SimCity 4!

[Jonny]

In the May 2002 issue of CGW there is a preview of SimCity 4. It talks about some of the features of the new game, and of course, has screenshots.

The following may be one of the most important things that will shape the game:

So much of what is being put into SimCity 4 is a direct result of lessons learned from the enormous success of The Sims.

And here's a quick rundown of some of the things in the game:

• Story Elements (like in The Sims)
• Unique Buildings can change the behavior of your people.
• Greater ability to create whatever kind of city you want - not just a giant metropolis.
• The look, activity, and "feel" of a particular neighborhood is determined largely by demographics.
• The amount of services available in a certain area (health care, education, etc.) will influence which economic class will live in that area.
• "Props": Wealthy neighborhoods will have giant estarts with large swimming pools and nice landscaping, less wealthy areas will have trailer parks and lawn flamingos.
• The above can applies to commercial areas also.
• The different cities you create will have a relation to your other cities - like The Sims there are a certain number of "lots" to build cities on and their citizens will interact. Ex: bedroom communities that house people that work in other large, high tech cities.
• You see work crews working when building buildings and roads. When you demolish buildings, they blow up!
• Some disasters can be controlled by player - you can tell tornadoes where to go!
• There are "agents" - people you actually control and use in the game, including the mayor, firemen, police, and ambulance.
• The traffic system has been redone.
• But there is still lots of city building: water system, roads, taxes, collecting garbage, crime and fire prevention...

I might put up some screens sometime later.

SimCity 4 is set to ship late this year.

Speaking of Sim games, the fourth The Sims expansion is out: The Sims Vacation.

[FrustratedPoet]

cool

that's good news.

i really loved the second one, but i thought the third in the series was much worse.

... hang on a minute ... that sounds familiar ....

[Skanky Burns]

Nice one FP

[Jonny]

Re: cool

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
that's good news.

i really loved the second one, but i thought the third in the series was much worse.

... hang on a minute ... that sounds familiar ....

Does that mean if SimCity 4 is good, Civ 4 will be good too?

[Urban Ranger]

The Sims? Rats, there goes the neighbourhood.

[Zkribbler]

I hope they replace the choo-choo train with a monorail.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Any sites?

[chronocrator]

The screenshots from the CGW preview can be found here:

http://www.webdrift.com/extra/sc4kscans.asp

[Zkribbler]

Hey in the screenshot on the left aren't those choo-choo train tracks!?!

[ColdWizard]

i don't see any tracks, i only see roads

[Grumbold]

Excellent news about Sc 4(000?) While I'm not a Sims fan, if they can really engineer some different ways to grow your city and some different look and feel features to similar neighbourhoods elsewhere on the map then it will be cool. The thing I think I disliked most about SC 3000 was the inability to even choose between metropolis or Arcopolis in the future era. The other concept of "stories" leaves me cold. It didn't really work in SimGolf because your attention was never focussed on following around a single pair of golfers but on building your course. Similarly a SimCity map that I can ignore for long enough to follow a couple through their weekly routine is probably one I'm done with - unless they are returning to SC2's grind of waiting years to afford a powerplant. The main good thing about SC3000 in my book was the better financial flow so you could always build slowly but steadily.

[Lemmy]

Originally posted by Grumbold
[lot's of rambling... ]
The maine good thing about SC3000 in my book was the better financial flow so you could always build slowly but steadily.

maybe you just got better in sc3000...

There are "agents" - people you actually control and use in the game, including the mayor, firemen, police, and ambulance.

let's hope you don't have to micro-manage too much...

but i do like this one

Greater ability to create whatever kind of city you want - not just a giant metropolis

i always wanted to create a little high-tech utopia

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by Lemmy
maybe you just got better in sc3000...

Nah, the difficulty was definitely dumbed down to make the early stages more fun to play. Like renting garbage space to your neighbours for cash, then after you get rich cancelling the contract and cleaning up your town by paying to have yours taken away. In SC2 you had to make your initial micro settlement viable right from the start and hit turbo to let the years roll by for your $80 dollar a year profit mount up into something worthwhile. I miss the "reticulating splines" tho

[General Ludd]

After paying full price for sim city 3000 only a week and a half before the unlimited version was released, I pledged to never buy a maxis game again.


Funny thing is, SC3000 was the first game which I bought after playing, and liking, a pirated version - 'course the whole unlimited thing spoiled the game for me. I absolutely hate it when a company repackages a game and forces you to buy it again if you want the new stuff, rather then make an expansion.

[Jonny]

Originally posted by Lemmy
let's hope you don't have to micro-manage too much...

Hopefully, it's not too much more complicated than the current dispatch system, and that it's not needed too much more than the current dispatch system. (That is, every once in a while, not every minute.)