Vimm's Lair: SNES Reviews - SimCity
The Vault

Super Nintendo
SimCity

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:		 8.65
8.63
8.73
8.71
Votes: 52
Reviews: 3


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Reviewer: Grim Date: Mar 7, 2004
Sim City for the SNES introduced a concept rare among other games when it came out: there is no set way to win the game. You don't have to achieve this much money or this many people or cover up this much land to win... you set the goals. You set whether you've won or you've lost. Being an owner of this game for years and an avid player of it today even though I own all the other Sim City games, I can safely say that this game still rocks.

Graphics: 9
Okay, so these aren't the graphics that you see when you turn on a PS2. However, take into considerationg the fact that this game was created for the SNES... not the PS2. There are so many details in games today that they couldn't possibly have included on any SNES game, let alone Sim City. The reason why I rate the graphics as an eight in comparison to the rest of the Sim City games is that this isn't supposed to be a graphical game. You can look at a zone, see how it's doing, and move on. You can look at the roads, see how badly they're doing because you forgot to fund the budget, and move on. You can look at a plane crash, see how much devastation it caused, and wonder why you stuck an airport in the downtown sector of your city. That's all there is to it. The graphics that are in place help the player play the game, and they're simple enough for younger children to understand (there's a difference between a nice house that takes up 1x1 and a huge-arse factory that takes up 3x3). Personally, I'd rather have great graphics that would help me play the game better than super-ultra-mega-perfect graphics that are just there to look cute.

Sound: 8
The sounds are pretty good. Depending on how big the city is, the music will change from a slow beat (rural) to a harder beat (urban). Whenever you get a reward or something's wrong or your city has advanced to a new level, a different tone of music will play for a little while. If you do manage to get tired of the music, you can mute it without turning off all of the sounds of the game, so you can listen to whatever suits your fancy without not being able to hear the 'trumpet fanfare' if there's a major problem.

Gameplay: 10
In Sim City, you can either play the practice map (for practice, obviously), you can choose from one of the hundreds of maps they have prepared for you, or you can play a city scenario where you have a limited amount of time to fix the city's problems. If you choose to start your own city, there is a myriad of ways that you can begin to build it up. You can start building in a corner of the map... or maybe you would prefer to start from a river... or maybe you chose an island for a tropical paradise of sorts. It's your call. The only way that you can possibly be stopped from building the city of your dreams is if you start to hear echoing noises in the vault of your treasury.

Overall: 10
Gameplay in Sim City far outweighs either the graphics or the sounds, which is why I have to give this game a ten. You don't play Sim City to look at the pretty colors or the leaves on trees... you play Sim City for the game play. If this game was trying to be a great action or adventure game with thrilling music and realistic graphics, then the Overall grade would understandably be lower. But, Sim City is not about looking pretty. Sim City is about city-building, and about you having control or what can go here and what can go there. That's why this game gets a ten.

The other Sim City games are more complicated than this one. Although they give the player more control over elements in the city than the classic Sim City game does, they are also more confusing. People that are new to the Sim City genre have to spend time playing and learning and reading the instructional manual to understand how to work the game long enough to start making money instead of losing it. While the higher Sim City games may have more dazzling graphics or better sounds than the classic, the classic can entertain younger kids for hours (it certainly entertained me). The simplicity and the joy of building what you want to that this game provides allows me to say that Sim City for the SNES is one of the best games that I've ever played.

 

Reviewer: dk_rare Date: Jun 16, 2002
I remember renting sim city years ago, it was then that i fell in love with it. I had it for about 3 weeks (it was school holidays), I never wanted to give it up! When I had to go out for whatever reason someone else had to stay at the controls and manage my city. I dreamed this game, my snes was never turned off the whole 3 weeks. I finally had to return it, so I had to buy it, and i have never looked back.

Graphics: 8
The graphics are amazingly simple. Pleasing to the eyes, showing all needed detail on the map with about 3 or 4 different frames. Every building shows its feeling perfectly. The grimy, smoke filled industrial buildings to beutifull homesteads, it shows exactly how its doing at a glance.

Sound: 7
The sound is also simple, but it does its job with the greatest of ease. As your town develops into a city, so does the music. It will change from sweet pleasant sounds, to strong big city music. Once you have boats and trains you will sometimes hear them in the background, its nice little touches like this that make it a good game. But as said it is all simple, and you may want to turn down the music and crank up that stereo while playing.

Gameplay: 10
Once again, simple! Thats what makes it so great, its easy to get into, and tough to master. You can have whatever goals you want. You can try to fill the whole map, or rise your population. Thats why i think this is the best of all the simcity series. All the others, Simcity 2000, 3000 etc are way to complicated. But if you like this sort of thing, you will be captivated for many hours to come.

Overall: 10
Most addictive game ive ever played and it really comes down to weather you like this sort of thing or not. You will either love it or hate it. its that simple.

I have the whole sim city series, and i still play this one over the rest. Now just hoping sim city 4 wont be a flop!

 

Reviewer: Dan Date: Jul 8, 2001
Sim City offered very little in terms of audio prowess. However, the graphics for the time are somewhat impressive, only being out done by the gameplay. This is a very interesting game and I remember playing this for hours when I was younger. It's not too complicated; it seems to be more of a plug and play game rather than a strategy/simulation. If you've been spoiled by SC2000, you probably will not enjoy the simplicity this game presents. If you're new to the Sim City games, you'll enjoy this.