Cities XL 2011 was a pleasant enough city building sim with alarmingly deep traffic management mechanics. By rearranging roads and adding additional routes, it was possible to disperse traffic hotspots. It was strangely satisfying, like smoothing out wrinkled silk. Cities XL 2012 will let you manage traffic in whole new locations where, according to the first screenshots, there will be sand, snow, and sometimes helicopters.
The sequel will have 60 different maps that you'll be able to fill with more than a thousand buildings. You'll have to arrange them carefully to ensure each location is covered by security and emergency services. Alternatively, you could build an enormous circular cluster of residential structures with no infrastructure, surround it with a noose of motorways and watch as it sinks into a crime-ridden pit of urban despondency, and then call it "Birmingham." Cities XL 2012 is due out in October this year.
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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
