…Cities XL is still not as hardcore as the SimCity series, and the subscription cost is questionably worth the arguably shallow multiplayer content. We encourage you to give the demo a shot before committing to it. The future is bright for Cities XL, but it’s doubtful that it’s bright enough to dethrone SimCity 4 as the preferred city-building simulation.

If you look at the average score by the consumers things aren’t looking that much prettier. 5.7 isn’t a very good number. By comparison SimCity 4 had 8.7. Looks like the wait continues for a city simulator that can uphold the standards set by SimCity. As mentioned in the quote there is a demo out there if you want to give Cities XL a shot. Please voice you opinion in the poll or the comments.

The actual beta client can be downloaded here. For English users I’d suggest choosing Big Download, simple and fast.

Happy hunting.

We think that with a price point of 7€ for one month or 5€ per month for 3 months, the Planet offer offers tremendous value for money. There are countless hours of gameplay, fun and sub-objectives in the Planet Mode that players will discover with time. We really intend to continually expand the game, and together with the community keep on enriching it and improving it.

There’s also the option of paying 4.50€ for 6 months.

The online experience features a “planet mode” which includes key parts such as trading, cooperation between players on massive projects and city specialization. Cities XL is slated for a fall release.

It is unknown what this means to the SimCity franchise. However we did manage to find this quote:

We believe in Will’s vision for Stupid Fun Club and we’re looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future,” said John Riccitiello, EA’s Chief Executive Officer. “Will is a great designer and he’s been part of a great legacy of globally recognized game franchises like The Sims, SimCity and Spore. The teams that have been leading those franchises in recent years have a lot of exciting content coming.

Just grasping for straws.

Also, check out this interview with Lucy Bradshaw. Unfortunately it’s mostly about Spore.

Cities XL will come with over 500 buildings, a wide arrange of customization tools and a plethora of other exciting features. Beta testing is just around the corner and the game will ship later this year.

Other GEMs might include a railroad GEM, giving you complete control over the rail industry you may have established in your town, or a winery GEM, which would allow you to create custom vintages ($400 bottles of cabernet or a $2 jug of Dr. Nate’s Cure-All) to peddle to consumers and, potentially, other players.

Furthermore there is info on how the multiplayer aspect of the game will work and what you’d have to expect to pay for that possibility.

Thanks to tr0ub1es0me for the news tip.

Talk about this in our newly opened Cities XL forum.