SimCity 3000

SimCity 3000 was mainly a revised version of 2000 with better graphics. Buildings were now 3d-rendered allowing true rotation, you had five zoom levels allowing you to see individual people and cars. Unlike the predecessor, it gave you the feeling of looking at a real city, but there was no day and night yet.

There was an update, Limited in the USA and World Edition in Europe. 3000 was the first SimCity that was developed for the PC first and then ported to the Mac, a fact that did not make Mac users very happy.

• SimCity 3000 Unlimited official website
• SC3K Map Editor
• SimCity 3000 Resource Center
• Jason's Sim City Archive: Cities, buildings, tips and cheats for SimCity 2000 and 3000.

Official system requirements: P166, 32MB RAM, 2MB graphics card, 150MB disk space, 4× CD-ROM. Mac requirements are higher, a PowerPC with 200MHz, but a G3 with 64MB RAM is recommended.

Landmarks

SimCity 2000 had arcologies, large structures that became available only late in the game. They housed incredible numbers of inhabitants they were and were not subject to any change in graphics due to fluctuations in land value or other causes. When the Urban Renewal Kit came out, these were the buildings most often subject to editing, especially for localisations: you could easily convert them to landmarks.

Maybe this was the reason that Maxis decided to replace them with landmarks right away in SimCity 3000. You are limited to ten landmarks per city, luckily there is a way around:

Add every building to the Landmarks window (and remove the 10-landmark limit):

• Open the Power Plant window (under Utilities Menu), and then close it with the × button in the top right corner.
• Now open the Rewards & Opportunities window (under Civic & Special menu), and then close it with the × button.
• Go back to the Utilities menu and open the Garbage Disposal window, and then close it with the × button.
• Now finally, go back to the Civic & Special buildings menu and open the Landmarks window.

You should notice that the list of landmarks has grown considerably. This code makes all of the structures in the game available to place at your free will (and at free cost) anywhere on your city map. Also, the quantity restraints have been lifted, so you can place as many landmarks or structures as you want. You can also place duplicate landmarks or structures.

Unfortunately, the format for landmarks changed in SimCity 3000 Unlimited. So make sure which version you have before you download anything.

• Landmarks for SimCity 3000
• Landmarks for SimCity 3000 Unlimited
• Apple Campus Landmark: Mac reviewers complained a lot about the many evidences of SimCity 3000 being a port from the Windows platform, but Apple sure was proud that they would include one of their buildings.

  I know Mac users had to wait a little longer than expected to get SimCity 3000, and we wanted to do something special for them. Given the ability to to put new landmarks in the game via a download, we figured it was the perfect way to give Mac users something no one else had. Apple's developer relations group was really supportive, and got us inside to take some pictures of the Apple Campus. Apply some artistic talent and, voila, the Apple Campus Landmark was born. Everyone who's seen it thinks it looks awesome, and I'm really psyched to be able to give this to the Mac users. - Tim LeTourneau

  Of course, you can include the building in your game if you use the Windows version, too. But it is generally easier to add new landmark buildings in the Mac version, Jack Minsky of Software MacKiev (who did the port) explains:

  Adding new landmark buildings, like the Apple Cupertino Campus landmark, is much easier for Mac SimCity 3000 users. Windows users need first to download a 1MB 'SC3K Plug-In Tool' from the Maxis website and go through the plug-in installation process. But Mac users don't need to do that. To paraphrase a famous commercial, with the Mac version of SimCity 'there is no step one.' Because this is already built in for Mac users.

New Concepts, Old Concepts

When Maxis first presented SimCity 3000 at the E3 1997, it was quite different from what it turned out to be in the end. It was quite different from what SimCity games had been previously. It was all in 3D, and the main view seems to have been walking around through your city, as you already could do in the Playstation version of SimCity 2000. Journalists weren't all that impressed:

Many in the press were left wondering what Maxis was attempting to do with the franchise as the original concept of the game took it into a ground level 3D world. SimCity 3000 was to be a conglomeration of the Streets of SimCity, Sim Copter, and Sim Golf (none of which were stellar titles). The reason for this change in aspect was due to Maxis', old management who desperately needed a hit title to help the company financially. Luckily for SimCity fans, Electronic Arts bought out Maxis and dumped the entire original concept for the game. — Brian Clair

