As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Which Sim City is the best?

MarkyXMarkyX Registered User regular
edited March 2008 in Games and Technology
For some reason I feel like running a city. Don't know why, don't care, or maybe I'm just bored as hell and I'm trapped inside my own house thanks to good ol' Canadian weather. Although I do feel sorry for the bastards who camped out for Brawl in this weather only to be told there is a shortage :)

Anyways, I know Sim City Societies bites the big one, so it's time for some classic gaming. A friend of mine is going to sell some of his old Sim City games on ebay but he is willing to give me one for a price. He pretty much has everything from the original Sim City to Sim City 4. Like everyone else, he was pissed with societies.

So, any suggestions?

MarkyX on
«1

Posts

  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    2000 was always the best of them, graphics or no.

    Xagarath on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    3000 is more involed, and Sim City 4 is fuckawesome as long as you install Rush Hour and the community patches (which I can't remember right now). Sim City 2000 is probably the most accessible, and I can't really compare it to the other ones, 'cause it has a special place in my heart.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • FireflashFireflash Montreal, QCRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I've had the most fun with 4. Then again I barely ever played 2000 or 3000.

    Fireflash on
    PSN: PatParadize
    Battle.net: Fireflash#1425
    Steam Friend code: 45386507
  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    2000 was amazing. My favorite by leaps and bounds.

    Nova_C on
  • WMain00WMain00 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I could never get into 4. I think i enjoyed 2000 more.

    Sim City Societies is indeed stupidly rubbish compared to all of them.

    WMain00 on
  • bongibongi regular
    edited March 2008
    3000 or 4

    4 is kind of horrible rape for computers when it gets hectic, though

    and rush hour is pretty much mandatory for the game to not suck

    bongi on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I heard part 4 is the best so long as you get it patched or modded in some way or another. One of the aspects of it (I think it was highways) was retarded in terms of managing or constructing.

    2000 is pretty much in a league of its own.

    Henroid on
  • Doc HollidayDoc Holliday Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Do all Sim Cities let you cheat? I could never do Sim City the normal way, so I always did the money and water cheats in Sim City 2000. I haven't played a SC since for fear that they don't have cheat codes.

    Doc Holliday on
    PSN & Live: buckwilson
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    The thing with Sim City 4 without even just Rush Hour is that traffic slows to a crawl really easily. The AI's pathfinding is just bad, and you'll have roads filled to capacity and roads close by with no one using them at all.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • lionheart_mlionheart_m Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Um...is it wrong if I say the SNES one? :(

    lionheart_m on
    3DS: 5069-4122-2826 / WiiU: Lionheart-m / PSN: lionheart_m / Steam: lionheart_jg
  • LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I've not even played any of the others extensively and I know that the answer is 2000.

    LewieP on
  • JeanJean Heartbroken papa bear Gatineau, QuébecRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 3000 on PC, followed by the original one on SNES are my fav. In general I love this serie.

    However, whatever you do, stay the fuck away out of the SNES version of SC2K, it's just so horrible. Gotta be my biggest dissapointement on the SNES.

    Jean on
    "You won't destroy us, You won't destroy our democracy. We are a small but proud nation. No one can bomb us to silence. No one can scare us from being Norway. This evening and tonight, we'll take care of each other. That's what we do best when attacked'' - Jens Stoltenberg
  • BrymBrym Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Also be sure to stay away from the DS version. It runs and looks like shit.

    Brym on
  • bombardierbombardier Moderator mod
    edited March 2008
    SimCity for the SNES is the best vanilla version. It has great music, wonderful graphics, Dr. Wright, and best of all GIFTS!

    As for post SC1, SC2000 would be my suggestion. SimCity 4 is also very great if you want some more flexibility in personalizing your city and landscape, like others said, so long as you have Rush Hour and then maybe install the transportation community mod.

    This is from someone who has invested unknown amounts of time into each game.

    Also while I'm here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=w0yknDAki4M

    bombardier on
  • eelektrikeelektrik Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    My biggest complaint with Sim City 4 is that it ran like total ass, but otherwise found the game to be fine, then again I suck at Sim City games and may not have noticed any actual problems.

    eelektrik on
    (She/Her)
  • LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 2000 taught me to be a capitalist.

    I learnt how to break the game, get infinite money supply, and grow an epic city with high tax rates.

    All at the tender age of ten.

    LewieP on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 4 is pretty CPU intensive, and not very forgiving. It's like figured 'oh well processors are getting faster so someone could probably brute force it for maximum enjoyment'. Also it can't take advantage of newer dual core hardware, 'cause that stuff wasn't around then. I have a Core2Duo, and a 8600GT in my laptop, and the only time it has chugged for me was when I zoomed in and out real quick.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 2000 and Sim City 4 are the best ones.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Malkor wrote: »
    The thing with Sim City 4 without even just Rush Hour is that traffic slows to a crawl really easily. The AI's pathfinding is just bad, and you'll have roads filled to capacity and roads close by with no one using them at all.

