User Reviews (1 - 11 of 136)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Well-balanced, works on a modest computer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a good, well-balanced game. Start building your city little by little. Build a power plant, small-density residential, commercial and industrial zone, water pipes, that's it. Use the cheapest streets. Every other square in a residential and commercial are should have a bus stop. Of course, bus stops cost money, but it will save you from traffic congestions, and you won't need to invest in expensive roads and motorways. Click on the bus stops and watch the number of passengers, if it's low, demolish it.

Watch your cash flow and the other maps gradually. As soon as you have small but solid cash flow, expand your city gradually. Only add money-eating facilities like fire station, police, education and health care when there is absolute need in it. Expand extensively: cover large areas with low-quality low-density zones.

When you have enough money, move to high-tech industry which have no pollution. To do that, you need highly-educated workforce. Build schools, colleges, museums, and libraries. But watch carefully the number of attendees: only build a schools when the old are overwhelmed. So with health care.

Sooner or later you will be offered federal objects like a mega-market, military base or waste disposal. Accept them all, it will bring you mega-cash-flow that will allow you to significantly improve your city facilities.

Also don't forget to make money by selling power to the neighbors: make connections to them with roads and power lines.

This game is very well-balanced, unlike SimCity 4 Rush Hour. I highly recommend SimCity 3000, be it Jewel Case or other edition.

Good, Well-Balanced Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a good, well-balanced game. Start building your city little by little. Build a power plant, small-density residential, commercial and industrial zone, water pipes, that's it. Use the cheapest streets. Every other square in a residential and commercial are should have a bus stop. Of course, bus stops cost money, but it will save you from traffic congestions, and you won't need to invest in expensive roads and motorways. Click on the bus stops and watch the number of passengers, if it's low, demolish it.

Watch your cash flow and the other maps gradually. As soon as you have small but solid cash flow, expand your city gradually. Only add money-eating facilities like fire station, police, education and health care when there is absolute need in it. Expand extensively: cover large areas with low-quality low-density zones.

When you have enough money, move to high-tech industry which have no pollution. To do that, you need highly-educated workforce. Build schools, colleges, museums, and libraries. But watch carefully the number of attendees: only build a schools when the old are overwhelmed. So with health care.

Sooner or later you will be offered federal objects like a mega-market, military base or waste disposal. Accept them all, it will bring you mega-cash-flow that will allow you to significantly improve your city facilities.

Also don't forget to make money by selling power to the neighbors: make connections to them with roads and power lines.

This game is very well-balanced, unlike SimCity 4 Rush Hour. I highly recommend SimCity 3000.

A Successful Way

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

They say not to install this game on a Gateway computer, because it will uninstall after you quit. But I have a Gateway computer and have experienced the same problems. However I have a way of playing the game without having to re-install it by first inserting the disk and waiting for the main page to pop up. Click quit and then click on start and access the all-programs, and look for a Maxis file. Once you find it click and the Sim City 3000 file should be there. You should then be able to play the game without having to install it again.

Do not buy this game if your computer is a Gateway

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: March 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you install this on a Gateway computer, like I did, the program will uninstall when you quit and then you will need to install it again, like I did. It's very frustrating. Otherwise, go ahead.

I did not like it

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: February 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love Sim. games very much but I did not like this Sim. game. After I would have my little city all set up I would need to watch it like a hawk leaving me with almost no time to expand and improve on my little city. I have been told to give this game another try but I just can not find a reason to go back and try this game again.

Does NOT work quite right on modern hardware/XP

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was extremely frustrating. On either of my PCs (both fairly modern and running XP), graphic elements in the game just randomly wouldn't get drawn. It's possible the game got patched at some point (and it's possible some versions of the game sold in stores already ARE patched and would work), but EA hasn't bothered to archive their patches for older games. In any event, I found it was very difficult to play in its current condition on modern hardware.

Inexcusable considering 99% of games run just fine on XP, and Simcity 3000 isn't even doing anything special from a technological standpoint.

Avoid. Besides, you know EA will just crank out another one within a few years...

It would be great - if we could actually do anything

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: December 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It would be a great game if you could do what it says on the box. You need money and the problem is, you are never given enough. It has too much complicated financial stuff in it and before you even know it, you are bankrupt. Most of my time is spent waiting for money levels to rise. It would be a great game, if they actually let you DO anything. The sky is not the limit, its the money. Do NOT buy this game!

Fun Fun game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ever since I got this game I've loved it, i lost it so i recently had to buy another one, but you get the hang of things pretty quickly... very very fun game!

One of the best in the series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, it really is. It's better than Sim City 4 in my opinion, and it can run on a computer from 1995, I know from experience. This game promotes creativity, strategy, decision making and thinking. It is a video game, but it's a video game that's good to play. Afterwards you don't feel like you wasted your time you feel like you used your time constructively. I was inspired to run for mayor of my city! LOL.

This game is evergreen, if you do get bored of it you can just take a break and then come back and start a new city and it's instantly entertaining again. Every once in a while the game throws you something unexpected, ie there's a disaster like a tornado which may or may not induce a lot of damage depending on where it strikes, which makes it exciting. You can ajust the speed so that if you get impatient waiting for the next monthly check you can zoom ahead, although I do not suggest this because if you don't tend to your city lots of things can go wrong. You do have to work, you can't just zone the land and then expect sims to move in, you have to build roads, and put in a water pump and connect pipes to it, etc. But all the hard work pays off when you city becomes inhabited. You can make your own land with map creator, I find this feature to be very nice because you can make the land however you like it, with lots of mountains and trees to a flat desert, land as far as the eye can see or so small you can hardly build a village, the sky's the limit. This opened up a whole new excitement for me. I even tried to replicate the city I was living in.

The graphics aren't the best, but they're good enough. I feel the game play is realistic, i.e. if you decrease police funding, they might not do their job as well, so crime will go up and property value will go down. The music is cheesy so I opt to have it turned off.
You should definitely buy this game. If it doesn't appeal to you at least get it for someone you know who it would.

A Very Enjoyable Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It makes you think. I agree that few new surprises are discovered after the first bit fo time, but I find I can keep playing it whenever I need just a little tedious activity to occupy me. (Personally, I like to listen to books on tape while I play--but that's just me).
My suggestion? Buy it, it's worth it.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions