Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2024
SimCity™ 3000 Unlimited
Developer Maxis
SimCity 3000 is a city building simulation video game released in 1999, and the third major installment in the SimCity series. It was published by Electronic Arts (EA) and developed by series creator Maxis. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and, through an arrangement with Loki Games, Linux. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
175 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon) · newest Oct 6, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
78
LovedLoved
135 positive · 38 negative
95% range 71–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 135 | 38 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
2 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
670 of 792 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 175 · most liked firstF***ing unplayable - No support for modern resolutions - Falsely advertised to be an upgrade - This is not a remaster - Plethora of other issues EA and scamming? Who would have thought?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I never thought I'd say this but thank you EA for releasing SimCity 3000 in a playable state on Steam. I played this game so many times at home and at the after-school club. There was always a competition about who could have the best city and if someone had a skyscraper in their city they had bragging rights. Of course, most of us didn't have any skyscraper in their city. We were all bad but the game was just so much fun so it didn't really matter Funny enough, no one was talking about…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend buying on GOG as their version fixed the camera panning speed issue. However, if you don't mind being completely annoyed by the camera, then it's fine.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game both from GOG (for ownership) and Steam (for accessibility and game hours), just like what I did with SimCity 4. Fortunately, this game is not tied to any launcher, just Steam; all good and classic. Even after all these years, this game still shines with its cozy jazz soundtrack, stylized graphics, and straightforward city-building mechanics. Playing SC3K throws me straight back to my childhood—turning up that old PC with Windows 98 SE and launching SC3K natively—and it’s…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →started a game on hard mode in debt, had to build a dense coastal city with endless pollution, acid rain, crime, no amenities, and accepted a garbage contract from a neighboring city, all just to pay off my crippling debt. As the garbage began piling up on the streets and empty lots as the landfills were overflown, I realized I made NYC, and just left it there to make me taxes while I built a nice town on the neighboring island that was connected via bridge. I then added a supermax prison for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No overhauls here, a simple compatible port. This is exactly as it was and everything you expect, I enjoyed reliving the past here and all the expansions included was a huge bonus! Worth the $5 or even less when on sale!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring, bad port, fast scrolling so the games barely playable. Basically just don't buy, don't bother modding, just get the better versions
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So when I was in Grade School, I got gifted this one year for Christmas. Incidentally, I had asked for SimCity 2000, not 3000, but this was a massive, MASSIVE graphical upgrade for me. Anyhow, I had a copy of this game growing up, but our computer couldn't handle it at the time and would keep crashing every third or fourth time I tried to play it. I didn't play it much anyways because I had no idea how to make money in the game, and spent most of my time destroying the pre-made cities in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is unplayable on modern hardware. Please take it back.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →1.) I bought this game purely for nostalgia. It’s exactly as I remember it — all its glories and all its flaws. I used to play it when I was 4 years old sitting on my mom’s lap, gleefully destroying her cities, which is probably how I developed my love for city builders in the first place. 2.) I was honestly surprised it ran at all, but it did. The only issues I noticed were the very fast scrolling when you hit the edge of the map, and the cheats not working. I also didn’t need to sign into…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If consumers think they are receiving a renewed version of SimCity 3000 (1999), they are surely mistaken, as Electronic Arts has once again released an archaic product with no modern screen resolution support or changes to the unreliable control scheme. Even if players are willing to forgive the lack of refinement in this rerelease, they've still slow and tortuous tutorials to undertake if they want to understand how to build a city and effectively complete scenarios. It is unknown with regard…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can only liken this game to a tik tok addiction or crack, once you start playing it is very hard to stop. Its an old game and clunky and you need to read the manual or look up a tutorial but my god it is worth every cent. Highly recommended
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played It when it just came out more than 25 years ago and I'm still playing It now! For me this is the best SimCity ever made. And it always helps to reduce my stresslevels in busy times for some weird reason. Highly recommended to anyone who wants a good and easy going citybuilder/god game but not too much micromangement.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just the way I remember it.. And the the horrid EA app isnt required!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolute pain to get running in Ultrawide. Used the GOG executable, used launch options, installed extra tools, game still opens in 4:9 or opens in Ultrawide but crashes when switching to a different window.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This holds up incredibly well despite that its over a quarter century old, and it looks great in a higher resolution nowadays. