Cities XL is a city-building video game developed and published by Monte Cristo. It was initially released in 2009 in North America. In this game, the player takes the role of a city mayor. The game’s goal is to create a thriving city while ensuring the citizen’s happiness and sustaining economic balance in the city. The player must also meet the objectives in the game in order to succeed. Every achievement is rewarded with a trophy. Most of these trophies have five levels of difficulty.
Several factors affect the city’s success. The satisfaction level of citizens are influenced by their environment and quality of living, employment, availability of leisure activities, shops and services and the cost of living. As part of the citizen’s happiness, it is also vital for the city to have the necessary infrastructures to sustain their needs. Some of the infrastructures needed by the city include housing, retail, utilities and city services. Transportation is also an important factor in the game. For instance, the traffic in a specific area in the city can hinder the citizens to go to their work on time. Roads also serve an important role in trading. Trading is one of the major facets in Cities XL. When the city gathered enough resources, trading with OMNICORP, the game’s everlasting corporation, is possible. The player can also trade between cities.