![]() We're talking standstill traffic that you can sometimes expect to sit around in for up to an hour. And yet, considering the low number of people who live here, coupled with the low number of reasons to want to be driving around the town, you still wouldn't want to visit during rush hour. The town mainly consists of residental housing, with a strip of shops that is known at the center of the town. I dug out my old copy of SimCity 2000 (the best SimCity, obviously) and proceeded to install the game and boot it up (at which point it wouldn't work on Windows 7, so I was forced to buy the compatible version of the game from GOG.com instead.)Ī recap of my home town: Northenden is a very small town that you can drive straight through in around five minutes. I couldn't stop wondering whether older SimCity games could, in fact, model cities better than the latest version - so I decided to find out. This would be damning evidence indeed that the underlying system behind SimCity's traffic infrastructure simply isn't good enough to model real-life in the way that we've been led to believe. I noticed a fair amount of this latter point while I was modelling Liberty City a couple of weeks ago.Īmong the various complaints I've seen online, I've witnessed numerous people claiming that even past SimCity games could model traffic far better than the new game. Of course, as we know now, SimCity is a game that not only has some pretty awful DRM issues, but also numerous bugs and problems with traffic not using the optimal routes, but instead filing through smaller roads to get from A to B as the crow flies. I carried the experiment out during the beta for the game, just before it was released to the public. The virtual version of Northenden turned out scarily similar to the real thing, with traffic bottlenecking in the same place along the high street. However, cities have finite resources, and an in-game global market is designed to create realistic supply and demand, so playing pranks on neighbors may make them think twice about being helpful in the future.I recently built my hometown in the new SimCity to see whether the game's city infrastructure capabilities could model real-life. Players can also team up to create Great Works, like massive arcologies and space centers, or they can try to damage one another by exporting crime and pollution. Gamers must maintain a connection to EA's Origin digital service, through which they can compete with friends to earn top scores and achievements, participate in global challenges, and receive automatic updates and extra missions. Multiplayer in SimCity takes on something of an MMO feel, with all user-designed cities and regions existing within the larger SimCity World. New data visualization features replace the franchise's traditional charts and graphs, and are designed to give gamers a clearer picture of how to manage their resources and address problem zones. The game also includes a variety of new road tools that allow players to create streets that curve and wind as much as they please. Low-density areas are likely to spring up around dirt roads, while six-lane avenues may produce large businesses and high-rise condos. ![]() SimCity has done away with its staple of Light, Medium, and Heavy zoning in favor of a new system in which population density is directly tied to the city's roads. ![]() Buildings like fire stations and hospitals can also be upgraded to serve more Sims in a quicker manner. Industries, and even specific buildings, now have much more influence over the surrounding areas, with colleges turning nearby homes into frat houses, and coal mines resulting in local factories. Cities can be specialized like never before, allowing gamers to create a college town full of schools and museums, or an entertainment hub packed with casinos and excitement. The new GlassBox game engine was designed to simulate everything in the cities, from water flowing through pipes and fire spreading realistically, to individual Sims working, purchasing goods, and getting stuck in traffic. As always, players attempt to grow their quiet burg into a thriving metropolis by zoning for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, balancing revenues and expenditures, and keeping track of relevant data such as crime, employment, education, and pollution. This release comes with up-to-date 3D visuals, an entirely new simulation engine, the ability to manage up to 16 cities simultaneously, and multiplayer options. The series that created a simulation empire returns to once again let gamers build, manage, and possibly even destroy their own cities in SimCity.
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