You're in charge of the construction of a new virtual
city, from the power grid to the street layout to zoning...and, oh yes, taxes.
Monitor the public's feelings on such things as the availability of emergency
services, public facilities, pollution, traffic, and so forth - and act in
accordance with their wishes, or ignore their recommendations.
(Maxis, 1996)
I love this game. A friend of mine got me hooked on SimCity Classic
during my first TV job, and next thing you know, eight hour overnight shifts
were passing like half an hour. I was getting reasonably good at it, too, with
some really elaborate cities. Now, I don't recommend that everyone play
SimCity at work, but do play it somewhere.
SimCity takes the original game and updates it considerably, adding a
new, Zaxxon-esque vaguely-3D graphics scheme
and many layers of detail and complexity.
In her book Joystick Nation, J.C. Herz pointed out one of the biggest
problems with the original SimCity - that the game was predicated upon
its designer's biases and political views, and that whether you did well or
failed at the game was largely a measure of whether or not you agreed with Wil
Wright's take on such issues as public transit. SimCity 2000 doesn't
adhere quite so slavishly to the only-one-solution-to-the-problem school of
thought. There are multiple angles of attack for many quandaries you'll
encounter in the game.
In the meantime, the complexities have increased tenfold. You deal with
issues of obsolescence with various types of power plants, and as the years zip
forward into the latter half of the 20th century, new options, such as nuclear,
solar and wind power, become available. Other considerations also demand your
time and money, including the pumping, storage, and purification of water. You
even get to zone schools, colleges, libraries, museums, zoos...
I heartily recommend the PC version of SimCity 2000. The Playstation
version is passable, but the game really is easier with a small selection of
drop-down menus on the screen, rather than large icons obscuring portions of
your view. On the other hand, the Playstation version has a neat exclusive
feature - once your city is up and running and doing well, you can take a
first-person, 3D drive through the streets you've built.
SimCity 2000 is one of the best God games out there. At first, I
never thought I would get used to it, having spent literally years playing
SimCity Classic. Now I have to admit, I'd have a hard time going back to
the simpler version of the game.
Rating:
One dollar - top of the line. Go trade it in for more quarters, you'll
want to play this game several times.
Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster
One dollar - top of the line. Go trade it in for more quarters, you'll
want to play this game several times.
