In this next-generation take on the city building genre, realism will be pushed to the limit with cities that are bigger, more realistic and sophisticated than ever before. Cities XL, previously called Cities Unlimited, will expand upon all that make city builders fun and interesting, while letting players take their game online, as they interact with others in a massive online environment.Cities XL allows gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. The maps feature a variety of environments: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Players must create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and other job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, clothe, employ and entertain their citizens. Be it planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighborhood or transit system - there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in Cities XL.
The game’s online features and services will allow players to create interconnected cities on virtual and persistent planets. Mayors can share and trade with one another, specialize their economy and team up with befriended cities to create sprawling metropolises. Life on the planet will be punctuated by events and competitions - a concert held in one town may, for example, be attended by visitors from other areas who can also enjoy a walk around the city to admire the urban creations of multiple players. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, Cities XL will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger cities and multiple gameplay layers.
You've created a wonderful little mountain village, complete with its local cheese specialties, wandering heavy-hided bovines, and picture-perfect landscapes, but you now want to take it to the next level: attracting visitors by the dozen with the heavy artillery of tourism, the must-have of mountain life: skiing!
The Ski GEM offers a large number of activities, the main one, and also the most fun, being the Ski Resort! Ski-trails, ski-lifts and all related activities are the everyday business of the young mountain resort managers…
As manager of your very own ski resort, you will take on a large number of fun tasks! First and foremost, you will need to decide where to place your snowy empire in the making. The mountains are huge and the possibilities aplenty! Once you have spotted the perfect place to set up your resort, you will need to place your first ski-lift to aim for the summits! You have access to different types of lifts (ski-tow, cable-cars, chairlifts, etc.), which are all adapted to different types of terrain. By starting out with a small ski-tow, you can climb high enough along the slopes to place your first ski-trails.
Draw your trails freely in the environment, in the same way you would place a road! Avoid trees and rocks, aim for a few nice slopes and within seconds, you will have a ski-trail worthy of the name! Green? Blue? Or maybe even red if there are a few nice bumps?… Choosing the difficulty level of your trails is vital as you will need to provide for all tastes and altitudes!
It's up to you to decide what the "official" colour of the trail will be, but the game also indicates its actual difficulty level in real time. Don't be afraid to include a small red portion in a blue trail, there's no harm in giving your skiers a bit of a fright once in a while! But don't overdo it, as they might quickly become frustrated or disappointed... And you will need to create trails for all levels, from green to black…
You will quickly realise that you can create a real network of trails that will satisfy most of the skiers looking for adrenaline pumping speed! And you will also have the opportunity to create new trails or modify old ones once in a while for more diversity!
Of course, beyond the trails and ski-lifts, you will need to build other installations to create the perfect ski resort: high altitude shelters for your visitors to keep warm, snack-bars along the slopes for them to grab a little something on the go, a restaurant overlooking the breathtaking panorama... And very soon you will be running the new Aspen!
But the greatest thing about all this is that, once you have finished setting up everything, you can sit back and watch your skiers and snowboarders speeding down your trails, and fully appreciate all the hard work you put into your resort! But watch out for accidents... It will then be high time to build a hospital at the bottom of the slopes…
Cities XL is currently scheduled to ship in 2009.
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