SimCity 4 (Mac)

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Product Details

Platform : Macintosh, Mac OS X
Binding : CD-ROM
EAN : 6188701035010
Manufacturer : Electronic Arts
Model : 618870103501
Product Group : Video Games
Release Date : 2005-08-31
UPC : 618870103501

ASIN : B00008YGMU

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

It's hard to believe that creator Will Wright had trouble selling his original SimCity concept to publishers. That first game went on to fame, notoriety, and great praise--from critics, gamers, and even educators--and spawned countless imitators, not the least of which include Wright's own smaller-scale The Sims, which went on to become a phenomenon in its own right. Now on its fourth edition, SimCity returns to our hard drives, and would-be city planners everywhere will be busy for a long, long time.

SimCity 4 functions much like its predecessors. You've got the power to zone land as residential (green), commercial (blue), and industrial (yellow). You control the budget. You decide where to place crucial services like police, fire, medical, and even utilities like power and water. You place schools, parks, roads, water towers, and scenery as you accede to the many demands of your Sim citizens. Do a good job and your city will grow and the money will flow into your coffers. Do a bad job and the people will pack up and move away, leaving your city treasury in horrific debt and landing you what the game cheekily considers to be a far easier job: senator. The game requires a balancing act that takes both planning and a persnickety nature. There are charts to read, reports to watch, and, above all, needs to juggle. It's rewarding when it all comes together, and frustrating when you fail, once again, to build anything worthwhile.

That's why I wish the game came with a better manual. The included book glosses over most major information and then neglects important aspects, such as the RCI indicator (which explains zoning needs) and parts of the budget. At the very least, the manual should include tips on handling debt. There are two tutorials which cover the basics, but again, they won't help you get out of trouble once you get in too deep. You can find this information in the strategy guide, which is sold separately, but you really shouldn't have to go that route.

The graphics are amazing, showing a vibrant metropolis with scurrying traffic, wandering Sims, smoking chimneys, and sparkling lights when night falls. Fireworks reward each year of service. And wait until you see the cool disasters you can unleash if the mood strikes you--fire, lightning, tornado, volcano, and giant robot. Oddly, there's a significant performance hit even on fast systems. Thankfully, the stuttery scrolling and slow-to-respond zoom don't hurt the game too much since you can pause it at will or fast forward if you need to wait for your cash reserves to build. The most significant flaw is that the game only offers one save slot, which discourages experimentation.

Despite minor imperfections SimCity 4 is an awesome game. You can build several cities next to each other on the map and make them dependant on each other. (You can build the greater L.A. area, in other words.) You can even import your Sims from The Sims to live in your city. Such familiar characters can tell you a lot about what your city needs. Put simply, city planning has never been this fun, this challenging, or this deep. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

Beautiful graphics and animation Deeper and more realistic than ever before

Cons:

Runs slowly on most systems Inadequate manual

Customer Reviews

SimCity 4 - the best SimCity game ever (2004-06-29)

I own this game since from August 2004 and when I played it, I totally loved it. I mean, this game has much more opportunities and control for me to take the power with, comparing with the SimCity 2000. In SimCity 2000, you can only manage the region-wide controls as the fire department, police stations, and hospital's budgets and so on. Also, you get few rewards in that game. But now, it's SimCity 4, you get the ability to control more than ONE cities, and you can finally make neighboring cities to exhange some deals and so on. You can even design your own map of the cities, like the quote from SimCity 4's game trailer, "Build the city of your dreams." This is the best game and if you're looking for the total power and control of the cities and building them from your own mind, SimCity 4 is the best game to own!

Fun but Challenging (2004-05-18)

I was a SimCity fan since age 5, when SimCity 2000 was released. The game was challenging then, and it still is now. This game is a huge step up from SC3K, with tons of Graphics improvements. However, I oftentimes find it challenging to create a city where you aren't in debt after 30 minutes! Very fun to play, though, and it runs quickly on my eMac 1GHz running Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). I recommend it to anyone who loves the Sims and like to be in charge.

Where is the performance update? (2004-04-09)

Can someone please provide a link to the Apple website for the update?

Be warned (2004-03-16)

This game will not work unless you have the requisite souped-up video cards to support it.

For example, a plain G3 iBook will not run the software-- at all. You get a bizarre error message and then it quits.

Download the update before you play!!! (2004-02-24)

I was having the same problem as other reviewers until I downloaded the performance update from the Apple website....it fixed it all! This game is absolutely facinating and I'd recommend it to anyone who was even slightly interested in it. The detail is amazing and you can zoom in and see the most random stuff going on. However, as a beginner, I'm still overwhelmed once the city gets bigger and there is more to keep track of!

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