SimCity 2000 is a translation of the relatively old PC/Mac game of the
same name, and is an update to the classic original SimCity (the first
Maxis sim?). 

If you've played SC2000 on a computer, you already know exactly what this
game is like, and this is all old news.  I, however, had never played this
on a PC.  My prior Maxis experience was in spending countless hours with
(the original) SimCity for the SNES.  I've also played Maxis' SimAnt, and
some PC Airline Executive sim game, both of which I didn't like nearly as
much as the original SC. 

The basic premise of both SC and SC2000 is that you are the
mayor/surveyor/architect/comptroller/civil engineer of a newly chartered
city.  You begin with a budget and can plan your city's infrastructure and
set local ordinances and taxes, etc.  You then let your city "grow."  You
expand and budget appropriately, and fix whatever problems arise in the
meantime.  It's a lot like tending a garden, in a way.  This is no
fighting game.  ;)

If this sounds like fun, you'll love SC2000, which pulls off the
simulation flawlessly.  It's incredibly intricate, yet the concept is so
simple.  Your goal is whatever you want it to be; the game doesn't "end"
and you can't really "win" or "lose."  My goal, like that of most people,
I'm sure, is to get as many SimCitizens to move into my city as possible. 

I bought the game on Thursday, after searching for it since it came out
(Monday, I think).  "We didn't stock nearly enough of that game," a store
manager admitted to me.  "It didn't sell well on Saturn, so we didn't
think we'd need many copies."  To be honest, I think that this has more to
do with the fact that very few new titles have been released for PSX
lately than any difference in PSX and SS owners. 

Anyway, I started playing Thursday night at around 6:00 or 6:30 (fuzzy
memory).  I finally went to bed on Friday morning... at 4:30 a.m.  I'm not
kidding.  In the few days since then, I've logged countless hours on this
game, and I'm not getting enough sleep.  This is a good sign. 

Again, however, if you've played the PC version, you know what I mean.  I
had almost the same experience, years ago, when I played (original) SC for
the first time.  It's unbelievably addictive and engrossing.  Even when I
want to stop, I find myself saying, "Okay.  I'll take care of this *one*
problem and then I'll go to bed."  An hour later, I'm still doing "just
one more thing." 

Think of this game as the original SC on steroids.  You have much smaller
blocks (they are diamond-shaped in SC2000) to zone, leading to much
greater control over your city's growth.  Zones are still the standard
Commercial, Residential, and Industrial, but can be zoned as either high
or low-density.  In addition to roads and rails, you can build raised,
divided highways (complete with on- and off-ramps!) and subways.  Airports
and seaports are not a set size, but are zoned, so you can make them as
large or small as you like.  There are many different types of power
plants available, including hydroelectric dams, which don't pollute as
much as the coal-burning plants do. 

Terrain comes into play much more than it did in the first SC.  There are
hills, mountains, valleys, waterfalls, and salt and freshwater rivers and
ponds.  You can build roads over, bridges across, and tunnels through
these features.  Power lines can be raised to cross water, mounds of dirt
pushed into a hill, holes dug, mountains leveled.  It's pretty amazing. 

A big part of building a city involves management of the water system.  In
SC2000, you build pumps, water towers, desalinizing plants, and water
treatment facilities.  You have to take care of any shortages that may
occur during the summer months. 

You do all of this while setting up tax structures under which you can tax
different industries differently (and tax industries differently than
commercial enterprises or residents) in order to encourage/discourage
different types of businesses from growing, watching the populations of
your neighboring cities (to whom you can build a road from your city), and
taking care of the police, fire, education, etc. needs of your city, not
to mention hurricanes, tornadoes, and godzilla-like monsters (if you have
disasters turned on).  (Whew.)  You get the picture. 

Here are some things I liked about the game:

**  Outstanding gameplay.  This is the reason I bought the game, and it
exceeds even my high expectations after playing the original SC.  I'm sure
many people lost countless hours at work and at home to their computers
when SC2000 was introduced for the PC.  (Aside:  Remember when, a while
back, there was some discussion on r.g.v.sony of games that appeal to
women as well as men?  IMO, and in my limited experience, SC2000 succeeds
in bridging the video game gender gap.)

**  Well, I was going to go on about how much I liked all of the intricate
things you can do to manipulate the growth of the city, but it really all
comes down to one thing:  gameplay. 

**  You can do a 3-D "drive through" of your city.  I know you're thinking
"Wow!" but, unfortunately, the 3-D drive through sucks.  I thought I'd
mention it here, though, because it is apparently the only difference
between the PSX and PC versions, and I appreciate Maxis at least making an
effort.  You can change views and control the direction of the moving car
with the controller.  I don't think the manual mentions this. 

**  Other than the minor omission mentioned above, the manual is
excellent.  The first good manual for a PSX game that I've bought.  Note
that the game comes in a normal-sized "double CD" case, so it would be
easier to store the fat manual where the second CD goes.  I like this,
though I thought I was missing a CD when I first bought the thing! 

**  Lots of scenarios and sample cities are included on the game CD. 

Now, for what I don't like: 

**  An overriding theme:  this seems like just a direct port of a game
from one system to another.  There is really no attempt to take advantage
of the PSX's unique architecture, other than the lousy attempt at a 3-D
drive through.  It really feels like you are playing a 16-bit game
throughout. 

**  S L O W reaction time by the computer.  Granted, I played with the
hand-held controllers and not with the mouse (which the game is compatible
with), but it was *very* difficult to control the cursor.  When you move,
the cursor jumps jerkily around the screen, and the traffic/airplanes/etc.
do the same.  I really felt like I was using an SNES to run the thing. 
I'm sure that this is a result of the attempt to port the game to PSX
quickly. 

**  Graphics aren't as good as they should be.  I've seen screenshots of
the computer versions, and the graphics on the computers *blow away* the
PSX graphics.  Of course the computers were SGVA on monitors, but the PSX
graphics are still *much* poorer than they should be.  Again, this feels
16 bit. 

**  The "zoom in/zoom out" controls are just that -- there are only two
levels with no in-between.  You are either zoomed in or out.  Sure, you
can flip back and forth, but I'd like to be able (and this shouldn't be
hard with the PSX) to zoom in and out smoothly.  I'd like to be able to
zoom as close or as far as I want.  Similarly, you can rotate the map only
at 90 degree angles.  Would it be so hard to change this?  Again, these
shortcomings are likely a result of the fact that the game is a PC port. 

**  As I mentioned above, the 3-D view isn't very exciting, to say the
least.  I haven't played A-Train, but I'd hope that that game does a
better "drive through" simulation.  On SC2000, buildings all seem to look
the same -- rectangular polygons with texture mapping to look like windows
on them (and it's a pretty poor texture-mapping job).  It's hard to tell
the difference between, say, your football stadium and a large office
building.  They're both squares.  Anyway, at least they tried, I guess. 

**  IT'S TOUGH!  It seems harder to keep things going in SC2000 than it
was in the original SC.  I actually like this, though.  ;)

Anyway, even with all of its slowness and "16 bit-ness," I have been
totally absorbed by this game.  The gameplay makes up for everything in
the end.  I would especially recommend this game to anyone who has played
and liked the original SC, but hasn't tried SC2000 (are there any others
out there?). 

Of course, if you have SC2000 for some other format, I wouldn't recommend
buying the PSX version, since that would only be redundant. 

A comparison with SC2000 PSX, SS, and PC?  Well, since I haven't played
the SS or PC versions, I can't say.  However, I would assume that the
graphics on the PC version are better.  Otherwise, there are probably few
differences. 

--------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Kennedy
brk@acpub.duke.edu