The original SimCity, released by Maxis in the early 1990s, is often considered one of the best computer games of all time. It offers just the right mix of strategy, planning, and fun as you manage the month-to-month activities associated with building and maintaining a thriving city. In 1993 Maxis released SimCity 2000, one of the few sequels in the history of computer gaming that not only lives up to the quality of the original, but actually surpasses it.
Atelier recently ported the original SimCity to the Palm OS and their efforts were well received by the gaming community. ZIOSoft has released a version of SimCity 2000 for the Pocket PC platform. Taking advantage of the advanced graphics and processing power available on current Pocket PCs, ZIOSoft has managed to create a very playable and accurate version of the game. Few compromises have been made, and the "new" SimCity 2000 (see Screen 1) will likely go down as one of the best Pocket PC games to date.
Screen 1: ZIOSoft's new SimCity 2000 for the Pocket PC lets you plan and build your own city.
Building your own city
SimCity 2000 is a fairly simple game to play. Your goal is to build and manage a city from the ground up. You do this by developing "zones" based on land you purchase for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. You determine where and when each zone will be placed. The zones are all interrelated. For example, to develop your industrial zones to their fullest, you'll need to have strong residential zones. And commercial zones, by far the most finicky of the three, need strong growth in the other two zones to thrive.
In order for your city to grow, you'll need growth in all three areas. You will also need to build roads, power lines, power plants, police and fire departments, and other necessary infrastructure. Complicating matters are city ordinances, taxes, emigration, education, and the morale of your "sims." What gets SimCity players hooked and keeps them hooked is that this balancing act gets increasingly complex as your city grows. Before long you have to start thinking about adding colleges, hospitals, amusement parks, highways, gambling casinos, and prisons. You'll need to factor in the relative costs and benefits of these new additions to your city (see Screen 2).
Screen 2:. Managing your city's growth is an ongoing process involving many factors.
Your city will have to be maintained, ensuring that there's enough of everything to keep your citizens happy. You'll also need to turn a profit. You can, for example, cut police funding or raise taxes, though doing either will have implications. You can cut taxes in a particular area to stimulate growth and issue development bonds. Part of the fun of SimCity is finding just the right combination of factors that will allow you to keep the money coming in, allow the borders to expand, and make your citizens happy.
Keeping an eye on your city
As you might imagine, playing SimCity 2000 requires that you keep track of a considerable amount of information. Fortunately, ZIOSoft's version of the game makes managing all the information easy. The actual map of your city takes up about 90% of the screen. Icons at the top of the screen (in the form of a scrolling bar) let you access the tools you need to build your zones and establish your infrastructure. This bar also lets you access various charts and graphs that tell you how well you're doing. Arrows at the extreme left and right allow you to scroll through the various icons.
The thin bar separating the icons from your city map displays three strength meters, indicating growth or recession for your residential zone (left), commercial zone (middle) or industrial zone (right). Scroll bars at the bottom and right side of the screen let you move around your city map.
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