SimCity 3000

                      Reviewed by Sue

I couldn't resist it. I was in Eltham recently and a 'sale' sign
outside Dixon's caught my eye ... and I was in a spending mood!
Inside the shop, none of the sale items appealed to me, but as
soon as I'd entered the shop, I'd spotted the newly-released
SimCity 3000 sitting on a shelf. Too late, I was hooked! Before
you could say "can't really afford it and haven't got the time to
play it anyway", I was up at the cash desk with my flexible
friend.

What is SimCity? I'm glad you asked. Essentially you take the role
of the mayor of a city and have to build it from scratch, starting
with just a blank piece of land, then manage it to the best of
your ability. This includes zoning areas for the inhabitants, the
Sims, to live, work, and play, building road and rail systems,
linking power cables and water pipes, adding emergency services
and facilities such as schools and hospitals and generally
catering for their every need. It's a tough job, but someone's
gotta do it! You'll be in no doubt whether or not you're doing a
good job - get it right, and the Sims will award you special
buildings (a statue in your honour, a new town hall etc) and sing
your praises - get it wrong and they'll move out in droves.

I have long been a fan of Maxis's games, since the first SimCity
game, back in the heady days of 1989. Remember back then? I was
still using my Atari ST while Queen sang 'I Want it All' on the
radio.  When I got my 386, I bought the PC version - this had two
Architecture Pack add-ons which gave different styles of
buildings, and a Terrain Editor which allowed me to start building
Sidcup. Yes, I'm a sad person, and I've got the maps to prove it!

SimCity 2000 followed in 1993 and was far more sophisticated with
vastly improved graphics and a more user-friendly interface. But
the basic premise was the same; build and manage the city, keeping
the Sims happy while still turning a profit. It's the sort of game
that will enthral or terminally bore you (eh, Neil?) depending on
whether or not you have the urge to be some sort of omnipotent
being and like the sort of micromanagement that this sort of game
entails! The Sim series has evidently sold $7 million worth of
units so Maxis must feel they're doing something right, not just
with SimCity but with related programs like SimFarm, SimEarth,
SimLife and others.

There are a number of enhancements in this latest incarnation of
the program. The graphics are, naturally, more sophisticated. The
zoom feature is much better and not only can you see vehicles in
more detail but in close-up, you can also see the Sims wandering
about ...  a bit aimlessly, I'll admit, but at last you'll feel
the place is really inhabited. You'll have to organise waste
disposal systems, from landfill to incinerators, or the Sims will
let their rubbish pile up in the streets. (I haven't seen a SimRat
... yet). The transit systems of previous versions have been
souped up too - then we had simple road and rail to cope with, now
there is the added complication of underground systems, highways
and bus services. As in previous versions you will have to balance
the aesthetics of city design with the economies of city
management and the problems of pollution and gridlock.

There can be other problems to strain the patience of a budding
Jeffery Archer (or even a Red Ken). Disaster can strike at any
time and in many forms. Tornadoes. Fires. Earthquakes. Riots.
UFOs!! If you get totally fed up with your Sims moaning, you can
call up a disaster without waiting for one to hit at random. But,
of course, I wouldn't do that ... honestly ...

The game is very easy to get started with, and most people won't
need to refer to the 76-page manual very often. Maps will clarify
trends in pollution levels, police presence and more while a news
ticker along the bottom of the screen updates you with current
events. These are in different colours according to their type -
city status messages in orange, petitioner and advisor messages in
green and so on. The members of your team of advisors each
specializes in a different subject - finance, transportation and
so forth. They will advise you on all the ins and outs of their
pet topic, suggest ways of improving the services and alternately
praise or condemn you for your actions. Petitioners from the city
do much the same thing, according to whether or not your actions
fit in with their own agendas - this applies equally to
straight-laced busybodies who worry about crime levels as it does
to gamblers who want you relax the local ordinances relating to
their interests. But remember, everything costs money and if you
get too short of funds, you may be forced to take out a loan at
exorbitant interest rates or do a deal with a neighbouring city to
sell power or water, for example, to rake in some extra income.
The deals may sound good but be warned, we could be talking Trojan
horses here!

Whether you're a benevolent 'parent' to your Sims, or a despotic
monster, the program will give you hours of fun. If you want a
change from your personal town, you can load one of the many
starter cities which vary from exotic fantasy layouts to
recreations of real city terrain (no, they didn't provide a
Sidcup, only London). And as well as the standard buildings, you
can add up to ten landmark buildings such as the Pyramids or Big
Ben, or download the SimCity architect tool from www.simcity.com
and design your own.

What more can I say? My admiration for Maxis and the SimCity
formula knows no bounds. All I can say is - what will they
introduce in the NEXT version? In the meantime we have SimMars and
The Sims (a Maxis equivalent of the Truman Show where you
influence individual Sims on a personal level) to look forward to
... I can't wait!

A Postscript:

If you wondered how I got on with SimSidcup, it turned into a
fairly accurate representation of the area from New Eltham to
Albany Park but due to the needs of the Sims I had to make a few
adjustments.  Our local hospital became the site for a power
station, an airport was built on fields next to Sidcup By-pass and
a seaport appeared on the gravel pits on the way to Orpington!
Meanwhile Sevenoaks Way turned into an environmental disaster area
as industrial zones took over and polluted the atmosphere. But
worst of all was the local railway system. Sims l-o-v-e railway
lines and Sidcup only has a local line which goes from east to
west, one track in each direction. In SimSidcup this ended up as
about eight lines running in parallel across the map but the
ungrateful little beggars still weren't happy and whinged
constantly about the awful traffic conditions! I also had to
increase the number of police and fire stations. But I'm going to
have another crack at it with SimCity 3000 because I can cheat and
hide away an underground mass transit system - okay, it still
isn't accurate but it will look better from the air and, if I want
to go for near complete accuracy, with the new bus option I could
even add my 321 bus route to Tesco!










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