    Theres a fan mod that fixes this, it does take some decent cpu power to run it though.

    Last Son on
  • StoverStover Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I love SC4 so much.

    Stover on
    outoftheloop.jpg
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    SC4 is great when you have Rush Hour and awesome mods installed.

    SC3000 is better only if you just want to run it without fucking around with that stuff.

    Your call.

    Daedalus on
  • zanetheinsanezanetheinsane Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City DS was alright but quickly became a big disappointment.

    The RCI demand is ridiculously broken, with your city basically demanding nothing but Residential. I played 3 different cities and it was something like 90% demand for R constantly no matter how much I built.

    It lags when you're not in "pause" mode and the advisors have to be 100% completely ignored since there is no way to turn them off. All they do is constantly ask you to build Fire Stations and Stadiums. You could have 10 stadiums and someone would be bugging you to build one.

    Not having to micro-manage budgets and worry about money quickly took a lot of the fun and challenge that makes SimCity so fun.

    zanetheinsane on
  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Spore

    Nakatomi2010 on
    Check out me building my HTPC (NSF56K) (Updated 1-10-08)
    Movie Collection
    Foody Things
    Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
    Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    What are some good sites for finding SC mods? I haven't played SC4 since release, but I in general love the series and would like to give it another shot.

    My favorites would have to be the SNES version followed closely by SC3000.

    Sir Carcass on
  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    What are some good sites for finding SC mods? I haven't played SC4 since release, but I in general love the series and would like to give it another shot.

    My favorites would have to be the SNES version followed closely by SC3000.

    Sim Tropolis has a whole bunch of mods and user-made buildings and such.

    Last Son on
  • LynxLynx Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    SNES if you want it simple. 2000 if you want a little more management without it getting too complicated. 4 if you're a micromanaging whore. Fuck 3000 and the original PC 1.

    Lynx on
  • GrudgeGrudge blessed is the mind too small for doubtRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 4 with Rush Hour and Network Addon Mod (NAM)

    NAM improves pathfinding and realism about a gazillion percent, plus it comes with additional tools for diagonal roads, bridges, on- and offramps, tunnels, roundabouts etc etc

    Grudge on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    NAM is what I have installed now. Makes the game so much better.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    NAM is fuckawesome but I hope you have a good CPU.

    Daedalus on
  • UltimaGeckoUltimaGecko Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I've played all of them, and I'm going to have to say SimCity 3000.


    The original SimCity is fairly simplistic and probably wont hold your attention long. I got it around the same time as SimCity 2000 and almost never touched it aside from loading it up and having tornadoes decimate the landscape (...which was more fun with floods, robot monsters, fires and tornaodes simultaneously in SC2000). If you're going this far back for retro gaming and a 'sim' experience, you might as well go with SimAnt or SimTower instead.


    SimCity 2000 is very fun. I remember long nights infront of our computer resulting in red-eye. We needed a boot disk to run it on our computer. The city building options are pretty broad, it's the only SimCity with hydroelectric plants and it's the only one with arcologies. The big problem here is that there are realtively few options for building your city, terrain is the only big deciding factor, because then you just start laying things out in grids...and the terrain only has one height increment, so there's not much there, anyway. After you've built it you can just burn it down and you'll still be making money when people move back.


    On to the brunt of this post: why SimCity 3000 is the best SimCity so far:
    SimCity 2000 only had a 256 color palette, while 3000 has 16bit color. 3000 also allows for much higher screen resolutions and has better ambient sound (CD quality background music, as well). SC3k also allows for much more varied terrain, road building and zoning compared to 2000. There's the possiblity for small slopes and Heavy/Medium/Light zoning (instead of just Heavy/Light). SC2k maps can be imported into SC3k, but SC3k also has the option to create larger cities, up to 4x as big as the 2000 map size.

    The big, important changes are in the simulation. 3000 added garbage, water pollution and a more realistic and forgiving (usually) system of finances. Loans were usable, it was harder (more realistic in this case) to manipulate your Sims into paying higher taxes, along with the addition of more ordinances. 3k has more rewards (city halls, stadiums, universities, the addition of landmarks. There are also neighboring cities and neighbor/business deals. I think garbage was one of the bigger oversights in SC2k, so this is important to adding realism and added strategy to your city building.

    Basically it's SimCity 2000 with better graphics, more play options, larger cities, better sound and a more realistic simulation with almost no added difficulty (in some cases it's easier since you can't cripple yourself with loans and business deals pop up to pump that extra bit of money in to bring you into the black). The big losses were arcologies, myriad disaster types, hydroelectric plants, and the newspaper.