The SimCity Games
SimCity									SNES	89
SimCity 2000									SNES	93
SimCity Classic
SimCity Enhanced										94
SimTown
SimCity 2000 Network Edition										96
SimCopter
Streets of SimCity										97
SimCity 3000										99
SimCity 4										03

Mac Reviews

• SimCity 3000 is a vast improvement over its predecessor, Adam Karneboge concludes, though he warns of high system requirements and deplores that it is a port:

  My one and only complaint with SimCity 3000 is that it was ported directly from the Windows 9x platform, with no thought given to adjustments that need to be made for the Macintosh. From the very start the crudeness of the port shows because of the Windows mouse pointer! That's right: it's a big, all white pointer, not the black pointer we have all grown to love. All of the game's dialog and information boxes take on a very Windows 9x feel, and pressing the Return key for the default option does not work in most of the windows.

• It is still the coolest game I know, Randall Whitted ensures us, even though Electronic Arts trampled the once-beautiful relationship (between Maxis and Mac users, that is) with no loyalty or class:

  Being the first SimCity to be developed for the PC first, SC3K contains some interface woes. The game screen itself isn't bad, but could have been better and easier to use. Save and open dialogues are downright dreadful, catering to Windows users. In fact, many Mac users might be confused by them. The opening window has a really cool interface, where the four main options buttons wave and the buildings and items on them tilt with the wave. After weeks of playing the game, I still had a hard time remembering where interface buttons were and what they did. It's just not intuitive.

• Cleaner cities, no urban renewal, Christopher Breen headlines, and inevitably lists the white cursor as the major flaw:

  The biggest changes in SimCity 3000 are the waste-management responsibilities and the relationships with neighboring cities. Every city generates trash, and your SimCity is no different. You must deal with the trash created, or your city becomes smothered with garbage and the population flees. Your neighbors may offer to take your garbage—for a fee, of course—if you haven't zoned enough space for it. If you have loads of dumping ground, other cities can pay you to take their trash. Neighboring towns offer power and water deals as well.

  Although these new elements enhance an already enchanting simulation, some users may be disappointed that SimCity 3000 adds few other new features. In many ways, SimCity 3000 is little more than SimCity 2000 with a very successful face-lift. And Mac users accustomed to a Mac interface will likewise be disappointed with SimCity 3000's Windows look—complete with a chunky, white arrow cursor and Windows-style folder navigation.

• SimCity 3000 is more fun that watching paint dry, but just barely, Mike Brinkman reluctantly declares, mainly due to lack of challenge and a map editor, and, of course, the interface:

  I'd like to extend kudos to Software MacKiev for a well done port of a mediocre game, even making a few minor improvements. Most noticeably, was the color icons (they're black and white on the PC version). Now if they only could have done something about that ugly, big old white Windows '95 mouse cursor!

Windows Reviews

• SC3K does a great job of satisfying the hardcore SimCity fan, Nash Werner thinks, but it doesn't go out of its way to appeal to newbies:

  Like all the SimCity games before it, SC3K's gameplay is good — if you know what you're doing. On that note, I'd suggest that Maxis include an in-game tutorial next time around. Something for the newbies. Something definitely more visual, educational, and interactive. Something where their eyes are on the screen while they learn the ropes, and not squinting at the manual. Newcomers to the series may have a tough time getting started.

Linux Reviews

In 2001, SimCity 3000 was ported to Linux by Loki Games. It needs a faster computer than the Windows version. Nowadays the speed issues will hardly be a problem any more.

• Ultimately, the game is much the same as SimCity 2000, is mrsneeze's verdict.

  However, the game suffers badly from one thing. It is very, very slow. It's not just that the graphics are slow (of all the things Linux suffers from badly, slow 2d graphics are almost certainly the most noticable), but the whole game moves slowly — perhaps speeding up the graphics would change this, but at least working around it would make the game tolerably speedy. It's painful to have to go and make a cup of tea since you've ran out of money and you know you're not going to get enough for that police station for the next two years. Perhaps I'm just not good at the game, but it would be nice if there was a point in running at less than full-speed.