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INFORMATION
Developed by Maxis
Genre: Strategy
Reviewed by: Salman Siddiqui
INTRODUCTION
The Simcity series now in its third installment has sold a mind boggling five million
copies. I remember when the original Simcity came out. I became so addicted to
Simcity that I lost a lot sleep did not eat, and homework was a mere afterthought. A few
years later Simcity 2000 was released and boy were most of us were bamboozled by
the game. Naturally when I heard Simcity 3000 was going to be released, I was
skeptical and asked myself how could they (Maxis) possibly improve on a great game
such as Simcity 2000? Well, lets take a detailed look at the game for a better answer.
GRAPHICS
The graphics of SimCity 3000 are very nice, especially with the aid of a 3d card. The
isometric view is also back and even if you zoom out of your city you still get a beautiful
view with each particular building being quite recognizable. There are three hundred
and fifty pre rendered buildings in SimCity 3000. In addition, there is an urban renewal
kit, which is not yet available for download but allows you to design and implement your
buildings with in your city. If you zoom in all the way, one can distinctly notice the
activities taking place. For example, if you don't build a garbage facility you can actually
notice the trash near the streets or you can even notice the fire trucks rushing to a fire
because you have failed to provide adequate fire protection! The drawback to zooming
in is that you cant see the rest of city and you are only centered on a particular part
therefore limiting the on screen area for building more structures. Another notable
enhancement to the graphics is the terrain looks much more realistic. For example if
your water gets polluted you can actually see the color change in the water. The
buildings look so sharp in terms of accuracy, it seems as if Maxis actually used a
couple of blueprints of various sized building and then modeled them in the game
accordingly. Once again, I have to stress the point that SimCity 3000 has more to offer
in terms of realism then most people can possibly imagine.
Score 96%
INTERFACE
The interface and controls are well done in SimCity 3000. Basically there is a graphical
sidebar that shows the different type of things that can be built. It is very easy to
navigate through and you can easily choose what you want with out any hassle. Like
SimCity 2000, there are plenty of maps and informational tools for you to evaluate your
city on any particular aspect. However, I do have a few quirks about the controls. Laying
the water pipes your city is too tedious and downright boring. I get so frustrated while
doing this. Many people hated this feature in SimCity 3000 I don't know why Maxis
opted to stay with this particular type of boring work. Another bugging part of the control
is that building a nice bridge is not only expensive but very tricky as well. I, like others
was wishing that you could connect valleys by bridges rather then being restricted to
over water only. Anyway, these are small things that although bothering don't detract
from the overall control and interface.
Score 92%
GAMEPLAY
SimCity has always been known for its detailed, enthralling and entertaining gameplay,
well SimCity 3000 is no different. I had my doubts about the gameplay of SimCity 3000
but boy was I wrong. As a long time fan of the SimCity series my goal has always been
to get the highest population possible with out any problems. In other words a perfect
megalopolis (We can dream cant we?). Initially you think it is the same exact thing as
SimCity 2000. Well after some time you begin to realize that the gameplay is better.
What makes it better? New additions in SimCity 3000 are garbage facilities, pollution
on a much wider scale, petitioners, making deals with neighboring cities, more traffic
problems, more disaster and a lot more ordinances. Just be reading the last sentence
most of you are thinking, yeah right! This is not enough to satisfy my appetite in the
gameplay department. If you are thinking this way you are wrong, eventually as you play
the game you will be occupied with so much going on with in your city that you will come
to realize that indeed the gameplay is better and loads of fun.
Score 96%
AUDIO
Well, I have rated the last two categories pretty well haven't I? SimCity 3000 seriously
lacks good sound to put in nicely. The rotating jazzy sounds is downright annoying a
much to repetitive and boring. Perhaps the only enjoyable facet of the sound is that if
you query different building you get different sounds of the buildings, which is pleasing. I
implore the people at Maxis to make a downloadable soundtrack for SimCity 3000.
There are plenty of songs about city life and home. For example, if your city has a
power outage wouldn't be kind of nice to hear the song Light from Journey (thanks Eric)
singing "when the lights go out in the city…" Anyway the audio department need
massive help I hope Maxis does something about it.
Score 70%
DIFFICULTY
The level of difficulty has certainly been improved in SimCity 3000. My goal has always
been to have the largest population with out any problems and by golly SimCity 3000
lets you achieve this goal. In SimCity 2000, I could easily have ten thousand people in a
matter of five minutes with out using any cheat codes. All the zonings need to be much
more balanced in terms of having a prosperous city. SimCity even in easy mode is a
real challenge. If you are looking for a real challenge I highly recommend SimCity 3000
for its enjoyable difficulty. Oh yes, I found that a lot of strategies that worked in SimCity
2000 are not going to work, so be prepared to learn!
Score 96%
OVERALL
I recommend purchasing SimCity 3000. At first you will think that SimCity 3000 is
exactly the same as SimCity 2000. However, as you progress you begin to recognize
that SimCity 3000 is definitely worth the money for all the enhancements and
refinements it has to offer
Score - 90%
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System
Requirements:
Required:
Win95/98
Pentium 166MHz
230MB+
32MB RAM
4X cd-rom
DirectX 6or higher
Recommended:
Pentium 233MHz
64MB RAM
8X cd-rom
3Dfx Accelerator
Cons:
-Bad sound
-Laying underground
water pipes
-Bad Introduction
sequence
Pros:
-Great graphics and
detail
-Very challenging
and difficulty
-Awesome
gameplay
Coolinfo Bottom
Line:
- I think SimCity
3000 is worth the
money, much better
then SimCity 2000
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