SimCity 4

SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, Inc. (who at the time owned Maxis). It was first released on January 14, 2003 on Microsoft Windows, and on June 20, 2003 on Mac OS X. The game's only expansion pack, Rush Hour, was released on September 22, 2003, and was included in the SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition reissue that came out that same month.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The modding capabilities are endless, especially for 2003. Not only did Maxis release official modding tools such as the Building Architect Tool (BAT) and the Lot Editor, but there is a huge library of community mods such as the Network Addon Mod (NAM), the Colossus Addon Mod (CAM), and the Day and Nite Mod (which darkens the night sky as opposed to the default version which has a slight bluish tint).
 * 2) * Furthermore, there is a massive repertoire of buildings available to download, such as skyscrapers, civic buildings, parks, houses, and shops that aren't in the vanilla game. The largest SimCity 4 community forum is Simtropolis, which has been online since 2002! Some good users include SimGoober, Equinox, mattb325, scotty222, Diego Del Llano, Jasoncw, and nofunk, among others.
 * 3) Realistic building designs, especially in the high-density RCI (residential, commercial, industrial) section.
 * 4) Huge variety of bridge designs, which gets even better if one installs NAM.
 * 5) Plenty of land to build, which varies depending on tile size (there are three available, the largest being 16x16 kilometers, four times larger than the sole option in its successor).
 * 6) There are seven advisors you can talk to, some of which are quite amusing (or annoying).
 * 7) Includes terraforming tools, which were sadly removed in its successor.
 * 8) Can choose from several disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes and even giant robots!
 * 9) Decent soundtrack.
 * 10) Good graphics by 2003 standards.
 * 11) It can be used in conjuction with The Sims, as it includes a bunch of Sims from said game, where you can have up to five Sims living in your city at a time!

Bad Qualities

 * 1) There is no full-3D camera included, which is understandable since graphics in 2003 weren't as advanced as they are now.
 * 2) The Origin version of the game cannot be modded, as it is hardcoded to be uncustomizable. However, the Steam and GOG.com versions are customizable.
 * 3) It is impossible to build curved roads out of the box, as it was designed to be a grid-based game.
 * 4) Upon its initial release, the game suffered from performance issues, which were fixed in a Maxis patch.

Trivia

 * The game can be downloaded on Steam, GOG.com, and Origin.
 * It is the best-selling game in the SimCity franchise.
 * This is the last game Maxis founder Will Wright worked on before he retired from the company.

Reception
Shortly after its release, the PC version of SimCity 4 garnered mainly positive reviews, gaining 84/100 from Metacritic, and an 85.09% overall score from GameRankings.

The game got a 9.2/10 rating at IGN, calling it a "major evolutionary step in the series". The review commented that the addition of the region view mode adds more depth to SimCity 4 and that the gameplay has a "more accurate representation of city planning and maintenance" than of previous titles in the SimCity series.

The game scored an 8.1/10 rating at GameSpot, stating that the game had a "sleek, attractive interface" and "great audio"; it added however that SimCity 4 was "rather rushed" and that the MySim mode "seems like an afterthought". The review concluded that it was a "complex and detailed strategy game", "though not as polished as it could have been". The publication later named it the best computer game of January 2003.

GameSpy gave the game a score of 75/100, commenting that SimCity 4 is "graphically stunning"; the review also criticized the game for having issues "that will likely kill the game for casual players" including performance and difficulty.

1UP.com rated the game at B+ and praised the region view feature as well as the detail of the graphics which create a "deeper sense of simulation". The review however criticizes SimCity 4 for suffering crashes and performance issues.

SimCity 4 received further reviews after the release of the Macintosh version. The game received a rating of 7.25/10 from InsideMacGames. The review commented that the regional gameplay was a "new and welcome addition" and that it had detailed and realistic graphics; it was also said however that the game was not "revolutionary", had "horrendous bugs", and that the tutorial and manual lacked information.

Urban planner Jeff Speck said that SimCity 4's traffic model is "more advanced than what most traffic engineers use in real life".

Awards
SimCity 4 was chosen as one of IGN's "Editors' Choice" games for January 2003. It was also given the Parents' Choice Award by the Parents' Choice Foundation.