Gameplay: There were not any good help files that came with the game. Sure, tehre was a help index, but there was no tutorial help file. So you needed to experiment with all the buttons and controls by yourself. This isn't so bad, but I never really knew what one of the graphs meant, which could have restricted my ability to build a great city! Other than a slow start with the game, gameplay was good. No slowdowns and no bugs that I encountered. THe urban renewal kit that cam with the game was good too. It was a way to make new buildings and scenarios. That also had no good help file and I had to experiment. But, yet again, there were no slowdowns or bugs.

Plot: This was an original plot, and still is really the only big game using it. You are the grand mayor of a new city. You need to make all the right decisions on where to build things and what ordinances to run and how to tax the people and so on. If you make the wrong move, your expert (lifeless) advisors will tell you. It is a very interesting game, but a little old.

Addictiveness (fun): I was not very addicted to this game. Every once and a while I'd be sitting somewhere and thinking, "well maybe if I do this, I'll get a better city." so I go and do that, fail, and don't play for another week or month. If it wasn't for the review, I would have played about 5 times and then stopped. The main problem of this is the impossible challenge. Yes, challenge is good, but when it's like the Orioles against the Yankees, then you have a problem. I never got my city really booming. It would do well for a few years and then I'd either loose intrest or go broke. Yes, that's another problem, money. Not once in the game did I actully earn money. I guess I was doing some pretty bad taxing, but I always ended up with negative integers as my cash amount.

Variety: There is a lot of variety, but at the same time tehre isn't. There were well over 100 different structures that could pop up from the zoning you placed, and probably 20-30 more structures you could place yourself. But there was only one type of scenario. Build a city. That got old fast. If I was ever really bored of the original plot, I could go for some of the disaster scenarios, which actully had goals. For example, you could pick the Hollywood scenario where a monster from a stage set came alive and blew away half the city. YOu had to get it's residence back to normal in 10 years. Things like that added flavor to the game, but weren't the icing needed on this bare cake. Another bit of variey was the Urban Renewal Kit. If you thought to yourself, "hey, that's not what A police station looks like," than by golly you could craft one. Or If you wanted to model your own town in the game (without spending money or course), you could do it there.

Satisfaction: My question is: satisfaction of what? There was no real way to beat a level in this game, but I must say, getting your population over 4,000 was satisfying. Making money was also satisfying too. I never could beat one of the disaster scenarios, so I wouldn't know about them, and the Urban Renewal Kit really doesnt apply here. But all in all, if you do something right, I think you deserve a pat on the back, becasue I think I did something right about one time for every 20 things I must have done wrong!

Challenge: Too much of it actully. As I said before, not one did I end up with a positive amount of money before I quit, frustrated. I guess this is the kind of game that takes time and patience to learn and master, but in today's gaming world, not to many people go for those types.

Urban Renewal Kit: This was a special goodie thrown in to the Special Edition. You can build your own buildings and then use them in-game. The only problem is, you have to be a top-notch computer artist to make good ones. Another part of this kit is building your own towns without any money. This was mainly for testing your new buildings, but why do that when you can make a vast city without spending a dime!?

Misc: One last thing I'd like to mention is the extra cities. By loading a city, you can choose from many cities that the Maxis team put together before the release of the game. These are mainly eyecandy, becasue there is almost no room for expansion in most, but you can really get some good ideas from them. But it also makes you wonder how they built a city like that with the impossiblilty you face in the normal game...well, they made the thing I guess.

There is no multi-player in this game.

Final Statements: This is a frustrating game and doesn't really tickle my fancy, although I usually do like games like this. I don't suggest getting it unless you are a hardcore Maxis fan.

Score: 59/100