Almost perfect game but, has some imperfections.
Players of SC4 will become fimilar with this game fast. When starting the game you must start with a town hall, connection road out of map, and a utility center[like a multi-purpose power center]. Then you start on your residents. You start by placing down single spaced building zones, similar to SC4 but, bigger. In this game you have the option of placing down objects in squares, singluraly, or by free form. Squares and singlally are very straight foward and easy but, free form is a pretty hard skill to master. After setting down some residental zones you must put down a couple of retail buildings which will appease your citizens shop needs. Next your goal is set up buisnees and that usually is heavy industry. So find an area and bust out the businesses. With heavy industry in place you need management. So you must build a zoning area for richer citizens so they can work in offices which supply the heavy industry. With heavy industry booming you then need fuel to keep them going. So you must either buy fuel or build oil wells to supply yourself. This is pretty much a common way of playing Cities Xl and is how it is usually played out. The whole purpose of that was to show you how the game is played.
Now to get into the core aspects. The game is both a online and offline experience. Cities Xl wants you to play online[9 bucks a month]but, you have the option of playing offline for free. Online you have the ability to communicate with other players. You also can trade with a thriving economy which sells and buys resources which are essitial in running your city. And recieve downloadable content for the game with online. Offline isn't really much different. You can still trade with one NPC but, his options aren't as flexible as online players. Also mass transportation is taken out which I'll get into later.
The game runs similarly to SC4 which is probably what most of you city builders want. However, this version is a little mored based on indiviual buildings then mass zones. Which in my opinion is better. So far I find this game quite enjoyable and fun. There are many buildings to make and much to do. I enjoy watched my little farming town turn into a massive industrial wasteland with mass polution. The game offers many aspects which give you challenges to you which I find fun. I also loving watching my city expand with my hand.
With all said, there are some multiple flaws. One being mass transportation. Personally, I've been mainly playing offline and not using mass transportation but, the fact its not gunna be in offline is dissapointing. Also there are a few very annoying bugs online. One being very laggy trade screens and the other being random times where I get kicked off the server. Also paying for online is kinda a rip in my opinion but, I'm probably not going to buy online so it's not huge deal for me. But, in the end these features aren't huge enough to stop me from enjoying this game. Personally, I'd reccomend this game to SC4 fans or ones who love big city building. But, who knows you might not like it. Perhaps borrowing a copy of the game from a friend would be the best option for you guys on the fence.
-Helloiseeu