SimCity 4 (SC4) is a city-building/urban planning simulation computer game developed by Maxis
,a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth installment
in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to
the game. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition contained the original game and Rush Hour combined as a single product.
The game allows players to create a region of land by terraforming, and then to design and build a settlement
which can grow into a city. Players can zone different areas of land as commercial, industrial, or residential
development, as well as build and maintain public services, transport and utilities. For the success of a city
players must manage its finances, environment, and quality of life for its residents. SimCity 4 introduces night
and day cycles and other special effects for the first time in the SimCity series. External tools such as the Building Architect Tool (BAT) allow custom third party buildings and content to be added to the game-play.
SimCity 4 was praised for being the second game in the SimCity series to primarily use a 3D engine to render its graphics, the first being SimCity 64 for the ill-fated Nintendo 64DD. It received widespread acclaim, won several awards, and was one of the top ten selling PC games of 2003.It was however criticized for the difficulty of gameplay and computer
performance.
