User Reviews (1 - 11 of 38)

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Sim City 4 - Best sim so far.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Probably the best designed Sim City game yet. Extremely enjoyable and easy to learn. Make sure you have a fast computer though!

SimCity 4 (Mac Version)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: July 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Even with SuperSaver I got this game in 1 day, which was great because I have been thirsting for the OSX version of this upgrade. I was surprised to note that it requires 2 discs, and takes about a Gig of space. There were problems loading the intro movies, but even first-run, the game worked buglessly, and my 800Mhz iBook handles the complex graphic with ease. And the graphics are complex! Even in the regional view the graphics take ones breath away. Cities are agglomerated in this region view, and interdependence is the key. It is much slower than Sc3K to develop a city, and requires a lot more input and attention, though it is equally more accurate in portraying real-mayoral duty. The transport generator is amazing, and the details are astonishing. Where I used to take a day off work to play, now I will need a week.

Not that great

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: August 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It's huge to install (2 disks), slow on average macs and quite boring, after all.
Lots of wonderfully graphics and ideas... but I have little fun playing with it - getting the financials balanced is pretty complex, this games should be fascinating for accountants but maybe not for strategy gamers.

All in all I miss Sim City 1, the good ole one...

SimCity 3000 gets a facelift

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 44 / 47
Date: August 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been a fan of the Sim games since the days of playing SimCity (and later, SimCity 2000) on my old 386 PC running DOS. Times have changed a lot since then, but oddly SimCity has largely stood still. SimCity 2000 was the first and only major revision to the series, and arguably was the best out of all of them. So how does SimCity 4 stack up?

SimCity 4, like SC3K before it, is largely a visual upgrade. The graphics are indeed very well done, and the game has a rich lifelike feel to it. The sound effects are top knotch as well. Cars driving around, children playing at a playground, the soft whoosh of wind power generators. Sadly the music does not match up to the quality of the sound, varying wildly between very annoying and passable. Unlike previous Sim games, there are no catchy tunes to be found here. And don't expect to play this game on a slow Mac - even my Power Mac with dual 1GHz G4s tends to chug when I change zoom levels and such.

The mechanics of the game are largely unchanged from the days of SimCity 2000: build a city, manage taxes and infrastructure, keep the Sims happy. SimCity 4 is more complicated in some ways (budgeting is more detailed, the model for residential/commercial/industrial demand is more complex, etc.) and this can make things very difficult. It took me a number of tries to build a city that wasn't burning thousands of simoleons every month. The game is still just as fun as ever, though.

Unfortunately, a number of the changes are actually omissions. Gone are the scenarios (like Dullsville), the real world cities, and the ability to generate random terrain by adjusting a few sliders. You have to custom carve each area you build a city in, unless you load up a pre-built region. These features are sorely missed, and they take away quite a bit of what made SimCity so enjoyable in the past.

What it all comes down to is this: SimCity 4 is a lot of fun to play, and Aspyr did a great job porting it. If you can forgive the missing features from previous SimCity games, and if your machine is powerful enough, I definitely recommend this game. Now if you'll excuse me, I must attend to some unhappy Sims protesting outside my mansion...

Not a bad game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game was very entertaining for about the first 2 weeks, but after that, it got a little old. The graphics are superb. It wasn't that hard to master the financial aspect of the game. The things I was dissapointed with was that there were no prebuilt cities, there aren't random disasters (only fire), all other disasters you have to create yourself which takes away half the fun. Overall it's a good game. Just gets old like any game after a while.

Much Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: September 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It runs a but slow on my Dual G4 800 with 1.2 GB ram and 64 MG GeForce2 video card. Aside from speed issues, the game is great with excellent graphics and gameplay. I recommend. SC3 sucked, and I nevered played it. However, I have been playing SC4 quite a bit.

Dissapointed with Aspyr

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 120 / 123
Date: September 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When Aspyr licensed SimCity 4 from EA Games to do a Macintosh version they quietly decided that there was no need to allow Macintosh users the one ability that makes this game a lasting favorite. While PC users are linked by a network of designers who regularly edit and release additional lots, buildings, landmarks, game enhancements and regions, Macintosh users will find themselves left out in the cold. The serial number included with the game will get you registered at Aspyr's website but will not register you with SimCity.com, the ONLY place a SimDesigner can obtain a little program called the Lot Editor which allows you design your own buildings and parks and just about anything else you can imagine. Additionally, Aspyr tells you that all the official landmarks and 3rd party buildings will work with the Macintoch version, howver they do not tell you that to recieve these extra, free landmarks from SimCity.com that you must be registered there... which you can't.

My recommendation is to NOT buy this game is you are a fan of the previous versions. Aspyr makes no apologies about the limited features in the Macintosh version and has no plans to currently resolve any of these issues. Additionally, other users who report slow game play are correct. A Dual G4 1GHz with 2GB of RAM creeps along once a city reaches 100,000 inhabitants and there are numerous visual anomalies during game play as well as unexplainable random crashes which require you to regularly reinstall the game to resolve.

While the game has lots of promise for those who enjoy this series, I find the Aspyr Macintosh version HIGHLY disappointing.

technical specs

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've enjoyed previous versions of Sim City quite a lot. In fact, I would say it is my favorite computer game. One thing that would be very helpful, especially concerning software, is if full technical specs were given. It would be convenient when considering a software purchase if I knew the system (hardware and operating) specs without searching around the net for them.
Maybe I've missed it, but so far I haven't found it. Hope Amazon will remember to include this vital information when listing software. Thanks.

Performance is horrible

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 20 / 23
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I gave SimCity 4 a shot for a whole month. I tried it on my dad's PowerBook G4, and my son's new iBook G4, in addition to my own Blue & White upgraded with a G4 and an ATI Radeon 7000 Mac Edition. The performance for this game is in the pooper.

The reason this product gets more than one star from me, however, is, it's simply a great game in concept, it's trying to be that game, and you can get some sense of that, despite the performance challenges. I first fell in love with the original SimCity. This game does, to some degree, carry that torch.

I have read many reviews that have only one star, and most complain about the performance, particularly scrolling. They ignore that this game has a great game soundtrack, and a great game play, in concept.

The problem with this game, since version 3, and far worse in version 4, is...it's designed to take the most advantage of the fastest computers available on the market, using the most amazing graphics cards available on the market.

Trouble is, most computers sold to you and me aren't that. If you simply apply Moore's Law that computer performance doubles every 18 months, which it has (more or less), and also apply the rule that consumer computers run at up to 1/2 the performance of the top of the line, only the elite can truly enjoy this game. If your computer is 1-2 years old, or not a top-of-the-line G4 with the top-of-the-line graphics card, or both, PERFORMANCE WILL SUCK.

It's as simple as that. I would only recommend this game for fair-weather friends and potential enemies.

Kinda' good and kinda' bad

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I enjoy playing the game but it is a memory hog. The game runs slow and has crashed when cities get large. It is a very pretty game; the detail in managing your city is complex but intriguing. Some aspects of game play still elude me and I haven't found the instructions very helpful. I would recommend this game if you really enjoy the Sim City games but be prepared for disappointments.

All in all could be a better game.

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