Urban planning simulators won the hearts of gamers during the creation of the Simcity cult. Then, in 1989, it was a real breakthrough of the gaming industry, the ingenious creation of William Rita (William R. Wright), which brought the great glory of the company Maxis. The popularity of the project was the basis of the birth of a series dedicated to laying roads, building houses and offices, satisfying the needs of colorful virtual men. The epic of genius actually ended in 2003, when the release of Simcity 4 took place. It is important to note that millions of fans around the world are still playing it, as eloquently evidenced by the prosperous international site Simtropolis.COM, where users create magazines with screenshots of their virtual cities (for example, Kaliningrad), contests with prizes are held and, of course, tens and hundreds of additions are laid out.
Subsequently, newcomers periodically appeared in the genre, but they only reminded us of the existence of the good old Simcity 4. For example, in 2007, the ill-fated Simcity Societies was released, which was also created in the bowels Maxis, But she, like many other representatives of the genre, simply parodied the possibilities of the “genuine” Simcity and was submitted under a beautiful wrapper: 3D graphics, a loud name. However, Kutsya gameplay is not
able to keep our attention for a long time. Today, all crafts have become nothing more than part of the story without their fans, and some have lost even their official sites. Therefore, we can safely say that since 2004 there has not been a single really high-quality development in this genre, except for Tropico 3, but it belongs more to the simulators of politicians. But some enthusiasts nevertheless attempted to move the legend from the raped pedestal.
The mayor spanned for embezzlement
A real hoping star for lovers to visit the mayor’s skin flashed in a sky in 2008. French developers from Monte Cristo Games, A little known for the not very popular City Life, who failed the “killer” of Simcity 4, decided to jump above their heads and try their happiness in this field again, announcing the promising project of CITIES Unlimited. It all started with a forum where visitors were allowed to conduct an open dialogue with employees of the company for all elements of the future game, starting with general issues related to gameplay, ending with the appearance of virtual sidewalks. This gave rise to a feeling of universal involvement in the creation of an ideal urban planning simulator – dreams of fans of Simcity. Regular revelations in the official blog poured oils into the fire Monte Cristo with a mandatory application of beautiful screenshots and videos.
Then the times of changes came, accompanied by a change in the name of the future hit in a few unscientific CITies XL and seemed to be not portending trouble by the introduction of online mode. Now we had to build cities on a common planet and trade with each other, and for this pleasure it was necessary to pay monthly. Then the first notes of doubts about success sounded in the community. Oddly enough, this chain of disappointment was just beginning: almost before the release, the authors began to actively advertise CITies XL, but in the list of its features there was very little of what was promised a year earlier.
It turned out that the developers did not take a single message or wishes from the participants of the official forum seriously. Thousands of sentences remained only in the memoirs and archives of the site. Monte Cristo She walked along the unknown ways to the unknown, losing his commitment to fans and succumbing to the only desire to make money by an already famous brand. All fears were confirmed in October 2009, when the game was born, the servers were launched, and the first registered users began to build up virtual planets. Beautiful views in 3D, a change of time of day, the opportunity to walk along the streets of the city -erected city, the complete absence of restrictions in the construction of roads – none of this could save the project from imminent death. Cities XL suffocated in its ambitions after three months-the server was closed in March 2010 due to a very low number of subscribers and the extremely dangerous financial condition of the developer. The reason was simple – it was not interesting, the promised did not realize, the gameplay quickly bored. All familiar diseases of colleagues in the workshop who failed the task “Kill Simcity 4”, were there here.