    [edit: I started it up again and SC3k does in fact still have the saltwater mechanic in place. Desal plants are still around; I'm not sure why I thought they were gone - not playing enough SC3000, probably.[/edit]


    SimCity 4:
    The game is basically an exercise in micromanagement and - as noted - the transportation pathing is bad without the expansion and subsequent fan patching. The city overlays and graphs are less informative (I miss my SC3k pie charts...). There's a huge focus on inter-city relationships, so you can basically build small corners of your map with high-density industrial and garbage dumps, and - since pollution doesn't cross city boundaries - you can just have all sorts of little paradises. The biggest burden is the micromanaging, lack of power plant options, and simplification of the water system (even more simplified than SC3ks, compared to 2k's relatively in-depth one). The garbage options were also toned down quite a bit. Also, they didn't bring back arcologies, and arcologies are sweet.

    On the plus side, it's much easier to build farms.The terrain is far more varied and the 'god-mode' editor used before you found your cities is pretty versatile. The subway and pipe-laying maps are no longer the same (very helpful). There are far more options for roads and transportation, but unless you've got the player-made mod set to the highest simulation level, people still end up overloading public transit - or not using it at all. There's nothing quite like seeing all of your cities interconnected on the main menu's satellite/transportation maps, with highways and roads and seaports and airports all over.




    I heartily recommend SimCity 3000, since it's basically an improved SimCity 2000 (if you can find the Urban Renewal kit, that can add fun to SC2k as well - the SC3k building editor was kind of 'meh'), whereas SimCity 4 is partially a different game with a separate play style. SimCity's not really a contender any more, since if you're going that route you might as well get 2000, and if you're going to get 2000, you might as well get 3000. The only real debate I see is between SC3000 and SC4, and I prefer 3000.

    UltimaGecko on
    The facehuggers want to play with you in the AvP LP. Facehuggers also want you to check out the TF2 cards here. View the in-progress RE mansion recreation for L4D here.
    Bitstream wrote: »
    People respect a man who might do science at any moment.
  • freakish lightfreakish light butterdick jones and his heavenly asshole machineRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm torn between A Dame to Kill For and The Hard Goodbye.

    On a more serious note, I rediscovered SC4 a while back and played the hell out of it. Good times, fwiw.

    freakish light on
  • WienkeWienke Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    the SNES version was fun at the time.

    I rebought it on the VC and really really regretted it. I'm actually kinda amazed at how far the series has come since those days.

    My vote is Sim City 3000 or 4. 2000 usually just ends up with loads of Arcologies across the map.

    Wienke on
    PSN: TheWienke
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    4000 just got annoying with commutes and all that shit. 4ks incessant advice annoyed me too. It felt too easy

    2000 was involved but much more simple and elegant. My fav by far

    nexuscrawler on
  • KalkinoKalkino Buttons Londres Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'd go with 2000 or 3 for my favourites - with the former being the one I played the most - hell, it was even the basis of a 3 hour lab for a university paper I took. I think I stopped playing them because they seemed to hit a brick wall of a kind - with evolution relating to graphics and interface but nothing more exiting. It would be interesting to build a multiplayer Simcity game - not sure entirely how one would do it though

    1- Perhaps it could fully tie into the Sims - and a Mayor/Council could be elected to run & build the city?
    2 - A whole world where player built cities could form into leagues or nations?
    3 - Multiple Player run cities (see one but without Sims tie-in)
    4 - Maybe go total sandbox style and create a huge amount of customisation and in game design?

    Kalkino on
    Freedom for the Northern Isles!
  • StraythStrayth Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 2000 is my favorite.

    3 wasn't that bad but I didn't like 4. Good to know that might have been due to a patch, but it ran like crap on my old box and that had some impact.

    Sim City 2000 was especially great since I could only game on a Mac when I was twelve (this was ~1995), and one could imagine the options with that.

    Strayth on
    That's right.
  • vdanhalenvvdanhalenv Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'd go with 4 as I have enjoyed it more than the other ones

    2000 would be my second choice

    vdanhalenv on
    16377
  • rvcontre78rvcontre78 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim City 3000 was my favorite but I never really played 4000. They ought to make a spin off where instead of worrying to much about the city you control the actual people living in the city like a life simulator of some sort. They could call it Sim City Sans City. That would be an amazing game.

    rvcontre78 on
    The Top Ten Neglected NES games by The Gaming Standard
    ________________
  • AphostileAphostile San Francisco, CARegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Sim effing Tower.

    simtower-pluie0.jpg

    Aphostile on
    Nothing. Matters.
  • vdanhalenvvdanhalenv Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Aphostile wrote: »
    Sim effing Tower.

    simtower-pluie0.jpg

    I have been trying for years to find a working copy of that game, I played it at school when I was younger and have wanted to play it again ever since.

    vdanhalenv on
    16377
  • LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Wasn't there a DS remake of Sim Tower under a different name?

    Maybe Japan only...?

    LewieP on
Sign In or Register to comment.