Reviews of Cities XL

[geek12 0]

There is one critic rating on metacritic... Anyone want to translate for us?

[lucifon 0]

Critical reviews are good so far. 5.8 on metacritic user scores is just absolutely rubbish. I bet most of those havn't even played the game, probably annoyed at the fact theres a pay monthly option to the game therefore slap a crap score on it. Also not meaning to offend anyone by this but I've seen alot of people who are completely down on the game over the littlest of things. From a guy like myself who just really enjoyed the relaxing feel to SC4 and played it here and there, CitiesXL totally has that same vibe, yet the 'hardcore' city builder fans see one missing feature and seem to be extremely negative. I bet if there was an SC5 the same kind of people would be hating on it due to whatever was missing that 'should' have been in there.

[mr-tom 2]

Well here's a link to the product page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B002L6GEVK

Look at the average scores and comments. Appreciate not too many so far so perhaps not all that statistically meaningful, but hardly a resounding endorsement.

[lucifon 0]

Amazon reviews look exactly like what I stated in my post above To add to that list people pissed off that theres a pay monthly option.

[ThePeoplesPerson 3]

Review is up on IGN

http://pc.ign.com/articles/103/1035096p1.html

Did pretty good here, but unfortunately one good review from a critic doesn't justify all the complaints for the game. Pretty sure I'm sticking away from this one too.

[niloluiz 21]

The " Simcity societies all over again, a real letdown" review is spot on.

[niloluiz 21]

Originally posted by: ThePeoplesPerson

Review is up on IGN

http://pc.ign.com/articles/103/1035096p1.html

Did pretty good here, but unfortunately one good review from a critic doesn't justify all the complaints for the game. Pretty sure I'm sticking away from this one too.quote>

From the article:

Sound

Gentle music will put you in a relaxed mood, and all the ambient sounds are perfectly fitting within the game.quote>

  What ambient sounds they are talking about?

Either this review is cooked and the guy are making this up OR they are using a "custom" version that MC sended for them, which means that they didn't review the product that everbody here got in hands....

Either way it's bad.....   and the credibility of IGN just went thru the sewer with this.

[lucifon 0]

Negativity of some people on these forums amazes me, especially from people who haven't played the game and seem to *want* to be down on it. Try it for yourself before making a judgment first. So far the critic review scores have been good, not amazing no, but pretty good! Comparing this to the rubbish that was SC Societies is a joke. Do we compare every single game in a genre to the top dog and hate on it because it doesn't do this or doesn't do that? Judge CitiesXL for its own merits, play the game yourself and make a judgment on it for it being a City building game rather than the constant 'is this better than SC4' ideology.

CoD4 is one of the most polished feature full and complete shooter packages on the market, which since releasing many game developers have wished they could emulate the success of, yet you cant sit there for 2 years whining about how *insert shooter name here* doesn't do this or that which CoD4 has, you take it on it's own merits and enjoy it for what it brings to the table. By all means constructive criticism is great for MC hearing from us about future features, but a lack of one feature doesn't make the entire game suck. Yes CitiesXL falls into the City building genre, and therefore can be compared to SC4, however being down on the game because it doesn't have a specific feature that was in SC4 is rubbish. It's not trying to be SC5, it's a series of it's own in a specific and relatively niche genre.

Hopefully some people take the time to read this and agree with what I've said. Obviously if someone doesn't enjoy the game for genuine reasons then they don't enjoy it, thats sure to happen. But I'd hate to think some of this expectation-based negativity is putting people off from possible enjoyment of the game. CitiesXL is the best 'City' game yet from MC, theres no doubt about that. It's probably the best game in the genre of the past few years.

[ThePeoplesPerson 3]

Negativity on a hyped game like this is expected. For the amount of hype Monte Crisco developed for this game, it is understable for people to be upset. There are so many issues with this game, and while they may be consider small, it the sum of the parts that make it excruciating to hear about. Don't even get me started on the rediculous pricing on this game (seriously, $10+ a month for trading and content that should be included in the game in the first place?).

