Cities XL 2012

Cities XL 2012

A smooth, intuitive interface keeps things humming. Although the icons are tiny and the text on some of them so small as to be unreadable when running at high resolutions, the overall presentation is straightforward enough for you to find your way around with ease. Construction options are never more than a couple of clicks away, and important city information regarding taxes, resources, and the like are also immediately accessible. The game comes with a lengthy series of tutorials, but you don't really need to bother with them. Little tips are constantly offered up to let you know when there are shortages of homes for specific classes of workers, when resources are so low that basics of life are being rationed, or when you need to set up some more factories to reduce unemployment. There isn't enough advice posted in these tips to walk you through the game, although this guidance holds your hand just enough so you soon figure out what to anticipate. Still, Cities XL 2012 is not without its faults. Resource shortages are the biggest issue. It can be tough to just build a one-off city because the game pretty much forces you to connect multiple towns into trading networks.