SimCity 2000

aka: Draco, SC2000, SC2K, SimCity 2000: Der ultimative Städte-Simulator, SimCity 2000: La Super-Simulation D'Urbanisme, SimCity 2000: Symulator Buddwy I Rozwoju Miasta, SimCity 2000: The Ultimate City Simulator
Moby ID: 657
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Description official descriptions

SimCity 2000 is the successor to the city simulation game Sim City. You are once again the mayor, but this time you can fully customize the terrain before building your city. The graphics are isometric, whereas the original had graphics displayed in a top-down fashion.

This title adds numerous features over the original such as the ability of building "light" zones, subways, hospitals, colleges, zoos, and arcos which are actually cities in cities. You can now give names to places, and your city is surrounded by neighboring towns with which you can trade goods. Finally, instead of the poll in the first game, you now have the option of reading several newspapers to get an idea of your progress.

Spellings

  • Sim City 2000 - Alternate spelling
  • סים סיטי 2000 - Hebrew spelling
  • シムシティー2000 - Japanese spelling
  • 模拟城市2000 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

75 People (64 developers, 11 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 55 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 308 ratings with 9 reviews)

Never cared much for this one.

The Good
I don't exactly know why it is that I dislike this game and most other people don't, but it must have something to do with it being a lot less addictive than the original SimCity was.

The only really good thing about this game is its great eye-candy, especially when considering the year it came out. However, this is also a minus. Read on.

The Bad
The graphics are excellent, but the engine is horribly slow; the game simply crawled on my old 386 and didn't do a hell of a lot better on my 486. It was horribly jumpy and completely unplayable. The game is unnecessarily complex and makes use of a badly designed interface (a lot less intuitive than the trusty interface of the first game). The gameplay is inconsistant and unexpectable - you may find yourself doing almost the exact same thing on two different games, win one and lose the other. Does that make a lot of sense? Not really. In addition, the natural calamities should have been more developed (i.e. behave less eratically), and the mouse controls should be improved a whole lot - they tend to lose mark every now and then and are not very precise either.

The Bottom Line
In short, just not a very good game, but since most people seem to like it you may find it to your own liking.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2000

Great addictive gamplay but the original did it better for me

The Good
The follow-up to the seminal SimCity, an unputdownable game. The sequal carried on in this fashion and added isometric graphics which no doubt added to the game.

The Bad
What makes the original better for me is the lack of waterpipes and the lack of complication. Too many new buildings added more complication. I prefered the simplicity and pure addictiveness of the original.

The Bottom Line
Briliant game, be sure to check out the original though, although it is dated.

DOS · by Julian McKenzie (160) · 2000

A worthy sequel which not only improves on the original but also adds some exciting new features

The Good
I personally didn't like the top-down view of the original SimCity very much. The new isometric view is simply great since you can see your city from a much wider angle. You can even rotate the view in 90-degree increments, which gives a pseudo-3D impression.

The graphics look glorious in 256-color 640x480 SVGA. You can see all the tiny details thanks to the higher color depth and resolution. The interface is polished -- using the toolbar is much more intuitive. A new help feature (pressing the Shift key while clicking on an icon) greatly reduces the learning curve as well.

The terrain has now elevations, which can be completely customized. So instead of relying the random land generation algorithm, you can create hills, mountains, waterfalls, lakes, etc. on your own.

The addition of "light zones" is a definite plus. In this way you can rid of those ugly apartment buildings. You can now build elementary schools, high schools, and colleges to give a broad range of education options to your citizens. In addition you can also build hospitals and zoos, which the original lacked.

The Bad
You will need a fast 486 or Pentium for a smooth gaming experience.

The Bottom Line
SimCity 2000 is a classic piece of realistic simulation software which is both fun and addicting. Prepare to spend hundreds of hours on this "game".

DOS · by IJan (1971) · 2000

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Bull Moose Katie Cadet (10036) Oct 6, 2015

Trivia

1001 Video Games

SimCity 2000 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Perspective

SimCity 2000 is viewed from a dimetric rather than isometric perspective. This means that two sides of an object are at the same angle, while the other is not.

Trees

Few gamers must have noticed that trees actually multiply in this game. Leave the game running for a few days at top speed with all automatic functions, a surplus budget and disabled disasters and you'll see the results. This leaves the game in a useless state as environmental activists complain each time you to try to build something on a square.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #12 Hardest Computer Game
  • Electronic Entertainment
    • March 1994 – Editors' Choice Awards: Best Game (Honorable Mention)
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • March 1997 (Issue 92) - Strategy Game of the Year (multiplatform) (Readers' Choice)
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #20 in the "Readers All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
    • April 2005 - #29 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1995 – Best Simulation in 1994

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 and Zack Green

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

PlayStation 3 added by Picard. PS Vita added by Charly2.0. SNES added by PCGamer77. PlayStation, Game Boy Advance added by Kartanym. PSP added by Foxhack. SEGA Saturn added by Kohler 86. Acorn 32-bit, OS/2 added by Kabushi. Amiga added by Martin Smith. Nintendo 64 added by Adam Baratz. Macintosh added by Terok Nor. PC-98, Windows Mobile added by Игги Друге. FM Towns added by Unicorn Lynx. Windows added by Ronald Diemicke. Windows 3.x added by Denis Grangé.

Additional contributors: Olivier Masse, Xantheous, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Shoddyan, Cabeza2000, //dbz:, Steven Tsao, Alaka, monkeyislandgirl, Havoc Crow, formercontrib, Crawly, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, firefang9212.

Game added January 2, 2000. Last modified January 25, 2024.