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great game!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 17
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

excellent game overall. I have never played the previous versions so I cant appreciate the improvements..
please note that this review is just to list the drawbacks..
1) because the entire area is divided into very tiny squares that run left to right and top to bottom I ended up wasting space when i create diagonal roads/highways/avenues.. one suggestion is to change the cell shape from a square to an octogan.. this will allow for construction in 8 directions instead of 4 and then diagonal roads make sense. (try creating paris around the arc de triomphe) alternatively, allow for half a cell to be utilized!
2) roads/aves/highways are difficult to interconnect.
3) more feedback when it comes to city amenities.. i create a truckload of amenities for the citizens but i dont know the utilization levels to understand whether i should build more. Perhaps a clean dashboard with percentages. This dashboard should also include the funding levels of all hospitals, schools, fire stations on a unit basis so that I dont have to wait for a strike to increase funding levels.
4) no matter how large my city gets my metro/light rail is almost never utilized. Either my bus service is too good or what?!
5) you cannot decide the size of your square (region). I would sometimes like to combine 2 or more adjacent squares and build the city in an 'any-shape' region i want.
but the BIGGEST problem
6) my harddisk goes into overdrive when my city population reached 100,000+. this game takes way too much of space for the graphics involved.

suggestions:
1) introduce new scenarios. example: you are given a complete thriving city like paris & london and you take over as the new mayor.
2) allows for 2 adjacent developed cities to merge into one or perhaps become linked in some way as twin cities with a single mayor (of course there are timeline issues). alternatively allow for city expansion by annexing adjacent blocks.

Disaster of a game.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 17
Date: January 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So many game-breaking flaws in just one game. One of many major errors in the design of the game is the so-called "region play". Because time stops in the parts of your region not played (you can only play one part at a time), major gameplay problems arise. A gamer who wants an easier time with the game can simply dump negative things like trash and polluting industry (pollution doesn't even travel thoughout the region) into never played portions of the map, and have all good items in the played ones. If however, one wants to play all parts of the map, this VERY serious 'time' flaw comes into view - The played portions react to the others toward the last time those others were played and new elements were put into it. This means that the played part of a city in the year 2060 may be reacting to another part that is stopped at 2040, a part in year 2090, another in 2065, etc. Imagine trying to play each and all areas! The horrible problems this creates, is compounded by the truly awful AI contained in this game. SimCity 4's design intends to have one's citizens think about what is within the immediate area as well as the region beyond, and react. This 'AI' is terrible. Citizens choose and stick to already congested streets to get to a destination instead of choosing a clear highway running to the same place. Common too is the fact that one's residents can not seem to find thier way to work even if it is directly across the street! Even if one is to continue to play despite these horrid flaws, many more gameplay issues plague SC4. The claims of this game as "3D" are also misleading, you are still limited to four basic angles of view (with a few different zoom levels), not free motion camera controls as many games have today. The interface is lacking positive features previous versions had such as multiple saves. Released in 2003, the game still contains many game ruining bugs that have yet to be patched. The reviews calling this game "hard" are not due to gamers' poor strategy. Its difficulty is due to a "broken" game. This game is so flawed that the developers themselves could not create a completed large, profit making city. This isn't your old SimCity...It is much worse!

SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

the Simcity series has always been fun and challenging.
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is the best yet.
the graphics are awesome and the new ways to interact with your city and it's inhabitants are SOooo totaly cool!
the maps you create Can be used with "The Sims 2 (PC)" as new nieghborhoods.
Simcity 4 Deluxe Edition contains the Rush Hour" expansion pack, wich allows you to use the "U Drive It" options and controls, where you can control a large selection of vehicles in the game.

This is a GREAT game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Computer games have a bad reputation: They're violent, mindless, escapist, blah, blah, blah. Mostly, that reputation is well-deserved; computer games are entertainment, and, as such, they're designed to take our minds off of the "real" world for a while. What's wrong with that?

SimCity 4 is not a typical computer game. You need no coordination at all, you don't need to accept any fantasy world, there's no one to shoot at (or anything to shoot with, either), there are no mazes to run, and so on. What there is is an ability to see the "real" world, but in a way you WANT it to be, rather than as it is.

In one form or another, SimCity has been around for many years. This version is part of its continual evolution. I've owned two earlier versions, and I found this one to be the best yet in terms of features and operation. It works the way its supposed to. A side benefit to SimCity is that its long history has allowed a huge on-line community to develop. There are hundreds of sites offering chat, help with issues, templates for cities, etc. You certainly don't need these sites to make full use of the game out of the box, but they are there.

One of the most interesting things about SimCity is the way it demonstrates that education and entertainment aren't mutually exclusive. As you play, you are forced to come to terms with issues like the relationship between tax rates and business growth; parks, citizen satisfaction, and public works budgets; pollution and economic development; etc. However, none of these lessons is explicit; they just dawn on you as you play, because you see the consequences of your decisions. I have heard that very young kids understand and appreciate these issues after a short time playing.

I tend to measure entertainment value in terms of fun per unit of money. In that regard, SimCity 4 is an outstanding entertainment value. I've liked the past iterations of the game, I like this one even better, and I'll almost certainly buy the next version, too.