Secondly, COD4 is in the shooter market, and has an absolute ton of competition. The reason everything isn't compared to it is that all those games have some breathing room for doing things differently. City building is a pretty narrow genre. They know what we want, and if they want to make a successful game, they'll deliver on those fronts.

Finally, I don't mean to sound like I'm flaming here, but the comment on Cities XL being the best game in the genre for the past few years is a joke. I can't even count the number of city building games on one hand that have come out in the past 5 years, let alone games that are directly competing with Sim City 4 (Cties Life, SCS, and thats about it)

Again, I haven't actually played the game, and I'm sure a lot of this negativity is being expressed soley out of the fact that it was hyped up way too much (Fable and Fable II anyone?), but when a game comes out 5 years after a another title, by that time you'd think they'd have a few more innovative features besides curved roads and a 3d view. Nothing else in the title pushes the boundaries of the genre. Unfortunately, theres no competition in the genre, and if there were more, we'd get much better games because the poor ones would just fail.

[Brandon8181 0]

I'm not being at all negative or sarcastic when I say this. I'm saying it as my true and honest opinion. I wonder how much Monte Cristo paid IGN for that good review? If the review is accurate I commend it; however, with all of the players feed back I do have my doubts.

Good luck again Cities XL, maybe you'll fix your game. I really hope so.

Brandon

[Brandon8181 0]

Lucifon,

In response to your message, no the gaming community does not compare every game to a prior genre of games; however, I have been following Cities XL from the start. They have completely changed what they had previously promised would be in the game. They also completey changed the direction of it. Monte Cristo knew that they had a big Sim City audience, and they failed to come through. I really think the reason you see so much negativity is that so many avid SC4 players had such high hopes for Cities XL and they are very disappointed. I think Cities XL is a BEAUTIFUL looking game, but has fallen short to so many promised expectations.

As far as your statement to purchase the game and judge for yourself, well I did this with Sim City Societies and I made a mistake. I won't do that again. However, its difficult for me to believe this game is "Great" when approximently 80-90% of player reveiws are negative.

This game may not be a bad game for someone that is not coming from Sim City. If it is someone who is just entering the city building community this game may be for them as they don't know any different. Maybe Cities XL will be the start of a new city building game and come out with a new better one every few years

As far as this being the best game SINCE Sim City 4, that is probably true in my humble opinion; although, Sim City 4 still will be the game people are playing 2 years from now when they put Cities XL back on the shelf (INCASE Monte Cristo sees the need to improve their game like so much of us have asked for)

Good luck Cities XL!

Brandon

[smg77 0]

Originally posted by: lucifon

Critical reviews are good so far. 5.8 on metacritic user scores is just absolutely rubbish. I bet most of those havn't even played the game, probably annoyed at the fact theres a pay monthly option to the game therefore slap a crap score on it. Also not meaning to offend anyone by this but I've seen alot of people who are completely down on the game over the littlest of things. From a guy like myself who just really enjoyed the relaxing feel to SC4 and played it here and there, CitiesXL totally has that same vibe, yet the 'hardcore' city builder fans see one missing feature and seem to be extremely negative. I bet if there was an SC5 the same kind of people would be hating on it due to whatever was missing that 'should' have been in there.quote>

You may see it as negativity but the fact that MC is trying to force MMO options on a genre of game that doesn't make sense I'd think your viewpoint is in the minority.

MC wanted us all to believe that this game was going to be the spiritual successor to SC4. Then they stumbled on a way to try and milk players for a monthly fee by taking things out of the single player game (mass transit, region play, etc) and giving it only to the people who fork over money every month. If they wanted to make a MMORPG where people had to pay every month they should have made one instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole like they are doing with Cities XL.

It's great that you find it relaxing but some of us need more than soothing music to enjoy something that cost us $40.