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3235699254]Here is a useful guide to getting proper widescreen support. Otherwise, when first launching the game it may ne necessary to launch it in windowed mode by right clicking on it in the Steam library, Properties, General, then Launch Options and type in -w. For some reason in my launch options it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simcity 3000 Unlimited is probably my favourite Simcity game of all time. 2000 was superb and 4 was great but I think 3000 Unlimited was the sweetspot and just has so much charm. This is not a remaster or remake of course, it isn't advertised as such. But honestly the graphics hold up really well! It looks amazing, plays fantastic and is still superb fun! I would recommend patching the game to allow higher resolutions which is super easy to do though I'm running Linux so not sure if it's as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT BUY. WORKING ON GETTING A REFUND. THIS GAME WAS BILLED AS BEING UPGRADED. NO SUPPORT FOR CURRENT MONITOR RESOLUTIONS.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worth it for the soundtrack alone.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just a classic and must play. If you're a 90s kid that grew-up with the MAC version of Sim City 2000 (for me, it was a game I played in the middle school library at lunch and after school, on the school's MAC), look at the guide for how to add new music tracks. I added the Sim City 2000 MIDI soundtrack to this version of Sim City 3000 and what nostalgia bomb (and a great game that still steals hours of my time whenever I pick it up).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I`ve played Sim City since 1998 when it was a play station game. I play everyday.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This has to be one of the better SimCity games I have played. The best part is that it can run on anything! The graphics are a decent upgrade from 2000.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some old ass gaming here if your bored and want to play something from the 90s ? I still to this day . Remember my middle school teacher , teaching us this in computer tech ,lol . Always blast to play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had fond memories of this game as a kid so thought i'd get a copy - it has the usual issues with an older game but there is a specific bug that is making the game very frustrating to play - when you make a deal with a neighbour, the deal will be for them to buy water from you or pay for some other utility - however, as soon as you click accept, there is a high chance when you review the deal, it will invert what the deal was e.g i'd buy water or power from them instead. it's very annoying!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-100% unplayable, -100% garbage - the ESC key doesn't work, WASD doesn't work, resolution option/choosing doesn't work, even after game restart and even with using steam launch options, scolling around the map goes crazy fast with no adjustment - do NOT buy this GET sim city 4 delux instead, this is 0/10 - the "2024" release date is a scam, its NOT a remaster, its NOT a definitive, its NOT pc compatible
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love Sim City 300 Unlimited....but the controls are absolutely horrible! Constantly warping to the other side of the screen. Mouse wheel doesn't zoom in and out. I'm done.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love SimCity 3000 however it's very frustrating that it keeps shutting down on me. I have to constantly save the game. Not sure why it shuts down.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →zohran aka the current nyc mayor fw this game btw
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →UNPLAYABLE. I played this game back when it was new, logged hundreds of hours between the PC and PS. It will load, install, but you cannot place utilities, roads, zones without a sudden "JUMP" to the other side of the map, unplayable. It's like using a crowbar to move something under a microscope. Feels like a money grab.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh man! This takes me back over 20 years! I remember playing simcity 1 on the computer in HS while i was supposed to be doing work lol. SC 2000, SC3, and SC4 cost me countless hours of fun back in the day! Im very happy to relive the moment and play this again! EA ruined Maxis and then ruined the game. Im happy other creators made different ones, but the nostalgia playing this one is really great!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i put alcatraz next to a school
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What can I say, SimCity 3000 is a classic, especially the Unlimited edition. It strikes a perfect balance between the simpler, pixel-art SimCity 2000 and the sprawling complexity of SimCity 4. To me, it's the best choice for someone new to SimCity, and probably for those new to citybuilding games in general. The gameplay has aged fairly well, and the game as a whole has a lot of personality, though I do still wish there was a way to automatically refurbish utility buildings instead of having…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such a fun game, runs on my potato of a PC unsurprisingly, i mean, it was made in like 1999. Still, it holds up to this day.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SimCity is my favorite city building game. I've played every version since the original version. SimCity 3000 & 4 are my two favorites.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is different from Sim City 4 in many ways which makes it worth playing. For example, polution actually encourages you to spread out your industry. There are frequent disasters which you need to overcome. Income comes in once a year as opposed to every month which makes you plan more carefully. Overall it's not as deep as SC4 but it's still quite fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →mamdani wanted this game for christmas 2001 and now he is mayor of new york city, this game certainly gave him all the experience he has. new york looks so fun rn
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is stable and has good music. But ya, generally it is fun and challenging. The initial challenges are big and the game tends to scale well. It is easy to get comfortable and let the budget get away from you. This makes the game very engaging for me.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly? You were able to produce deep hate in me for something I used to love intensely. Don't know what's technically wrong with this "remake" of an oldie, but we are in 2025 and pretty sure you could have done it way better!Instead, you just thought about making profits. As usual, eheh "dearest despicable mommy" EA. Maxis died, and with them all the love in making video gaming history. There's no way of controlling the mouse scrolling and have a proper fluid visual of the game therefore in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The scroll speed is insane and no there is no way to slow it down. Unplayable..
