Catan

"The next Uno?"

Well, well, well, what's this? A classic board game on the Live Arcade? You mean someone released a game that WASN'T a cheap remake of a 1980's arcade game? Huh... Well, let's see if there's a game here worth checking out.

GAMEPLAY 8/10

Well, Catan is like this. It's a 4-player board game where the goal is to reach a point value of 10. The way in which you accomplish this is through building settlements, roads, building an army, and nabbing point cards. All of these things can only be developed by spending resource cards. Resource cards are obtained through the accumulation of a roll from two dice. If you have a settlement that rests on the rolled number, you gain one of that resource. Everyone starts with two settlements. You can also grab Development Cards to help hinder your opponents.

Does this sound confusing? Don't worry. Catan is extremely easy to pick up and play for new players. The game even has a handy tutorial, and very easy to read instruction reference you can access at any time.

In any case, Catan is a blast to play. Negotiation and strategical placement of settlements and roads are the key to your victory. Need wood to build that road you need? Maybe you can trade another player some sheep for it. The Development Card you just bought may turn the tide in a few rounds. There's plenty of variety here in terms of playing styles. Now, although there are soldiers in the game, there is NO warfare to be had. This is not a detriment to the game, and in fact is not what the game is about. No doubt some will find the lack of combat frustrating, however, and will find the game boring simply due to lack of combat strategy. Too bad for those people I suppose. There are opportunities abound to screw up your opponent through the use of the Robber, and Solider cards. It's hilarious and very satisfying when you place the robber on an opponents high yielding resource, cutting him off from the supply.

Now although the game is immensely fun to play and has a lot of depth within it, there are a couple issues here and there. The first of which many will probably find to be the games AI opponents. The games difficulty modes are so wildly awkward that I wouldn't recommend this game at all to anyone who doesn't care to play online. You'll probably get bored of the AI anyways. The second issue is the lack of offline multiplayer, which is a major bummer.

So despite the obvious solidity in gameplay, the game may play too slowly for some, the AI is broken, and there's no way to play with your friends on one console. Simple rule if you want to buy this game? Buy it for the online.

MUSIC 3/10

Well let's see here. One decent background track and a couple of sound effects her and there... Yeah this game is no soundtrack of the year winner.

GRAPHICS 8/10

Why 8? Well, it's a board game and not Gears of War. Don't expect that kind of awesomeness, jeez. As it is, the graphics are very clean, very functional, and have character. I'm taking off two points for the 3D mode though since it's so awkward and cluttered that it makes it hard to tell what is going on in the game most times.

REPLAY VALUE 9/10

Online is a blast, and will eat away hours of your time. You likely won't come back for the single player portion of the game, however.

OVER ALL (Not an average) 8/10

Now it's finally easy for 360 owners to understand exactly why Catan is such a fantastic and popular boardgame. It's so easy to pick-up and play, and yet it boasts an amazing amount of strategy and fun. The conversion to the 360 has been excellent, and I hope this game is only the beginning of the board games we'll be seeing on Live Arcade. As long as you intend to play the game online, give this one a shot.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/07