[cirugo 1,889]

Originally posted by: ThePeoplesPerson

Review is up on IGN

http://pc.ign.com/articles/103/1035096p1.html

Did pretty good here, but unfortunately one good review from a critic doesn't justify all the complaints for the game. Pretty sure I'm sticking away from this one too.quote>

IGN was interesting...the score they gave it doesn't seem to match the review itself.  It wasn't a BAD review (I actually found it to be quite in-depth and fair) but it didn't lead one to believe they'd then turn around and give it a score of 8 plus.

[mr-tom 2]

Originally posted by: lucifon

Negativity of some people on these forums amazes me, especially from people who haven't played the game and seem to *want* to be down on it. Try it for yourself before making a judgment first.quote>

Oh I wish I could.

I preordered the game during September.

I was promised an order confirmation email.  It never came

I was promised dispatch notification.  It never came.

I was promised a boxed game by post.  It never came.

I was promised a CD key via email.  It never came.

I contacted them to ask for a download link.  It never came.

I asked them for some sort of order tracking.  It never came.

I asked for a refund.  It never came.

Getting the idea?

[iamihop11 19]

Originally posted by: Brandon8181

This game may not be a bad game for someone that is not coming from Sim City. If it is someone who is just entering the city building community this game may be for them as they don't know any different. Maybe Cities XL will be the start of a new city building game and come out with a new better one every few years

quote>

I am certainly coming from SimCity. I loved 3000, and SC4 was (of course) even better. I would consider it my favorite game over the last 5 years, and I've poured time into it. I have been excitedly watching the development of CXL for years. Well, I went ahead and got it, so I don't have to postulate based on other people's reactions.

No, it isn't SC4, and yes, there are things missing and things that annoy me. But it has its own merits, and I have enjoyed playing it. I always take gameplay over eyecandy, but these graphics are almost exactly what I've dreamed about (being able to see your city from street level, to actually see the skyline rising up...that's just awesome). The way my cities grow just FEELS like a real city. Maybe it's partially my style, but they grow nicely in an organic style, with the little quirks that make cities/urban design so fascinating.

SC4's lifeblood was user created content. With patches/mods/maybe even BATs, CXL could do the same thing. Monte Cristo and users together might be able to edge this game closer to perfection.

But basically, I find the game to be fun, engaging, and not too easy (although I wouldn't mind it being a little more difficult). MC didn't learn all the lessons that EA did (services that have adjustable costs, lots of transit options, flexible zone sizes or *gasp* region-play), but the fact is, they did a (much) better job than Societies. I guess it's a learning process - it'll get there, and this game is a big step in the right direction in 3D citybuilders.

[MINIggy03 227]

simcity 4 is still king. It has everything you want in a city simulator and it costs around $10-$20 + amazing community content. I don't want to pay $40 + $6 a month to wait and find out if CitiesXL will ever match the complexity and depth of Simcity 4. Because right now it's not even close or comparable.

We've had trains since 1989. We've had terraforming since 1993. When I spent $50 on Simcity 4 back in 2003, I got way more than what $40+$6 a month gets me in CitiesXL. It's absolutely bonkers what they are trying to pull charging for trains, busses, etc. When you're making a city simulator, it's kind of ODD to leave out transportation in a city. Remember those lovely concept pictures they showed us in the beginning with L trains and busses and talking about laying out our own bus routes and assigning lanes? Sorry, sold separately. So who's going to spend the $6 a month to wait for this game to catch up to a 6 year old game? I'd rather just save my money and play Simcity 4. Call me CitiesXL when you're worth it. Literally.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like such a downer, but I was there since the beginning when Monte Cristo was pulling in the Simcity 4 community saying how they want CitiesXL to be a game made for the fans of the genre and it just turned out to be a way of advertising the game. So much dedication was given to the community and to Monte Cristo in the first year and then slowly things started to deteriorate. They lost focus on the community and went in their own direction. Such a shame for a company that was built on the backs of the community.

