Frankenreview: Frankenreview: Settlers of Catan (360)
Settlers of Catan was once the kind of board game you played in the secret of your basement by candlelight, along with Axis and Allies and Pretty Pretty Princess. Now, it's an XBLA board game with the backing of Civ II designer Brian Reynolds...better known as the God of the Basement.
So how does Catan translate to the Xbox 360? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview: the only review in the world with the word "Franken" added to it.
Note: For those who have no idea how the game plays, hit the wiki HERE.
Console Gaming World
The original board game had an expansion pack available that came with more tiles, pieces, and cards to allow for 5 or 6 player games, but sadly this has not been implemented in the digital version of "Catan." Perhaps if they sell enough copies of the game, the developers will decide to release a new version with what seems like an easy thing to code to address this issue.
Talk Xbox
From a visual standpoint, Catan does not disappoint. Gamers have complete maneuverability of the board, meaning you can spin and zoom-in with the left thumbstick. There are two different board skins you can play on; one being a basic board setup and the other being a "living world." In the latter...Instead of the tiles holding relation to resources via color, they actually possess their particular resource. For example, in lieu of a green tile with a sheep in the middle representing wool, you'll have a pasture filled with living, breathing sheep.
Gamespot
It's not that the single-player is bad, but the computer opponents tend to be a bit one-dimensional. They're not dumb, at least, and if you crank the difficulty level up to hard, they'll give you a good run for your money in most matches. At the same time, they tend to be a little too willing to trade, and sometimes they don't seem to take into account any development cards you might be holding when plotting their strategies.
Eurogamer
Lacking a lobby system, it can take irritatingly long to get into a workable [online] game, and as a title that requires communicative, intelligent players to work, multiplayer can often be far more bother than it's worth. When it does work though, it offers one of the deepest multiplayer experiences on the Xbox 360.
Kotaku Impressions (ala Mark)
If there is one major flaw with the XBLA Catan, it's that you cannot save midgame. When a match can crawl to nearly an hour, it's disappointing that a title on such a pick up and play platform as XBLA disregards our ADD tendencies and our significant others who occasionally want sex to talk about their day. That being said, Big Huge Games makes up for this small misstep by offering providing a priceless undo button.
Is it absolutely perfect? No. Is it worth 800 points? Sure.
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