$20 Game of the Week: The SimCity Box (PC)

For years, Maxis’s games have given gamers everywhere an unprecedented amount of control over their gaming experience. Weather you’re managing (or destroying via disasters) your city’s infrastructure in SimCity, directing (or ruining) the day to day lives of the people in your household in the Sims, or climbing up the food chain and evolutionary ladder in Spore, few other game companies have given players the power to make their gaming experiences truly unique and individual. This compilation features 5 of the more recent titles (or rather 2 titles, their expansion packs, and a third) in Maxis’s SimCity franchise, and is highly recommended for fans of SimCity.

The crown jewel of this box set is obviously SimCity 4, and the Rush Hour expansion pack. As in previous games in the series, you create a city from the ground up, manage its day-to-day operation, and keep its citizens happy. You select a region, altering the ground to your liking, then proceed to build your metropolis. Like in past SimCity games, you have three main zoning types to build: residential, industrial, and commercial. By building them, adding roads, water, and power to connect them, your city begins to develop. As it moves along, you’ll have to add schools, police, hospitals, and other features to insure that your citizens are productive, happy, and healthy. You’ll have keep an eye on your spending budget in order to maintain revenue, and you can upgrade your zones as needed. Of course, if you’re cruel, you can unleash disasters on the city, including everything from rioters, to floods, to tornadoes. You can even take control of individual sims, and run missions. The Rush Hour Expansion adds more features, particularly new transportation options.

SimCity Societies, which wasn’t developed by Maxis, takes a somewhat different approach to SimCity. There is a greater focus on your style of government, as well as the productivity of the citizens. You’ll be able to design your city with a certain theme in mind, such as a futuristic metropolis, an oppressive dictatorship, or a peaceful countryside village. You’ll have to keep your sims employed and content as you create your ideal society. Although Societies wasn’t as well received as the rest of the pack, It’s mod-friendly for anyone who knows XML and C#, and various patches and updates have addressed several issues. The Destinations expansion pack focuses on creating a resort for travelers of various types.

SnapCity, one of the many games created as part of the Sims Carnival (a community site where people can create games using online game building tools), combines SimCity’s city building with Tetris-style puzzle gameplay. You create city blocks by rearranging falling blocks into residential, industrial, and commercial zones while making sure you supply adequate power and transportation. You play throughout several scenarios and unlock special buildings by completing puzzle zones. It’s a pretty fun and unique twist on SimCity.

This box set packs a lot of variety for SimCity fans. You’ll be playing for hours on end, and there is even a trial version of Spore included. Weather you’re a longtime fan of SimCity or you are new to the series, this box is a great introduction to the franchise. There are plenty of opportunities for armchair governors/architects/gods to exercise their creativity, and after all these years, the SimCity games are as fun and engaging as ever.