Rating: 
First off, the graphics are rather nice. I’ve also played SimCity 4 and in this aspect of City Life is clearly superior, not just because it’s 3d, but also because of the zoom and rotation possibilities.
But there is also a dark side to the game. I’ve failed miserably at it. There are several citizen groups and I couldn’t manage to please the better-off ones. After that I haven’t yet picked up the game again. Two more things I didn’t like:
- You can build subway stations, but there are no rails connecting them. Such stations simply relieve the streets which lie in-between them.
- There is no zoning like in SimCity. You have to build the same buildings over and over again.
Bottom line: SimCity is clearly better gameplay-wise, but I’m probably going to take a look at the DS version of City Life when it’s available anyway.