So cool

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: March 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is so cool. I am addicited to it. You have got to get it. It is so realistic, and it is so much fun. The only con is if you have less that 256 ram and less than pentium 4, forget about this game. This requires a lot of horsepower.

WAY better than simcity 3000

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 20
Date: August 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Simcity 4 has more features and better graphics. The airplanes actually have rotating propellors but in simcity 3000 they don't. You could also put wild animals in forests but in simcity 3000 you can't. If you play the rush hour version (which simcity 3000 doesn't have) you could control veichles or planes or choppers around your city! There is much more features in simcity 4 than simcity 3000 I can't name them all!

Way too complicated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been a fan of this series since the original SimCity for the MAC. Unfortunately, I think they have finally taken the simulation too far in terms of complexity. The beauty of the game used to be that you could jump right in and build cities and learn as you go. Some cities flourished shile others failed. But it was fairly easy to learn from your mistakes and improve your ability to build successful cities. The new simulation is so confusing that you have to complete all the tutorials to even have a basic understanding of where to start. I don't want to be a real mayor and I'm not creating a real city so I liked this game much better when it was a little more simplistic.

Bad for all types of gamers.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 19
Date: May 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After playing and studying SimCity4, one is left to wonder just who is this game for. Children may enjoy watching cars drive around a city (with no logical direction). They may enjoy other similar "eye candy" within in the game as well. However, SC4 is very complex as the player must manage nearly every aspect of their city. From city layout to taxes, micromanagement is what the player will be doing much more than just allowing a city to evolve. The game also can't be for more observant and aware gamers either because basic elements are "broken" within. From pollution that doesn't travel beyond the single section of city it is created in, to residents who can't seem to find a way to their workplace, SC4 is a mess. One's citizens travel in all sorts of directions, rarely (if ever) taking the best and fastest route to where they are traveling. Good luck getting your residents to actually use expensive highways you carefully build. This lack of 'AI' may be amusing at first, but ends up destroying the game. When the player realizes the whole activity and management of the city revolves around this "sims" ability to think about everything around them in the entire region, SimCity becomes unplayable - congested traffic will be the LEAST of one's worries. Many strange flaws in the game leave one to wonder who didn't see them when the game was being made. Just one of many flaws is; when building a single road and connecting it to a neighboring part of the region, two entire lengths of the other "city's" border may be completely DESTROYED (equal to about 1/8th of the entire city)! Major problems like regions being deleted when "saved" are very common within SC4 as well. Even minor bugs like city services auto-changing funding (without the players knowlege) constantly blight the game.
What especially taints this "Deluxe" version, is that it was intended to be the fully 'patched' version of the original SimCity4 release months earlier.
It is both odd and sad that SC4 "fan" sites end up spending most time trying to find workarounds to the game's many flaws, or even struggle to make additional necessary 'patches' that the game's maker Maxis didn't care enough to do.
Word has it that the next version of SimCity will be less "detailed in design". The makers of SimCity4 must now know the horrible mistakes they made in this one's creation.

Coming to life...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Simcity 4 DE is really bringing the game titles up to a challenge. It's more realistic than ever and the 3D graphics are exceptional. The sound quality is also really realistic souding but a bit "over the limits." The Rush Hour Pack gives you new roads and transportation stuff and tools. You can drive and control boats, trains, cars and others. You now can ajust taxes to force dirty industries out and let High Tech industries flow in. Think about it... metropolis...full of cars whizzing by, the train station bustling with action, the ferries making there way along. All in one covienient package..... SimCity 4 Dleuxe Edition. But note: its a bit sluggish when at big city levels. I WOULD RECCOEMND IT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A LONG OR SHORT GAME LOVER.
P.S. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CAN'T FIND THE CODE, LOOK AT THE BACK OF THE MANUEL. IT'S USUALLY FOUND THERE.

The fate of the city is in your hands......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

WOW! I was so impressed when I bought this game for my friend. It wasn't a week later before I had the game in my hands after that. I like the Deluxe Edition because it has the expansion pack equiped with the game itself. But don't be fooled. This game is a little harder than what you may think. This game is based on stradagey and the focus of your city. I'm going to list the things I like about it.
1) The U-Drive-It missions are very productive in the game. The missions let you earn money and gane our if you so choose lose mayor ratings.

2) The graphics are highly detailed along with a complex way looking at yor city's fate.

3) Many different choices to build your city like industrial zones to residental to casinos and stadiums. This lets you build small towns such as the one I live in to a Kansas City superstar town.

Heres some of the things I don't like or wish could be included in the game.

1) You control day and night but the weather never changes. I think that if the weather could change based on the time of the year, there would be more requirements for your city and more U-Drive-It missions. Example: IF it snows, you control whether some buisnesses need to be closed if the weather or the raods are bad. If it snows you need to drive a snow plow to clear roads. Tow trucks to help stranded drivers.

2) I wish that the budget was a little easier to handle. Such as do fundraisers to help your city's budget.

3) If you have a road way or highway that has a connection or that leads into another city, I think that if you are in driving a vehicle and you drive right into the connection to the other city that you drive right into the other town. Or in other words you could drive into another town to take control of another town.

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