Cities XL 2012

 PC
User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 97 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 97
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 97
  3. Negative: 29 out of 97

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  1. Mikimax
    Nov 3, 2011
    5
    After many expansions, this game is starting to look like a good buy. BUT, when we can't use our multi-core CPUs to have smooth gameplay and stable FPS rate then everything falls in the water. In this version we get new buildings, parts from SKI and Beach GEMs (mainly buildings) with which we can build nice resorts. Other news are new maps and the ability for users to make mods which areAfter many expansions, this game is starting to look like a good buy. BUT, when we can't use our multi-core CPUs to have smooth gameplay and stable FPS rate then everything falls in the water. In this version we get new buildings, parts from SKI and Beach GEMs (mainly buildings) with which we can build nice resorts. Other news are new maps and the ability for users to make mods which are now supported by the developer. The main problems still persists, memory leaks and one CPU core usage. If they fix this, then user made mods are going to propel this game to the stars!… Expand
  2. SixPackJack
    Feb 29, 2012
    5
    Great strategy and graphic appealing city builder. However, the lagging that takes place in this game makes it almost unbearable to play. I will try and play it a few more times, but if it contiues to get worse. I will throw it out. Thanks Anyways. I have a major gaming system running Win7 64bit with 12 GiG RAM, CPU is Intel I7 extreme gaming edition running at 3.8 Ghz and Nvidia 295's inGreat strategy and graphic appealing city builder. However, the lagging that takes place in this game makes it almost unbearable to play. I will try and play it a few more times, but if it contiues to get worse. I will throw it out. Thanks Anyways. I have a major gaming system running Win7 64bit with 12 GiG RAM, CPU is Intel I7 extreme gaming edition running at 3.8 Ghz and Nvidia 295's in Quad SLI and both CPU and Video Card are liguid cooled. But still it lags to the point of almost locking up. Through reading some of the forums, this is a common problem with the game. And the only fix or workaround seems to be having to quit and restart the game to play another 30 or 40 mins. To bad they cannot develop a game like this without this type or problem.… Expand
  3. rockmegax
    Mar 7, 2013
    5
    The game is pretty good, it allows you to build really big cities and exchange resources between them. I wasted many hours in this game. The only big problem I have with it is small lags that happen after 30 minutes of game play, forcing me to go back to the city selection screen. Some people say its a memory leak happening, but I don't see any change in memory usage on my PC. I've beenThe game is pretty good, it allows you to build really big cities and exchange resources between them. I wasted many hours in this game. The only big problem I have with it is small lags that happen after 30 minutes of game play, forcing me to go back to the city selection screen. Some people say its a memory leak happening, but I don't see any change in memory usage on my PC. I've been playing this game for a year now and I still don't see a fix for it.… Expand
  4. Koden
    Apr 21, 2012
    5
    If you can get past the fact that the game is rather buggy, has periods of slow down when playing for long times, sometimes places buildings in the wrong direction to where you have to break and remake, and that it feels like the only real consequences you have to worry about is traffic and costs, this can be a pretty fun game. Though it feels more like a "how to make everyone happy"If you can get past the fact that the game is rather buggy, has periods of slow down when playing for long times, sometimes places buildings in the wrong direction to where you have to break and remake, and that it feels like the only real consequences you have to worry about is traffic and costs, this can be a pretty fun game. Though it feels more like a "how to make everyone happy" puzzle game then a city builder.… Expand
  5. arleas
    Mar 7, 2012
    6
    I've never played a Cities XL game before, saw this on sale and decided, why not? The learning curve was pretty gentle. I did the tutorials and even though everything wasn't really explained perfectly, I figured out enough of it to get started pretty quickly. Without having to work very hard, I managed to get a city to 50,000 population pretty easily. Unfortunately, that's where thingsI've never played a Cities XL game before, saw this on sale and decided, why not? The learning curve was pretty gentle. I did the tutorials and even though everything wasn't really explained perfectly, I figured out enough of it to get started pretty quickly. Without having to work very hard, I managed to get a city to 50,000 population pretty easily. Unfortunately, that's where things started going downhill. The main reason why this game doesn't get a higher score is that it only utilizes one core. I have a quad core and it seems ridiculous that they couldn't figure out how to at least attempt to use a 2nd core to lighten the load. I also have a good video card (GTX 460 which I upgraded to a GTX 570 with 1.2GB of RAM on it) and 4GB of RAM in my PC yet after 50,000 citizens the game still runs in the single digits on framerate?

