Cities XL

I don't normally write reviews, however this was such a miserable game it compels me to write and make sure others didn't suffer the same.
In a NUTSHELL - Cities XL Is a rip off and a pretty poor gaming experience.
In fact I would go as far as to say that for the money, the extra's for which you have to pay to gain the full misery of the game you and the internet MMO experience (a bad one at that) - IT IS THE WORSE SIM GAME EVER.
Never in a millennium is it worth £30 of your hard earned, credit crunch cash. It has some good points, I can list them on one hand - large playing environs, nice game detail, good graphic and assortment of buildings and, and, and well that's it.
The bad points - I may need a few pages. It is simplistic, lacks variation, thus making game play dull and is devoid of any imagination. The demo had bugs which were to have been fixed in the final release - they haven't been. The planet mode is disappointing and quite frankly nothing more than a spruced up chat room which allows trading - utterly boring.
In summary - Monte Cristo have created a rip-off game in order to line their pocket in the hard times. Although graphically superior to other city sims, it game play is infantile, and to cap it all you have to pay extra for in game builds and an online service which is totally toilet.

Okay well after playing the demo there are a few things I like and a few things I dislike. Hopefully it will give better insight in considering your purchase.

Pros:

Maps are large with varying resources making game play challenging at times.
It has a detailed street view.
The visual graphics look good.
Zoning tools making interesting developments.
Variety of buildings.

Cons:

Game is possibly too easy in the general scheme of things.
Some bugs to do with terrain. (Roads being covered by land etc.)
Subscription to the Planet mode
Extra content to the game will have to be bought.

These are only my views however. I am also not aware at having to purchase things like rail links etc. as I believed that would be apart of the main game. Subscription is cheapest at 3 months for roughly £12, cheaper than your average MMO however it needs to be seen if planet mode makes that much of a game play difference.

I purchased this game to play solo, off-line. It rapidly becomes clear that the intention is to get you to subscribe to expensive monthly fees, without which you actually get very little. Even if you do subscribe you will have to be patient because the game is released in my view in an unfinished state. In the solo version be aware that you have to log on to play each time. Be aware that despite the company's video footage there is no mass transport element, there are no railways or buses, there is no sound or atmosphere (except the background music) no smoke or effects and what is worse there is very little challenge at all. You would find far more depth in the companys previous game City Life!

I was surprised as a city building enthusiast to be bored after a very short time, despite the very pretty graphics. It soon dawns on you that here is just very little to do strategically. And it would appear that your game will never be upgraded to include more unless you pay a monthly fee.

You do get a one week trial of the "Planet" subscription offer. This was enough time for me to establish for myself that there is really no benefit or extra fun in online play. So I conclude that this is one of the most cynical marketing models I have encountered in recent times.

I only hope the company will see the error of its ways and rectify the situation in the future.

For now I could not recommend.

I looked forward to this game immensely, but it was short lived. To get the best out of the game you have to pay a monthly subscription - which is a little steep.

So single player - great fun until you have exhausted the limited number of city locations.

Not worth the money to be honest - its not that cheap or long lived in single player mode, and definately not worth a monthly subscription.

A big problem with this game lies with the way they force you to subscribe with a monthly fee to enable the use of road based passenger transport. If you subscribe and use it, then cancel, it is taken away from you.

Saying that, it is possible to pay £11.95 for a 3 month subscription, which in terms of an "MMO" would be ok, except this really cannot be described as such. The ability to trade resources with other players is pretty much as far as it goes - oh, unless you include the chat box :S

As for the game itself, it is a good attempt at creating a City Builder, but falls short in many areas and unless you are very hardcore, you may get bored easily with the "grid" nature of the game, and the nasty bugs it still has to iron out quickly if they want people to stay online with it after the free 7 days.