Customer Reviews

Sim City 3000 (Mac)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a long-time SimCity fan, I was eagerly awaiting the Mac port of this game. Sad to say that it wasn't worth the wait. The game seems to have been ported over with absolutely no regard to the Mac platform -- graphics and navigation all have a sticky PC feel and the game hardly has a Mac feel at all. Even with my PowerPC 275 processor, 24x CD-ROM, and 128K of physical RAM (256 with virtual memory), gameplay is slow and unresponsive (and yes, I followed the performance enhancement instructions to the letter.) Even little touches that made SimCity2000 so playable and addictive are lost -- for example, no satisfying crunch and dustcloud when demolishing. And the amount of real estate the game takes up on my hard disk is inexcusable (not to mention that the game has to be played with the CD-ROM installed, and that there's no "lite install" option.) Yes, it's cool to be able to build the Taj Mahal, but not worth the cheesy Microsoft-clone look and feel of the game and the bloated interface and memory requirements. Save your Simoleons and look for a copy of SimCity2000 in online auctions instead.

I wish the person who had given me this as a gift for my birthday would've read these reviews first. This game is possibly the worst I have ever played on a Mac. And it's made even worse by the fact that Sim games in the past were among the best. The game play is indeed painfully slow and frustrating, even on my G3. The interface is awkward and ugly. ANd it takes up way too much space on my hard drive! Too bad I broke the seal on the box because now I can't return it anywhere and I'm left with a very expensive paperweight. Maxis and EA really screwed this one up and I'll be very wary of any games by them in the future.

This is a very disappointing version of a great game. The manufacturers have disgregarded the system-specific needs of macs and opted instead for a crude port of the PC version.

It runs incredibly slowly and crashes often, even onb a fast G3 mac. The save routines don't work. The box claims you can download additional buildings, templates, etc., but you can't! They are all for the PC.

Disappointing.

Not only are the system requirements insane and the game play glacial, but the interface is a Windows hack thrown on a Mac shell. Maxis is now owned by Electronic Arts. And they obviously don't care about quality software. EA has ruined a good product and feel they can foist anything on the consumer. It's time the software industry faces a million Ralph Naders. Don't buy SimCity 3000! Don't buy any Electronic Arts games! Who are the real software pirates?

Believe it or not, this is a great game...........great content within quite an interactive interface. The news ticker at the bottom of the screen IS better than an interrupting swirling newspaper, as in the previous version. The graphics are superb if your running a G3 or better. However, when I first bought the game I was disappointed by how MUCH memory was needed just to load it. Don't kid yourself--you'll need 96 megs built-in if you want to take advantage of all the game's features. It took forever, and I do mean forever, to install. And it runs increasingly (and frustratingly...) slower as your city increases in size. I would love to give this game a 5-star rating, but it doesn't deserve it. You need a supercomputer to run the thing, and you better pray to the Big Guy if you have any problems; Maxis' online help is just terrible. However, if you are prepared to beef up your mac to testosterone-infected levels, this game IS very fun and fulfilling.

A few years ago after SC 2K came out I participated in a bulletin board discussion on the Maxis site about what the next version should have. I suggested editable buildings and real-life landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. I was happy to see that both suggestions (probably also made by others) were to be incorporated into SC3K. But the building editing tool, available via free download for PC users, is not available for the Mac version, and they have no plans to make one! While I can't agree with some reviewers who call the Mac version worthless, this is a strike against it. After all the original SimCity was designed on a Mac! Otherwise, there are many cool things about SC 3K, and enough entertainment value for me to give it 3 stars. However, some cool things about the previous version are now missing. For instance, you can no longer place signs wherever you want labeling various sections of town. This added nothing to the success of your town, but it was fun. I've run across a few bugs and yes, it takes a hellacious amount of hard drive space and time to install, but once it's running it performs fine on my 200 Mz machine.

Simcity 3000 does not disappoint. It's awesome. It rocks!

