Zynga cuts the ribbon on FarmVille follow-up CityVille

Zynga is officially cutting the ribbon on a FarmVille follow-up called CityVille (which we first spotted way back in August.) Now that you've been able to reap and sew your oats on the farm, you can pack up your overalls and try your hand at managing your very own virtual city.

CityVille, which is still a few weeks out from launch, seems like it will be fairly similar to fellow Facebook city building games Social City and My Town, but with a handful of game elements that might make it stand out from the pack (not to mention a few borrowed elements from Zynga's hit games FarmVille and FrontierVille)

The game puts you in the role of mayor and you're tasked with building a city from the ground up -- literally. Start by clearing land, then add roads roads and restaurants, stores and various city services to keep your growing population happy. Naturally, you will do this buy earning coins in game and buying items in an in-game marketplace. A currency called City Cash can be purchased with real-life cash and then used for boosts and special items.

Even though you've escaped from the farm to the city, there will still be some required planting and harvesting of crops to keep your restaurants stocked (and your virtual citizens' stomachs from rumbling). You'll also be able to send ships to exotic lands (e.g. Rome, London and Shanghai) to import more goods.

From the brief video clip taken from CityVille (see below), it also looks like this game will -- much like FrontierVille -- have a series of missions that will help guide you through the game. Also like FrontierVille, every time you perform an action, bonuses pop out that you'll have to click to collect.

Social interaction in the game will generally revolve around trading goods with neighbors and running businesses in each others' cities (for a share of the profits, of course) -- the more businesses you have operating, the bigger and more awesome your city will be.

Of course, the question still remains -- will CityVille be different enough to stand apart from the other city games that have blazed a trail on Facebook before it? Stay tuned to CityVille.com, and see for yourself in the next few weeks.