    Also occasionally I'd run into situations where a house would report that it had no access to city hall even though it did, or that a bus line was broken (meaning it didn't make a complete loop back to the terminal) when nothing had changed. These little events hurt the game as well...

    I haven't really experienced all the game has to offer yet, but from what I can see it's great for casual players who just want to jump in and start making a city since it simplifies some things over Sim City (like not having to place water and electrical lines everywhere). It also allows you to connect one city to another to trade some resources between them, allowing one city to specialize in "holiday hotels" and another to be more of a farm city, or industrial or whatever. This is very nice, though if your cash flow is negative, the only city you can trade with is the NPC city that generally doesn't give you a very good deal in any trade. I'd say if you see this game on sale for cheap, give it a shot (unless you already have one of the earlier games in the series). Otherwise it's probably better to pass on it.    … Expand
  6. Mascalzone
    Feb 22, 2013
    7
    The best city builder on the market, even if not so immersive for 2012. Mods helps a lot to make the game deeper and have a better and more complete gameplay. But Focus Home Entertainment have done nothign to really improve the original Monte Cristo title and this is the worst problem of this title. Radically not completed, but still funny.
  7. SylarHRG
    Mar 6, 2013
    6
    A good game but marred with technical issues. Even the most recent gaming computers will issue some sort of problems and not due to the high end graphics, but due to the poor coding/programming. A thoroughly enjoyable game if it were to run properly.
  8. Mokaki
    Oct 30, 2012
    6
    I give this game props for attempting to lure me in for hours of city building gameplay. Due to it's buggy nature the game will either freeze or shut my top of the line computer down. It's enjoyable to start, but doesn't bring me back for more as often times their user interface is late in telling you what you actually need to improve your city. Waiting for Sim City March 5th.
  9. amir84
    Oct 22, 2011
    5
    its pretty much the same game. they didn't bother to change the icons and menu and the first impression you have is that maybe there has been a mistake regarding the content, the only thing different is the logo of cities xl 2012 instead of 2011. and the game of course has more bugs that you can imagine. despite all disappointments , you will have once or twice experience in playing theits pretty much the same game. they didn't bother to change the icons and menu and the first impression you have is that maybe there has been a mistake regarding the content, the only thing different is the logo of cities xl 2012 instead of 2011. and the game of course has more bugs that you can imagine. despite all disappointments , you will have once or twice experience in playing the game which brings back the old 2011 memories.… Expand
  10. sgmayne
    Dec 4, 2011
    7
    There's definitely some new material in this one, but it still has most of the same problems as always: It's slow, for one thing. My system specs well exceed the recommended specs for this game, but in larger cities I find it necessary to turn the graphical settings down as low as they will go in order to get a decent frame-rate. Trade is buggy and poorly optimized.

    At the same time,    There's definitely some new material in this one, but it still has most of the same problems as always: It's slow, for one thing. My system specs well exceed the recommended specs for this game, but in larger cities I find it necessary to turn the graphical settings down as low as they will go in order to get a decent frame-rate. Trade is buggy and poorly optimized.

    At the same time, though, the game is actually fun. It's a great way to kill several hours, building unique cities and taking advantage of the new features in this version (which are mostly just new buildings, but it's still a fun addition). The game is consistently challenging, in all the right ways, and this falls well into line with the projected difficulties for each map type, so it's possible to play at exactly the level of difficulty you'd expect. Setting up bus routes and organizing cities to minimize traffic problems and environmental health is a satisfying task. And the difficulty grows organically as your city expands, requiring you to manage an ever-increasing set of variables in order to satisfy your citizens' needs.

    In short, the game is well-designed, and it is fun to play. It's just a shame that it's not better optimized. Perhaps once they slap next year's number on it, the game will have addressed those details.    … Expand
  11. Gladio77
    Nov 8, 2011
    7
    Well its the old Sim City . So not much new ideas since i played sim city 10 years ago but the game Looks good and it kept me occupied for some .( played and realised it was 3 hours later which is a good sign)

    If you like the city development its pretty good buy actually
  12. Hawkerace
    Nov 10, 2011
    7
    Considering I haven't bought into the series early but being very curious I figured why not with the latest especially because of the modding tools. However, many people are frustrated because its like the earlier games, but luckily I don't have that problem, therefore no bias, and found that its a genuinely interesting and enjoyable game. Its not the best in its field, oh no, however ifConsidering I haven't bought into the series early but being very curious I figured why not with the latest especially because of the modding tools. However, many people are frustrated because its like the earlier games, but luckily I don't have that problem, therefore no bias, and found that its a genuinely interesting and enjoyable game. Its not the best in its field, oh no, however if this game is ever on sale, I would pick it up.

