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Sim City

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Lorenzo has written 23 additional reviews

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Written by Lorenzo

July 21, 2002

Comments

Father of all the games with "Sim" in the title, and one of the greatest classic 16-bit games ever. Sim City is an accurate simulation of all the crap a real mayor has to handle in his career. Never heard of it? Then you're probably kidding, or maybe you've been living on the moon during the last 12 years or so. Ok, seriously, REALLY never heard of it? Fine, read on...


Graphics

Very simple, yet quite effective. The main graphics window is big enough, and all the buttons and menu are clear, big and easily accessible. The only major drawback is that this game uses the standard GEM interface for graphics and menus; very comfortable and easy to use, but very slow too. An improved graphic interface would have been much better.


The other major drawback is animation. I know it' s not an important factor in a game like this but hey, you can't just draw small black rectangles and pretend they're cars, or paint a big green monster and give him two frames of animation with a FPS rate of 0.5 per light year!


Sound

Just a few dull FX, no music at all. Never mind.


Gameplay

Amazing. Or amazingly dull, since this is a real love-it-or-hate-it game. You start with some money and an empty patch of land, and it's up to you to fill it with people. Start with a few sparse houses, a couple of crossroads and perhaps a coal power plant to make things work; gather your first, well earned taxes and go on, building new improvements such as harbours, airports, and perhaps a stadium or two; and so on, until you end up with the metropolis of your dreams...


...but don' t think it' s gonna be an easy task ! You'll have to keep an eye on many different factors that can turn your town into hell on earth: crime, traffic, pollution, fires... and if you think you ain't had enough problems, you can always bring some additional disgrace from the handy "disasters" menu. Fancy a major earthquake? A nice tornado, perhaps? Or a big green godzilla-shaped monster eating your buildings? You just have to ask!


This game has a virtually endless life span; you can play one of the eight scenarios included, and try to solve your town' s troubles before the time limit, or build your city from scrap and go on indefinitely. Boring? Well, yes maybe, after dozens and dozens of sleepless nights spent in front of your monitor...


Conclusion

If the 1998 Guinness world book of records describes Sim City as the best selling computer game EVER, there has to be a reason. And the reason is that, despite its pretty bad graphics and a few minor flaws, this game still rules. This is a milestone for 90% of the strategy games released in the last 12 years, not to mention titles like Sim Earth, Sim Ant, Sim Town and The Sims... If you ever played something with a "sim" inside the title, then try out the game that started it all!






Score
  • Graphics: 5
  • Sound: 5
  • Gameplay: 9
  • Overall: 7

Review Comments

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Zone Warrior

February 12, 2023 by AtariCrypt

Once again, pesky aliens are giving us Earthlings lots of grief. We previously fought them off but they managed to pinch a time machine so are using that to alter history and wreak havoc by taking crucial hostages from each period in an attempt to halt their influence. From the invention of the wheel in prehistoric times to England's King Arthur uniting Britain! And where would any of us be today without Japan and its technical wizardry? Yep, we cannot allow this - the fight is on!

Son Shu Shi

March 21, 2021 by ST Graveyard

What an accomplishment this game is. Created with such a small team, the result is really amazing. The game oozes creative passion. While the gameplay is really well balanced, it is a tough cookie, very hard from time to time with its moments of sheer frustration. As of level 3, timing becomes key. You will need to practice and learn the levels to complete this game, there are so many bad guys on screen it sometimes gets a bit hard to take.

Blood Money

April 4, 2020 by Morcar

Graphically, it's also nice on the eyes with well-defined graphics and animation. You really get the feeling that the developers put some thought and love into the game. Remember what I said about the large levels? Well these are wonderful and are very different to each other, they also scroll fairly smooth in all four directions.

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