One of the best-selling games ever has been given the multimedia treatment, but is it any better for it?
This is not SimCity 2000. That was the updated and improved 3D version, which we gave 95% in Macformat 9. Instead, the developers have chosen to squeeze the last drop of life out of the classic original 2D game.
You start with a bare piece of land, occupied only by the odd forest and river. With a lump sum of cash, you design and build a village, which with luck begins to be populated by good taxpaying people. This revenue enables you to expand your domain to a town, and finally a burgeoning city.
The game challenges your ability to design and plan the city. Where should you put the factories? What level of policing is needed? Should you invest in roads or railways? How big should the red light district be? For a fairly simple game, it’s surprisingly accurate and immensely addictive. Although Marathon is sensational to play, once you have completed it, you’ll probably barely touch it again, whereas even after years of playing SimCity you’re still addicted.
So what is the CD enhancement? The original game offered eight predefined scenarios which you could play instead of building your own city. Well, don’t get excited, there are still just eight on this CD. However, whereas in the floppy version you got the occasional text message on screen, telling you that there are lots of traffic jams, now you get a rather poor quality QuickTime movie of the construction boss telling you, well, there are a lot of traffic jams. Multimedia for its own sake?
In total there are over 100 movies, warning you of problems and suggesting possible solutions – but nothing that you can’t find in the manual. The first time you see a movie can be interesting, particularly the manic female newsreader who appears to be on drugs, but the second time is boring, and the third annoying. But don’t worry – you can turn the movies off. Oh, and you’ll also want to turn off that infuriating voice that informs you what button you just clicked on (like you don’t know). Now, you have a great game. Hmm… rather like the floppy version really. Derek Smith
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Price: £34.99. Out: now.
Requires: any colour Mac, 2.5Mb of free RAM, System 7 or later, double-speed CD-ROM drive.
