Previous Next

Are you a loony lefty or a rabid Thatcherite? Either way, national politics is rather boring to you at the moment in all probability. Getting into the town halls across our nation is a more profitable way of putting your policies into practice. If you want to erect two concrete elephants in the town square - like the good burghers of Walsall - or evict all the poor people - like the charming authorities of Westminster - local government is the place for you.

Maybe it would be a good idea for prospective councillors to do a training course on Sim City 2000 first - the game could, after all, be seen as an administration driving test. The range of options available is vast, from area planning to taxation rates, environmental projects to large statues celebrating your own enlightened mayorship.

Your city expands from a modest hamlet to a thriving town, and from there the prospect of a bloated metropolis with all its attendant problems beckons. As a complex simualtion it's the first game of its type, save Theme Park, to appear on the Saturn.

Maxis convert their own PC/Mac hit with very little in the way of obvious changes to gameplay.

Create a successful city by planning maintaining and funding services for a fickle population.

The basics of founding a city involve picking a site and setting the game parameters. The site is a large grid of land. Three natural features predominate: water, forest and hills. Adjusting these by flattening the land, reducing the water area and thinning the forestry makes your city easier to develop. Difficulty is set by the amount in your initial cash reserves - early outlay is inevitably high as you attempt to establish your little empire. Setting the start date later gives you instant access to items which are normally 'invented' during the course of your city's evolution.

As well as the 'freestyle' DIY game, Sim City 2000 offers a variety of scenarios based on real cities with particular problems. The challenge, for advanced players, is to rectify these within a set number of years.

Maxis have used much of the graphics set from their previous Sim City games, but have also added new features too. Most striking is an all-new futuristic cityscape, which starts to develop in the 21st century. All the building types have been restyled. All items can be viewed as rotating 3D renders with the query tool.

For the first time, Sim City has an eventual aim, which Maxis call the secret of Sim Earth. The newly rendered introduction, which sees parts of the city floating off into the cosmos, give you a clue to this. It also centres around the Acrologies - vast, and vastly expensive self-contained living units that appear late in the game.

Sim City 2000 can comfortably be said to be one of the all-time great games. Of course, some people won't see it that way, and they can skip this review now. Reviewing it, I felt there were two perspectives: the first takes into account that this is the first attempt at anything as complex as this for most console owners.

Newcomers should be dazzled by the amount of detail, and the quality of graphics, which are excellent for a game of this type. The second perspective comes from having seen this game on other systems. If you have, you'll agree with me it is slower - considerably slower - than the PC or Mac versions (running on sensibly configured systems). This doesn't completely ruin a game based on thought more than action, but Sim City frequently borders on frustration, as you have to leave the game for long periods for it to really move forward.

And one minor but sad omission is the great snippets of video from your advisers that accompanied the PC CD-ROM version. Still a great game, despite all that.

Why... does... everything... take... so... long? This game has been a way of life for me since I first installed it on my PC, and maybe I've just been spoiled. However, if Sega Rally can run at a fair lick then what's holding up this town-planning sim? Elsewhere, everything is either preserved from previous versions (like the eerie music and sensible icons) or improved upon and added to (like the new 21st century buildings).

The compromises made to take into account the Saturn's lack of a keyboard take a little getting used to, but ultimately make for a slick and efficient user interface.

If you've seen previous versions of Sim City 2000, you'll know it's an absolutely essential purchase. If you're new to the finest game in its class, the sluggish speed this expanded version runs at shouldn't put you off.

Presentation 87%
P. Incredibly detailed isometric buildings, which eventually form a sprawling metropolis.

Animation 62%
P. Many of the buildings feature charming minor animations.
N. No great sense of movement and rotation is jerky.

Music 48%
N. Hardly any, and then it's of the cheesy variety.

Effects 55%
N. Effects are as limited as music, but also of little importance.

Playability 85%
P. The freestyle game can be as taxing, relaxing, involved or casual as you want. You are in control.
N. Plays slower than you can think.

Lastability 90%
P. Limitless scope for cities, weird and wacky, and scenarios add an element of set challenge.
N. The final goal is a little too vague...

Overall 87%
Sim City 2000 on Saturn stands up against the PC version running on kit at twice the price. But it runs just a little too slowly.