Several months have passed since the launch of Cities XL, Monte Cristo’s new city-builder; passions have arisen, passions have subsided, game hours have been spent, and now it’s time for some community updates. What’s the state of affairs in Cities XL?
Well,
for one it’s clear that the game is indeed developing, as Monte Cristo
promised, maybe not at the pace that we could wish, but at a steady
rate for sure. The Planet Offer servers have been steadily filling with
players, more and more cities are being built, especially on the
English/US and the French planets. Some of the planets are as much as
90% filled. The (current) culmination of this development came a week
ago, with the addition of a third planet on each of the four servers,
for a total of 12 planets now available. It is also interesting to note
that many of the new players joining the Planet Offer are new to the
city-building genre, asking basic questions, and making older players
such as me feeling wise and all-important when helping them 
The game itself has also developed. In a series of smaller patches, as well as two major updates (the Old England pack and the Bus pack), Monte Cristo solved many of the more annoying issues from the past, such as trading stability, the education issue and some graphic bugs; parks and plazas are now functioning properly and the pollution is not such a huge pain in the butt anymore. Some other changes in game functionality have generally improved the experience, notably the improved trading prices of the ‘evil’ Omnicorp in Single Mode. There have been steady additions to maps (the real-world New York map) and special buildings (the Hague library, the Big Ferris Wheel). We also got a nice Christmas present – street lights and car headlights, along with a special decoration for the Holiday season that made our cities look like Santa’s home town. But undoubtedly the most important upgrade of the game was the addition of the first mass transport option – busses.
Thanks to Chiverito for the video!
This feature was all-but-promised to come out at the time of release of the game. Well, it got delayed somewhat, but it was well worth the waiting! The busses are implemented beautifully; with a seamless and intuitive mechanics that include terminals that serve as the hubs of the system, and a big possible number of stops that are placed right on the sidewalk of the road, with no need to destroy anything nearby. Most importantly, you can form specific bus lines and define their exact path through the city – a much anticipated and very realistic feature. The lines are inter-related (thus forming an entire network), and when you place individual stops you can already get a feel of coverage and future usefulness. The tools MC has given us to control the system are also neat and make it pretty easy to keep track of the buss traffic, the net usage of each line and the residences and businesses that are actually using the system. Last, but not least, you can choose three types of busses – minibus, normal bus and double-decker bus, each with bigger load capacity (and maintenance price), and switch them at any time according to the needs of the particular line. The bus system, when laid out carefully, is able to reduce significantly the traffic on your metropolis’s strained streets.
Those of us that like graphical details will be satisfied with the animated terminals, with busses entering and exiting at all times, and the people that gather at each stop to wait diligently their transport. All-in-all, the bus system is a very hopeful sign for the future directions of development Cities XL is taking. It could only let us salivate at the thought of trains and metro implemented with the same attention to detail!
The only problem with the bus system is the fact that it is only available to Planet Offer subscribers. Yes, a sore blow to people that doesn’t want to pay monthly to play a city-building game! But, speaking of the Planet Offer model, there are changes coming here too. Recently, Monte Cristo have removed the two- and three-month subscription plans, and stated that they are ‘revising their Planet Offer model’. Despite appearances, it looks like this doesn’t mean instant increase in price for the Planet Offer – MC have also released a survey, primarily concerned with these very questions. In it, they ask all sorts of the usual satisfaction questions, but also some very important and relevant ones about how do we prefer to get additional content (a monthly subscription, or an individual payment per each content pack, for example), and what features of the Planet Offer we like or hate. So, we might see some interesting changes here in the coming months, hopefully for the better!
According to the rumors, the next big addition coming is the Ski GEM. Those of you that always wanted to draw their own ski track, prepare! The maps with snow are soon gonna be scarce, just like the Rio and New York maps! There are also talks about some more detailed taxing options. We don’t have any timelines, though.
And of course, if you want to know more of the developments and workings of Cities XL, check out our forums, or the official page, Citiesxl.com. Our team (Simtropolis Help Squad) is also working on a separate Cities XL section in the Omnibus, soon to come with fanfare and feasting!
Your loyal correspondent Soltangris, checking out.
Jan 10, 2010 at 1:53 PM Thanks for writing, Soltangris!!
Jan 11, 2010 at 6:18 AM Ohooooo....
Soltan DRIS!!!
:-D :-D :-D
Very good article mtfk! Keep up D gud Wurk!
Jan 11, 2010 at 7:51 AM Very good Soltangris!
P.S. If I remember correctly, you are from Bulgaria, right?
Jan 11, 2010 at 10:22 AM What should I say, awesome blog:D Hihi...
I do not have the game yet, but the more I heard of it, positive mainly, the more I want to buy it. And with only € 6 to go, it will be worth the waiting:) I think around February I will have the game:) And afcorse I will subscribe, first for only 1 month, to see how long I will keep in the game, then 3 or more.
Nice video to btw:D
Jan 13, 2010 at 5:47 AM Thanks everybody! And Jake, thanks for revising and adding those pics! ACEH, that's right I'm a bulgarian :D
Jan 13, 2010 at 6:27 AM Great blog!
I still play SC4 a lot, but I will buy this year a new pc together ofcourse with citiesxl. I do hope I can buy the new content instead of paying per month to join. Advice and tips & trics how to play I can get here!
@Soltangris: Greetings from ur northern neigbour Romania!
Jan 13, 2010 at 7:52 AM Well, me too Soltangris. I thought I'm the only one around who is playing this game ;)
Jan 14, 2010 at 1:36 PM This is a very well done and organized article, kudo's to SWAT Medic.
