SimCity 4

 PC
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 360 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 305 out of 360
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 360
  3. Negative: 9 out of 360
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  1. BennettM.
    Mar 1, 2003
    7
    SimCity as it was meant to be. Beautiful and well done, this game will delight any SimCity fan. However, finances are ludicrously impossible, and the game is merely a perfection of the previous games, and is really nothing new.
  2. BeatHour
    Jul 7, 2013
    7
    I wrote a scathing review before, but I have to say the game isn't quite that bad. Sure, it has a quite a few crash bugs and falls flat in some places, but altogether the regional map is nice and the development of the city is fun to watch and manipulate. There are some annoying things, like terrain pathing for building placements (like, a lot of the time housing built on a hill will justI wrote a scathing review before, but I have to say the game isn't quite that bad. Sure, it has a quite a few crash bugs and falls flat in some places, but altogether the regional map is nice and the development of the city is fun to watch and manipulate. There are some annoying things, like terrain pathing for building placements (like, a lot of the time housing built on a hill will just make a garage spring up). But more than that isn't to be expected from a 10 year old game, which was just getting a grip on its technology.

    Still, here's some points from that old review that I still think are worthy of consideration:

    "SimCity 4 loses much in the way of atmosphere from the previous title. The great caricatures from SimCity 3000 are replaced with sprites from The Sims (classic) when Sims 2 was already out. What? There's still the uptown jazz, but some of it is annoying and repetitive. Graphically, its only a marginal improvement over SimCity 3000 and doesn't fully utilize hardware available at the time.

    As to mechanics, there's not much to do but zoning and planning. One of the reasons why SimCity (2013) revolutionizes the series is because it gives you something more to do than just lay down streets, pipes, and zones. Once you get everything layed out, you'll find there's nothing to do but build a new city.

    There's also some arbitrary things like power lines, which have no real purpose except making islands a little harder to play. Not really, because you can just lay down one wind turbine and its all good."    … Expand
  3. CRL
    Jul 25, 2011
    7
    Once you get the hang of building a city, this game will eat up hours without you noticing. It's fun, challenging, realistic enough... and sometimes if you're having a bad day, it's just what you need to send an asteroid crashing down into a city.
  4. MattR.
    Feb 8, 2003
    5
    This game lacks the spirit and fun of the earlier games. It is also much too hard, in the sense that going bankrupt is a given. The graphics are great, but the game is very taxing on even a high end rig. Also, there are stability issues that cause the program to crash.
  5. RomulusNR
    Jan 20, 2015
    5
    I don't think any of the reviewers have even played this game beyond twenty minutes' worth. For starters, the move and zoom interface is horrible. And the game shifts your view suddenly -- so you were laying a bit of pipe right over there? Boom, now it's suddenly over here, because **** you. Oh, you were demolishing some old dirty industrial? Well, there was a fire over here -- boom,I don't think any of the reviewers have even played this game beyond twenty minutes' worth. For starters, the move and zoom interface is horrible. And the game shifts your view suddenly -- so you were laying a bit of pipe right over there? Boom, now it's suddenly over here, because **** you. Oh, you were demolishing some old dirty industrial? Well, there was a fire over here -- boom, demolish the military base that was giving you a much-needed $150/mo injection. Well, look on the bright side -- the fire's put out!

    You need a police station every mile and a fire station every half mile. Oh, you actually wanted to FUND those? Fat chance. You can't possibly make that much in taxes in that amount of space.

    Cutting back on utilities to save money? Well, you're going to have to shell out $90-200 at the start of every single month and painstakingly repair every burst pipe. No money? Tough crap. Game won't continue until you deal with every single one. Every month.

    This is a piece of **** and isn't worth sharing a name with its predecessors. It has all the feel of a cheaply made and very rushed-out-the-door game. This is about quality in game development -- there isn't any. Hiring GED-wielding kids to "test" your games isn't a quality process. They wouldn't know how to test their own heartbeat.    … Expand
  6. Robims
    Apr 5, 2021
    6
    The game crashes every 30 minutes. But the gameplay and the city feeling is very good.
  7. Crimson9
    Dec 24, 2022
    7
    As far as I know, the only city builder game worth playing. There are prettier games out there, but this actually attempts to be a city SIMULATION, not a city painter. It doesn't do an amazing job. The economics are wonky, everything is kind of janky, its easy to break and cheat this game. But its the best thing out there in this genre.
  8. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 28, 2023
    7
    It's a good city builder game, with beautiful graphics and plenty of options... But it is less complete than cities skylines and less fun than simcity 3

Awards & Rankings

25
#25 Best PC Game of 2003
16
#16 Most Discussed PC Game of 2003
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2003

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. GameSpot
    81
    Due to the presence of some stability and performance issues, as well as a few noticeably lacking features, SimCity 4 doesn't seem as polished as it could have been.
    Read full review
  2. Gaming Age
    83
    Technical sim junkies will have a lot to build, destroy, and monitor, but newbies might want to run for shelter.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpy
    75
    Unfortunately the high system requirements and tedium of building will probably turn away hordes of players who otherwise would've had a great time.
    Read full review
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