SimCity 4 is the last great SimCity game. If you skip SimCity: Societies and SimCity (2013), you won’t be missing too much. In fact, you may be better off never having dealt with them.
So let’s jump right into it. I’ve been playing SimCity 4 since 2003. The region I have been working on has been in existence nearly as long and has more than 70 million Sims in it now. The game itself is easily modded and these resources are readily available at Simtropolis. I’m quite partial to the Network Addon Mod (NAM), and the additional high-density zoning buildings that will start building in only the largest of regions.
The game itself is more complicated than past SimCity games, requiring that your zones all face the road. You also need to manage your utility building lifetimes and output. On top of that, you also need to manage your police, fire, health and education buildings to that they’re funded enough to support your town, without over-funding them. Getting off the ground with a small town can be a challenge, so micromanagement is critical in the early game.
The graphics are what you would expect of a game from 2003, but they still hold up pretty well. I enjoy watching the traffic scurry through the streets, or the boats floating lazily in the river, or even the planes zipping overhead.
One last thing I would like to touch on is the U-Drive-It mode that allows you to take control of normal Sims’ cars, as well as any unique vehicles you may earn from building up your city — police helicopters, fire-fighting airplanes, fighter jets and even tanks. This is just the icing on the cake, something to let you interact with your city a little closer, something that hasn’t been done since SimCopter and… Streets of SimCity. Don’t expect a bunch of depth here, but if you have an imagination, you can certainly fill in the blanks as I do.
Overall, I highly recommend this game, and coming up is the time to get it. It’s frequently available on Steam or GOG on sale for just $4.99. Well worth the price of admission I would say!