Great idea, shame about the game (Sim City 4 (PC))

Member Name: chris454660

Product:	Sim City 4 (PC)
Date:	16/06/03 (456 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: terraforming, improved graphics

Disadvantages: crashing

Sadly, most of the bad reviews (written by critical thinkers) that you're seeing here for SimCity 4 are accurate. I've been a SimCity fan ever since its earliest versions back in the early 90's. After mastering each version, I always look forward to what great new innovations the Maxis folks can come up with next. There are some excellent new features to SimCity 4, of course. The buildings look more futuristic and realistic, the disasters are cooler, and the ability to tie multiple cities into a regional entity is a real plus. The biggest improvement is with landscaping. In the "terraforming" mode you are able to create remarkable mountains and valleys, cliffs and canyons, resulting in eye-catching landscapes that the Sims can build upon in architecturally intriguing ways.

That's the end of the favorable portion of my review. See the other reviews here for the never-ending list of programming glitches that bog down this game. Here are some problems I've been having. The "rotate" buttons work in the wrong directions, when you are told to dispatch firemen or police to a disaster area you can't see where the disaster is, and residential units that are right next to the street say they don't have road access. One enhancement that I do not like is the automatic streets that appear when you lay down large zoning areas. These result in a messy traffic pattern with streets that may not even be connected to others, and then you have to remove zoned areas that you just spent money building. And finally there is the response time and program performance. Sure I don't have the most powerful computer in the world, but it's among the better models that regular consumers can get in the home computer market. That makes me part of the typical SimCity audience, so a game that doesn't freeze up my computer on a regular basis shouldn't be too much to ask for. Plus the installation took twenty minutes and three res
tarts.

Whoever made the decision at Maxis/EA to release this game in its current state made a really bad management decision. There are so many programming glitches that this product should not be in the hands of the public. Other folks here have suggested that you wait until a repaired or updated version of SimCity 4 is released. I don't disagree with them.

Summary: