Tell Uncle Sim, I'm impressed... v2.0

When it comes to simulation strategy games, it's pretty hard to look past the "Sim" catalogue, which have had us all gawping at the screen for hours on end. Sim City 4 is no different. There are a few improvements to its predecessor, with a couple of new additions as well.

When you start the game up, the first page you enter is called the region page. Like SC3K, your city has neighbouring cities, however in this case, it is the player who has to build them. Nevertheless, the region is immense, and you can have 20 cities running together. Template regions include San Fransisco, Berlin and London, but you can also create your own. The first region you encouter has one city built in it already, which is the Mayor tutorial file. This is pretty much your average Joe tutorial, with not much to report home with, other than the fact that it ends a bit too early for my liking. The serious stuff then starts. For the not already avid users of Sim City, here are the basics: you've got 3 zones: Residential, Commercial and Industrial. To start a city you need to have a residential zone, an industrial zone, roads to link them, a power station to power them, and a water unit (tower or pump) to supply water, and you're away. As the game progresses, you'll need to add things such as police stations, fire stations, schools, garbage facilities... etc, plus a whole range of special buildings like a Mayor's House, a Baseball stadium or a radio station. More than anything else, SC4 gives you far more feedback than any of its predecessors with regard to how the population is responding to your city, narrowing it down to boroughs within your city, and also through your advisors, one for each service or aspect of the city. Here using Sims that you've added in Sim-mode can also be very useful. Buildings are now able to be built on slopes, which is a relief as you no longer need to sculpt the terrain at great expenses. Other little additions include beaches, soccer fields, tennis courts, different sized hospitals and a wider variety of educational establishments.
Now a great advantage with this game, is you can create a perfect utopia, or hell's kitchen, by simply tending, or not, to your population's needs and wants. As I mentioned in the intro, the disasters have become a little more imaginative, but you still have the good old earthquake, fires and tornadoes. The graphics are significantly improved, both in general play for things like traffic and building detail, but also for disasters, and the sound effects are pretty neat as well.
As usual the sound track has a bit of a swing twist to it, but there are a few other styles included this time.
Some of cheats are quite neat too. Although some of them are pretty pointless, being able to turn your advisors heads into lama heads is quite a peculiar and funny sight!

Overall this game is a must if you enjoy simulated business/strategy games, but it could also appeal to the less patient of us who enjoy watching the carnage that they've created. All hail Sim Nation!