what exactly is Cities XL?

[ReshiramLover 49]

I see advertisements all over this site for Cities XL. is it just another Sim City but by a different creator? or is it something more (or less)?

[joshriddle 29]

Well, I don't play the game, but it seems as if it is another Simcity except from a different creator, except way better graphics.

[Jesse Swiss 6]

Cities XL is a new city builder that has 3d graphics and is made by Focus Home Interactive, the game has had many more positives than negatives, 10x10 maps, over 700 buildings and many other features.

Look around this and other forums and see what the game is like and about

[RisKFactoR 6]

I would have to politely disagree about the "many more positives than negatives." At least, as far as Cities XL 09 is concerned. Not sure about 11. It looks promising enough for me to actually purchase the game.

But I would highly suggest that the OP does not purchase the first CXL! Go for the second one, the one that Home Interactive created. CXL 11.

[soltangris 42]

I would have to disagree politely with RiskFactoR, the game has indeed many more positives than negatives. I concede that CXL 2009 had an ambiguous feeling due to the attempt to make it MMO, but CXL 2011 is a fully sinlge player game, like Sim City, and feels much more complete.

On a side note, Focus Home didn't 'create' CXL 2011, it just published it. The game was created by Monte Cristo, who couldn't finish the job because they went bankrupt. We don't know for sure, but it's a good guess that Focus Home hired most of the Monte Cristo development team to finish 2011, and (we hope) to continue developing the game further.

But yeah, it doesn't make any sense to buy CXL 2009 at this point, go straight for CXL 2011.

[RisKFactoR 6]

Oh, I was disagreeing with you earlier, because you weren't quite clear about which game you were talking about....CXL 9 or 11.

But yeah, I agree. CXL 11 does indeed, have more positives than negatives. But 9 was just straight up terrible. It was a totally incomplete game. I had a demo, or a hacked verion of it or something at one point, and immediately uninstalled it. What turned me off: Only mass transit you could build were buses. No subways or anything. Lame.

But I have faith in Focus Home, and from all accounts, CXL 11 is pretty damned good. So I'm sold on it.

(I was saying "Home Interactive earlier, wasn't I? Focus Home is correct.)

[Screwballl 196]

For the original poster, CXL (2011) is more or less SimCity 4 on steroids.

[oneupcanuck 0]

Cities XL 2011 is quite similar to SC4 but the focus is in different areas. You have obviously a much better graphics engine and tools to build better roads and realistic cities with the "packs" so you can make themed areas. Three is more emphasis on building and trading resources here whichis an interesting change. The main differnece is in zone placement, in this game once you place a zone it develops almost immediately and will never change wheras in SC you have to wait for the zone you built to develop and it can be rezoned and the buildings there can change and grow over time. It's a trade off because you have more control in Cities XL over how your city develops but you loose some of the dynamic growth and randomness from Sim City but you had less control and it also made that game more difficult.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The main focus of Cities XL is trading.

[bluespottedhorse 49]

Simply put, it's a polished 2009 but it still has many of the same isses as the original. All anyone has to do is check the forums or search the web for the issues.

Albeit the graphics are superior if you like the 3d effect but it is not as detailed as simcity 4 because the smallest lots are 9 times larger than SC4.