The new mayor acts in accordance with the plan
A few months later, on the pages of gaming online publications, the Cities XL is remembered again, but this time with the suffix “2011”. The announcement sounded from the mouth of another developer – the French from Focus Home Interactive, bought by that time from Monte Cristo All rights to the project. Another attempt to recreate an unrealized or to test your forces in correcting the mistakes of a failure but finished and debugged game – this was a mystery to all. Then the general director of the company Cedric Lagarrig (Cedric Lagarrigue) literally said the following: “We want CITies XL to have a future. Despite the fact that she could not succeed, she could be quite successful in Europe. You cannot leave without the future and the community that has developed around the project all this time. In addition, we are convinced that the series will leave its mark in history, as promised in press releases of the first part of CITIES XL. That’s why Focus Home Interactive Preparing a sequel. As for fans of other urban planning simulators – content CITies XL 2011, His saturation and functionality will like everyone and everyone “.
Again, a series of promises, again the old song about the main thing is to achieve the level of popularity and sales of Simcity 4. And, as we have already seen in the failures of such simulators, it is very difficult to do it. The key feature of the new image of CITies XL was the complete absence of the network mode. And although the Internet connection will be required for launch and registration, all signs of online functionality, developers promised to cut out a clean. Now there was practically no excitement, work with the community was practically not conducted, the brand promotion was much less large Monte Cristo. Quietly and without chic on October 15, a release took place CITies XL 2011 for Europe and the USA (and the Russian -speaking version was recently released by the company Akella), finished and only “single”.
The mayor approves the budget
CITies XL 2011, Of course, one of the most beautiful games is not only among competitors, but in general among the games in general, where there are such huge locations with a large number of houses, streets, automobile traffic, passers -by. Thanks to the full -fledged 3D, we are free to look at all this from a bird’s eye view, or to “move” the camera in a passerby or a car and observe the events in the city with a first -person view. The change of day and night demonstrates the graphic delights of an updated engine, and animated people give the feeling that our metropolis lives a peculiar interesting life. To build and observe the result of your labors is one of the local entertainment of the virtual mayor. And if in CITies XL it was almost the basis of everything, then here a lot of expanded gameplay capabilities are added to the excellent visual component.
The free -planning system that has migrated from the previous project is favorably different from the cell in Simcity 4. This allows us to come up with completely dissimilar schemes of road interchanges on each other, repeat the arrangement of microdistricts in the existing city or simply create our own way of placing skyscrapers, for example, with a view of the bay. IN CITies XL 2011 The system for searching for ways for transport and passenger flow from the houses of citizens to offices, shops or factories was improved. So, a wide route with six stripes will be more priority for traffic than a narrow street. In addition, if you build a clinic or fire department, not in a long -remote and confusing crossroads, but on a highway passing through the whole city, then the level of influence of the municipal building will have a larger radius.
Promised earlier in the online mode of CITies XL and now introduced buses honestly move passengers along the routes laid in advance and manually established stops. Really important chip in the urban planning simulator. We have the opportunity to even replace the rolling stock in the depot with small and inexpensive minibuses, or to let ordinary regular machines or even two -story volcom rutmasters. Another serious innovation approaching the project to the legendary Transport Tycoon, – Railway transport. More precisely, here we are represented only by the metro, which is built either underground or on the overpass. In fact, there is a feeling that it was introduced at a late stage of development. Firstly, there are not enough stations for ground routes (there are underground lobby with a “holey” 3D model, it was not changed even in patches), and secondly, it is not always clear that virtual residents are priority-metro or buses. Contrary to logic, for some reason they use the first much less often than the last.
In addition, abandoning the online restrictions, the authors provided about 50 different cards with a different climate, which were previously available to network subscribers. In addition to public transport, there are now all buildings, the economy and trading of cities are diluted with innovations, the interface of the tax system is detailed, a large number of little things like a new animation or updated shaaders have been added. Unlike the predecessor, all the possibilities will not fail. Otherwise, everything is as before: taxes affect demand, trade between cities opens up new opportunities for further growth and development, and the happiness of citizens depends on your ingenuity. And then it seems CITies XL 2011 In all respects, it is ideal and balanced, however, after a few hours of construction and planning, an awareness of frightening flaws, hidden behind the veil of happiness and the joy of the first impressions.
