucracy, Space Station, Advanced Research Center, Tourist Trap, State Fair, Resort Hotel, Cruise Ship Building, Army Base, Movie Studio, Stock Exchange, Radio Station, TV Station, and more.

• The Landmarks make a return for SimCity 4 with many more landmarks. Thing is, they cost a LOT more and have various other effects.


So keep these things in mind as you're building your city.

SimCity 4 Rush Hour Package.

With the SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition package, you can take part in U-Drive-It and place your Sims into the city. Placing a Sim into your city will give you a personalized feel of how your city is. The Sim becomes a citizen of your city and lets you know how your city is. He/She can let you know about things like traffic, finding jobs, crime, and things like that. It's a great resource to use to get a more in-depth look at your city. U-Drive-It allows you to ride around in your city, but you can also ride boats and fly planes.

The U-Drive-It missions can help you unlock Reward structures without the need to earn them right away. You need certain structures in your city to be able to have certain structures available. There are two types of U-Drive-It missions- Good missions and Evil missions. Good missions allow you to complete tasks that improve your mayor rating. Evil missions decline your mayor rating, but earns you cash for completing. For example, completing the mission called "Get Little Binghamton to School" can earn you the Private School. On the other hand, completing the Evil mission (called "Study for Profit") gets you a Nuclear Power Plant and some big money. You need to complete these missions for every city you build to have these facilities available to you, so make sure you have all the needed facilities before taking on these challenges.

Personal Stats for SimCity 4:

The largest city I've ever created was a city called Bayside. It was a city inspired by San Francisco, only that it doesn't have lots of hills or anything really similar to San Francisco (I guess I just have San Francisco on my mind in making this city). The city has over 96,080 people, 26,688 Commercial Jobs, and 11,063 jobs. There's one major problem with it- my city faces a 30,000+ Simoleon deficit each month, and I've made a living off of taking out loan after loan to keep the city financially stable.


SimCity 4 could have literally been its own blog entry because it's so massive. Let this video serve as a preview of SimCity 4:

--- SimCity (2013) ---

(ADDED: April 21, 2012)

Word has it that the SimCity series will return with a new game called right now as "SimCity 2013." It is apparently going to be a throwback to classic SimCity with zoning of regions. A trailer introduced a little of what this SimCity 2013 could offer. To see this video for yourself, click on this link:

"SimCity Announce Trailer" - YouTube

Remember that it's just a trailer. So we won't fully know about this one except that I obviously can't play this one with my current PC.

--- SimCity on Amazon ---

I hope you enjoyed my look at the SimCity series. Allow me to treat you to these games on Amazon if you want to buy them for yourself and experience the greatness the SimCity series has to offer.

NOTE: This section contains links to Amazon products. You are welcome to click on images and links to learn more about each item. You are free to order any items featured in this section or in any widget if you choose. Please see "An Important Amazon Note" in my blog's sidebar to see more information on any Amazon items shown.

This is my little section where I want to show you the games that I've played in the SimCity series. You are free to go buy these if they interest you. Descriptions with blue text are games that I've owned and played.


^ This is SimCity for the Super Nintendo. It was the game that got me into this series and what fueled my love of this game series.


^ SimCity 2000 Special Edition is the item above. This features all you need to make your cities stand out as well as in making many of your own building sets for this game.


^ SimCity 3000 blew my mind when I first played it. It's a total evolution from SimCity 3000 that you're sure to love.


^ I personally wish I had SimCity 3000 Unlimited while it was still in stores. Are you too good for SC3000? Then get this instead!



^ I didn't have this massive box, but I did have a simple CD case that featured SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. Playing this game again and again is guaranteed once you get hooked to this title. I've included the Mac version for you people who own Apple computers. This is the first time I've included a Mac (or game also available for Macintosh) game in ANY blog entry of mine.


^ (Honorable Mention!) I was trying to remember what package I had gotten that included a variety of Sim games, and this was it! This package incldes six different Maxis games in the Sim universe. You can use SimCopter and Streets of SimCity with your SimCity 2000 cities.

For more SimCity, please use my widget to find the SimCity game you'll love. They may even include little expansion packs and non-SimCity titles.



Here is a resource I'd like to share if you're looking for any for the SimCity Series:
• SimCity Wikia





Now you know about one of my other favorite gaming series of all time. Thanks for reading! I might do a future blog entry concerning what I would want for a future SimCity 5 (which my current computer likely won't handle). So thank you for reading!

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