
	Platform PC Genre Strategy / Sim Publisher Electronic Arts Developer Maxis ESRB E +10 (Everyone) Released June 23, 2008

- Lots of "Sim" games from the recent past as well as a peak at the future - Games run smoothly on today's machines - There's a lot here for $30US - Quality games, with the exception of SimCity Societies, which is the weakest link here

- Players can get SimCity 4 Deluxe and Spore Creature Creator (the main draws here) for less than the $30US of the The SimCity Box

Review: SimCity 4: Rush Hour (PC) Review: SimCity 4 (PC) Review: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (PC)
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The SimCity Box

Score: 8.0 / 10

The SimCity Box came at a really good time. During the slower summer months whiling away several hours, sometimes each day, playing SimCity Societies (and its expansion, Destinations), SimCity 4 (and its expansion, Rush Hour), the Spore Creature Creator (demo version), and, to a lesser extent, The Sims Carnival: SnapCity, filled up a lot of gaming time. And this is coming from someone who has already played most of these games already.

The only real weak link in the entire package is SimCity Societies and its

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expansion. And because it's in the same package as SimCity 4, it's even less attractive and only sporadically fun. And in all honesty I probably would have paid $30US for SimCity 4 and the Spore Creature Creator demo alone for a couple of reasons.

The first is that SimCity 4 allows players more control over what is happening in the city by way of setting up roads,

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zoning areas for specific purposes, plunking down civic structures, etc. (If you've ever played a SimCity game you'll be familiar with the general requirements of the game.) In Societies there's not as much control to exert on the environment and it's more difficult to feel in control of what's actually going on because things are happening "organically."

The second is that the Spore Creature Creator demo is so much fun to fool around with even if all you're doing is constructing creatures.

This collection is more about convenience than anything else – having all these titles in one place. If you just want the 5-year old SimCity 4 and its expansion, SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is available for $15US. Order the full version of Spore Create Creator and that’ll be another $10US, which still places it under the $30US you’ll pay for the SimCity Box.

- Aaron Simmer

(September 16, 2008)