SimCity™ 4 Deluxe Edition

I was skeeved out when I read the EULA TOS and when reading some of the reviews for the game. I don't want to purchase this on GOG when the entire I buy games on GOG is to actually own what I purchase. However, GOG says all of their sales are DRM free. Even says it right now on the page as I'm writing. Bit of false advertising right? So, I decided to do a test and find out for myself what's going on. I bought the game, installed it, popped open task manager, ended all processes associates with the GOG launcher, disconnected my internet and navigated to the Sims City 4 installation directory. Started up SimCity4.exe. It works fine. As a matter of fact, the game looks so unmolested that there's even a button that links you to a deprecated website that no longer works, simcity.ea.com I wouldn't worry about this game having DRM. Whatever DRM it could possibly have applied to it in the EULA isn't being reflected from what I can tell in the game files. If I'm wrong, I'm open to being corrected and personally would like to know if this changes in the future. In any case, I've always loved this game.

Doesn't require a constant internet connection Doesn't randomly wipe cities Doesn't prevent you from using mods Doesn't restrict control over regions Doesn't confine you to a 10x10 city grid It does however put a game that is 10 years newer to shame. If you want SimCity, look no further.

This software should not exist on GOG. It is not DRM-free as advertised and requires an active EA account and installed client. The mandatory EULA is insane, including the text "You hereby waive any moral rights of paternity" ...why? Other than getting weird with their terminology, they admit to collecting information on your PC. "To facilitate Technical Protection Measures (if any), the provision of software updates, any dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including marketing, advertising and online play (if any), you agree that EA and its affiliates may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including an Internet Protocol Address and hardware identification), operating system and application software and peripheral hardware"

Another game from my youth that I've reaccquired an am now spending far too much time on. It's more complex than SC3K, and probably harder in some respects, you now have to pay for upkeep on utility, civic, and recreational structures, for example, but it also has a greater variety of buildings that you can place in your city, more different types of RCI structures, and a few other features that give it more depth, in my view. Specialised agricultural zones are also a big plus (farms were an utter pain to accquire in SC3k!). The regional aspect is certainly interesting. The main downside of region play means that you can no longer play your city in isolation like with previous titles, but it also opens up opportunities, e.g. one town could be a business centre, another a farming village, and another an industrial town. You can also bung a bunch of polluting utility structures into one city, make connections, an not have to worry about the detrimental effects of such structures whilst reaping the benefits. As mentioned in the title, some modding may be required. I highly recommend the NAM (Network Addon Mod), available from Simtropolis, as it provided an even wider range of transportation options, and an improved traffic simulator. Also on Simtropolis are a range of community made crucial bug fixes, patching up problems not dealt with by the main developers on or after release, such as a bug with High Tech industry not properly providing jobs to wealthy sims, for example. Look them up, read the forums, experiment, and always make backups. Finally, I would like to address some of the other reviews I've seen criticising a EULA for the game; whilst you do have to consent to one, I would like to mention that there is no snooper-telemetry bundled with the game as appears to have been claimed. So, no need to worry about that non-existent threat. Yeah, a great city builder/simulation game, and worth every penny/cent/*insert relevant currency sub-unit here*.

One nice thing about GoG is everything I've purchased has worked perfectly. This, not so much. I'm having screen drawing issues when scrolling. The custom resolution commands people are recommending cause more issues than they solve, as the game fails under every command line setup I try. I can get it to be playable at low res and stretched out, but it's ugly. I realize that this is a risk with older games but I am definitely disappointed with this one. Sim City 4 is a really fun game, though, if you can get it working well.