"Cities of the World" is an independent
project started by a small group of spanish city-building fans. The idea
behind it is to create the kind of city-building game that
city-building fans want to play. Such grassroots efforts is not
unheard of in the gaming world, but it's rare to see players actually
trying to develop their own game entirely from the ground up.
The Cities of the World project draws from familiar ideas long
established by SimCity, and it makes no attempt to conceal its main
source of inspiration. In fact, the team wants to take everything they
liked about SimCity and add in everything they've always wanted to see.
The small team is lead by Dario Alonso who is very excited to share
the Cities of the World project concept with us. Of course the project
is very early in development, but Dario hopes to inspire the
city-building community to become involved. Dario's native language is
not English, but here he explains the ideas behind the project; how it
started, what its current state is, and where it hopes to go.
Today I had a chance to sit down with Bixel and Paulvmontfort, the
"Founding Fathers" of the HKABT (Hong Kong/Asian BAT Team). The HKABT
is a team that makes custom BAT (Building Architect Tool) Buildings for
SimCity 4. HKABT has released hundreds of BATs across multiple
websites. You can see their downloads on the STEX, and on the Sc4d LEX.
Cities XL is a
good city-building game that manages to introduce some much
needed new ideas to
the genre without straying too far from established conventions.
Whether you're a core fan or new to the
genre, there is a lot to like about Cities XL. As a city-builder, the
game largely succeeds. What it gets right is enjoyable, where it
innovates is refreshing and its few missteps are not disastrous.
It is arguably
the best city-building game released in the last 6 years, and remains closest
in spirit to the venerable SimCity. Core
fans will be on very familiar ground as the game sticks to the tried and true
city-building formula. New players may
also find that is more accessible than SimCity 4.
As a true
city-builder, Cities XL contains two distinct albeit inseparable concepts of
management and construction. And now
with the online component, Monte Cristo hopes to add a new dynamic to move the
genre forward.
But "SimCity Online"
this is not, so while it's tempting to make direct comparisons to Maxis' game, it
would be more productive to examine Cities XL on its own merits with an
understanding of where it draws its inspiration.
Without going
into all the specifics of gameplay mechanics, we'll look at what Cities XL does
right, where it is lacking, what it can improve upon, and examine some missed
opportunities that might have kept it from being truly "great".
Cities XL is a day away from official release. In the last two
weeks Monte Cristo released a couple of detailed videos to showcase
both the single player and online gameplay. Do these videos help make the case for Cities XL?
As a community comprised of city-building fans, we've been closely
following the development of Cities XL for the last two years. Having
been so close to the debates and debacles, it's hard not to look at the
game without a jaundiced eye. But once we can accept that us core fans
are not the centre of the universe (gasp!), that we're just a fringe
nebula in an otherwise vast array of players, you can appreciate how
these videos have made a pretty good case for Cities XL as a compelling
game worth trying.
A quick rundown of the 4 minute single player video shows that Monte
Cristo has taken great care to hit all the right notes. So for the purpose of discussion, I encourage
you to watch these videos as if you were seeing the game for the first
time.
What makes a game a classic? Is it graphics? Is it brand name? Is it
replay value? Or, is it much deeper than that? Why has SimCity4 lasted
for over 6 years and why does it continue to reign supreme as the
world's foremost City Building Simulator?
Six Years is not an insignificant amout of time in the world of
software; it is downright ancient. The longevity of SC4 is seen not
only in the community support on the web but also on the retail store
shelves. SC4 and its expansion pack, Rush Hour, are still being sold
in many venues all over the world, it was even included in the latest
boxed set for the more recent Sim City Societies possibly as a way to
increase the value of the much loathed sequel. You would be hard
pressed to walk into a video game store and find a new copy of a 6 year
old game. SC4 is one of the few titles that has stood the test of time
in spite of more recent 'next gen' simulators that have tried (and
failed) to topple the city building monopoly that is SC4. Sim City 4
has out dated graphics, a limited grid design structure and is no
longer maintained by the manufacturer (last official patch was April
2003), so, why has it remained so popular over the last 6 years?
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