| SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition | 
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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.60
You Save: $12.39 (62%)
New (24) Used (29) from $6.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  190 reviews
Sales Rank: 504
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Xp
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Deluxe
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.1
MPN: 14740
UPC: 014633147407
EAN: 0014633147407
ASIN: B0000C0YW2
Release Date: September 22, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED JEWEL CASE, FREE UPGRADE TO 1ST CLASS SHIPPING.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Just need more Simcities, not weird off-shoots November 11, 2008
I really like the game, though there needs to be a real sequel. Also need to ditch the squares. They can be used as guidelines, but being able to draw property lines would make it more interesting. Just an idea. I will continue to like this game, but Maxis should get the title back and make a better scalable involvement one for those of us who wouldn't mind micromanaging, but keeping the bigger picture for those who just like watching cities grow.
Sim City 4, the best modern-day city building game on the block November 7, 2008
Yes, Sim City 4 is "the best modern-day city building game on the block."
I purchased Sim City about 3 years ago, and I still LOVE it.
Though not 3D, like Sim City Societies (please don't consider getting that game, it is very unrealistic), it is full of detail. Just zooming in at a local elementary school, and you will see school buses, cars, and kids running to school before the first bell rings. The game is that detailed!
Or, take a look at the slums in your city (if you have any), and you'll see graffiti, and things like such. You can even see crime occurring in your city, such as car theft, or kids toilet paper rolling (although most people wouldn't want crime in their city).
The graphics are definitely worth 5 STARS.
Next, the game play is very exciting. Gaining population isn't too hard, and many of the missions (though not all) are very fun. Just driving around your (hopefully) metropolis is a highpoint of the game. Also, it is not too hard to get the rich into your city (unlike Sim City 3000). You will feel very proud when that first deluxe villa pops up. The best is when the high-rises come flying in. That first 10+ story skyscraper will be a sight to see. It is not too hard to get small skyscrapers, although you do need at least 30,000 people, unlike Sim City 3000. You can trade with neighboring cities, by selling water, power or garbage, or buying these things.
There are SO MANY FEATURES! The best part of all this is.....the game is continuous! THERE IS NO END TO THE GAME!
This makes the game play simply astounding.
However, Sim City DOES have some MINOR weak points. Don't worry, every game out there has weak points. YES, EVERY GAME!
First off, I wish the diplomacy was a little more involved. For example, if there was a "governmental" option, the game would be much more cool. Like being able to chose the style of government would be very cool. Or even declaring war would be awesome, but that would distract players from the main focus of the game.
Also, it is fairly difficult to get HUGE skyscrapers. Sure, you can get skyscrapers, but for me it is hard. I do think there is a patch you can download for the game that makes it easier to build high-rises, but I cannot say for sure. It might just be me. So basically what I am saying is that, as you gain population (like 400,000+), the game gets fairly complicated (but not unmanageable). In some cities, I reach what some people call the "peanut butter points", where nothing builds anymore. There is no demand.
All right, I better stop, I have pretty much told you EVERYTHING, almost too much.
Just go buy Sim City 4! You will not regret it. The graphics and game play are state-of-the-art. Despite some weaknesses, Sim City 4 is still "the best modern-day city building game on the block!"
I bought it, and it is worth every penny I spent!
Better than the others October 24, 2008
Sim City 4 is by far superior than the previous ones in terms of fun. Many new buildings and attractions combined with easy navigation make for a great game.
Greatest SimCity to date September 25, 2008
SimCity 4 is, by far, the greatest city-building game yet released. It wraps up all that is good from the previous SimCity games, puts a nice 3d look on everything, and adds complexity and features in just the right places.
For the builders, SC4 does not disappoint. It really gives a good sense of a thriving city. Buildings are constructed in a very wide range of size and style, pedestrians walk the streets, car get into accidents, smog settles over the heavily industrialized areas, trees sway in the breeze, and waves roll up and down the beaches. There is a slew of unlockable buildings and real-world landmarks to spruce up and personalize your town. And even more stuff is available online when you've exhausted everything the game has to offer. Even the disasters are beautiful! Time was, you needed a pretty sweet PC to handle the game. Nowadays the required hardware is pretty standard stuff and it still looks great.
Other features help the player out too: things like elimination of power lines, automatic street placement, lots of charts / graphs / map overlays to ease analysis, improved pipelaying, etc. all help streamline the game and fix some of the worst annoyances in previous incarnations.
The primary challenge of SimCity 4 is balancing. There is so much complexity in the game, and much of your time is split between building up the city, balancing out the budget, and finding some way to manage all the problems that plague every major metropolis. Some players are turned off by this as it can be frustrating to contend with all the issues. I personally get a great deal of satisfaction when, for example, I sink a bunch of cash into an urban renewal project and actually manage to revitalize main street without everyone running for the hills. The modeling of real-world city growth is astonishing, and your cities will go through all the stages on the path from tiny manufacturing town to major commercial metropolis. A tell-tale sign of the enormity of scale is that the official strategy guide to the game is the size of a textbook!
SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition comes with the Rush Hour expansion pack, which adds a bunch of features I didn't care about and one absolutely indispensable button: the "transportation query" tool. It shows you utilization of your roads, and how your citizens get from point A to point B. Without it, managing road maintenance and upgrades is nearly impossible. You now have the ability to (for example) click a factory, see where most workers are coming from, and set up bus stations from start to finish that will actually see utilization. Public transit made manageable at last! The U-Drive-It missions and Add A Sim features are pretty useless, though they can give a nice tour of the town. Thankfully you can turn them off and get back to the business of city planning.
There are downsides to the game. Micromanaging funding for all your various buildings gets tedious fast. Who wants to manually set bus funding for a dozen elementary schools across the city? Unfortunately there's not much of a clue that the budget needs adjustment until your teachers go on strike or you start having blackouts. And the regions system, while interesting, just ends up getting abused to funnel all the garbage to one tiny landfill town. Another problem is that it is possible to lose the game - not so difficult early on, but when your city is sucking down millions of dollars each month in expenses, a single disaster can wreck your cash flow and cause you to lose instantly. Disappointing to say the least! (Some third-party addons help stop some of the worst offenses: check Google for the Network Add-on Mod and see if that suits your needs)
If you're a fan of city builders at all, you owe it to yourself to give SimCity 4 Deluxe a chance. It is the current king of city-builders, can easily consume hours of your life, and still has a wide fanbase despite being released about five years ago. Highly recommended.
Sim City has come a LOOOONG way! September 19, 2008
My first SimCity came free with a computer I had purchased in the 90's. It was fun... but WOW! The graphics on this and the options are amazing. My 10 year old loves this game. Some days he builds cities, others he builds islands with volcano's and releases God's fury on them... lightning, eruptions, meteors, robots, dinosaurs... lots of fun!
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