Zynga Launches CityVille 2 On Facebook

It’s old news by now, but Zynga is still in a fair bit of trouble. The company downsized its workforce by 150 employees last month and closed a studio.The move undoubtedly raised some concerns about the future of the company, but the social games maker is pushing forward with the release of a new highly anticipated title.

Zynga announced today that CityVille 2 is now available on Facebook. The game will also be launching on Zynga.com soon. Following in the footsteps of FarmVille 2, CityVille 2 completely rethinks how city building game is played. Zynga attributes the new look and feel of CityVille 2 to Brian Reynolds, a lead designer on FrontierVille, Civilization II and other noteworthy strategy titles.

“CityVille was a runaway hit that brought players a truly social and fun city building experience. It quickly catapulted to the number one most popular social game and it stayed in that spot for more than a year after it launched, reaching 100 million MAU at its peak,” said Mark Nelson, Director of Design for CityVille 2, Zynga. “Drawing inspiration from the original CityVille, as well as FrontierVille, CityVille 2 immerses players in a storyline peppered with quirky and interesting characters, while also delivering a beautiful 3D town where players can compete with or play with friends as they build their unique city.”

CityVille players jumping into the sequel can expect a number of new features that separates it from its predecessor:

Districts, the social center of town – Whether creating the next French Quarter or Chinatown, customizable districts let players’ personal style shine through. Friends can visit each other’s districts to compete for VIP status to earn extra rewards, with the most frequent visitors garnering the honor along with leaderboard bragging rights and reputation points.

Make nice with your neighbors – In CityVille 2, players engage and interact with friends to help build up their cities, and collect crafting supplies from friends. Players can also swap strategy by talking to friends in real-time via in-game chat.

A new view – The 3D graphics in CityVille 2 let players toggle between different camera views, rotate buildings and see their city in ways they never imagined. And, for the first time in a Zynga game, they can also flip a switch to make it nighttime, or daytime.

Hustle and bustle – Like a real city, CityVille 2 features unexpected events. From realistic fires and explosions to vehicle breakdowns and traffic jams, players must respond with their city’s finest. Each interactive and dynamic vehicle serves a special purpose – police cars catch criminals, power trucks repair outages and fire trucks put out four-alarm blazes – and put players in the driver’s seat of each vehicle.

Cast of characters — CityVille 2 features a group of colorful characters that send players on a series of fun and challenging quests tied to a mystery “whodunit” storyline that’s sparked by an explosion at the city’s Mayoral Estate. Some of the city’s movers and shakers include Rosemary Escarole, a community activist; Kurt Steele, a wealthy industrialist; and Tre, a reality TV star wannabe.

Some players may not want to make the switch over to CityVille 2 just yet though. To help keep players of the original game satisfied, Zynga will be releasing a number of expansions for the original CityVille over the next few months.

Zynga desperately needs a hit now more than ever. Sticking to Facebook, however, might not be the best course of action right now. The company needs to aggressively invest in the constantly expanding mobile market if it wants to stay afloat.

Zynga Launches CityVille 2 On Facebook

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