Cities XL: First Look

I was recently sent an email from Monte Cristo Games about their upcoming SimCity style game Cities XL.  Being a big fan of SimCity, I decided to take a look and was suprised to see how awesome this game looks.  So why am I writing about a sim game on a MMO blog?  Because Cities XL will be playable online and have many MMO features.

Once of the coolest things is that social networking with other cities will become very important to the success of your own city.  Unlike SimCity where you have to build everything you need in your city, CityXL will allow you to make deals with other players to provide things you need, such as a garbage dump or power to run your city.  Want to create a express highway from a big city to your waterfront resort? Well you’ll need to strike a deal with that player to do so.  Players will also be able to travel around the world and visit other players cities via an avatar.  You’ll be able to walk around and do some site seeing or you can go to designated areas where players hangout to socialize.

Another cool feature is that there is a tycoon type of feature within the game.  So lets say your run a ski resort or amusement park, you can actually go into it and make changes.  Perhaps lower prices, higher more workers, etc.  I’m not sure how many features the tycoon part of the game will offer, but it’s definitely cool to have something like that in the game to add another layer of depth.

Stats will be a big part of the game, not only will Cities XL show you your standing against other players, but it also gives you in-depth information about the people living in your city.  Age, income, education level to name a few, plus all the other stats you would normally find in a sim type game.

The global economy will be player based, so if you have a big and successful enough city you might actually have some effect on the global economy.

I’m not sure if the game will have multiple planets or how many cities can be on one planet, but we’ll try to find out for you.  Cities XL is slated to be released in the first half of 2009 and is definitely one of the games on our must have list.  If you choose to play online, there will be a fee to play, however there will also be an option to play offline for free once you have purchased the game.