Sim City 3000

[bigdaddy]

There have been several topics about SC4 which i don't have, and the little little I have played made it feel too micro manage and not enough goodness.

I love Sim City 3000. Everything that they added was a nice touch, the special gifts and the landmarks very good idea. I love all the new parks they added from SC2000, and the garbage idea is also a great one. The game is 10.5 years old as of todayish and the graphics still look very nice and not very dated at all.

There are a few headaches and things I miss. First off signs are gone, and so are the special buildings that house 50,000 people. The one thing that really gets me is they seemed to have fixed the need for having 100 police stations in SC2000, and replaced it with needing 100 schools and hospitals.

I also enjoy the medium class for the zones. It now really gives life to the city and the city grows over time, because in 2000 all the low zones buildings were horrible and I never bothered even building them.

So does anyone else here play the instant classic?

 

[CorporalClegg]

Yup. I still think it's the best of the series. I love the quirkiness of it.

I do have to say though, that if you have the processing power, SC4 does have its merits. Once you get a full region going, it does get kind of awesome.

I do hope that EA gets off its ass and puts out a true SC5 one of these days.

 

[bigdaddy]

Yeah a SC5 would be nice if it was done by the Wright himself and not just a bunch of fools at EA.

I forgot to complain about SC3000 not having enough disasters, there is only 5 in the game, I don't have Unlimited. They really needed hurricanes, that would have been awesome.

 

[Canadave]

Honestly, SC3K is my least-favourite of the series. I find it lacks the depth and complexity of SC4, while also falling short of the easy-to-play simplicity of SC2K and the orginal. I also really dislike the graphic style... it's never sat right with me.

It was fun while it lasted, but I don't come back to it in the same way I used to come back to SC2K and still come back to SC4.

 

[bigdaddy]

Really? i think the graphics are really nice in 3000, and I still find it extremely easy to play like 2000 without all the added BS of 4.

 

[Canadave]

^ The graphics just look cartoonish compared to the other entries in the series (I'm ignoring SCS, here ), I find. I realize SC has always had a silly element to it, but the generally did a good job with making it look real, but SC3K just looked off to me, for some reason. And personally, I never found it had that same ease of picking up and playing as SC2K did... couldn't explain why, but it just lacked something.

And I enjoy the micromanagement and customization of SC4, personally. I find it works much better for building big, realistic cities.

 

[bigdaddy]

(I'm ignoring SCS, here ),

And I enjoy the micromanagement and customization of SC4, personally. I find it works much better for building big, realistic cities.

I think everyone on Earth just ignores that game. I saw it at Target with SC4 for $15 when only SC4 was $20.

See I just like building a city, and then when having enough money blowing the hell out of the city. Plus I love the slightly cartoonish graphics.

At least there is something for everyone. You can play whatever you want, as long as everyone agrees that SCS is trash that should be piled up and burned!

 

[Canadave]

(I'm ignoring SCS, here ),

And I enjoy the micromanagement and customization of SC4, personally. I find it works much better for building big, realistic cities.

I think everyone on Earth just ignores that game. I saw it at Target with SC4 for $15 when only SC4 was $20.

I remember seeing the sales data for the month SCS came out, in which it was actually outsold by SC4.

See I just like building a city, and then when having enough money blowing the hell out of the city. Plus I love the slightly cartoonish graphics.

At least there is something for everyone. You can play whatever you want, as long as everyone agrees that SCS is trash that should be piled up and burned!

This is very true. It's definitely a series that caters to a wide range of fans.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I'll probably get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but my favorite of the series was Sim City Societies. If only it didn't crash so much, I would've spent more time playing it.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

SimCity 3000 was also a favourite of mine. At first glance it wasn't a great quantum leap from SC2K, but the improved graphics (except at extreme close-up), the landmarks, the improved advisor system (the tutorials were so good they practically served as a manual replacement for me), the new features such as waste disposal, 3 levels of zoning and neighbour deals, the little things such as the Sims voicing their say and sending you business deals (especially from the appropriately named Malcolm Landgraab ), and the brilliant music (equalled but never bettered by SimCity 4 - both games' music files are still downloadable from the SimCity home site, I think) kept me going.

One thing that did annoy me in the Unlimited edition were the parades - spend money on one and the game practically STOPS while you're forced to watch the parade go by. (I guess one good feature is that it gave you a 5 minute break while you stretch your legs, but I guess it's only available if your Sims love you... )

I do miss the appendix to the SimCity 2000 user manual, featuring art and poetry and stories and things, though.

 

[Canadave]

I'll probably get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but my favorite of the series was Sim City Societies. If only it didn't crash so much, I would've spent more time playing it.

*visits SimFarmer's Market, throws SimTomatoes*

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I'll probably get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but my favorite of the series was Sim City Societies. If only it didn't crash so much, I would've spent more time playing it.

*visits SimFarmer's Market, throws SimTomatoes*

[adds a dash of SimEarth from the SimFarm, complete with half a dozen SimAnts]

 

[bigdaddy]

(equalled but never bettered by SimCity 4 - both games' music files are still downloadable from the SimCity home site, I think) kept me going.

They are because I lost my SC3000 and had to get another copy and that copy's music doesn't work, so I just downloaded them.

I'll probably get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for saying this, but my favorite of the series was Sim City Societies. If only it didn't crash so much, I would've spent more time playing it.

*visits SimFarmer's Market, throws SimTomatoes*

[adds a dash of SimEarth from the SimFarm, complete with half a dozen SimAnts]

And then we will take you to Sim Health Hospital using the Sim Copter while looking down at the Streets of Sim City. After they find out you aren't hurt you get kicked to Sim Isle because no one wants to be near you... or maybe we will feed you to the animals in Sim Zoo.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

*visits SimFarmer's Market, throws SimTomatoes*

[adds a dash of SimEarth from the SimFarm, complete with half a dozen SimAnts]

And then we will take you to Sim Health Hospital using the Sim Copter while looking down at the Streets of Sim City. After they find out you aren't hurt you get kicked to Sim Isle because no one wants to be near you... or maybe we will feed you to the animals in Sim Zoo.

As the great man said, that's SimLife!

 

[Captain Pike]

SC4 always seemed a bit broken to me. Traffic modelling was always suspect or underdone, specifically between regions (though this is fixed somewhat with the addition of Rush Hour and the community-made patch for inter-region traffic routing) and the number of schools and hospitals required for high capacity residential zones becomes absurd once you start getting decent numbers in there. Additionally, hospitals don't seem to cover the entire health requirement of the people - they also need clinics and the number of them required is also ridiculous.

IIRC, there were some custom service buildings you could download at Simtropolis which alleviated the problem somewhat, although it was never completely eliminated.

 

[Geckothan]

I've never played SC4, but I loved SC3K. If I can find the disc and get it to work under Wine, I'll have to give it another try.

 

[bigdaddy]

There are always ways of finding discs....