    A few bugs and glitches, as well as the audio is pretty dry and the camera controls could be a lot better, that knocks my score down to 7/10    … Expand
  13. KouDy
    Mar 11, 2012
    7
    Cities XL 2012 is fairly polished game. Basically how original Cities should look like. There are only a little innovations in the genre and Cities are still here to preserve the genre itself. The game doesn't bring anything new. Nicely playable still and worth of trying if you like city building genre.
  14. dryerlint
    Oct 20, 2011
    5
    So they updated the graphics and added new buildings. However, they still couldn't be bothered to fix the traffic. Left lanes still make right turns in front of cars waiting at intersections. Every single lane still turns into every other game and it just ruins my day because I literally have traffic aspergers.. If they ever fix the traffic I'll consider Cities on the same level as SimSo they updated the graphics and added new buildings. However, they still couldn't be bothered to fix the traffic. Left lanes still make right turns in front of cars waiting at intersections. Every single lane still turns into every other game and it just ruins my day because I literally have traffic aspergers.. If they ever fix the traffic I'll consider Cities on the same level as Sim City 4 with NAM and I'll change my review score to a 9.… Expand
  15. a9249
    Mar 24, 2013
    6
    A great stopgap while simcity figures out how to be fun again, unfortunately glitches and technical problems plague the game. Each new "edition" is barely a small expansion on the last, you would have though with all the money they have made off it they could afford to model a few more buildings and hire a patching team. And multicore. seriously, its 2012. everyone has at-least 2, if not 4A great stopgap while simcity figures out how to be fun again, unfortunately glitches and technical problems plague the game. Each new "edition" is barely a small expansion on the last, you would have though with all the money they have made off it they could afford to model a few more buildings and hire a patching team. And multicore. seriously, its 2012. everyone has at-least 2, if not 4 as standard.… Expand
  16. crishy
    Oct 2, 2014
    7
    Decent graphics and simulation. Decent city and building scaling sizes. Plenty of road options though no freeway options. The ability of doing curved roads is a big plus. However plenty of empty spaces unless you do a perfect grid pattern.

    There are some options for resource trading that may make some players happy but personally not a big fan of them as they are unrealistic. Decent    Decent graphics and simulation. Decent city and building scaling sizes. Plenty of road options though no freeway options. The ability of doing curved roads is a big plus. However plenty of empty spaces unless you do a perfect grid pattern.

    There are some options for resource trading that may make some players happy but personally not a big fan of them as they are unrealistic.

    Decent transit options.

    You can add mods and new maps but terraforming options are rather limited even with the former.

    A very annoying aspect with Cities XL is that you have to micromanage everything in order to make people's lives better. I can understand fire and policing, but hmm, entertainment? That is your responsibility too.

    Economically wise I found much harder (or slower) to make meets end (especially around middle game) than SC4 and much harder than the new SC and while there are mods and cheats available casual players who intend to build large cities may want to be aware of that before they jump in.

    The game's menu interface is not very intuitive and suffers from bugs so that you do lose saves from time to time. The game starts to suffer perfomance issues when cities start filling the map as well even on a decent PC.

    Overall decent game if you are new to the franchise, or if you are new to the city building genre altogether.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Mar 1, 2012
    72
    If you haven't played any of the franchise games and are looking for a recent sim city game, this will keep you busy for a while. To the rest, Cities XL 2012 will probably feel more of an expansion (fully priced though), than a new, independent addition to your collection. [March 2012]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 20, 2012
    50
    Maybe it is the nicest city sim but unfortunately it's only the empty shell. Too many design mistakes and an user-unfriendly interface make Cities XL 2012 wasted opportunity. [Dec 2011]
  3. Games.cz
    Dec 7, 2011
    50
    An entertaining balancing of a city budget and a flourishing metropolis resulting in a cheerful feeling is being destroyed by its need to build up several cities from the very beginning and by its not so user friendly road / whole city blocks construction.
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