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What Simcity 4 brings on?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 34
Date: June 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Surfing the Net, I see that Maxis is now preparing to launch Simcity 4: Rush Hour Expansion Pack. I wonder what Maxis bring on with an expansion of a Game {Simcity 4}, if only the game without expansions to add-on Simcity 4 is whole fun and enjoyable?
I am giving 4 stars not for the Expansion because still yet not have been published, but the expactations that Expansion Pack is going to add to the Game itself.

Essential for any Sim City 4 user!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: June 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off, the instruction book included is a lot more detailed about how to do everything and how items effect your city. That alone is a major plus.
There are more items to build, like a large elementary school and large water pump. Transportation tools are a lot better, including the road query, which gives inside info on how your sims get around, road by road, house by house.
Of course, the big selling feature is the drive around feature, which inludes missions and free drive. It is quite fun to drive around your own city! (You can use tanks, mayor's car, school bus, ice cream truck, even planes and boats)
All in all, the other reviews give good detail on what is included. It's a nice upgrade to sim city, although it was sort of disappointing to find some features lacking in the original release. For a little extra, you can get everything missing and more (see other reviews, the give a better description)

Here we go again.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 35
Date: June 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Why a expansion to Sim City you ask.In one word money and Electronic Arts has the corner market on making it.Most of the stuff in Rush Hour should of been in the game but they left it out for a expansion.So if you want a better city for your sims then buy it and there might be a patch you will have to wait for.

Gouging or not, this expansion is packed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 35
Date: September 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

We've all heard the talk that Maxis is gouging customers by deliberately leaving out features from Sim City 4 to put into an expansion pack. The real question is this: is the expansion pack worth the money? After just one day of looking at Rush Hour, I believe this is one of the best expansion packs I've ever seen. Unlike expansions for many games which just give you a few new buildings and often represent nothing more than bug fixes with bonus scenarios, Rush Hour is a BIG step forward for Sim City 4.

The new transportation options alone are worth the price of admission. Maxis has added double-wide avenues, which were desperately needed to handle traffic. A new ferry terminal building allows access by water, even on a regional level. Elevated rails (think Chicago) have been added, and rails can now connect to subways. Ground-level freeways and T-interchanges are also new. Speaking of interchanges, they are now MUCH easier to position than ever before. And there don't have to be any more "highways to nowhere": highways can now transition to avenues which in turn can transition to regular streets. But perhaps most important of all is a route query tool that lets you see how your sims get to and from work. With this overlay, you can *finally* create a mass transit system that works!

Still not convinced? One big new feature is the addition of road names and signs for use throughout the city. For those who found the original game too difficult, difficulty levels have been implemented and added. For those of us -- and there are many -- who wanted a return of the "make historic" option from earlier versions of Sim City, Maxis has obliged us. There are even new tilesets to make your new cities look different from the old ones. But you now also have the option to limit yourself to one single tileset, too.

The final feature that everyone is talking about is "U-drive." Players can now take control of vehicles and drive them around the city. And not just cars -- you can drive a tank, a jet, a train, even a boat! Maxis has added missions -- supposedly more than 75 of them -- to make this feature worthwhile. Complete missions to get new rewards. Early buzz on this feature is that it is surprisingly fun, although I admit that I haven't even tried it out yet myself.

I haven't listed all the new features -- there are still more. But this expansion pack has brought major improvements to Sim City 4. Sure, it would be nice if Maxis had been able to include all this stuff with the original game, but then the game would not have been released until September 2003. Maxis didn't invent the expansion pack; this phenomenon has been going on for many years now. I think Maxis is charging a fair price for a LOT of new gameplay fun... and remember, if you bought Sim City 4 and saved your receipt, you can get a $10 rebate. For that price, this expansion is almost a steal. Almost.

A Well-Priced Expansion with Excellent Features!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: September 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Rush Hour is a valuable and desperately needed addition to SimCity 4. Admittedly, many of the additional transportation features should have been included in the original SimCity 4, but despite this fact the new additions are still very welcome. The new ability to jump into certain vehicles and take control is a fun distraction, as well as a great way to make some spare money, though with certain aircraft it's very difficult to judge your height above buildings, particularly when in helicopters.

