Depending on how you want to play the game, it can be a lot of fun.
User Rating: 8.2 | SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition PC
SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition (SC4DE) is a combo pack combining the original SC4 with the Rush Hour add-on that lets you have more control over the traffic flow in your city. If you're going to get SC4 at this point, the combo is worth it since you can get it for $20, which is identical to SC4 alone. Technicalities aside, let's get down to SC4 itself. There are basically two ways to play the game and your enjoyment will vary greatly depending on how you do it. The first way to play the game is to try to 'beat' it. You can make the biggest region, build something and then blow it up, etc. This will get old in about half an hour. There is no plot, no guidance, nothing to tell you what you should want out of this game. The game, as it was released, is also not entirely complete. This is not to say that it's buggy, it's just dull. The bare minimum in building variety is given to you, and you'll get tired of seeing row upon row of similar buildings very soon. With the excellent graphics and decent underlying models, it's a shame that the game was shipped this way. There is another way to play the game and that is to either make your own buildings or get them online and then proceed to build a world much as you would a model railroad or some other scale model. This is a very lengthy process. It will take you months to collect all the buildings you need and fine tune your city. In the end, there are still several unfortunate features to the game. The grid is still there, so everything gets built north-south or east-west. No diagonal buildings. No diagonal bridges for that matter. Graphics under bridges and other buildings can only be cheated by using special custom lots. Worst, in my opinion, is the abysmal state of plug-in organization. EA/Maxis lets you put all your custom content in one folder, but doesn't sort it any further. Unless you are very organized and patient, you'll end up with a pile of files with random names and locations depending on how the modder made the lot. If you ever need to fix something, you'll probably end up spending an afternoon reinstalling everything. With great power comes great responsibility. That applies here to EA. SC4DE could have gone through a bit more development and come out a really polished game. Instead you get a great graphics and modeling engine, but very little control of it by default. You can thank The Sims franchise and EA's greedy agenda for that. If you're patient, you can have a lot of fun with this game, but be warned that it's not for everyone.
