The city-building simulation MMOG, CitiesXl, developed by the folks at Monte Cristo has launched in North America today! CitiesXL features a robust feature set of city building tools for aspiring mayors, but unlike traditional city building sims, CitiesXL also features a fully online component called the Planet Offer.

Players who subscribe to the Planet Offer ($9.25/month) will be able to build up to five cities, receive regular updates to the game, and trade with others.

For more information on CitiesXL visit the official website here.

You can also watch a in-depth walktrhough video of the game's basic feature set.  Interested in the Planet Offer? There's a video for that, too!

/yawn

Sorry, but I don't think many consumers care that it launched.

I fail to see why this is a MMO.... by the look of it, it seems like they want to make players PAY for things you generally gets for free from regular SIM city games.

 If MMORPG.com is going to post this news then I feel you owe the community an explanation of why you consider CitiesXL an MMO.

Originally posted by Aguitha

I fail to see why this is a MMO.... by the look of it, it seems like they want to make players PAY for things you generally gets for free from regular SIM city games.

Yes, because regular SIM city games all offer online interaction within the game, including resource trading, city visiting, seeing all cities as part of a same persistent world, chatting, etc.

If this was just another korean lobby-based game, I'd happily bash it, but this is not the case in any way.

And another thud echos down the internet.....

Need a demo. Monte Cristo used to release some  really ass backwards C quality type games.

played the demo, it was pretty meh.  Nothing you can't get in a normal Sim game.  Trading was about the only decent original thing in the game and i can see how it could change your city dramatically (import all industrial stuff instead of having an ugly industrial sector for example) but its not worth $10 a month.

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by Aguitha

I fail to see why this is a MMO.... by the look of it, it seems like they want to make players PAY for things you generally gets for free from regular SIM city games.

Yes, because regular SIM city games all offer online interaction within the game, including resource trading, city visiting, seeing all cities as part of a same persistent world, chatting, etc.

If this was just another korean lobby-based game, I'd happily bash it, but this is not the case in any way.

To me that would just be a single player game with multiplayer support. Many single player games offer huge amounts of multiplayer options and comunity interaction. Games like Halo 3 allow people to modify maps and make videos and share them all easily with other players. Spore allows for tons a sharing of creations. I expect a lot more from a pay to play game.

So to pay $10 a month to just talk to other players who play the game is not worth it for me.

Originally posted by BloodDuality

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by Aguitha

I fail to see why this is a MMO.... by the look of it, it seems like they want to make players PAY for things you generally gets for free from regular SIM city games.

Yes, because regular SIM city games all offer online interaction within the game, including resource trading, city visiting, seeing all cities as part of a same persistent world, chatting, etc.

If this was just another korean lobby-based game, I'd happily bash it, but this is not the case in any way.

To me that would just be a single player game with multiplayer support. Many single player games offer huge amounts of multiplayer options and comunity interaction. Games like Halo 3 allow people to modify maps and make videos and share them all easily with other players. Spore allows for tons a sharing of creations. I expect a lot more from a pay to play game.

So to pay $10 a month to just talk to other players who play the game is not worth it for me.

You can watch the multiplayer video linked in the original story to see what the Planet Offer (multiplayer) entails.

I am sorry MikeB, I watched the video just now per your request, and have to say I still don't see it being more than a single player game with some multplayer added on. I do admit though it does look like it has a lot of features though, and it did look very well done for what it is. Also looked to have more features and control than other games such as sim city. Maybe its just not my type of game.

Yes Mike, you  CAN  watch the video and see things that arent yet in the game, you cant have in a non-subscription based capacity, and just plain dont work.

Monte Cristo really scrood the pooch on this one. I was in the beta for the past 3.5 months, and I watched the game go from an awesome city builder, to a bug ridden, feature deprived, shallow shell of a game with 'promises of future expansions IF AND ONLY IF  you subscribe to the monthly planet offer.

At first , MC promised mass transit in testing. Then it was busses only for single player, and more for planet subscripts. Then it went to no busses at all for single player, and only in planet offer. Now it's released as No mass transit in the game anywhere, but they hope to add it in the near future, but again, only if you're a subscriber.

SimCity 4 is still a much better city builder. Cities have life there. They evolve. In CitiesXL, once you plop down the rectangular zone, and people move in , thats it. No further development. No growth, no change.

This offering from Monte Cristo, is one of their worst. Save your money. Invest in a company that is worth it. This one lies, backpedals, and produces too much crap to warrant your hard earned money.

This game is Hellgate: London all over again. City building games are single-player games and they always have been. The appeal is to lock yourself in a room and tinker over your empire for months on end. Nobody who likes city builders has *ever* wanted a multiplayer aspect to the genre.

What MC has done, though, is sheer greed. For the moment there is no mass transit in the game...no buses, no rail, nothing but car traffic. There will be mass transit in the game but only for those people willing to pay monthly for the privilege. The whole idea is just insulting.

I just hope when the game tanks the guys at MC realize why it was a failure and don't blame it on piracy or some other crap.

Originally posted by liberalguy

This game is Hellgate: London all over again. City building games are single-player games and they always have been. The appeal is to lock yourself in a room and tinker over your empire for months on end. Nobody who likes city builders has *ever* wanted a multiplayer aspect to the genre.

What MC has done, though, is sheer greed. For the moment there is no mass transit in the game...no buses, no rail, nothing but car traffic. There will be mass transit in the game but only for those people willing to pay monthly for the privilege. The whole idea is just insulting.

I just hope when the game tanks the guys at MC realize why it was a failure and don't blame it on piracy or some other crap.

lol I was just about to post a reply saying "This is like Hellgate: London" but you beat me to it!