MAIN
NEWS

Resources
CHEATS
GALLERY
RELEASE DATES
BETA CENTER
LINKS
FORUM
GAMERS DATABASE

Downloads
DEMOS
PATCHES
GAME TOOLS
MAPS/SCENARIOS

SGO
ABOUT US
FAQ
FEEDBACK
HOSTING

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

REVIEWS

Although Simcity 3000's look and play are rather calm and pleasant, the road, which its development team took, wasn’t all that rosy. From the beginning, Simcity 3000 was supposed to innovate in ways never seen before buy a sim-building game. Revolutionary new 3D graphics and sounds were supposed to compliment new micromanaging strategies and all-new gameplay features. After months of arduous work on the project, it was scrapped. The Simcity 3000 that hit the shelves wasn't at all what it was originally planned to be.

This doesn't mean however that the game in itself isn't a quality game. The scrapping of the original version just meant that the development team took a different approach to the realisation of the sequel to Simcity 2000. The result is a game that resembles very much its predecessor with many improvements. The interface is very easy to use and the graphics are very soft and pleasant. You can now zoom in and see your sims driving and walking the streets! In a game like S3K, the onscreen graphics and interface are important because it's not rare that you find yourself so immersed in the game that you don't see the time go by. You start to forget to eat supper, lose track of your bedtime miss the occasional class or meeting and finally, fall into a state a public withdrawal in which you remain completely alienated from society (ok , well maybe I went a little overboard =).

S3K is a VERY addictive game. The objective is the same as in the previous version: you want your city to grow and prosper. This in itself is why it is so addictive. You want your city's population to grow and see what each milestone will bring you. 10,000 sims, 25,000 sims.... 50,000 sims ... 500,000 sims ... and it just keeps going. You don't want to stop playing until you reach the next milestone with regards to the size of your population.

As easy as it may sound, keeping your population growing isn't just sitting back, zoning and watching the sims move in. The limiting factor in S3K (as in all "real life" cities) is money. You have to be strict about spending your simoleons wisely because if you're not tight on your expenses, you'll just spend too much money and you'll have a negative cash flow, causing the city treasury to run dry and your city to fall into ruins. It can be very frustrating to have a negative flow of funds and not know what to do to balance the books!

To aid you in your quest of the "perfect city" are the city counsellors. Each different department has its "cartoonish" character who delivers the important advice to keep your city on track. Generally, the advice that they give you is sound but, it sometimes becomes a little redundant. The different departments include city finances, health and education, the utilities such as plumbing and electricity, law and order and new to Simcity 3000: Pollution. Now, you’ll have to zone for your city’s entire garbage disposal needs. In addition you’ll have to take care of your city’s pollution factor by providing with recycling centres and other means of garbage disposal/recycling.

Once you’re up and running and everything seems to be going along smoothly, don’t be surprised if your neighbouring cities summon you in a panic to make a deal. When you have excess water, electrical and disposal capacities, your neighbours might ask you to take on some of their needs … for a price of course. It’s up to you to decide weather or not you help them out, or leave them suffer (muhahahaha!). These neighbouring deals are somewhat of a double-edged sword however. On one hand you get an increase in the flow of funds into the city, but on the other, the demand for the utilities you provide is increased. It is important to understand the demands being made by the cities. You might be taking on more than you can handle! In case you’re not able to meet the requirements for a deal you have agreed upon with your neighbour, you will be fined a hefty amount. So be careful in what you agree on.

Another nice feature is the fact that you can add "real-life" landmarks to your city. Hey, who doesn’t want to put up the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State building in their backyard? It doesn’t cost your city in maintenance but it does take up space. Who cares though, right? The ever fearsome disasters may occur and bring these buildings down, however. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and even alien invasions can bring down your most beautiful landscapes. You can play with disasters turned off, but what’s the fun in that? If you’re feeling a little mischievous and are a little mad at your sims complaining about the taxes, you can cause your own disasters (talk about playing God, hehe)!

Building your city is very easy with the interface in S3K. All actions are grouped by functions. Zoning, transportation, utilities and buildings are all grouped individually and make for easy adjustments. There is a feature that I can’t understand why maxis didn’t incorporate in the game: the undo function. You can’t "undo" an action once you’ve clicked. If you get a little careless with your bulldozer and accidentally click on your Casino or Stadium, there’s no turning back. Maybe the game was intended to be without an undo button but I just can’t understand why.

Another "minus" is that the game itself has some compatibility problems with certain video cards. Mine was one of them. A person at the tech support told me that there would be an update soon for these problems however. This incompatibility would occasionally cause the game to crash with an "??? Unknown Error". I’m not the type of guy that saves very often, so I let a few "unholy" words slip out from time to time when the error would occur (sorry mom).

Overall, Simcity 3000 is an easy going "think before you click" kind of game. It’s very easy to get immersed into the game (hey, I’m not gonna let my Sims starve!). The graphics are well suited to the type of game and the sound effects and music are, well… simcity’ish. You’ll have fun playing the game and you won’t want to stop once you get rolling. Even if the original product vision for S3K was scrapped in favour of the current version, I don’t think that veterans of the series will be disappointed.

Reviewed by Jeff "Toothpaste" Hattem

Copyright © 1998 Strategy Gaming Online. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or in any medium without express permission of Strategy Gaming Online is prohibited.