SimMania Series

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

A review of the games in Sim Mania [Posted on 2002-12-30]
Sim Mania is an excellent game pack from the creators of the original Sim City. This pack includes six fantastic simulation games from Maxis and Electronic Arts incorporated. Games include the original Sim City, Sim Tower, Sim Isle, Sim Safari, Sim Copter, and Streets Of Sim City. Most of the games in this pack are simple to figure out but Sim Isle takes a little more time and effort. The original Sim City is the beginning of the Maxis Sim game series. In Sim Tower, you are a building owner and a construction worker to create the building. You have the choice of making it an office building, hotel suite, condo complex, and a restaraunt facility. In Sim Isle, you are in charge of creating an island and hiring people to maintain the island. In Sim Safari, you are in charge of creating a Safari park in Africa. You get to place the animals that you desire in the park and designing the camp site. This game is especially good for those who enjoy animals and the wildlife. Sim Copter is an exciting game where you are the pilot of a rescue helicopter. You are responsible for clearing traffic jams, fighting fires, reporting crimes, transporting people from one area of the town to another, rescuing people from rooftops and turned over boats, and getting injured people to the hospital. Streets of Sim City is a great game for those who enjoy high speed auto games as well as a little bit of shoot'em up and bang'em up action. If you do decide to purchase this product, you will have hours of computer entertainment.

Cheap Fun [Posted on 2003-05-08]
Retro gamming is not for everyone. I like to play old games, well, because I just have a problem with nostalgia. If you your not worried about graphics and you want to explore the early years of the "SIMS" universe, then it would not hurt to drop a couple of bucks for this pack of games.

Be warned, I could not get all of the games to run on my system, which is still 6 months away from not being modern anymore. But since the price was reasonable I still felt it was worth the three games I was able to run.

The original Sim City is just stupid fun. It's so easy to build a quick city and it's still easy to fail. This is a no frills, time killing game.

Sim Copter was by far my favorite. Talk about a game that had so much potential, but it still turned out to be fun to play. Maxis should have gone out of house on this one, like to MICROPROSE (while they lasted). The people inhabiting the cities are like the original "Sims" and funny to hear where I think the simesse language came from considering what's it's evolved to today.

Sim Tower was a dirty little pleasure. Who thought that building and office tower with apartments, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. could be soo much fun?!

Sim Island, just throw it away when you open the box.

Like I said, the game only costs a few bucks so why not give it a try. Worst case is you loose a few dollars from what you paid when you sell to the pawn shop.

Keep Sim Copter & trash the rest [Posted on 2004-03-05]
Sim City- eh, an ok game,, pretty boring though, same thing happens every time.. you build your city, citizens demand that taxes should be lowered, a big fire, etc... zzz....

Sim Tower- this game is KINDA fun but again, just kind of monotnous. This is kind of the reason why I don't like a lot of "Sim" games

Sim Isle- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Sim Safari: a boring, stupid, corny, fruity, kiddie game

Streets of Sim City- zzzz,, I get bored with racing games very quickly

Sim Copter- Now THIS game is FUN!!!!! Look for my seperate review on this first.

Bottom line: dont waste the $, just buy Sim Copter seperate- it's the only fun Sim game (with the slight exception of Sim City 2000, and Sim Tower is midly allright)

Good Pack, but SimIsle sux [Posted on 2005-01-27]
Okay, first warning: like other people said, these games were made from 1989-1997, so some of them are REALLY old. If you want moderately modern games for the price, I reccomend the SimMania 2 pack. Anyway, my uncle bought this as a gift for me 3 yrs. ago. I'll rate the games individually:

- SimCity Classic (1989, Maxis)
Yep, folks, it's the first SimCity ever. While it certainly was a great game for it's time (it must've been good then if Maxis got daily calls from the CIA), it is preceded by the sequels (Sim City 3000 and 4), with even more options, so if you're planning on buying the entire set just for this, don't.
If you want a taste of the game right now, you can check out SimCity's website at www.simcity.com because they have an online version of it on their website. Only problem: you have to have a username.

- SimTower (1994, Maxis/Yoot Saito)
SimTower, as the name describes, allows you to build your own 100-story tower with condos, restaraunts, offices, shops, all that good stuff. Even though I haven't played it in a long time (too much time playing Sims) it's pretty fun. I will warn you about this: it is a bit hard to get past 3 stars, because the people in the suite will never like you. Good for it's time, and I'd really like a SimTower 2.

- Streets of SimCity (1997, Maxis)
Like some people said, this really isn't a Sim game. Though you can customize your own cities with the help of the SimCity 2000 Urban Renewal Kit, and make the gameplay feel a lot like the U-Drive-It missions from SimCity 4. Though nevertheless, it's a good game when you really aren't focusing on a game and you're just looking through your CD collection.

- SimCopter (1996, Maxis)
I have a feeling this is an updated version of Raid on Bungling Bay (NES), Will Wright's first game before creating SimCity. I've barely played this game, though I personally think it's sorta hard to control your helicopter.

- SimIsle (1995, Maxis)
Most disposable game: ever. In SimIsle, I don't get the very concept of what you're supposed to do. I "build" something, and hire architects and construction workers, and nothing happens...nothing. Recommended only if you're on a quest for every Sim game ever made.

- SimSafari (1998, EA/Maxis)
SimSafari is a nice novelty to pass the time. I personally remember renting SimSafari from the video store when I was little. Oh, how much fun I had... though anyway, being the sequel to SimPark (the game with the annoying frog, thank god for the Rizzo Off option) it is set in the African Savannah plains. Your objective is to attract people to your safari camp and get 5 stars, and meanwhile help the village get essentials like a granary, a schoolhouse, etc. via hiring the villagers. Though it certainly isn't the best game in the world, it is pretty fun if you're trying to pass the time.

That is my review.

SUCCERS! [Posted on 2005-12-24]
The only good game in this is Sim Safari! The other games didn't work on my DELL Laptop, or I couldn't get the whole point. And even Sim Safari can sometimes get too challenging, for it's so hard to eliminate locusts, fires, and drought. Even playing this game at its least challenging is quite difficult. Unlike in Zoo Tycoon, everybody wants to see buffalo, elephants, leopards, lions, and rhinos. In the scenarios, you start with too little money, so as soon as you spend over half your budget on an amphitheatre your in trouble! No, just get the civ, galactic civ, alpha centauri, and tycoon series.

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