The Sims of Bradshaw Mountain (Sim City 3000 UK Edition (PC))

Member Name: helencb

Product:	Sim City 3000 UK Edition (PC)
Date:	10/01/02 (1381 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value for money, addictive, playable

Disadvantages: lack of sleep, dreaming about Sims

I was out shopping the other day, down Edinburgh's Princes Street, with my Hubby, Sister and my friend from Australia. My sister and I both fancied getting a PC game, as we both had hardly any. My friend recommended Sim City as an extremely playable game, where you can have many a lost weekend just playing it.

We went into Virgin Megastore who was selling Sim City 3000 UK Edition for £19.99. However they had a range of software on sale at 2 titles for £30.00. My sister and I both decided to get the Sim City game.

Unfortunately for my sister, the story ends there. We did note in the shop that the game was suitable for Win95/98. I didn't think this would be suitable for her machine, which runs on Win 2000 but my hubby argued the point that the game could have been produced before Windows 2000 came out. Fair point, she thought and bought it. However when she opened it up, the manufacturer advises that Windows 2000 and Windows NT are not supported, so she took it back. I on the other hand was still running Win98, so all was well.

The game is written by software company Maxis and produced by EA GAMES, who are well known. As well as the operating system discussed earlier, you will need a minimum of 166 Mhz processor, 32mb RAM, 450MB Hard Drive, 4 Speed CD-DVD, 2MB Graphics, Sound Card which is DirectX 7.0 compatible and keyboard/mouse of course. However they recommend 233 Mhz processor and 64Mb Ram over the minimum.

The box contained the game CD, and the documentation CD, together with a 20-page install guide. Once again the documentation to play the game ran to about 140 pages, which I printed four to one A4 sheet, otherwise I would have caused another tree to be chopped down.

It is recommended that you use Scandisk and disk defragmenter before you try to install the game. I am afraid that my impatience got the better of me here and I figured we had done that quite recently anyway, so I would launch full
steam ahead into loading the actual game!

The next step is to check the DirectX software. This is part of win 95/98 and is required to run games. During the set-up, the program detected that I had DirectX 6.0 and therefore would need to upgrade to version 7.0, which was included on the CD.

Loading the game was straightforward, as you would expect, and in a few minutes I was up and away.

Now, from here I was able to play the game, however I found that when accessing certain types of play, my system would lock up. It is helpful to have the internet running at the same time as playing the game, as there is a website www.simcity.com where you can download buildings, other people's cities and so on. I found that my PC did not seem to like this, despite the fact that I had a 333Mhz processor and 80Mb Ram. I was hooked to the game though, from the scenarios I could run, so much so, that we went out two days later and came home with a PC. So my £15 game ended up costing me £1113.99 - bargain! I am now running with 256 MB ram, 80MB HDD and a 1.7GB Processor, so a small improvement on the old one!

Right I will get on with describing the game to you. First of all I recommend you dabble around a little bit, and then go and read the documentation. At least this way, you will have some clue as to what you are meant to do. The object of the game is to create and control your empire. With this latest edition you can import landmarks from the UK as well as USA or Asia.

When you fire the game up you have several playing options:

1 Play a Scenario
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There are 11 inbuilt scenarios, together with three tutorials. Each scenario is graded according to difficulty and is given a playing time, of 30 minutes or one hour. In this time you have to run an established city, and resolve set issues for it. I played a Berlin scenario where the objective was to unify East and West, by destroying th
e Berlin Wall, creating transport routes from East to West by creating roads, lowering pollution. I found this quite hard as there was frequent rioting going on, meaning I had to stop what I was doing and attend to the riots and fires. Needless to say I didn't get very far, this is not an easy game.

Other scenarios include saving London from the Great Fire, reclaiming Moscow from Mob rule, preparing for the Frankfurt Festival, Livening up Liverpool and preparing Seoul, Korea for the 2003 World Cup.

2 Starter Towns
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These are towns which are started in that the include roads, zones and power and are laid in important patterns. They may be Railroad towns, checkerboard cities, suburbia, capital cities or riverside towns. You simply turn them on and build as you go. They usually start in the year 1900. As time passes, you can add new features, such as buses, highways, airports, and more modern power plants as they are introduced. Disasters will befall your town, such as fires, plagues of locusts, tornados; you name it. You start with a budget of 50000 Simoleans, the local currency. You need to give your town a name, hence Bradshaw Mountain, named after a little place I drove past in the Arizona desert last year, obviously named after our ancestry!