The graphics and gameplay are simply incredible, as is the amount of detail put into each. You can literally watch your individual 'sims' walk around the city doing their business, be it driving to work, walking their children, going out for a morning jog, or even mugging someone! It is simply unbelieveable, and benefits greatly from having a lot of RAM. I have 128 megabytes, and have seen no performance problems whatsoever, although I probably wouldn't attempt to play on anything less than an iMac with 64 megs. These high requirements are the only major hitch with the game as far as I can see, except of course for what I mention below :)

Yes, there is one quibble I have with the game, believe it or not.. it sucks up time like you wouldn't believe! Tonight, I sat down at 8:30 intending to play for an hour or so, and when I finally got around to quitting, it was 1:45 am! This game should come with a warning for anyone who has an assignment due or a deadline to meet... good thing I'm on vacation right now! :)

The graphics in this sim are rich and a definite improvement over previous Maxis Sims, but I was disappointed that the things that made me love the original Sim City on the original Nintendo were no longer present.

Demolishing a building or clearing land gave realistic sound effects. Pretty graphics are not enough to save this game. After playing it for about 2 hours, I simply got fed up with the game. If I wanted to play a PC game, I would have bought an Intel machine and gotten the PC version. This game requires way too many across-the-screen mouse movements to achieve simple and repetitive tasks. It simply got exhaustive to do simple things when they had to be done over and over.

While it was forgivable on the old Nintendo to have streets without sidewalks you could see and access ramps that didn't make sense, for a high-tech sim like this, the streets and access points just aren't realistic... just enough to look real and be really confusing as to how the game is interpretting your street placement. If it was true WYSIWYG, it would be a no-brainer and you could focus on strategy instead of, "am I looking at that pixel right?" questions.

A lot of talent went into this game, but (and I could be totally wrong here) it seemed like PC game programmers were trying to exploit their market by porting this to the Mac platform w/o getting actual Mac users and programmers a chance to give input. Mac users expect more out of a game...

Okay, we all remember Sim City being awesome. I know it captured me. When I bought 3k, I was looking for that same feel. 3k has that. its gorgeous. no, really, its completely cool. it looks and feels like you are really there. it has several problems though. its kinda slow. even if you have a G3, make sure you have enough RAM to support this baby. decent hard drive space wouldnt hurt either. Now, some people hated this game, but then again, some people also hate macs(blasphemy...) they thing is, if you get it, keep your recipt in case you dont like it. Get it from amazon so you can return that joker, or, buy it from the Electronics Boutique. they'll return open boxes for 10 days after purchases. either way, give it a shot, if you can get over the fact that things take time(you ARE managing a city) you'll enjoy it.

First things first, I love the Sim City series. I loved the original, and I loved SC2K. They were, without question, five star games. SC3K is not. It bogs down a lot, especially as cities reach Metropolis levels. (1,000,000+) The file saving interface is not done with the Mac in mind, and the game is huge. However, that aside, the question remains: Is this game worth my money? The answer is a resounding yes. I'm running a Rev B. iMac with 96 MB of RAM, so I have an acceptable but not stellar system Don't even try running the game with anything less. But if you have this, a world of fun awaits you.
The in-game interface is simple, although file saving and opening is clearly a Windows clone. However, the in-game interface is neither Mac or Windows specific, and easy to navigate and get used too.. The graphics are gorgeous, especially at the second closest level. You can se the people walking around, the buildings are at hi-res, the detail is incredible. There are the trademarks of Maxis humor (zoom in closely on the stadium and look at the bleachers). Traffic accidents and angry sims, military troops being PTd, it's a riot to watch up close. The rewards system has been vastly expanded upon. It takes forever to discover and earn all of the rewards the game has to offer. The Landmarks are just plain fun, and the advisors have been expanded upon as well. Petitioners bring a new level of detail to your sims, as well as neighbor deals to deal with...undesirable buildings, or raise needed cash.
All in all, this is more like SimCity 2500. It's not the revolution the 2K was over the original. It brings depth rather than breadth. It's not perfect (hence the four star rating). It's incredibly slow at higher populations, the installer is a monster, and the save dialogue boxes are distinctly Windows like. However, the game is just plain fun. And when enjoying a game, the fun factor is all the really matters.