Musical Highway

Better late than never. Since I've been looking forward to the review of SimCity 4 and its addon Rush Hour for a very long time, I'm now following up my short stopover in Nintendo's darker past with SimCity 64 . I have already mentioned several times that this was my first SimCity-game and, after economy-centered games such as Transport Tycoon, Industry Giant or Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom , my entry into the world of city-building simulations.

Generally speaking, you could count any strategy game with base building or goods cycles as such, but that would do the genre an injustice. There are far too many nuances, too many adjustments and points such as taxes, infrastructure (both transport and public services) or, as in Cities: Skylines, even traffic management. The focus in this type of game is much more on the small details - there is also a lack of military action.

Other entries in the SimCity -series

Soundtrack

SimCity 2000 (1993)

Soundtrack

SimCity 3000 (1999)

Soundtrack

SimCity 64 (2000)

Soundtrack

SimCity 4 (2003)

This mixture of macro- and micromanagement was one of the reasons why almost all my cities in SimCity were in the red, as I really only wanted to build a beautiful metropolis and not worry about such trivialities as the education system or the drinking water supply. Business taxes? That's for nerds! Besides, I don't even know what a business tax is! Not enough electricity? Then let them eat candles ... or something.

Good for me that only eight months after the main game, the expansion Rush Hour, was released. This included a feature that allowed the player to freely explore their own city by vehicle. A nice gimmick, but one that brought tangible benefits. In addition to leisurely driving through the neighborhood, we were also given tasks from time to time, the fulfillment of which flushed a lot of money into the coffers.

As a result, the inhabitants of my city would turn around in amazement at irregular intervals when the mayor rolled through the streets in a tank, zoomed across the canal in a speedboat or sprayed the farmer's field with pesticides using a biplane. SimCity 4 had everything I could wish for and is still the highest-rated offshoot of the SimCity-series.

The score

In my opinion, the soundtrack, which was composed by Jerry Martin in a similar way to its indirect predecessor SimCity 3000 , also contributed to this high level of appreciation. As with the Sims-games, not all the pieces were written by him, but his signature is clearly recognizable in the score. But before I go into detail, a quick note: Surprisingly, publisher Electronic Arts has released an original soundtrack (OST) for the game. I have expanded this 15-song album with the tracks I was able to find on the SimCity-wiki and marked them with the addition [Bonus] . Consequently, this review is for a kind of Deluxe Edition. You can find the tracks from Rush Hour in the corresponding review below.

But now to the score, which I had long since placed on the Olympus of video game music for nostalgia's sake. Rightly so? If we look at what's on offer, a few points can be made immediately. There is the remarkable average duration of five to six minutes per track, which makes it clear that the album is not in a hurry to tell its little stories, but takes its time. Time to present and experiment.

Again and again, the score offers us pieces that develop over their course, often interspersed with a dominant instrument or a beat that, as in The LighthouseAmon TobinTom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory5 for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, accompanies us over the entire length of the song and acts as a common thread to show us what we have already experienced. In this way, the score succeeds in capturing the hustle and bustle of the simulated city musically without us getting lost in it.

Furthermore, the joy of experimentation becomes clear when we look at the genres we can assign to the individual tracks: Rush HourJerry Martin4 falls into the breakbeat category and accompanied the trailer and intro at the time. Swing can be applied to the busy Bohemian Street JamJerry Martin4 , and tracks like The New HoodJerry Martin2, Urban UndergroundAnna Karney3 or Crosswalk Talk [Bonus]Robi Kauker2 fall into the genre of trip-hop due to their funky fresh style. The latter is not for me, but it's somehow part of a diverse urban culture, isn't it?

These are all tracks that we hear when we are trying to manage the city. Similar to the Sims-series, we can also change the game mode in SimCity . A distinction is made here between the mayor mode and the region/god mode. While we spend 99 percent of our time in the first one, in the second mode, besides terraforming, we can also cause such pleasantries as environmental disasters, attacks by giant robots or volcanic eruptions thanks to the add-on.