Oh well, I'll happily play Simcity 4 and patiently wait for whoever out there is going to design a next gen city simulator that doesn't leave out or charge separately for concepts we've had for two decades.

[Z3phyr 0]

Originally posted by: lucifon

Negativity of some people on these forums amazes me, especially from people who haven't played the game and seem to *want* to be down on it. Try it for yourself before making a judgment first. So far the critic review scores have been good, not amazing no, but pretty good! Comparing this to the rubbish that was SC Societies is a joke. Do we compare every single game in a genre to the top dog and hate on it because it doesn't do this or doesn't do that? Judge CitiesXL for its own merits, play the game yourself and make a judgment on it for it being a City building game rather than the constant 'is this better than SC4' ideology.quote>

Try not being upset down here in aus, first MC says we would be getting it on october 8th along with other countries, then shoves the release date out to october 15th, its BS if you ask me. I still have a fair bit of optimism left in me though, because after a few patches, all the Gems that I download off RS and all of the mods that I get off simtropolis, it should be quite a good game. Not SC5, (I recall from memory MC stating that they weren't planning to make it such) but still a good game.

And to Lucifon: COD4 doesn't have much competition besides Halo 3, there are a load of imitations, some are rather good like GRAW, and there are also games like Gears of War 2 (I know it's not an fps, but its still great) but there has yet to be released a game that TRULLY competes with COD4. Looking forward to modern warfare 2 btw.

[Z3phyr 0]

Another thing, don't people have the right to sew MC if their product or product key doesn't arrive?

[JakeMD 107]

Originally posted by: Z3phyr

Another thing, don't people have the right to sew MC if their product or product key doesn't arrive?quote>

"Sewing" isn't the correct context, but yes, they could sue if they wanted.  I doubt things would get far, as MC is a company with i'm sure many lawyers.  Would it be right to sue?  Probably not.  I don't think people should go around suing everyone just because things didn't turn out the way they had wanted.  A simple phone call, email, or persistant emailing will easily get the job done..rather than going through the court system for who knows how long.

(Thread read)

[chkltcow 0]

Okay, I own the game, I've played the game, and with my first post here, I'll rain negativity on it just for you Lucifron:

My first impressions with the game were that the graphics were great, the ability to make randomly shaped areas and have it just figure out the best way to populate the space within was a neat feature, and the game was easy to get into.

Those first impressions didn't last long.

Once you break that 20,000 population barrier and start getting into needing resources, I quickly became less amused.  Why can't my cities trade amongst themselves?  If I have 5 cities in a region, one producing plenty of water and lacking oil... the other producing oil and lacking water... REALLY, why can't they trade with each other?  I'm going to buy into the "MC is greedy and trying to get you to pay for the PO."  So instead, I have to set up multiple oilfields, subsidize them through my city's coffers, export their goods to OmniCorp for peanuts, and turn around and buy water for 100 tokens. And speaking of subsidizing, the economy is just strange.  Leisure is a tax burden?  I can see it if you're creating parks... but for things that should be a profit-earning business (go-kart track, for example)... it's just mind boggling.      Oh, but don't you dare think of taxing those poor citizens.  Their 15% tax rate would be considered low in the real world, but god forbid if you bump it to 16% you'll have a riot on your hands. 

But my biggest complaint is and will continue to be the Planet Offer.  I tried the 7 day free trial hoping an expecting to really get something worthwhile out of it.... but there's nothing.  Essentially PO adds a chatroom to the single player game and frees you from the shackles of OmniCorp, but for what?  There is TRULY no compelling reason at the moment to pay $10/month for a chatroom... and it's pure greed from MC trying to milk us gamers for every penny they can by only allowing portions of the content to work if you're paying $10/month.  

So my advice to Monte Cristo for the sequel to Cities XL:

A) solid single player game with purchasable content packs, ala The Sims, Sim City, Fallout 3, and pretty much every game out there today will annoy your customers FAR less than trying to bleed them dry on a monthly basis.

