Sim City

Sim City brought a concept to the Atari ST that was completely new in 1989: the player doesn't rescue a princess or shoot enemies, but founds and manages their own city. They have tools available for laying out residential, industrial, and commercial zones, building roads, rail, power plants, and public buildings, and must keep an eye on the budget, taxes, crime, pollution, and residents' happiness. The game has no fixed goal or ending - success is measured by population growth and the stability of the city, which the player builds according to their own vision.

On the Atari ST the game ran with clear isometric graphics and a simple mouse-driven interface, which suited the platform very well. The underlying simulation reacts to the player's decisions with a certain delay - a poorly placed industrial zone shows up as increased pollution and an exodus of residents only after some time, which forced the player to plan ahead and think through the consequences of every step. Occasional disasters such as fires, floods, or a monster attack gave the game a dramatic edge and forced players to react to unexpected situations, while the player could also choose how often and how severely disasters should occur. Pre-built maps were also available, as well as the option to start on empty terrain and build a city completely from scratch, with the player able to choose among several starting budget levels depending on how demanding a challenge they wanted.

Sim City became the founding work of the entire city-building simulation genre and inspired countless later games, from Caesar through SimCity 2000 to modern city simulators. On the Atari ST it was one of the titles that showed the platform could handle a calmer, more thoughtful type of entertainment than action games and platformers. Even decades later, the principle of free building and gradual growth works surprisingly well, and the game retains the mark of a pioneering work that opened the way for the entire modern city-builder genre.

Why play it: For fans of city-building games who want to experience the roots of the genre - the principle of free building and gradual growth works surprisingly well even decades later.