New Features


Maxis told of plans to create SimCity 3000 in the third quarter of 1997. It started out to be totally revolutionary, with full 3D graphics and you could zoom right into street level as a first person view, and see the different faces of your sims. All the buildings, cars, and streetlights would be in 3D. All this sounded good, but very soon they found that the requirements for such a game would be outrageously high. So, Maxis announced that they would have to completely redesign the game to an isometric engine, which was what SC2000 had used. Even so, the graphics in SimCity 3000 would be far superior, because the buidings will still be rendered in 3D first, before converting to an isometric view (unlike that of SC2000 where the buildings ridiculously rotated with your viewpoint). You will now actually be able to see all four sides of every structure. Also, SimCity 3000 will offer 16-bit color, instead of 256, which is a huge improvement.

SimCity 3000 will also have 5 levels of zoom, the closest where you can see individual sims and what they're carrying (though buildings will be pixelish). Rather than blue dots, the cars will each have different features, and they will fit in the environment they are driving in. For example, more trucks will be found in industrial areas, and Garbage collectors will be seen going to and from recycling centers. Even the sims will be different in different areas of the city. You will see corporate executives carrying briefcases in dense commercial zones, and shoppers with bags near a corner store. The terrain in SimCity 3000 is a lot more realistic, with almost any degree of slope, compared to zero and 45 degrees in SC2000. There can be sharp points at mountain peaks, or smooth hills. The water actually dips a bit into the terrain instead of being at the same level. There is also a lot more variety of trees, which also varies with the elevation. The largest size map in SimCity 3000 is four times larger than the SC2000 size.

SimCity 3000 will offer landmark buildings from real cities, such as the Empire State and Grand Central Station of New York, the CN tower in Canada, the Petronis twin towers in Malasia. There are also many more rewards, some that serve a specific purpose in making your city grow. For example, the science center will boost commerce, and the theme park will attact tourists. New landmark themes will also be available for download at simcity.com, Maxis' official SimCity 3000 site.


Minimum system requirements for SC3000:

• Windows 95 or 98
• 166 MHz Pentium processor
• 32 MB RAM
• 4x CD-ROM drive
• 230 MB free HD space + space for saved games
• 2MB Video card, 16-bit color, DirectX 6 certified
• Sound card, DirectX 6 certified

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