B) go hire the guys that created Capitalism II to give you a better economic simulation, ESPECIALLY if you want to put so much focus on trading.  

[Rob86 34]

Originally posted by: lucifon

CoD4 is one of the most polished feature full and complete shooter packages on the market, which since releasing many game developers have wished they could emulate the success of, yet you cant sit there for 2 years whining about how *insert shooter name here* doesn't do this or that which CoD4 has, you take it on it's own merits and enjoy it for what it brings to the table. quote>

The only reason why COD4 is considered great is because the ones that are calling it great got into gaming with Halo ( which itself is an extremely mediocre product), and the reviewers are reviewing games with a 3 year memory.

Does anyone remember how innovative,creative and mind blowing COD1 was, and how COD2/3/4/5 are basically the same old same old?

Or does anyone remember DeusEx1 or No One Lives Forever 1/2?

Or OFR1?

Just because it sells doesn't mean it's good. (take Fallout 3 and Oblivion as an example)

[gabry85 2]

Originally posted by: ThePeoplesPerson

Review is up on IGN

http://pc.ign.com/articles/103/1035096p1.html

Did pretty good here, but unfortunately one good review from a critic doesn't justify all the complaints for the game. Pretty sure I'm sticking away from this one too.quote>

Overall: 8.1...

Considering that they rated sound (are there really sounds in this game?) and gameplay (which they admitted trading interface is heavily buggy) with 8.5, I assume that 8.1 has to be a lousy score for them. I mean, to get a reeeeaaaaaally BAD! review on IGN, you got to try very hard, I guess.

I read some reviews this week and none of them mentioned 'mass transit', 'buses' or 'trains'. Shouldn't the job of a journalist be that of asking questions? Or are reviewers getting as lazy as game devs out there? Unless MC brib... spent most of their investors' money to get the best out of interviews and reviews rather than on the PO itself... let alone the rest of the game...

Kudos to the Amazon.com user reviews. This proves there's 1 supporter every 10 complaints. But like they say: "There's a fanboy born every minute..."

[geek12 0]

Lets play a game.

Lets pretend that i am the average, hardcore gamer. I enjoy citybuilding games and strategy games, but i'm not a Super hardcore SC fan (i don't mod, i don't use many mods ecept things like NAM, i don't treat it like an artist's canvas like some players do .)

           I want to buy Cities XL, i mean it did well on IGN! And i'm sure other reviews will give it similar ratings! But... At the same time i read all of these topics about how much the game stinks!

Who should i believe and why? (This scenario does apply to me quite well, but i'm sure i can't be the only one!)

(Assuming i HAVE played simcity, and love it. But, the IGN review did say it was moving the Genre in the right direction...)

[Kevin Ar18 0]

Originally posted by: geek12

Lets play a game.

Lets pretend that i am the average, hardcore gamer. I enjoy citybuilding games and strategy games, but i'm not a hardcore SC fan.

           I want to buy Cities XL, i mean it did well on IGN! And i'm sure other reviews will give it similar ratings! But... At the same time i read all of these topics about how much the game stinks!

Who should i believe and why? (This scenario does apply to me quite well, but i'm sure i can't be the only one!)

(Assuming i HAVE played simcity, and love it. But, the IGN review did say it was moving the Genre in the right direction...)quote>

Simple answer?

• Trust the review sites regarding how you'll feel about the game for the first week or first few months.  Review site are also useful to look at games in genres you don't care much about (you are new to).
• Trust people here about how you will feel about this game in the long run and how you will feel about the game depth.

If major game review sites give the game a good rating, and the players say the game is aweful due to lack of depth (which describes CitiesXL) then there is still a chance that you will enjoy the game if the lack of depth does not get in your way.  After, all there is still some fun aspects to CitiesXL and the major reviews do reflect that.

The major review sites do not put much effort into reviews, nor do they care about gameplay depth.  Many spend a certain number of hours playing the basics of the game and write a review, takes some screenshots, etc....  Very, very, very few reviews on ANY major review site take the time to understand and analyze the depth of the game -- thus you can never trust a major review site to tell you if the game has any depth to it.

