SimCity 4: Rush Hour

SimCity 4 Expansion Pack

Release Date: September 22, 2003

Strategy, economic, sandbox, isometric view, city builder, singleplayer

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The first official expansion for the fourth installment of the Sim City series – the economic strategy city builder franchise developed by Maxis. The expansion pack introduces many features that enable the player to make his city’s communication network more effective. Among these features there are tools that enable him to observe the traffic levels and to quickly react to any problems related to it.

Rush Hour for PC is the first official expansion pack to the very popular city building simulator – SimCity 4. The expansion pack introduces many new features that enable the virtual mayor to improve the communication network of his city.

Mechanics

The add-on released on PC introduces many new tools that enable the player to observe the traffic level and to dynamically react to problems like traffic jams, communication disasters etc. One of these tools is “route query” that enables the player to observe the paths that the inhabitants use to travel to their destination points.

Rush Hour also enables the player to assume control of any vehicle (mission mode) like a car or a helicopter and to use it to remove the effects of a disaster or to prevent a crime. For example, when the player clicks on a police car, he receives a task of finding a car thief and after clicking on a fire truck he is tasked with driving the car to a fire by using the shortest way possible. Successful completion of these missions is awarded with various rewards. The game even enables the player to assume the role of a criminal who is trying to escape the law. However, completing these missions increases the crime level in the city, which isn’t good for the player.

In comparison to the basic version of the game, the number of available modes of transportation is increased. The citizens of the city now can use ferries, overhead railways and unidirectional streets. There are new types of disasters available as well. Most of them are related to traffic: car accidents, plane crashes etc.

There are four new styles that enable the player to change the layout of his city: late 19th century Chicago, Houston during the nineties of 20th century, New York since 1940 and modern Europe. Rush Hour for PC also introduces one hundred new objects, including water ports, helicopter landing zones, historical train stations and European tourist attractions.

Since the game is only an expansion pack, it requires the basic version of SimCity 4 to work.

Last updated on June 23, 2017

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