Games

SimCity sets you as the mayor of a new municipality, with the responsibility of building and maintaining a place where citizens can move to and work and be happy. The first task is to place essentials such as housing, transport links, schools, factories and shops. There are 50 types of these, allowing for homes of all standards and different types of businesses. Make sure to consider which sites are effective for which tasks. Some power sources pollute, others don't but are more expensive. Taxes must be raised to ensure an income, and then portions allocated to public services such as policing and roads. Earthquakes, floods and fires are all emergency situations that must be dealt to contain any damage. Successful mayoring will cause the small village to grow into a town, then a city and finally a metropolis. As the city's size grows so do it's needs. Commercial buildings may suddenly find that they need an airport to expand trade, or housing may find itself changing rapidly as vast amounts of people come and leave. The game also includes 8 pre-defined time-limited scenarios, with specific challenges and targets. The environment varies in each game (especially if you have the Terrain Editor add on), and this should affect your choices.

SimCity is a city-building and urban planning simulation video game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. Released for Microsoft Windows in early March 2013, it's the first major installment in the SimCity series since the release of SimCity 4 a decade prior. An OS X version is scheduled for release during Q1/Q2 2013. The game is considered to be a reboot of the SimCity series.Players can create a settlement that can grow into a city by zoning land for commercial, industrial, or residential development, as well as building and maintaining public services, transport and utilities. SimCity utilizes a new engine called GlassBox, allowing for more detailed simulation than previous games. Throughout its development, SimCity received critical acclaim for its new engine and reimagined gameplay; however, publications cautioned the game's use of a persistent internet connection, with which it stores saved games and allows players to share resources.

SimCity 3000, released in 1999 as the third major installment in the SimCity series, continues its successful course as a city building simulation game. In SimCity 3000 new tools have been introduced to create and control the city build-ups. Recreate the world's greatest cities using predefined landscapes such as San Francisco or Berlin and landmark buildings like the Empire State Building or Big Ben. Negotiate and barter with neighbouring cities to strengthen your metropolis and seal contracts to import water or get rid of huge amounts of waste.

Recreate the world's greatest cities. Create your own unique buildings using the SimCity Building Architect Tool then zoom in close as your metropolis comes to life with people and traffic in living colour and full 3-D sound. For more challenge, negotiate and barter with neighbouring cities to strengthen your metropolis.

The game allows players to create a region of land by terraforming, and then to design and build a settlement which can grow into a city. Players can zone different areas of land as commercial, industrial, or residential development, as well as build and maintain public services, transport and utilities. For the success of a city players must manage its finances, environment, and quality of life for its residents. SimCity 4 introduces night and day cycles and other special effects for the first time in the SimCity series. External tools such as the Building Architect Tool (BAT) allow custom third party buildings and content to be added to the gameplay.

Rush Hour is the first expansion pack for SimCity 4. This expasion allows you to take complete control of your city by allowing you to jump directly into the action. You can take control of a speedboat and chase criminals through your canals, you can take your Sims on a tourist ride by hopping into the engineer's booth of a train, you can track down criminals in a police car, being sure to avoid traffic, you can call in the heavy artillery and take control of your army's tank, or you can please the populace by taking control of a single engine plane and and impress everyone with skywriting.

SimCity Creator follows the basic SimCity formula that sees players managing a city and placing residential, commercial, and industrial zones for buildings in addition to facilities such as police stations, hospitals, seaports, and stadiums. Players are also able to customize the look of their buildings by choosing from several themes for the city such as Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, European, Las Vegas, and near-future styles, in addition to ones that result in a crystal or confectionery-like appearance to buildings. Players are also able to tour their city, rendered in 3D graphics, in a helicopter or airplane. If the player builds an airport, more touring vehicles can be unlocked.

Designed as a complete remake of the SimCity series, SimCity Societies adds a social dynamic to the traditional city management. Each new home, workplace, or park can affect a city's culture and environment. As mayor, players must carefully balance six competing needs when planning their city: creativity, authority, prosperity, spirituality, knowledge, and productivity. Over 500 objects are available to place within city limits, and players can choose between several architectural styles. Creative types are able to design their own textures as well as modify Sim behaviors and statistics. Owners can also share their cities and modifications with friends via Internet.