SimCity 4 Review (Abyss Raider)
The hours played doesn't reflect my experience with this game, as I used to play the disc version of this wonderful game religiously, and I still feel this to be one of the best city builders ever created. There was a time when Maxis had true freedom of their games (from when they were independent, and even the early days of being under EA), and during these times they released banger after banger - From the very first SimCity (and all other "Sim" games, I miss SimFarm and SimTower) up to SimCity 4 and Rush Hour, the studio and publisher were on fire and their games were of top-notch quality, and SimCity 4 is the result of them putting everything they learned up to this point into their city-builder series. There are very few builders out there that stand up to SimCity 4, it was just so enjoyable to make any kind of city you could dream and the addition of fun side-missions that let you actually drive vehicles around your city, and the ability to inspect your residential areas as well as name them if you please, was such a fun and intuitive addition to the franchise. Of course 4 is not without its flaws, but I have a hard time remembering what any of them are. EA may have destroyed their own franchise by making a mockery of the franchise with Sim City 2013, and City Skylines may currently be the premium city builder on the market while we're absolutely spoiled with solid choices like Urbek, Tropico, Anno, and Theotown among many others, but once upon a time Sim City 4 was king, and even today it has no problem showing that it is still relevant and as enjoyable now as it was back then.