Old, dated, graphically poor, and still an addictive challenge.
You basically start out with a small budget and have to build up your city, passing various population limits with the aim of reaching Megalopolis standard, or 500,000 inhabitants, something that becomes extremely challenging to achieve.
There are a wealth of options available to you as Mayor that enable you to achieve this; taxes can be raised to glean more income, but residents will leave if they get too high. You receive gifts in the form of zoos, casinos, parks, fairgrounds and so on to boost your land value and income, provided you're building a pleasant, successful city to begin with.
You'll have to manage crime and pollution, arguably the two biggest problems facing you, as well as deal with the threat of natural disasters - or not so natural when Godzilla invades!
You're helped along the way by Dr. Wright, the venerable adviser who'll give you hints and tips that guide you in your endeavours. Pester him too much though and even he'll leave you on your own to deal with the situation.
As mentioned, the gameplay is what endures after all these years. You start of creating a small town and end up dealing with a sprawling metropolis, or if you're really good, megalopolis. It takes considerable time and attention to detail to achieve this and the difficulty of the game is struck just right to ensure you'll be at it for hours at a time. It won't look or sound that great, but it stands up well as a classic of the genre.