Maxis' tinkering fixed some old problems and created some new ones...
Gameplay: 8/10 Overall fun gameplay, basically the same as prior versions. Some old problems are fixed including added realism (cities must grow slower, schools have radius of effect), true neighbor city relations, and a path query tool (tells you who is traveling to and from the selected spot). However the mass transit system (other than buses) remains ineffectual b/c sims still fail to use it. Furthermore, some buildings have a crime **** causing massive crime regardless of the police presence. The game is also a resource hog in more developed cities causing slowdown even on higher-end 2006 machines (the game is from 2003). Graphics: 8/10 Other than graphical artifacts that occur in more developed cities, the game looks looks good, especially for a simcity game.
Sound: 5/10 Fairly blah sound effects with elevator music playing in the background.
Value: 9/10 This game is all about value. There is so much to do, primarily because there is no winning. Want to create an interconnected sim-nation by having one city devoted to industry while another be a sleeper-community. Feel free. Want to tweak the city to be the perfect balance of everything. Go ahead. You can even download mods online and try out other people's scenarios. This game can suck 100+ hours of your time easy w/o feeling like much of anything.
Reviewer's Tilt: 8/10 I have liked all the simcity games and this one is no exception. It is quite fun and I played it for 100+ hours easy until I eventually exhausted my need to just build things. If you want a game that isn't going to stress you out too much or you simply want to try a sandbox game, this is a great start. Note: To prior fans/experts of the series, many of the new additions make old strategies (such as school farms) ineffectual.