October 9, 2009
If You Build It, They Will Come –
Cities XL Now Available
Monte Cristo releases the
genre-bending Cities XL in North America
CITIES XL, the massively multiplayer
city-building game from Monte Cristo, has officially launched in North America.
The servers are now online, so players who purchased the game digitally, or via
Monte Cristo’s online store, may now begin crafting unique and expansive urban
environments. For those who have yet to purchase Cities XL, the game is
available in boxed form from
www.citiesxl.com, and in digital form from Steam, Direct2Drive and Impulse.
In the game’s solo mode, players can
build from a selection of 500 structures on varied landscape maps. In the online
mode – subject to a monthly subscription – gamers can collaborate to construct
famous landmarks, trade resources with other players, and receive new content
monthly, including new building packs.
In Cities XL, players build up their
cities in full 3D from a selection of 500 buildings, while trying to keep the
population happy – in the beta, players have managed to get up to 17,000,000
inhabitants in one city! In the game, would-be mayors have to take account
pollution, traffic and trade in order to build a perfect city.
Cities are built on amazing 3D maps
(such as Mount St Helens), and the game reflects that impressive scale, letting
players zoom out to a Google Earth-type perspective or right into street level
to watch your inhabitants going about their day.
You can also go online and build
cities on a planet with up to 10,000 other urban centers per planet. Here you
can trade excess resources, chat with friends, specialize your city to corner
your local market, or build Megastructures that aren’t available in the
single-player game.