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a very fun game, I love to play it but I've never been able to get a full functional city, I am still looking for a way to do it. The game is so fun and I love expanding my world and naming stuff as city, farms and buildings. I give it a 10/10 I love making buildings in the other mode tooo :3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too fast scrolling with mouse makes it impossible to play. Wish I had kmown before purchase.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i like building games this adds a level of difficultly that adds to the game while not making it impossable
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved and purchased this game back in the day on CD. Spent many hours during summer building a city out. I played the original SimCity on Win95 and loved that franchise. I think this version can use pc cheats compared to SimCity 4. With or without the cheatcodes its fun and relaxing game. Brings back a lot of fun time memories.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thought I was seeing this game with rose-tinted glasses, filled with nostalgia. But nope, still a good city builder game even in these days.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best of nostalgia. I don't play The Sim games, I tried but they reminded me too much of real life. but, I will play the day away on this game, and used to as well on Sim Tower. You just can't stop, so many things to build and problems to fix!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The map zips around so fast that I can't build roads without being zoomed all the way out or spending forever trying to slowly slowly slowly get back to where I was without shooting to the other side of the map. I used to play this all the time as a kid, but I couldn't adjust the settings for scroll sensitivity and it's literally unplayable like this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I grew up on this game. I'm so glad Steam brought me back to my Aunt's house in 2004.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In my opinion the best city builder of all time!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Frustrating UI and still buggy AF when building highways and offramps. I'd rather play SC2k or SC4, even Classic
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is a simulator for a city. It is one of the earliest programs for simcity. You are going to enjoy it for hours on end.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best and most underrated game in the franchise. I spent so much time in this game as a kid, and now will again as an adult.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SimCity 3000 Unlimited is a remarkable continuation of Maxis’ legacy in the city-building genre and a shining example of how complexity and creativity can coexist in a management simulation. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, the game builds upon the solid foundation of its predecessor, SimCity 3000, while expanding its features, aesthetic variety, and customization options to a remarkable degree. Released originally in 2000 and later reintroduced to a new audience on Steam,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is very poorly adapted to current operating systems. Super sensitive to any mouse movement. Additionally, game is very poorly designed. For example, leveling terrain is 50/50 if it actually works. The Steam version is considerably worse than the original game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very complicated and not exactly easy, but that's exactly what I love about it. Also love the retro feel. And yes, I do know it literally is retro at this point.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Literally the best game ever made, go play it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game will go down as one of the best city building simulators ever. Awesome to see it remade with modern graphics settings now.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is perfect for the more casual sim city builder but has enough of a challenge for more hardcore players. However it does not hold your hand at all. In fact, it causes you to figure out how to budget your city all on your own. you will very likely start to lose money for your city very quickly and have to figure out how to gain funds on your own by trial and error. I find that this is the fun part about the game. figuring out how to make a small city thrive to turn it into a large one.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →That it needs to be modded to be played even in 1080 is unacceptable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Look, Being Mayor is Hard -- but SimCity 3000 Makes it Look Easy! Yet another classic that I missed out on during my childhood and am exploring now as a middle-aged adult. What can I say? SimCity 3000 is a sandbox city-building and management game with cartoonish graphics and a fantastic smooth-jazz soundtrack that I can listen to all day. The goal of this game is simple -- there is no goal! You are the mayor of a city and it is up to you to build it as you see fit. The gameplay largely…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decades later still solid
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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