After a short and surprisingly successful run, I have decided I will be closing Cities Unlimited at A Digital City. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time needed to run a fansite all alone, despite how incredibly excited I am about Cities Unlimited. However, I would like to direct everyone’s attention to SIMphoni.net, where I hope to help an awesome Cities Unlimited community flourish!

The graphical wonders of Cities Unlimited continue to amaze us, this time with a demonstration of system the game uses to simulate night and day [view article on CUPlanet]. Monte Cristo actually uses a virtual sun to light the landscape below, while the light is physically scattered through the atmosphere to create blue skies - or the beautiful colours of a fall sunset. A video shows shadows realistically revolving around buildings throughout the day, while their windows reflect the different coloured light. It creates a great effect, and almost looks photo real. Here’s a few screenshots from the video to illustrate the difference between night and day (click for larger version).

Monte Cristo wished the Cities Unlimited community a slightly belated happy new year today by giving us a very cool looking screenshot. The post at CUplanet.com says, quote:

The whole of the Cities Unlimited team joins me in wishing you an excellent 2008.

To celebrate the new year, we want to share with you an image taken from the latest stage of our development.

The posted screenshot is the first ever of a city skyline, and shows a dense city punctuated by a few highrises. The city has a backdrop of quite incredible looking mountains, which we’ve seen in earlier shots. It definitely looks promising! So, without further adieu, here’s the screenshot!

If you want to see more, check out the Cities Unlimited screenshot gallery!

A Digital City wishes you a happy new year! Cheers to a great 2007, and the time for new beginnings in 2008… and yes, I have lots of plans for this fledgling little site. Now, time to go to bed!

A while ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of City Life 2008 direct from Monte Cristo. I’ve had a chance to play it a significant amount, and am now ready to post a thorough review of the game. But first, some pictures!

Here’s a few photos of the package and box cover, plus a signed note from Philippe Da Silva himself!

And, here are some screenshots from the installation. Looks tantalizing!

Stay tuned, the game review comes tomorrow! Discuss the preview here in the forums!

Yes folks, SimCity Societies has been released… and initial reviews suggest it will be the worst SimCity game in history. Official reviews from game sites give it an average of 6.5 out of 10. Many say the game is boring, disorganized, and bug-filled. Here’s a selection of ratings with quotes:

Eurogamer: 5 out of 10

There’s not much point comparing it directly to SimCity games of the past, since it’s almost completely different in style and tone. SimCity 4 may have grown terrifying and bloated for the average player, but Societies simplifies things to an often depressing degree.

GameSpy: 3 out of 5

No gameplay depth; beefy system required.

IGN: 5.8 out of 10

SimCity Societies has enough faults of its own that we’re not going to run short of things to criticize. While the concept is sound, the game mechanics are too arbitrary and confusing for players looking for the next great city building game.

At the SimCity.com official Bulletin Board, most new threads are not excited compliments, but questions about why this game is so threadbare. In fact, there is already someone asking for their money back, saying the following:

I think the folks over at EA have made a mistake in dealing with Tilted Mill… game ruined… game over!

In case you haven’t gotten the message: this game is terrible. My recommendation to you? Don’t waste $50, wait for City Life 2008, which comes this month (current estimated release date is November 22). SimCity Societies is a mish-mash of randomly placed buildings, roads that only go in two directions, and even lacks a terrain editor. Perhaps SimCity 5 will be better, but until then, I’ll be looking forward to Cities Unlimited!

In conclusion, A Digital City gives SimCity Societies developer Tilted Mill a 10 out of 10 for effort, but the game itself gets 1 out of 10 for gameplay which only serves to provide a slight distraction from life, instead of the great entertainment of previous SimCity Games.

Monte Cristo has given us a hint about how they intend to make road systems work in Cities Unlimited, and their concept is nothing short of impressive. They plan to make transport more customizable than ever before by allowing us, the player, to modify almost every aspect of any road. Here are the main points of the article:

• Players will be able to define exactly how many lanes they want. That means you could have a one way road with one lane, or a ten lane boulevard. It’s not known whether or not there will be a limit to road width, but it’s conceivably possible to make a fifty lane road in Cities Unlimited if you ever had the urge to do so.
• Bus lanes, bike lanes, or tram lines can easily be added to any roadway. You can even limit whether people take left turns into the road.
• Curved roads and diagonal roads will be completely possible. Buildings will also line up to any road, no matter which direction it’s facing.

This level of control has never been seen in any city builder game before, and will certainly appeal to any transportation buffs who have ever played City Life of SimCity. If you’re as excited as I am, come and discuss it in the forums!

Also, a couple of new screenshots have been added to our Cities Unlimited screenshots gallery, so check them out!

City Life is Monte Cristo’s first-generation city building game, released back in May 2006. Since then, the game has been expanded with City Life World Edition, which added many new buildings and features. Now, Monte Cristo is planning to release City Life 2008, the latest version of the game. The game features a full 3D graphics system, and has received good reviews from places like Gamespot and Eurogamer. Monte Cristo has offered A Digital City a sneak peek of the game, which comes out November 10. Look forward to it!

Check out some City Life Screenshots | Discuss this in our City Life Forum

The official site at CUPlanet.com has been updated to include a media section. The gallery features three new screenshots, one of a stunning skyscraper that appears to be modelled after the EDF Tower in Paris. The Monte Cristo modelling team clearly takes inspiration from real life for their buildings, which will definitely lead to amazingly realistic looking cities. Check out the latest images in our screenshots section, or click on them here!

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