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| SimCity 4 (Mac) | 
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| From: Aspyr Media
Category: Video Games
Buy New: $59.95
New (1) Used (1) from $44.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 6040
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Macintosh, Mac Os X
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Age: 5 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.6
Model: 618870103501
UPC: 618870103501
EAN: 6188701035010
ASIN: B00008YGMU
Release Date: June 20, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Create and control the most life-like metropolis you can imagine | | • | Take your Sims from "The Sims" into your SimCity | | • | Dispatch police cruisers to fight crime, send out the Mayor's limo to quell a rioting mob, or cap an erupting volcano threatening your citizens | | • | Form mountains, carve valleys, plant forests, raise oceans, and more | | • | From mellow traffic flow to commuter hell, noontime crowds to nighttime calm, partygoers to troublemakers, the movement in your city is ever-changing and unpredictable |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
It's hard to believe that creator Will Wright had trouble selling his original ISimCity/I concept to publishers. That first game went on to fame, notoriety, and great praise--from critics, gamers, and even educators--and spawned countless imitators, not the least of which include Wright's own smaller-scale IThe Sims/I, which went on to become a phenomenon in its own right. Now on its fourth edition, ISimCity/I returns to our hard drives, and would-be city planners everywhere will be busy for a long, long time.p ISimCity 4/I functions much like its predecessors. You've got the power to zone land as residential (green), commercial (blue), and industrial (yellow). You control the budget. You decide where to place crucial services like police, fire, medical, and even utilities like power and water. You place schools, parks, roads, water towers, and scenery as you accede to the many demands of your Sim citizens. Do a good job and your city will grow and the money will flow into your coffers. Do a bad job and the people will pack up and move away, leaving your city treasury in horrific debt and landing you what the game cheekily considers to be a far easier job: senator. The game requires a balancing act that takes both planning and a persnickety nature. There are charts to read, reports to watch, and, above all, needs to juggle. It's rewarding when it all comes together, and frustrating when you fail, once again, to build anything worthwhile.p That's why I wish the game came with a better manual. The included book glosses over most major information and then neglects important aspects, such as the RCI indicator (which explains zoning needs) and parts of the budget. At the very least, the manual should include tips on handling debt. There are two tutorials which cover the basics, but again, they won't help you get out of trouble once you get in too deep. You can find this information in the strategy guide, which is sold separately, but you really shouldn't have to go that route.p The graphics are amazing, showing a vibrant metropolis with scurrying traffic, wandering Sims, smoking chimneys, and sparkling lights when night falls. Fireworks reward each year of service. And wait until you see the cool disasters you can unleash if the mood strikes you--fire, lightning, tornado, volcano, and giant robot. Oddly, there's a significant performance hit even on fast systems. Thankfully, the stuttery scrolling and slow-to-respond zoom don't hurt the game too much since you can pause it at will or fast forward if you need to wait for your cash reserves to build. The most significant flaw is that the game only offers one save slot, which discourages experimentation.p Despite minor imperfections ISimCity 4/I is an awesome game. You can build several cities next to each other on the map and make them dependant on each other. (You can build the greater L.A. area, in other words.) You can even import your Sims from IThe Sims/I to live in your city. Such familiar characters can tell you a lot about what your city needs. Put simply, city planning has never been this fun, this challenging, or this deep. I--Andrew S. Bub/Ip BPros:/B ul liBeautiful graphics and animation liDeeper and more realistic than ever before /ulp BCons:/B ul liRuns slowly on most systems liInadequate manual/ul
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Truly fun and creative game September 1, 2008
I have always enjoyed the series since its beginnings as a 256 color game. Simcity has come a long way since the original release and with Simcity 4 you can expect one of the most challenging game play and one of a kind gaming experience.
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br /This simulator gives you complete freedom in terraforming and urban planning. Aside from managing the physicality of your city you are also giving the power and responsibility of governance; from funding a skate park, local clinic, or the entire transit system (broken down into many sub categories) to managing ordinance, taxation and inter-city or regional economy.
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br /This is the only game that will allow you to test you wits at a multitude of issues. The greatest joy comes from observing a successful city developing, renewing and breathing itself.
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br /Another cool new feature is that you can actually import or create "Sims." People who you can follow from their life to death, understand their struggle and concerns thus creating a better city.
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br /Last but not least is music; Simcity 4's background score is quite amazing, inspirational at times and will leave you in-the-zone for hours at a time.
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br /Overall, I'd highly recommend someone who's got the time, interest and computing power to purchase this simulator/game. If you are or someone you know is constructive and love to investigate and empower then this is a must!
Another SIM June 8, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I come and go through the sim cravings... However, it is not a game that I would say I play every single day forever ever. It is very similar to the other SIM City games offers some other neat functions. Overall, it is great while I'm interested playing, but I do go through times where I get bored with it.
 Some Features I Loved are Gone April 22, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have played SimCity on an old Nintendo system and a previous Mac version, so I already knew what to expect from this game. It runs fine on my G5 (with the patch), but it is really annoying that there aren't more options like playing in a window. I do have a patch for that but it doesn't work.
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br /This version of Sim City is more difficult than the other versions I've played. I'm finding it close to impossible to make money and get my city to grow. The graphics are very beautiful, though.
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br /There are two important things that are missing from this game that I would really like to see: 1) RANDOM disasters. I don't see how a disaster is fun if you know in advance that you're going to make it. It's a lot more fun when you spend hours building something only to have it destroyed by some random event (just like real life!) and 2) Real cities.
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br /I'm not a fan of Aspyr, so although I like this game I can't really say I recommend it. Go to Aspyr's web site and look around for even a few minutes: you'll see how hard they make it to find information or get help about anything. Very user-unfriendly company, that unfortunately is making these fun games.
 Never buy anything from Aspyr! June 29, 2006
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you ever get this game running, you will see the numerous bugs (like the glowing buildings), the horrible speed on machines that well exceed the "system requirements", and countless options taken out from the PC version. The biggest bug though is that it will crash on many machines. Aspyr has a patch to download on their website for this, but it requires the serial number from the CD case, which is a problem because they shipped thousands of copies with invalid serial numbers. They have no tech support to speak of, which is fitting I guess for their horrible products.
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br /In short, Aspyr is a crooked organization that may be in line for some class action lawsuits, and I wouldn't have paid one cent for their typically worthless mac port of Simcity 4 if I had known anything about Aspyr beforehand.
Aspyr has to go November 21, 2005
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
While SC4 isn't without it's flaws, Aspyr has taken pains to code windows-like interfaces for file access and skipped on making them work with the Mac file system. The game blocks many system features making it impossible to Command-Tab out to check e-mail, fast forward iTunes or whatever else you want. My attempts to contact customer support were responded to tersely and with no concern for my patronage.
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br /But maybe you don't want to switch out of the game or customize maps. Maybe you don't want access to the Maxis conent, such as making a SC4 map of the area you live in. Did you want to play the game? You do? I hope you have 15 minutes to spare because that's the longest I've ever gotten it to run.
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br /But there's the Rush Hour expansion... Sure it's been panned but it must stabalize the game... Nope, check the fan forums.
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br /Once again Aspyr has taken a popular game, done a weak port and avoided all forms of support. Thay have your money, go away. My advise is to load an older version in classic and tell Maxis hat they won't get their cut from Mac games as long as they continue letting Aspyr screw their customers.
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