The best new feature, however, is the ability to see EXACTLY where your Sims are going, where they're leaving from, and the routes they take. This makes it infinitely easier to construct your mass-transit facilities and open up congested areas on your transport network. The new options for roads, elevated trains, and even monorails are also superb. One note, however, is that is is rather difficult to lay down elevated track that curves; you need to be sure to hold down the shift key when laying track in order to make a curve, or else you will be forever frustrated.

Finally, the incredibly low cost of this add-on alone makes it worthwhile, even though it is, at it's core, just adding functionality that should've come with SimCity 4 out of the box.

A wonderful and much needed expansion of Sim City 4

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 44
Date: September 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love Rush Hour!

In many ways Sim City gets a whole new feel with Rush Hour. It is not only the much talked about U-drive-it feature, a new building set, or a few more transportation options - quite a lot of smaller changes were made that tremendously add to the gameplay!

First of all, the game runs a lot faster now on my computer(Yipee!).

Then I especially like the changes to the traffic simulation engine. Now you can see how and from where sims get to a building. Not only gives this more transparency to what is actually going on, it also gives the player a lot of feedback. Plus: the traffic simulation makes more sense now (sims now use the fastest instead of the shortest route - so your highways are no longer unused if the onramp is a few blocks away). So cool: now you see trucks clog the roads in industrial areas whereas residential suburban roads are packed with vans and SUVs.

Maxis also added different difficulty levels as well as new tutorials. If you play on easy you no longer need to spend 90% of your time on super-micromanagement tasks like adjusting the number of teachers in every school.

Many people think the U-drive-it feature is purely hype. Well, it is not THAT special. However, after an a while of laying out zones and roads it is always fun to just click on a mission and drive around the city in a police car with sirens on, pushing other cars off the road.

I heard somebody say he feels that Rush Hour breathes a lot more life into his city. And I totally agree. Now you see car accidents on big crossings, you do see trains (or the fancy monorail) bring in commuters from the suburbs in morning and evening hours. In many ways the city just feels more real and alive now.

Sim City with Rush Hour must be the most complex game ever - the sheer detail of what is simulated is breathtaking. And it is also a lot of fun. Intelligent and entertaining! Let's be honest: many things like avenues should have been included in the original game already. Now, with RH, Maxis adds so much to the game that it is hard to complain. I hope we'll see many more expansions like RH.

P.S.: no, i am not paid by Maxis, I am just a happy fan ;)

Coool Game!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: September 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is so cool. I love the U-drive it feature!!!! It is a must have for any Simity4 fan!!!!!!

This game is so coooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: September 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is so much fun!!!!!!!!! I wish it would have come out earlier. My favorite thing is the U-Drive it feature. You can drive many different kinds of trains, plains, cars, and boats!!!
I love to drive my Sim around town andgo to other Sims houses!!!
I still wish the sims could get married,and live in a house together.!!! I don't have The Sims, but hope to get it for my B-day.Then I can get more Sims in my City!!!!!! I you liked Simcity3000 Unlimited (I did) then get this game!! The Deluxe game is much cheaper depending on where you shop so shop around!!!

The latest in the SimCity family line

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 12
Date: October 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

SimCity 4 Rush Hour makes the addictive SimCity 4 even harder to walk away from. I've been a SC junkie for nearly ten years now, and this game is truly a breath of life into my city like none other. The depth of cities has been held a little repetitive in the transportation department since SimCity 2000, and Rush Hour just expands it in ways I never thought possible. The U-Drive-It missions maintain the isometric looking-down view of The Sims while capturing the city exploration aspect of Streets of SimCity. This game is one of the best things that has ever happened to SimCity; no SC4 owner should be without it.

addictingly fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: October 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just like Sim City 4, this is fun and addicting. I like all the improvements but some things are iffy. In the U-Drive it mode, the steering features I find hard to control the vechicles. I love the missions. I love the added transportation modes(monorails, els, etc.)

I like the fact you can control your Sims more. This was a 1000% improvement. Cause in Sim City 4 the Sims were boring. They didn't go anywhere.

I do still wish skyscrapers built up quicker and Sims responded better to additions in the city.

This game is a definite must have for anyone with Sim City 4.

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