Although not strictly a city management aspect, SimCity 3000 simulates the effect of land value on construction much more realistically than in SimCity 2000. In SimCity 3000, land value creates very distinct neighborhoods which tend to contain narrow income bands, creating well-defined slums, middle class areas, and wealthy areas. Land value is also determined by the city center effect where buildings that are at the city center have higher land values and those buildings on the borders have lower land values.
Business deals were another new concept to SimCity 3000; by allowing certain structures, such as a maximum security prison, to be built within the city, the player can receive a substantial amount of funds from them. Business deal structures, however, tend to have negative effects on the city, such as reduced land value.
There are several changes to the graphical interface in SimCity 3000. Although the game retains the pseudo-isometric dimetric perspective of its predecessor, the actual landscape became more complex and colorful. In SimCity and SimCity 2000, the playable landscape is mostly brown, while in SimCity 3000, the playable landscape is a more realistic green color, along with other colors that progressively change by height, from beige (beach sand) to green to brown (bare ground) to white (snow). In SimCity 2000, land could either be flat or sloped, and all slopes were of the same steepness. In SimCity 3000, there are five distinct steepness of slope, creating more varied landscapes. There are different types of trees which can appear on the playable map, ranging from small, Deciduous trees to towering Redwoods.
Advisors and petitioners
SimCity 3000 and its revision, Unlimited, feature seven advisors, each covering a specific issue (city finances, transportation, environmental issues, city planning, safety, health and education, and city utilities), who help players make proper decisions in the game by providing recommendations and advice. As opposed to previous versions of SimCity, these advisors have names and actually give in-depth advice, rather than brief summaries of the situation in their department.
There are also petitioners, many of whom are citizens of the city, that request players to modify city policies, such as lowering tax rates, or enacting an ordinance. Some are outside interests, often pushing proposals which would harm the city (i.e. building a casino, which would attract crime) in exchange for a boost to its financial coffers. The mayors of the four cities neighboring at each of the edges of the city's map (a feature carried over from SimCity 2000) also chime in if the player's city is connected to them by road or rail, to request that the player's city handle their city services (trash disposal, water, power, etc.) in exchange for financial compensation, or offer that the neighbor handles the city services for the player's city in exchange for a fee.
News tickers
In addition to advisors, a news ticker scrolls along the bottom of the screen, displaying pertinent information about the city in the form of news stories, such as indicating that the city needs more schools, or how well a particular city department is functioning. Generally, when things were going very well in a city, the news ticker would display headlines which are comical, or even nonsensical and often seemingly useless to the player. Examples of such headlines being: "After 36 years of marriage, man discovers wife to be form of rare yucca plant," or "(City Name) prints all wrong numbers in phone book, leads to 15 marriages" or quotes from a "Tommy B. Saif."
Other headlines may be labeled "(City Name) News Ticker" or "From the Desk of Wise Guy Sammy". On occasions, the ticker will even provide a foreshadowing of an approaching disaster, for example, sometimes reading "Did you feel that big truck pass by? What? It wasn't a truck?", or "Mrs. SimLeary buys prize-winning cow", or perhaps another quote from a set range of different headlines before a disaster occurs. The text in the ticker can then be clicked to reveal more about the news item.
Landmarks
Real world landmarks are also introduced in SimCity 3000, but are mostly for aesthetic purposes (though placing a building would open up an option in the city ordinances window for tourism advertising), and are free of construction cost. Examples of landmarks featured in the original SC3K include the Parthenon, the CN Tower, Notre Dame, the Bank of China Tower, the Empire State Building, the Pharos of Alexandria and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center with each tower a separate building, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, as well as the Fernsehturm TV Tower in Berlin.
Music
Another major change from SimCity 2000 is the addition of a live music score, whose lead composer is Jerry Martin. The new soundtrack incorporates new-age and live jazz songs. The fifteen tracks from the game are also available as MP3s for download on EA's SimCity 3000 website for listening outside of the game. Musicians include Glenn Letsch on bass, David Lauser on drums, Darol Anger on violin, John R. Burr and Art Hirahara on piano. 5 new tracks were added to the rerelease, but a typo in the game's AUDIO.INI causes two of the older tracks to not appear on the selection menu. They are not playable unless the file is edited from 0x0a to 0x13. (Concrete Jungle) All tracks should have a 0,1,0,1 as well. (SimCity 2000 Main Theme) In addition to this error, there are three hidden tracks. Also, "Sim Broadway" is not included in the rerelease and "SimCity 3000 Main Theme" and "Loading Loop Music" were replaced with new tracks.