[Overkast 2]

Originally posted by: Kevin Ar18

Simple answer?

• Trust the review sites regarding how you'll feel about the game for the first week or first few months.  Review site are also useful to look at games in genres you don't care much about (you are new to).
• Trust people here about how you will feel about this game in the long run and how you will feel about the game depth.

If major game review sites give the game a good rating, and the players say the game is aweful due to lack of depth (which describes CitiesXL) then there is still a chance that you will enjoy the game if the lack of depth does not get in your way.  After, all there is still some fun aspects to CitiesXL and the major reviews do reflect that.

The major review site do not put much effort into reviews, nor do they care about gameplay depth.  Many spend a certain number of hours playing the basics of the game and write a review, takes some screenshots, etc....  Very, very, very few reviews on ANY major review site takes the time to analyze the depth of the game -- thus you can never trust a major review site to tell you if the game has major replay value or any depth to it.quote>

Not to mention, you always have to wonder what kind of secretive kick-backs the Review Sites are getting from game developers to say good things about their game. You won't have that political BS going on in Simtropolis.

[Kevin Ar18 0]

Originally posted by: Overkast

Not to mention, you always have to wonder what kind of secretive kick-backs the Review Sites are getting from game developers to say good things about their game. You won't have that political BS going in in Simtropolis.

quote>

While I agree that such a thing can never be ruled out, I think the way game review sites handle reviews describes why they gave it a high rating:

• They do not look at gameplay depth.
• They spend only so many hours playing the basics.
• The reviewers play many games a little bit, instead of a few games in-detail.
• They do not know about the problems with the game that many people here do.
• They look at whether the "pretty" part of the game is fun (the part that does not involve hours, weeks, months of learning).

In essence, the major review sites do show that you might have fun with the game up to a certain point (or if gamplay-depth doesn't matter).  However, if you want to know if a game has lots of gameplay-depth, then you need to look at player reviews or try the game yourself, because major site reviews rarely deal with this aspect.

[Overkast 2]

Originally posted by: smg77

MC wanted us all to believe that this game was going to be the spiritual successor to SC4. quote>

PRECISELY RIGHT. Just take a good hard look at the Cities XL retail box and then look at your SimCity 4 retail box. Identical designs.

MC's Marketing team knew exactly who to target for this game, so receiving anything less than the core functionalities eveyone has enjoyed in the SimCity franchise for years is simply unacceptable.

[gabry85 2]

Originally posted by: Overkast

Originally posted by: smg77

MC wanted us all to believe that this game was going to be the spiritual successor to SC4. quote>

PRECISELY RIGHT. Just take a good hard look at the Cities XL retail box and then look at your SimCity 4 retail box. Identical designs.quote>

Actually, it kind of reminds me of this:

MC's Marketing team knew exactly who to target for this game, so receiving anything less than the core functionalities eveyone has enjoyed in the SimCity franchise for years is simply unacceptable.quote>

Well, they probably underestimated us. Be sure of this: they'll learn it pretty soon.

[JanYpe 17]

Originally posted by: Overkast

Originally posted by: smg77

MC wanted us all to believe that this game was going to be the spiritual successor to SC4. quote>

PRECISELY RIGHT. Just take a good hard look at the Cities XL retail box and then look at your SimCity 4 retail box. Identical designs.

MC's Marketing team knew exactly who to target for this game, so receiving anything less than the core functionalities eveyone has enjoyed in the SimCity franchise for years is simply unacceptable.

quote>

It's a game about building cities. It is probably going to have a picture of a city or some buildings on the front.

[Kevin Ar18 0]

Originally posted by: JanYpe

It's a game about building cities. It is probably going to have a picture of a city or some buildings on the front.

quote>

But it doesn't just have a picture of a city or building... instead it's a near copy of previous game(s) box art concept/design.