SimCity 3000

About SimCity 3000

SimCity 3000 (1999) is Maxis's third major SimCity, adding rubbish collection, farms, neighbour deals, named advisors and a greener, more varied landscape to the city-building formula.

SimCity 3000 in Depth

The biggest change from SimCity 2000 is waste management: once a city reaches a medium size, rubbish piles up and must be disposed of at the city's expense. Farms appear on large light industrial zones with low land values and little pollution, a third zoning density joins the previous two, and power plants and now water facilities lose output with age before reaching the end of their lives. Neighbouring cities, introduced in SimCity 2000, become trading partners: mayors buy and sell water, electricity and waste services for a monthly charge, with penalties for cancelling a deal. Business deals let the player earn large sums by allowing structures such as a maximum security prison, at the cost of lower land values.

Land value is simulated much more realistically, producing distinct slums, middle-class districts and wealthy areas, with values highest near the city centre. The dimetric view remains, but the landscape turns from mostly brown to a realistic green that shifts with height from beach sand to bare ground and snow, with five steepnesses of slope and trees from small deciduous ones to towering redwoods. Seven named advisors give in-depth advice on finance, transport, environment, planning, safety, health and education, and utilities, while petitioners, from citizens to outside interests pushing harmful schemes like casinos, ask the player to change policies.

Making SimCity 3000

In 1996, before Electronic Arts bought Maxis, management pushed for a fully 3D SimCity despite staff concerns that it was too graphically demanding, and it was developed for a year; its future release was even feared to be the fatal blow to a struggling Maxis. EA's new general manager Luc Barthelet questioned it, the 3D version was scrapped, and Lucy Bradshaw led a new version built on SimCity 2000's dimetric projection. Released in 1999, it sold 657,514 copies in the US that year, second only to RollerCoaster Tycoon, and the Unlimited edition sold another 1.1 million there by 2006. IGN gave it 9.0, GameSpot 8.5 while criticising the advisors, and Next Generation four stars, though the Mac OS version was poorly received.