| SimCity 4: Rush Hour | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Maxis |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts (Windows) Aspyr Media (Mac) |
| Designer(s) | Will Wright |
| Composer(s) | Jerry Martin Andy Brick The Humble Brothers |
| Series | SimCity |
| Engine | Custom |
| Version | 1.0.2 |
| Platform(s) | Windows Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Simulation City-building game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E OFLC: G PEGI: 3+ |
| Media/distribution | 1 CD |
| System requirements
SimCity 4 previously installed. 500 MHz Pentium III processor. Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, or Windows 98; or Mac OS X, version 10.2 or later. 128 MB RAM, 256 MB RAM for Windows XP/Me. 1 GB hard disk space. 32 MB DirectX 7.0-compatible video card, 8x CD-ROM drive. |
|
SimCity 4: Rush Hour is the expansion pack for SimCity 4 created by EA Games and Maxis, where the player builds a city from scratch.
Contents |
U-Drive-It is a new add-on to Rush Hour, a mode where players can take control of cars, planes, and many other vehicles and drive them around the city. There are two modes of driving: Scenario Mode, where the player has a limited amount of time to win money or prizes, or Free Drive, that allows the player to drive freely.
If the vehicle sustains excessive damage (either by crashing into other vehicles or traversing into water), it will burst into flames and subsequently explode. This is shown by a colored diamond above the vehicle- in game called a "plumbob" (much like the ones in The Sims) which can turn from green to red in respect to the vehicles' current state.
Some vehicles have certain individual features, such as a police siren on police cars or the capacity to damage sections of the city with munitions from vehicles such as tanks, helicopters and jets. Also, some boats may cast fish nets or tug other boats to safety.
GameSpot has related U-Drive-It to Streets of SimCity,[1] and indicated the feature including an enhanced physics model partially based on that of SimCopter.[2] However, while Streets of SimCity and SimCopter can alternate between a first- and third-person view, U-Drive-It is restricted to third-person.
The newest addition to the roads section are one way roads and avenues. One-way roads are the same size as normal roads only they stretch into one direction, while avenues are 4-lane (2 lanes per direction) dual carriageway roads the same size as highways, with some shrubbery in the center strip (defined by the wealth of buildings on the road). Avenues existed in SimCity 4's predecessor, SimCity 3000; but not in the original SimCity 4.
The ground highway was also a new addition, which is cheaper but more obtrusive than elevated highways, but still carries the same capacity and can connect to roads in the same way. The t-intersection for highways was also introduced. Another addition is a toll booth which you can put on roads, highways, or avenues to get money. However they make traffic problems worse and lower the player's mayor rating.
Major changes to the public transportation section were made. The monorail, a fast moving above-ground railway, was introduced for high density areas. Unlike its similar partner, the above-ground railway (Elevated Rail), the monorail is much more modern-looking and faster, and also can be built over ground level roads, highways, avenues, streets and railways, much like an elevated highway. The elevated rail is cheaper than the monorail and can connect to the city's subway system.
The public parking garage was also introduced, which when used with stations and bus stops can be used to create a "park and ride" system.
The ferry system was introduced as the only change to the water transport section. The ferry system came in two types: Passenger, for people only, and Car and Passenger, for both.
Another new feature in Rush Hour is the route query; with it, it is possible to check the routes the Sims use to get to their jobs, allowing the player to see directly where the Sims need to go and how they do it.
Two new disasters are included in the pack, UFO attack and Autosaurus Wrecks. The UFO attack summons a mother ship which fires a destructive blast and spawns smaller ships. Autosaurus Wrecks is a robotic monster made of road vehicles, which bears similarities to MechaGodzilla. Autosaurus will go on a rampage, and eventually explode.
Composers Jerry Martin, Andy Brick and conductor Petr Pololanik worked with the seventy-piece Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra to record five songs for the soundtrack in Olomouc, Czech Republic.[3] The remainder of the soundtrack was composed by Martin, as well as The Humble Brothers, Walt Szalva, and Edwin Dolinski.[3] EA Games freely hosts the soundtrack for download.
Critics took the release fairly well, but some criticized EA Games and Maxis for not including the extra features in the original SimCity 4 release.[4] Still, the game was awarded an aggregate game critic score of 79 at MetaCritic.[4]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||