SimCity 3000

Review

by Jonathan Sutyak

SimCity 3000 is better than SimCity 2000 but not by as much as I expected it to be. A reference card is included which points out the differences between the two games but they are so few that anyone who has played SimCity 2000 can easily pick up and play SimCity 3000. My main complaint is that the player still has no control of what types of buildings can be developed other than the select few such as police stations and schools. Once an area is zoned it is up to the people, or Sims, to choose what to develop.

Another problem I have is that the terrain editor, previously available before the start of the game, is gone. It has been replaced with the ability to select from some pre-rendered terrain of real-life cities. Also missing are the sports stadiums which have been replaced by a small ballpark, the kind that can be seen next to a high school.

Once past the minor problems, though, there are a number of welcome additions. Neighbors can now be interacted with adding a new level of realism to the SimCity series. After linking a power line to a neighbor you will be able to purchase or sell power. The same can be done with water and garbage. Garbage is a new feature that will have a large impact on your city. It is difficult to deal with as it creates high pollution. In order to take care of garbage, a landfill must be built and constantly enlarged or the garbage can be removed by a neighbor for a price.

Some other new additions that improve the game include more useful advisors, the ability to have a city four times larger than in past versions, roads that can be placed diagonally, new levels of zooming in and landmark buildings. SimCity 3000 allows a player to zoom in close enough to see pedestrians, individual cars and an overall more detailed look at the buildings. Up to ten real-life landmarks can be placed in a city, ranging from the Taj Mahal to the Empire State Building. Although the landmarks look nice they do not actually have any impact on a city.

Overall, SimCity 3000 is a great game but not a huge improvement over its predecessor, SimCity 2000. One item which was not completed before the release of the game is the Building Architect Tool which can now be downloaded from www.simcity.com. Maxis also issues add-on land packs periodically which are available for downloading at the site as well. New landmarks are included in the packs and the price tag (free) makes upgrading the game a real bargain.