However, this bothers me, not only does one have to spend X amount of dollars for the game, but than they have a fee ontop of that, to access essentials like mass transit?
That in that is pure exploitation at it's best, and well unfortunately, eventhough this Bus System is everything i hoped and prayed for in Sim City, I will never buy this game unless if they rethink their choices.
Really good article though :D
Jan 20, 2010 at 7:19 AM i read dirk's review and it made me want to buy cities xl, but not before it has been patched especially on some basic missing feature (like mass transit).
the i saw your article next in which essentially all major concerns are lifted by the recent updates and i'm starting to feel like i could buy it finally, only to come on to the "mass transit only available to the monthly subscriber"
come on! a high monthly fee to get to play on a single player game with the minimal acceptable features???
waiting for an addon (like rush hour) to get essential missing features is one thing, paying each month just to be sure whenever i decide to play a single-player game, i can use it fully, that's simpy robbery. i'd like to reference dedgren here, that's simply pure coercion!!! (http://blog.simtropolis.com/post.cfm/is-cities-xl-mass-transit-worth-the-fuss#comment-F1BACCB8-DDC1-B75D-F976160C38977E92 )
Jan 20, 2010 at 7:30 AM btw, do they know about the concept of DLC at monte cristo? seing the mmo part of cities xl is nothing more than a multiplayer aspect of a single player game (add nothing to games mechanics per se, all which can be done online can be done offline, using computer opponent instead), there is absolutely NOT A SINGLE justification to keep feature only for monthly subscriber. if they want to charge customers for every little detail they add in game (seems to be the general trend), that's ok, but this should be done by packages bought once and for all, not a feature you will loose as soon as you stop paying the monthly rent.
the more i type, the more i am pissed, because it could have been such a great game but thanks to marketing, this is becoming rubbish.
Jan 21, 2010 at 2:20 PM If MC refuses to treat its Solo Mode customers with respect, Cities XL will be the last item for MC to sell.
It's a crime to let customers purchase an incomplete game. You simply cannot sell a car telling that afterwards seats, steering wheel, brakes etc. will be only available after extra payment.
Jan 23, 2010 at 5:27 PM "Despite appearances, it looks like this doesn’t mean instant increase in price for the Planet Offer..."
So, i paid $18.95 or whatever for the first three months. Now that time is up, and the only way to continue the Planet Offer is to pay $9.25 for one month. So, I don't know how you can say that this is not an instant increase on price for the Planet Offer. It absolutely is an increase, and totally indefensible.
The game is not worth $9.25 per month to me, so I guess I'm done.
Jan 26, 2010 at 2:30 PM eric,
I know that if you want to subscribe to PO currently, you'll have to pay more. But when I wrote this, I meant that the increase shouldn't be permanent. Note that MC said that they're revising their whole model, and this one-month price is there just to fill the gap in the mean time.
So, yes, right now you would have to pay more to subscribe, but MC are expected very soon to anounce their new offers, and, hopefully, cheaper prices will come back. At least in some form.
Jan 28, 2010 at 12:12 PM Hahaha, well forget everything in this thread - The online part ( and all promised future content, except the "bus" ahahaha ) will be shut down.
I had a bad feeling on Monte Cristo right before I bought the "Steam Limited Edition Version including extra online content ( the blueprints )", as MC games always have been only half finished in the last 10 years.
I had the tiny hope they would recode stuff to get cpu multithreading working, not even talking of all the other problems user had and have. The online part of the game was like playing an average browser-trade-mmo, banged on to a half complete single player sim city game.
And then they come up with "Were shutting the service down as we didnt have enough subscribers".
Ive dug out the good old Simcity4...its such a joke that game developers cant create a working "Sim City kind of game" after 1 entire decade.
If Im lucky I can play a new great Simcity game when im a pensioner, in 20 years.
Feb 1, 2010 at 9:42 PM I had such high hopes for this game and a new game to take the place of simcity 4. But this game is just a ripe off and I refuge to pay to play monthly fee for unfinished game that makes me pay to keep the company afloat so they may finish it one day. I wont be buying this game unless there the act completely and threat people with respect.
Feb 7, 2010 at 8:48 AM Yes, it seems Mc finally reaped what they really sewed. I followed CXL for nearly 2 years only to find the same errors, frustrations and let-downs all of the rest of you found. What really annoys me is that I paid for every month the Pl was available, hoping that I could continue grinding through the glitchy unrealistic gameplay long enough to make it to the day when they would magically wipe away all the problems and produce a glorious new city-builder. As Mescovic said ^^, putting a game out that isn't even a TRUE complete game and requiring us to pay a ridiculous price to pay, just to yank the rug out from under us is completely unacceptable. After wasting over $100, receiving laughably terrible "customer service", and enduring the painstaking disappointment that is Cities XL, seeing this insulting sorry excuse for a game collapse makes me feel just a little bit better.
MAXIS!! HEAR ME CRY!!!! :[
Feb 8, 2010 at 4:18 AM I just found myself extremely interested in getting into city building games for the first time. After reading peoples reviews on IGN and here I find much consistency. Thank you everyone. As for you MC, I will not be buying this game as I agree that a near $10 bucks a month for a single-player game and the bus feature scam is total crap. I was so close to buying this game, Monte. You don’t get my business and I’m going to spread the word to social network. Dam I was really looking for an excuse to buy this game but I just can't do it. Toodles.
Feb 8, 2010 at 4:50 AM The game is dead, there is no online mode anymore - Its offline now.
So you dont have to waste your money on something(online) that doesnt exists anymore :P