Cities XL hopes to revive the grand Sim City tradition
It’s been awhile since I last played a city-building game (since SimCity 4 came out in 2003, to be exact), and boy do I really need my fix. I’ve been addicted to the series since I filled up an entire box with floppy disks of SimCity 2000 saves on our family’s 386 many years ago. There’s nothing else that quite matches the thrill of being an urban planner — and no, I’m not being facetious.
So imagine my amazement when a friend pointed me to Cities XL, a city-building game in the SimCity tradition that I have absolutely no excuse for finding out about earlier. Cities XL is coming out in 2009 and will be a lot like the next release of SimCity, with an MMORPG twist — every other city on the planet in the game world is built by another player. That sound you just heard was the sound of me necessitating new pants.
In addition to the MMORPG element, and all the possibilities of trade/cooperation with other players that brings, Cities XL is also going to improve on the old grid-based landscape of all the old SimCity games. Roads can now be laid out in any direction, not just along the grid or at a 45 degree diagonal. Roads can even be curved. But it’s the highway construction that really has me excited. The video (you’ll have to navigate to it) shows the player fluidly constructing a major highway intersection, with multiple levels of ramps and curved overpasses. This is your opportunity to kick the clover-leaf intersection to the curb and make something so much cooler.
I’m definitely looking forward to Cities XL, and anyone who calls themselves a fan of the city-building genre should be as well. Will Maxis finally be surpassed in their own genre? Here’s hoping. If you don’t hear from me for several months in a row sometime in 2009, it’ll be because I’m constructing the most bustling metropolis on the face of the virtual planet.
October 29th, 2008 at 8:42 am
This game looks amazingly a cool. It will probably be the biggest step forward in city building sims since Sim City 2000 or maybe even the original Sim City. (And lets face it, there really hasn’t been much advancement since Sim City 2000!)
The way you can layout the city grid is so far ahead of anything else we have seen - I can’t believe I haven’t heard more about this game!
February 8th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I’m glad MC is picking up where Sim City left off. EA is sitting on a goldmine and continues to put all their effort into the Sims (to me boring as hell without the sex). Unlike most Simers, I work on building REAL relationships in REAL life, not in some worthless game. They are going to lose out unless they come up with something quick to combat the possible genius and addiction that CXL will be.
July 3rd, 2010 at 2:57 pm
i played the original SimCity in the 90’s and until now i still play the latest version of SimCity~”-