I never expected this game to be good, let alone great. So when I got it for my birthday, i was a bit grim. But I finally put it in, I was strapped for months. I love building the city and letting it run for well over 500 years. It's just a fun game I never wanted to put down. Greatly improved graphics and an easier interface made it all mor worthwhile. You could now see your city from 4 different angles. Taking care of the city and discovering new buildings are a blast. You could be mean and give you sims no clean water or build a toxic waste dump right next to a grade school, or you could create beatiful parks and majestic bridges. It's all there and easy to do.