SimCity 3000 Unlimited is the latest game in the classic urban-planning simulation series. It provides a host of peripheral additions to its 1998 predecessor SimCity 3000 but remains essentially identical otherwise. As such, it's best suited for those who haven't played much of the previous game, although hard-core SimCity fans may appreciate its new scenario-editing features.
Fortunately, the core game has survived the passing months with all its charm intact - the bright pastel colors and intuitive interface design remain good looking by contemporary standards, and SimCity 3000's isometric perspective and simple, tile-based terrain are still perfectly suited to the gameplay. In fact, the game's stylized 2D graphics are anything but passé. Similarly, SimCity 3000's great sound effects and cool jazzy music score still sound first rate, and since there are plenty of different tracks and they all tend to hum pleasantly in the background, you wouldn't think to turn them off even if you've poured hours into the original SimCity 3000.
Then again, if you played a great deal of SimCity 3000 last year, then you might find that SimCity 3000 Unlimited's additional in-game features collectively don't provide enough new material to restore your interest. The more sadistically inclined SimCity players will quickly notice that Unlimited adds several types of disasters that can befall their fair metropolis either at random or at their whim, whichever comes first. These include everything from a ravaging plague of locusts to a brimstone-like rain of superheated space junk.
