So . . . Cities XL 2012 . . . improvement?

[Bateluer]

http://www2.citiesxl.com/

Imagine and conceive cities of all types and sizes. From a several million citizens megalopolis to a hyped seaside resort, to an industrial city, everything is allowed in Cities XL 2012! Take advantage of an incredible collection of more than 1000 buildings and structures (over 300 new buildings), and 62 different types of maps (15 new maps) featuring realistic environments. Enjoy never seen before freedom in a city-builder, allowing you to create your cities in every detail!

As a virtual mayor, find the right balance between economic development of your cities, attractiveness, transportation (road traffic, bus, metro...), pollution, social services, taxes and even leisure activities.

Create a proper economic development by setting up trade between cities; you can specialize certain cities in specific areas to fill in the needs of the others. This will ensure large-scale financial success and allow you to develop an increasingly complex network of cities!

Previous Cities XL games have been . . . lackluster, to say the least. Its a looker though. And there hasn't been a good city builder game in years.

 

[Dice144]

I miss the good city builders. Sim City 4 was a big let down.

 

[paperfist]

I miss the good city builders. Sim City 4 was a big let down.

Funny I was going to say Cities XL'12 is a big let down compared to SC4. The game had its bad points no doubt, but it was the last, best city builder around. It had wicked, grow-able buildings, map editing tools to envy, the ability to drive around your city, mods galore and wasn't a push over.

I haven't play XL'12, but from what I've read in the simtropolis forums it's basically a minor upgrade over last years which was a minor upgrade over the MMO version.

 

[RebelCapitalist]

Cities 2012 is Cities 2011 with a few more buildings and items and a 3D modeling plugin. The game itself was unchanged as it's really an expansion pack.

 

[Craig234]

I bought Cities XL 2011 and 2012 never played 2011 and 2012 won't run, gets a 'game is currently unavailable' Steam error Steam is no use for. (Try rebuilding your computer).

 

[Smartazz]

I liked Cities XL 2011, although it performs horribly at times on my Q6600.

 

[RebelCapitalist]

I liked Cities XL 2011, although it performs horribly at times on my Q6600.

It's a single-processor game. It's something they will probably never address nor fix.

 

[shortylickens]

It all went to hell after SC3000.

 

[Bateluer]

So, the answer is wait for a major price drop/sale, to be optimistic about it?

 

[-Slacker-]

It's DLC for cities xl '11. They haven't even fixed the performance issues.

 

[Smartazz]

It's DLC for cities xl '11. They haven't even fixed the performance issues.

Honestly, I'd really enjoy Cities XL 2011 if it performed better. Once your cities get bigger the game gets so slow. It's a shame since I really like the game and it has some great features that the Sim City franchise never had.

 

[Maximilian]

So, the answer is wait for a major price drop/sale, to be optimistic about it?

Depends what you want, the core game will never change, focus home dont have the money or development skills to give many the game they wanted from the beginning. It will always be single core, it will never be a deep simulation like the simcity games. All they can do is add more stuff to what is already there, they wont be able to improve on the core game in any meaningful way.

So if you want more buildings but the same game then go for it, otherwise i would give it a miss.

 

[Throckmorton]

I miss the good city builders. Sim City 4 was a big let down.

Considering SimCity 4 was the best SimCity, I have to wonder what in tarnation you consider "the good city builders".

 

[Bateluer]

Considering SimCity 4 was the best SimCity, I have to wonder what in tarnation you consider "the good city builders".

SimCity 2000 was the best SimCity. Caesar III and several of the Impressions games were also excellent city builders. SimCity 4 had so many bugs, I was never actually to play it. By the time my hardware got powerful enough to overcome the performance bugs, I didn't care about the game.

 

[-Slacker-]

They fixed the bugs like 7 years ago, you need to get with the time

 

[Regs]

City builder that has the city all ready built for you. No thanks?

 

[Wyndru]

SimCity 2000 was the best SimCity. Caesar III and several of the Impressions games were also excellent city builders. SimCity 4 had so many bugs, I was never actually to play it. By the time my hardware got powerful enough to overcome the performance bugs, I didn't care about the game.

SimCity4 is huge, even all of these years later. And with the expansions and custom content I am still addicted to the game. Just check out the massive community for it, every day there is new transportation and building options. The game is amazing.

 

[bentheman939]

SimCity4 is huge, even all of these years later. And with the expansions and custom content I am still addicted to the game. Just check out the massive community for it, every day there is new transportation and building options. The game is amazing.

Agreed. It is a true simulator, where you just provide the inputs, and the city grows or shrinks organically based on your choices. Designing very large cities is a huge challenge, even with 'cheating' by using neighbouring regions to take care of all your waste and pollution.

Caesar 3 was also a very satisfying game, as was mentioned above.

I really really miss good city builders. The graphics of XL 2012 mixed with the (updated) game play of sim city 4 would be an amazing game.

 

[-Slacker-]

EA should just buy focus and fund them for a cxl-like simcity 5. After 3 tries, it's obvious they can't do it on their own. Make cxl good, that is.

 

[mmntech]

Considering SimCity 4 was the best SimCity, I have to wonder what in tarnation you consider "the good city builders".

SimCity 4's claim to infamy was it's graphics engine, which still lags with bigger cities even on modern systems. It is by and large the best and most detailed game in the series though. Mods are sweet.