The construction of the fire department helped the mayor not to burn out
It turns out that electricity and water are transported by trucks, who do not care where the destination is located, even if it is on the neighboring mainland through the ocean. Both resources are included in a huge list of objects of sale, which also includes, for example, the townspeople themselves! Yes, for the fact that you allow the hard workers to go to enterprises to the neighboring city, they must pay you with money or resources. This would be logical for oil or goods, but these flaws were at every step in the year ago Cities XL. If you recall the regions in Simcity 4, then there the citizens were free to move independently between settlements, look for a more attractive place for life or work. Electricity and water had to be transmitted through power lines and pipes – and only to the cities on the border and the rest along the chain. Moreover, the volume of transportation and transit of resources were calculated by specific units of measurement. Such a desire for realism is alien to CITies XL 2011.
At first glance, the logical division of residents into several classes (untrained and trained workers, performers, elite) seems to be a good idea. The city’s management is simplified, since we are endowed with the authority of planning not only individual zones for each class, but also of individual vacancies for them. The higher the class, the more difficult it is for him to please. For example, the elite wants to settle next to parks and recreational zones, but at the same time requires that work, good medical care and education are nearby, and even better – a resort right under the windows of their penthouse. And once again we stumble upon the oversight of developers, clouding the visibility of the balance of gameplay. No matter how strange it sounds, untrained workers will not be able to become trained, build at least a dozen schools next to them. And vice versa, the elite will not be able to impoverish. In Simcity 4, I remember that this moment was very successfully implemented: the lower class could become medium if the district is equipped and create good living conditions in it. And the rich themselves searched for those areas for living where you can build an expensive mansion and not be afraid to be robbed by the poor. In other words, unlike CITies XL 2011, It was not required to allocate new zones – to increase their attractiveness, it was enough only to improve living conditions.
For this reason, the essence of the entire gameplay is reduced to repeating and monotonous actions. First we build a city with a low population density, demolish the old houses, in their places we put new ones with high density and so on until we jump into the boundaries of the card, or a lack of resources. That’s all, Game Over, you can begin the construction of another city. And there are no events here, there are no news, no one goes to rallies and strikes, fires do not occur, the subway cars do not fall from the flyover, the cars do not beat in accidents. And all these inconsistencies and arrears are more and more often revealed with the course of the game. The promising economy is generally in the background: for the entire time of development of the village to the metropolis, you can never look at the section “Taxes” with numerous sliders – and the inhabitants will remain happy, and the treasury in the surplus.
And then the question is brewing: how, with this level of attention to details, the almost ideal system of laying roads, the unlimited possibilities of the economy did not bring to mind, in fact, small “blunders” that come to nullified everything? The answer is known alone Focus Home Interactive. But we are deprived of doubts about the enormous potential of this simulator. Perhaps in the future developers will release a bulky addon with the correction of the problems we have considered today. Although when Cits XL came out a year earlier, the game was considered too early born, but endowed with great potential. Surprisingly, after the release CITies XL 2011 a year later, the characteristic has almost not changed. Only the abandonment of online saved her. Yes, she looks a little more perfect than her younger sister. However, she managed to get out only to the semifinals of the decisive fight with Simcity 4, to get a little closer to her in her capabilities and gameplay. And today no one will argue with the statement that the place of the “killer” of the legendary creation Willa Wright It is still vacant.
Pros: A new attempt to compete with the legend in the genre of urban planning simulators —simcity 4;excellent 3D graphics;the attention of artists and animators to the little things;free layout of construction zones, almost the perfect system of laying roads and metro tunnels;thoughtful public transport system;historical objects;Without online mode, there are no restrictions on the “single”;gives the hope that the game has a future.
Cons: The city does not develop independently, there are no events or incidents;The engine does not use all the available computer resources, which is why the game is very slow down even on powerful systems;The huge potential of the economy is not in demand;illogical solutions with resources: residents in exchange for oil are strong.