SimCity 4: Rush Hour

SimCity 4: Rush Hour is the only expansion pack for SimCity 4 created by EA Games and Maxis, where the player builds a city from scratch.

U-Drive-It
U-Drive-It is a new add-on to Rush Hour, a mode where players can take control of cars, planes, and many other vehicles and drive them around the city. There are two modes of driving: Scenario Mode, where the player has a limited amount of time to win money or prizes, or Free Drive, that allows the player to drive freely.

If the vehicle sustains excessive damage (either by crashing into other vehicles or traversing into water), it will burst into flames and subsequently explode. This is shown by a coloured diamond above the vehicle (much like the ones in The Sims) which can turn from green to red in respect to the vehicles' current state.

Some vehicles have certain individual features, such as a police siren on police cars or the capacity to damage sections of the city with munitions from vehicles such as tanks, helicopters and jets.

GameSpot has related U-Drive-It to Streets of SimCity and indicated the feature including an enhanced physics model partially based on that of SimCopter.

Roads and highways
The newest addition to the roads section are One-Way roads and avenues. One-Way roads are the same size as normal roads only they stretch into one direction, while avenues are dual carriageway roads the same size as highways, with some shrubbery in the center strip (defined by the wealth of buildings on the road).

In the term of highways, the Ground Highway is the new addition, which is cheaper and less obtrusive than elevated highways, but still carries the same capacity and can connect to roads in the same way. The T-intersection for highways was also introduced.

Public transportation
Major changes to the public transportation section were made. The Monorail, a fast moving above-ground railway, was introduced for high density areas. Unlike its similar partner, the above-ground railway, the monorail is much more modern-looking and faster, and has the advantage that it can be built over ground level roads and railways, much like an elevated highway.

The public parking garage was also introduced, which when used with stations and bus stops can be used to create a "park and ride" system.

Water transport
The ferry system was introduced as the only change to the water transport section. The ferry system came in two types: Passenger, for people only, and Car and Passenger, for both.

Route query
Another new feature in Rush Hour is the route query; with it, it is possible to check the routes the Sims use to get to their jobs, allowing the player to see directly where the Sims need to go and how they do it.

Disasters
Two new disasters are included in the game. The first is an "Autosaurus Wrecks", a dinosaur-like monster constructed from road vehicles which can go on a rampage. The other is an alien attack.

Reception
Critics took the release fairly well, but criticised EA Games and Maxis for not including the extra features in the original SimCity 4 release. Still, GameSpot awarded it a score of 8.3, showing other game critics with an aggregate of 7.6.