![]() It offers a level of challenge you rarely find in games these days, and while it may take you a few cities turning to hell before your eyes before you learn the ropes, its worth the effort as the rewards can be great. It’s generally regarded as the hardest game in the Sim City series, but to me its the most enjoyable too and its easy to find your self lost for hour after hour as you turn the smallest farm town into a bustling mega city. Sim City 4 strikes a strong balance of managing the extremely large and the extremely small aspects of your city, every item you place has an initial layout cost, as well as a monthly maintenance cost, not to mention a long list of benefits and/or side effects toward the well being of your city. ![]() Of course, its nowhere near as easy as just laying a few blocks and watching your sims develop into a clean and organised society. With no complications of online functionality, social networking or anything else to get in your way, Sim City 4 is about starting a new, laying the foundations of your City and building your way to success over the generations. I shouldn’t need to explain the gameplay to the bulk of you, this is one of the purest and true to form city building titles ever made. Personally I just prefer to keep it off and enjoy the sounds of the city. Fortunately there are options to customise the playlist, or just turn the music off all together. Music is a little more old school, and while many of you may enjoy the classic chimes of the Sim City I find that are capable of inducing a gaming coma after an hour or so. Fast forward today however and even a low spec system will rip through the rendering options on Sim City 4 with ease, it may have 10 years on its clock but Sim City 4 is far from being an ugly looking game thanks to its hidden support for custom resolutions. When Sim City 4 launched in 2003 it was a breath of fresh air, its relatively advanced graphics were praised given that it used a 3D rendering engine for the bulk of its graphics, a far cry from the more isometric sprite based system used in the earlier titles, not that there is anything wrong with isometric sprints of course. Ten years ago the games graphics and calculations were quite the taxing effort for CPU / GPU combinations of the time, it could also be that the game isn’t the best optimised either and overall the game just wasn’t easy to get running smoothly on more decent system of the time. The issues with the game have been so wide spread, so highly publicised, and a combination of being blown out of proportion thanks to social media and not been taken seriously enough by some of the PR folks at EA have caused the issue to turn viral, making for one of the worst gaming product launches of the entire generation. We’ll I personally haven’t lifted my wallet to purchase the new Sim City and for good reason too, why would I buy a product that may not work, when in my mind it could never be better than its predecessor. At least until the volcano erupts.There have been so many debates recently over the issues with the new Sim City title. It'll take a wily mayor to create a five star resort in the strategic mode, but with a little skill you'll have a world-class vacation destination. Both casual players and strategy nuts should find a lot to like in Destinations, which retains the playfulness of the original title but looks to add some additional depth. A Simulated Paradise Between Destinations and the recent game updates, Societies looks like it will present players with way more strategic options to wrap their brains around than in the original game. That's what all the trendy cities are doing. Others are just plain strange - like the "Dark Magic" city policy, which doubles the chances of wandering zombies converting fellow citizens into zombies. These policies all change the rules of the game slightly to help you manage and customize your city. ![]() If you meet the prerequisites, this means you can do things like take out a bank loan, provide an endowment for the arts, or declare martial law. ![]() Also new is a city policies section, allowing you to activate three special policies for your city. ![]() Play your cards right and your advertising dollar can bring in a huge return via wealthy travelers. You can also invest money in an advertising budget, which will boost your city's destination rating. An improved City Management screen allows you to set an upkeep budget - if things are tight, you can cut funding for social services but keep infrastructure funded. The expansion gives players even more control and more to chew on. Customize your city with policies and financial sliders. ![]()
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