Well....I can't say I am surprised given the large discount for previous owners of the franchise. But, this game is the exact same game as what came before. The exact same buildings, the exact same tools, the exact same interface layout. The only differences I have been able to spot are the new color of the interface (from blue to black) and apparently it has multi-thread support.

I could have just saved the 20 dollars and played Cities XL, and gotten the exact same experience. It is a bit sad that they repackaged an old game and sold it for so much while promising us "tons of new features". Maybe a ton has a different weight value wherever this developer is located.


Edit: Due to some legit points made in the comments section of this review I've decided to make an edit.

Old players: Don't buy it, unless you play it every day, then you'll have bought it anyway.

New Players: I would characterize this game as more of a City Editor instead of more of a city sim in the manner of the old SimCitys. In my opinion, this game is just too easy to plop whatever you want down, and watch it build itself. Yes, you can build a massive city in many of the ways you want. But if you want to start with a small town, and work your ass off to turn it into a bustling metropolis after hours and hours of fun gameplay, and then have to deal with sprawl, aging infrastructure, and urban blight....then this is not the game for you.

To that end, I would characterize this game as a pretty boring way to spend an evening as you just point and plop whatever you want or need and then watch the grey boxes go around your city because you don't want to view your city one street at a time.

Well....I can't say I am surprised given the large discount for previous owners of the franchise. But, this game is the exact same game as what came before. The exact same buildings, the exact same tools, the exact same interface layout. The only differences I have been able to spot are the new color of the interface (from blue to black) and apparently it has multi-thread support. I could have just saved the 20 dollars and played Cities XL, and gotten the exact same experience. It is a bit sad that they repackaged an old game and sold it for so much while promising us "tons of new features". Maybe a ton has a different weight value wherever this developer is located. Edit: Due to some legit points made in the comments section of this review I've decided to make an edit. Old players: Don't buy it, unless you play it every day, then you'll have bought it anyway. New Players: I would characterize this game as more of a City Editor instead of more of a city sim in the manner of the old SimCitys. In my opinion, this game is just too easy to plop whatever you want down, and watch it build itself. Yes, you can build a massive city in many of the ways you want. But if you want to start with a small town, and work your ass off to turn it into a bustling metropolis after hours and hours of fun gameplay, and then have to deal with sprawl, aging infrastructure, and urban blight....then this is not the game for you. To that end, I would characterize this game as a pretty boring way to spend an evening as you just point and plop whatever you want or need and then watch the grey boxes go around your city because you don't want to view your city one street at a time.