As the modes change, the soundscape also rotates, the bustling musical confusion giving way to ethereal tones that suggest spherical sublimity. Songs such as Shape ShifterJerry Martin2, Above the Clouds / From Above [Bonus]Jerry Martin2, Parallel View [Bonus]Kirk Casey2 or Taking Shape [Bonus]Bob Marshall2 allow us to float above the clouds and escape the hustle and bustle. That may suit the game, but it's too boring for me. In addition, tracks like Without FormJerry Martin4 or Terrain [Bonus]The Humble Brothers4 show how it could be done better with the use of marimbas, electric guitars and drums - reminiscent of the vastness of Edge of Chaos . Meanwhile, we won't talk about Primordial Dream [Bonus]Michael Land1 which sounds like something borrowed from a Christian horror story.

But enough of heavenly expanses. I want action, I want motion, so let's get back to business, which brings us to my favorites. Topping this list are By the BayJerry Martin5 and Epicenter / EpiCentre [Bonus]The Humble Brothers5, which are polar opposites and juxtapose the basic feel of the game in a wonderfully pointed way. By the BayJerry Martin5 by Jerry Martin begins with a single marimba strumming away a little. At some point, a clarinet is heard, playing a lonely, almost wistful tune. When electric guitars and drums join in later, it practically sounds like the credits after a turbulent, emotional movie. Basically, we see our protagonist walking towards the sunset. Here, too, associations with Edge of Chaos come to mind.

Was in dem Streifen passiert ist, zeigt dagegen Epicenter / EpiCentre [Bonus]The Humble Brothers5. Das wurde, wie ich bei meiner Recherche für diese Review hocherfreut feststellen durfte, von dem Musikerduo The Humble Brothers komponiert, was die Nähe von anderen Stücken wie Oasis [Bonus]The Humble Brothers4 of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 erklärt. Epicenter / EpiCentre [Bonus]The Humble Brothers5 ist treibend. Es jagt uns durch die Straßen unserer eigenen Stadt, nimmt sich aber bei 1:35 und 5:55 die Zeit, um uns mit einem kurzen Gitarrenbreak und einem Augenzwinkern daran zu erinnern, dass das alles gar nicht so ernst gemeint ist. Außerdem featuret es als einziges Vocals, die entsprechend der Sims-formula, remain incomprehensible.

Seine Nähe zur Sims-Reihe kann der Score auch an anderer Stelle nicht leugnen. Tatsächlich tauchen dem wiki und meinen Erinnerungen nach ein paar der Stücke sogar in den TV-Kanälen von The Sims 2 auf. Tracks wie Street SweeperMarc Russo3 or Transit AngstRobi Kauker2 erwecken sofort das Bild von Maxis Lebenssimulation in meinem Kopf, während TarrmackKirk Casey3, Rockin Down / Gritty CityWalt Szalva3 and Landfill [Bonus]Marc Russo4 mich zu SimCity 4 bringen. Klingt komisch, ist aber so. Unerwähnt bleiben sollte zudem nicht das Jerry-Martin-typische Klaviergeklimper in No Gridlock [Bonus]Jerry Martin3 und das, wie ich finde, superspannende Zone SystemKent Jolly4 – dieses Repetitive, fast schon Western-artige hat was.

The music of SimCity 4 is many things: it is experimental, it is rich in variety, it is decelerating and yet moving. Is it groundbreaking? I cannot say. In my opinion, however, like the first Sims , it conveys a feeling that I miss in many 'modern' games. A kind of pioneering spirit, the desire to try things out. Many soundtracks these days sound like they've been produced off the shelf. The big composers have found their sweet spot, the small ones flirt with visionless novelty. This is a score that knows what it wants and meets us, listeners and urban planners, at eye level. And that both as a child and as an adult. For my part, an absolute, nostalgia-tinged recommendation.