Catan

"The best 800 points you'll spend on Xbox Live Arcade."

The only boardgame where you can say "I have wood" and not recieve a room full of uncomfortable stares comes to Xbox Live Arcade. But is it as good as the cult classic boardgame of the same name? Yes, and then some.

For those of you that have never heard of Settlers of Catan, and there are many of you; SoC was a small little boardgame made by wellknown German boardgame designer Klaus Teuber. Since its conception in 1995 it has grown into a huge phenomenon among board game fans, spanning 15 languages and selling more then 11 million copies.

Everything in the core of the game is faithfully recreated in this arcade game made by Big Huge Games. Which is great for the enthuiasts and the veterans of the series, and also great for those who are about to enter a very addicting franchise.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are something your going to either love or hate. Personally, the simplistic board game approach feels slick and effective; to others who are immersed in the concept of Next Gen graphics and high def televisions, you may find the simple colored, tiled board to be lacking. There are two board designs, the traditional style, and the Living World style. While both are presented in full 3d, with vector styled zoom and rotation, the traditional looks like the flat board game, with slick matte painted tile pieces and a plain blue background. The Living world on the other hand, is a full 3d representation, with animated tiles and geography. While they both look great, simplistic, and down right adorable, the Living World tileset often gets alittle too cluttered, and in the heat of the game, you often will find that your gamepieces will get lost in the scenery, forcing you to spend time zooming in, rotating, and doing other such timewasters as you look for your roads and cities.

SOUND

The sound is limited, but effective. The background music switches between four generally themed 18th century orchestra fair. Very light, very mellow, and big on the chello. To some, this might get a bit repetitive, but it often gives a very soathing and calming ambience to the game. The sound effects are also quite good. Sparatically throughout the game you will hear sounds like the crashing of waves, sheep "bahing," construction being underway, coins clanking. They are so effective at announcing an action, you could close your eyes and still know what everybody is doing on the map.

GAMEPLAY

There are two types of gamers, the fast action gamer and the casual strategy gamer. Those of the Youtube-instant gratification-chug eight red bulls and spaz out on your controller types, you will find the gameplay boring, tedious, and tiring. For those who want to sit down and strategize, think about there moves, and banter with friends or strangers, this is the game for you. And you will spend alot of time in one game, the average match can last anywhere from 40 minutes to alittle over an hour. but for those willing to play through it, and learn the ropes, its well worth it. Catan is a game thats easy to play, but hard to master. And just downright fun.

MULTIPLAYER

Excellent. This is the most violent non-violent game on xbox live. You'll be trying to screw eachother over, plotting against one another, blocking your enemies in, robbing everybodies cards. And you'll have a blast. The community is friendly, despite the fun trashtalking, and each game with have many laughs, usually out of the expense of others. Plus where else are you going to hear "You stole all my sheep!!!" ? The only downside of the game is its matchmaking system, which seems to have the tendency to drop people mid game. Its somethingsmall, that a firmware patch could easily fix.

CONCLUSION

This game, simply put, this game is fun, addictive, and immersive. the best 800 points you'll spend on your 360.

Graphics - 9.5
Sound - 10
Gameplay - 10
Multiplayer - 9
Final Score - 9.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/07