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MOVE OVER DARLIN
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If you're one of those who thin (s you could manage our transport system better than those in power, here's your chance. Robin
Meczes looks at two PC games that enable
you to do just that...
SIM CITY 4: DELUXE EDITION The SimCity series has been around for many years and has proved consistently popular.This version is essentially the regular SirnCity 4 bundled with the Rush Hour expansion pack launched a year ago (you can still buy the expansion pack separately if you own the original game).
The aim of the game is to build cities and help them grow. That means getting power and water systems built, establishing decent emergency services, building homes that people actually want to live in, and creating the right social and economic structures, including that all-important transport system, for industry and commerce to want to join in.
Before you get started on any of this, however, you need to select and `terraform' a region to build on.Terraforming the land your city will be created on is a one-off task that involves making mountains,gouging valleys, creating lakes, rivers or seas, seeding forests and even introducing herds of animals to graze your lush new pastures.
It's worth thinking quite carefully about what geological features you introduce at this stage, because your options to change what you've created are limited once you start building your city.
Once you're happy with your basic landscape it's full steam ahead on building a thriving community.There are essentially three types of inhabitant to attract: residents, commerce and industry.All you have to do to attract them is dedicate various zones to each of the three groups and wait for them to move in.
But they won't do so terribly willingly unless all the conditions are just right. Key essentials, naturally, include water and power, so immediately after creating your zones you'll have to build power stations and link them to the zones you'd like to see inhabited, then build an underground water supply.
But your Sims need more than just power and water to want to move in to — and stay in — your city. They'll need police and fire stations to make them feel safe, schools to educate their children and hospitals for when they're sick. And did we mention the need for landfill sites, jails. conference centres, airports, casinos, golf courses, cemeteries and city landmarks?
But none of this works, of course, without a decent transport system.
Creating and maintaining that infrastructure is one of the main elements of the game.
Basic roads can be automatically incorporated when you zone new areas for development and will do nicely for low volumes of traffic, but as soon as that traffic starts to build, these streets become inadequate and congestion starts to get out of hand.
At this point, you face three basic options: upgrading to a bigger, wider, faster road of some kind (up to and including elevated highways. no less); managing the flow of traffic on your existing roads (for example by creating one-way systems); or.if you really get desperate, introducing alternative modes of transport such as a bus, subway, rail or monorail system (we managed to avoid doing anything so rash until we'd grown our city to 100,000 inhabitants).
You can see very easily how well used the various transport routes are —clicking on a road with the query tool brings up rush-hour statistics on how many vehicles are using the road, what types of vehicles they are and where they are going. Similarly, you can click on any building in your city and see how many people live or work there and what mode of transport they tend to use.
Another nice touch is the 'U-Drive-It' mode: having played God to terraform your landscape and Mayor to build and run the city, you can also play the role of a humble Sim and actually drive around the city streets you created in any one of dozens of different vehicles.
We can't say the driving is particularly challenging — four buttons are used to accelerate. brake, and turn each way — but it's a fun way to find out first-hand if your road system is up to the mark.
As you might expect, the costs of developing your city can be high. so you'll need to make sure the city has enough money in its coffers. The main way to do this is by tweaking individual tax levels for residents. commerce and industry. But be careful — raise taxes too high and people will leave your city in droves.
Even with the money in the bank, deciding how to spend it isn't easy. Do you build a major highway to make it easier for folks to get to work every morning, or invest in a new medical centre to avert an imminent strike by healthcare workers? Do you add a power station to meet the needs of your growing industrial zone, or remove one to help keep pollution and those pesky environmentalists at bay?
Fortunately, you are guided in these decisions by a set of sev en advisors, including transport guru Jamil Herd, who keeps popping up to hassle you about the pinch points in your transport network; and other advisors who specialise in city planning, finance, utilities, public safety, health and education, and the environment.
If you get fed up taking all this too seriously you can create all manner of disasters to plague your hapless Sims, from meteor strikes to UFO attacks, from volcanoes to earthquakes.Amusing, cert ainly, but rebuilding after disasters like these can be costly.
There's no limit to how long you can run your city, but when you need a fresh challenge you can start another city in the same region.
And if you can't be bothered to build a city from scratch you don't have to a thriving online community can provide lots of pre-built cities, regions and other game elements for you to incorporate and play with as you wish.
All in all, this is a fantastically engrossing game that is all too easy to spend hours and hours on. And even when you do, you'll still want more. Highly recommended.
SimCdy 4 Deluxe Edition
Pubhsher Ea Games Price Around £25 Website vAvw.slmcity.com Mininmum spec Windows 98/2000/ME/XP, 500MIt processor, 128Mb RAM, 1.6Gb hard disk, 32Mb Direct 3D graphics card
CM rating 9110-a real masterpiece.
Buy and enjoy!