Sim City 4: Rush Hour Review

By Martin Taylor Published 17 October, 2003

Martin takes Sim City 4's first expansion for a test drive.

Version tested: PC

Though Maxis' post-release support for Sim City 4 was initially poor (the promised multiplayer facility took months to appear), the game was eventually patched with bug fixes, performance improvements and features that would have been nice out of the box. But is Rush Hour, potentially the first in a line of SC4 expansions, enough of a game out of the box, a glorified patch, or just an excuse for EA to print some more shiny DVD covers and banknotes?

RRljkgjcg welcomes you

'Sim City 4: Rush Hour' Screenshot 1

Truth be told, none of that mattered to me at first. I was just glad to be given another chance to sit down and spend some more time with one of my favourite games of the year, although I was a little cautious dusting off my mayoral robes, worried that I'd left the burgeoning community of RRljkgjcg [he wears his creativity on his sleeve, this one -Ed] in something of a state.

Fortunately I hadn't, and things seemed to be doing all right. The town was young and ripe for expansion all along its glorious coastline foothold. I was welcomed back, and my mayoral control panel was just as I remembered it; all the familiar knobs and dials seemed to be in place, the charts and graphs dotted about ready to let me know who needed what, and my advisors perched in their boxes, ready to chirp up whenever I wasn't paying attention. So far, everything seemed comfortably familiar.

However, investigating the interface a little further revealed a few new surprises. First, there's a button tucked away conveniently offering me instant feedback on current affairs from the citizens themselves. Another displays a handy overlay detailing the common traffic routes of individual households, or the origin of traffic on particular roads. Very nifty, and certainly a massive boon to the planning of future road improvements, particularly these new-fangled one-way streets, double-wide avenues and enormous ground-based freeways we now have at our disposal to cut down on congestion.

Monoraaaaail

'Sim City 4: Rush Hour' Screenshot 2

Thankfully, and as we all should know, the solution to congestion issues does not always mean more expensive laying of tarmac. Rush Hour offers the opportunity to create a fancy elevated rail transport system, too, which can be seamlessly integrated into any existing subway network via a transitional track piece. If you'd like to keep it completely overground, then you can go all Disneyworld on your city and build a monorail system to get your commuters to work.

You can even leave dry land completely and build ferry terminals to ship your workers to and fro between islands and other cities. The combination of the route query tool and the vastly expanded, more creative transport options really does open up the possibility for larger and more spacious cities, as well as connectivity with others.

The seamlessness with which the new transport additions have been integrated make the Rush Hour installation feel less of an expansion and more of a natural progression. Once you're used to the few interface changes and how they work, you don't even notice Rush Hour is there, perhaps even missing out on some of the lesser additions, like the new modern European building set - you'll just start loving the whole Sim City 4 experience all over again.

In the driving seat

'Sim City 4: Rush Hour' Screenshot 3

There is one major alteration that Rush Hour brings that stands out on the landscape, however. The U-Drive-It!(�) feature allows players to clamber into a wide variety of vehicles at will and take a trip around the city, either at leisure or to fulfil a mission briefing. Never did I imagine that Maxis would incorporate an arcade action title into Sim City, but here it is in a sort of simplified, isometric version of the original Grand Theft Auto [if only Rockstar North and Maxis could have little Sim GTA babies, eh? -Ed].

The feature works by indicating which vehicles currently driving about the city have a mission for you. When you click the appropriate icon, you get a brief outline of the task and its rewards. Should you click on a police car, for example, the mission might be to pursue and catch a carjacker and gain a healthy boost in your mayor rating for your efforts. You may well be offered an alternative though, like assuming the role of the carjacker and escaping across the border with some cash. This would obviously result in some damage to your mayoral rating, but you'd end up with a tidy sum of money to compensate. Mmm, dark side points.

Rewards are not always monetary either. Completing many missions will unlock new buildings, some with extra vehicles to play with. Completing a certain number of ambulance missions, for example, can unlock the deluxe medical centre with a helipad, which in turn enables you to take the helicopter for a spin and unlock even more vehicles, and so on.

