Originally posted by: Apache
...Your either on the new wave of CB games or your stuck playing SC4 until the end of time praying to whoever your god may be for simcity5 to come out" but by then the new wave will be Cities XL 4. The train is about to leave the station........will you be on it with me or will you be holding your SC4 cover box hoping that EA wakes up?.....plain and simplequote>
I can't believe no one took the bait on that comment: "The train can't leave the station--it's not in game yet!"
Okay, joking about CXL's mass transit aside, there are several observations about the games that are worthy of mention.
When SC4 was released, much of the transportation issues were not resolved and remained unfinished until Rush Hour was released as a separate expansion pack. While many have a beef with MC as far as Planet Offer requiring a subscription to have mass transit choices such as trains, there is nevertheless a parallel complaint that was lobbied against EA for the "double charging" needed to get the Rush Hour expansion.
It's probably unfair to compare SC4 directly to CXL. As a comparison, I still love the game of chess--it's one of the most complex games ever created with devilishly easy moves for each piece but--that when wielded by a master--take on incredible depth beyond the sum of its parts. But my love of chess doesn't dissuade me loving the linear masterpiece Half-Life 2 or an RPG such as Fallout 3. They all fulfil different aspects of my play.
The visual polish of CXL is as welcome to the genre as the visual polish of SC4 was to SC at the time. Purists can say what they wish about development being split between mechanics and graphics, but the reality is I like to play games that are immersive visually. Clearly gameplay matters, but there's still something amazing about seeing something that's beautiful visually too.
The core mechanics of CXL are still complex enough to make for an excellent city builder/city simulation for 90% of those who play the game. For me, the difficulty is just right. I would like a little more transparency in the gameplay of CXL though. For example, it's not clear visually how MUCH water a water tower generates for the city it's in. Nor is it clear how MUCH pollution can be expected from my manufacturing plants vs. my offices vs. traffic. These issues were well-handled by SC4 and have a lot of room to go in CXL.
Still: I echo the thoughts of another poster on this thread. I can FEEL where CXL can grow, and likely will grow. They've laid down a fantastic foundation on which to build. SC4 was "unfinished" on its release, and we all owe MC a chance to prove that they too can shore up the gaps in their code and improve on the criticisms we find in this game. I, for one, think MC will achieve an "SC5" level of polish over the next year or so.
Just because Half Life 2 isn't chess, doesn't mean that I can't love the two games equally for what they offer. CXL has a chance to offer more than SC4 did (largely due to the passion of this very community). My $.02.