3 Real City Terrain
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With this option, you can start to build a city from scratch but using the terrain from a real city around the world. London is included, but is the only UK city. It also includes Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Paris and New York. There are 21 options in total.

4 Start New City
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This involves starting from scratch. When you start this option, you can design your terrain, i.e. elevation, surface water, coastal town, rivers etc. This is harder than a starter town, as you start with the same budget of 50000 Simoleans but this time you do not have a basic infrastructure
of roads, power, zones and water pipes in place.

5 Load City
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This option allows you to go back and revisit previously erected cities, provided you saved them of course. As you browse through the list, you can see a reminder of the city you created, as an eye in the sky maps is displayed, together with the town's population, capital, city date and the mayor and town name.


Whichever option you decide to play from the main menu, the basic options within each city are the same. You will have a helicopter view of your city, which you can zoom in and out of, and also rotate to get a different view. The graphics in this game are absolutely superb, and extremely detailed.

The game simulates life in your city, as the date ticks by, more people will move into the city, and some will depart. There is a ticker board at the bottom of the screen giving you up to date news. You are the mayor and you will have seven advisors, i.e. financial, education, environment and so on. You will get regular demands to lower taxes, improve healthcare, education, pollution and crime and so on. Who would be a politician! You need to keep a close eye on your operating budget as if you go into the red, it becomes impossible to build anything new without taking out a loan. Worse still, if you don't meet the demand of your Sims, they will up sticks and move, leaving you with a bigger financial headache, as you have to continue to fund all the hospitals and schools you built without the cashflow in return from your residents! If you can keep your annual expenses in a surplus position, and grow the town more slowly, this usually pays off in the end.

Building Options
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1. Landscape your city by lowering and elevating terrain, creating surface water and planting trees. Generally speaking the nicer the environment, the greater the aura and your Sims will want to live there, creating demand for
more housing, which starts the cycle.

2. Zoning. You need to zone areas of the city for Residential, Commercial or Industrial purposes, and these can be low, medium or high-density zones. . Best to start with low and work up, when you are generating revenue. You can also zone for an airport, seaport or landfill site

3. Transportation. Sims need to get to work. Here you can build roads, highways, on ramps, subways, and lay rail track and place bus stops. I find building highways and onramps can be a bit tricky sometimes, especially if you haven't planned in advance, the ground needs to be level first.

4. Utilities. Here you can select power plants, water pipes water structures and waste disposal options. As the years tick by, so do your options, ranging from coal to nuclear power and beyond. Power and water stations do not last forever and you need to keep checking their capacity and lifetime and replace them before they blow up on you!

5. Civic and Special Buildings. From here you can place police stations and jails, fire stations, educational buildings, hospitals, parks and recreational areas and landmarks. All major landmarks from around the world are included, or you can upload from the website. So if you decide the Sydney Opera House would look better in Birmingham, you can have it! As you play the game and are successful you will be present with rewards and opportunities, ranging from Science centres, theme parks, haunted houses, geysers and the like.


You can also meet your seven petitioners, hear their views on city issues and decide whether to accept or reject their issues and create city ordinances.

As well as the budget page, which shows your income, expenditure, forecast cashflow, there is also an important statistical area where you can assess all manner of issues including your city aura, power grid, water piping, police coverage, fire station coverage, garbage disposal, neigh
bour deals and all aspects of running a city.

Generally speaking if you can get your budget in control, and create enough schools and colleges, your Sims will become better educated over time, attracting higher tech industry to your city, thus lowering pollution and making it a better place to live. Simple eh?

I am totally hooked to this game; it is even interfering with my Opinion writing career! I am frequently playing it until 2am in the morning. I also don't think I have scratched the surface of its capabilities yet, and will be enjoying it for many months to come. I have found myself laughing out loud at some of the situations that happen, when I see them for the first time. Well worth my £15 spent (plus £1098.99 for the new Computer of course!)

Helen

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