Monte Cristo has announced that Cities XL is now available in stores across North America. The European version was released earlier this week and now players can try this city-building game that includes an MMO mode, the Planet Mode.

The game is available in boxed form from www.citiesxl.com, and in digital form from Steam, Direct2Drive and Impulse.

Planet Mode Features

Web-play/Online play
- All trading activities are playable on the Web (without being connected to the game). During your lunch break, you can continue trading from any PC.
- You can also display your creations on the Web to maintain your social network outside the game.

Hunting for Blueprints
- Blueprints are architectural plans you can use to start constructing exceptional buildings: the Megastructures.
- These Megastructures require a large quantity of resources and the collaboration of players to be built. They bring important bonuses to the cities in which they are built.
- Blueprints are awarded at random on the players' webpage or can be won by maintaining trade activities for multinational Megastructures (the ultimate specialization building will be introduced at the end of October).

The first content pack will include:
- Old England Pack: 10 residences, 1 hotel, 1 shop, 1 restaurant, 1 plaza, 1 church 2-lane road textures, 1 decoration based on Strafford upon Avon.
- A realistic map of Rio de Janeiro featuring the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer.
- Sponsored Content: a Ford dealership producing real Ford cars.
- Megastructures (buildings that are erected with the help of other players after obtaining the Blueprint): Glass Gherkin (London), Tokyo Imperial Palace, Alcatraz.
- One new farm model.

The second content pack will include:
- Chinatown Pack: 10 residences, 1 hotel, 1 shop, 1 restaurant, 1 arch, 1 temple, 1 plaza
- A realistic map of Manhattan featuring the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the road network.

New maps
- An animated Ferris wheel
- Blueprints: three stadiums: soccer, baseball and football

The third content pack will include:
- A bus company, roads and service vehicles.
- The possibility to create your own bus lines by deciding where to place each stop.
- A selection of US, British or Continental Europe roads.
- A selection of different service vehicles depending on the countries.