Sim City is a fun and challenging game for all you would be tyrants who desire to run a city . . . or do the inhabitants actually run you?

Sim City 2000 contains approximately 20 different “scenarios”, which are pre-made cities such as Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Francisco. The scenarios will be a waste of disk space for most. After all, I thought the point was to design your own city!

There is a twofold process to get your city up and running in a stable manner. Your city must be first supplied with electric, water, employment and housing. The people that inhabit your city, who are called “Sims”, will not be happy unless they have Police, Firemen, medical care, education, roadways and even entertainment. Grouchy demanding little people! It takes an appointed amount of money to purchase and to keep each of the necessary amenities up and running.

The secret to building a successful city is placement, placement, placement! The homes and businesses in the city will become vacant if they are too far from the industrial areas. The Sims are lazy brats and are relatively unwilling to drive.

Your city is doomed to experience disasters such as monsters taking a casual stroll through your city . . . or should I say “on" your city . . . smashing buildings, starting fires, etc. Other disasters include tornadoes, earthquakes, u.f.o.s, droughts and fires. Bear in mind, there is a limited amount of money to deal with the mayhem you might find yourself in. If you are not careful and prepared, you will learn the word “bankrupt” really quick.

There are some “cheat” options which are just that, ways to pretend that the city is a success. If desired, you can disable the disaster options or even take unsecured loans that are paid back at “loan shark" interest rates. Have you tried to pay back $10,000 to a loan shark lately?

Another way to cheat is to use what I refer to as the “idiot option”. I tend to use it quite frequently. A whole city can be built, managed, fail and go bankrupt . . . guess what, the failed city does not have to be saved.

I suggest not printing the manual unless you have a lot of ink and a ton of paper as it requires almost 200 pages! The game is not all that hard to figure out with a little trial and error you may not need the manual anyway.

The game’s designer, Maxis, could have invested more effort into designing better graphics and spent less time on the “scenarios". Graphics and sound effects are somewhat lacking, however managing your city will keep you busy enough so the second rate effects are hardly noticeable.

I look forward to Sim City 3000 and beyond, but for now, Sim City 2000 is quite entertaining and has endless challenges. Even with the flaws that I have mentioned, the game is highly addictive and well worth the $29.00 that I paid for it.



Recommended: Yes