Breaking the Speed Limit

'Sim City 4: Rush Hour' Screenshot 4

The vehicles are simple to control, using WSAD for directional movement and additional controls depending on the vehicle and its special features, like the sirens on a police car or the water cannon on a fire engine. Amongst the missions, particular favourites included a military themed one in which you have to pilot a missile-laden helicopter and destroy the nefarious Dr. Vu's secret lair (and half the city with it).

U-Drive-It is a feature that serves as a neat little diversion to all the serious municipal management, but one that dishes out real rewards and is a valuable asset to boosting the coffers or getting the people back on your side in dark times. The only issue I had was that the fast pace of most of the missions doesn't quite suit the sluggishness that the Sim City 4 engine is famous for, but it's something I got past pretty quickly.

So, less of an expansion, then, and more of a natural development of the game. At times, yes, it does feel as though most of this stuff should be available on the website along with the rest of the free extras, but the impact the pack has on your creations can't be ignored and, for the Sim City obsessed, they're actually quite essential. U-Drive-It is the only bold move to distinguish the pack from the original title, sadly, but is entertaining enough to prop up some of the lesser additions.

An Expansive Dilemma

After an agonising period of deliberation, my mayoral instincts have led me to conclude that Rush Hour is "one for fans". At £20, it's not tremendous value for money (especially as the yanks get it for $10 thanks to a cheeky EA rebate deal), but if you're a dedicated city planner like me, then you'd be foolish not to consider it.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Martin.

About Martin Taylor

Read more articles from Martin by visiting the Martin Taylor archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (14) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rankin #1 8 years ago

    An expansion pack for an EA game?

    UNTHINKABLE!

  • UncleLou #2 8 years ago

    Ah, nice one, I really loved SC4 and this would be the perfect excuse to play it again, but after the review confirmed what I expected, namely that there isn't that much new stuff to do, it definitely is too expensive.

    Mouse, how does the U-drive work, performance wise? Because even on my 1GB system there was some heavy hd access, much better after the patch and hardly a problem seeing that it's a slow-paced startegy game, but definitely enough to ruin any kind of "action" gameplay I would think.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #3 8 years ago

    It's not too bad, it mostly just stutters when you get going or when there are a lot of other vehicles on the screen. The performance is certainly a lot better than when the game first came out.

  • TipTop #4 8 years ago

    Thats good to know, and I had better patch my original copy cos I stopped playing due to the poor performance. At £20 you are right that it seems a bit steep ... (www.play.com anyone? Or Eurogamer's shop - any changes in sight?)

  • Merefield #5 8 years ago

    I dunno, chaps, though I found this game quite beautiful, - and clearly, a lot of thought has gone into it - playing it just feels too much like a job of work....

    TipTop - there is an autoupdate feature on the official website so updating couldn't be simpler
    Edited by 1 at 17/10/03 @ 10:58

  • UncleLou #6 8 years ago

    Cheers, mouse.

    I have to disagree Merefield, I thought it was quite relaxing actually - it's slow-paced, and often you can sit there for minutes, just watching the buildings pop up(though I understand some people might find this boring) .

    So I'd say it doesn't feel like a job unless your real life job is watching charts and diagrams all day as well. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 17/10/03 @ 11:02

  • Abscido #7 8 years ago

    I like that subtle Simpson's reference...

  • reflux #8 8 years ago

    "This is nothing compared to Grand Theft Auto III, because you can't steal a taxi cab, pick up somebody, then drive into the ocean with him."

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #9 8 years ago

    I like that subtle Simpson's reference

    There are many things in life that remind us of Simpsons episodes.

    Or Eurogamer's shop - any changes in sight?

    Not for the time being - it's b0rked.

  • Razz #10 8 years ago

    OMG IT'S OUT ALREADY!!!!!

    /books two weeks off work... runs to GAME.

    (0/

  • TipTop #11 8 years ago

    Can I just go on record and say that Razz scares me.

  • LaundroMat #12 8 years ago

    Duly noted.

  • Razz #13 8 years ago

    >:|

    o_OO_OO_o

    ph34r m3!

  • reto #14 8 years ago

    If only "Streets of Sim City" had been good.