Catan is the first transition of a board game onto XBLA. Catan is a turn based strategy game in which you try and beat the others players to earn 10 victory points. The controls are fairly simple and easy to learn but the real challenge comes when you try to figure out your opponent’s strategy and how you can keep them from getting those precious victory points.

Game Board

The game board is complied of a series of hexagons and each hexagon is assigned a specific resource and number. The players start by placing two settlements (houses) on one of the outside corners of a hexagon of there choice. The placement of each house will then decide the specific resource each player gets when the corresponding number is rolled. The only drawback is that the default setting is a flat game board that is a bit too static and can only be changed by going to settings menu, which many people will simply overlook.

Resources

The island of Catan consists of five different resources: lumber, sheep, wheat, brick, and ore. Once the dice are rolled each player who has a house around the corresponding hexagon will earn specific resources that can then be used to build roads, settlements, cities, and development cards, some of which can change the course of the game. The dice bring an element of chance into the game that is out of the player’s control. This “chance” creates a misallocation of resources and so players are able to trade with each other to gather the necessary resources to expand their network. Each player can choose to trade with each other or at the “port” which will cost you extra.

Development Cards

If you have the necessary resources you can buy a development card. There are several types of development cards such as: victory point, soldier, monopoly, road builder, and a few others. A victory point card will give you and automatic victory point toward the total 10 needed to win. A soldier card allows you to move the robber and steal a resource from another player while blocking resource production of a specific hexagon. The monopoly card allows a player to steal all of one resource from the other players. These development cards are vital to each player’s success as they help you earn victory points while hindering your opponents from doing so and they can easily change the outcome of the game.

Victory Points

There are multiple ways to earn victory points but getting 10 of them is easier said then done. Each player automatically starts with two victory points, one for each settlement they start with. From there players can try and build the longest road or gain the largest army to earn an additional two victory points. Besides that, players can build another settlement to earn an additional point or upgrade an existing settlement to a city and earn one more point. This is when those development cards come into play because hidden within them are victory point cards that give you 1 victory point without letting the other players know that you have it. Once a player earns 10 or more victory points the game is over but the strategy comes into play when deciding the best way to reach that objective.

Single Player

The single player game has three difficulties; while the first one is quite simple the next two become increasingly more difficult. You can choose to play against 13 different opponents each with different strategies for each map and you will notice that beating opponents on moderate is quite the challenge when no one wants to trade with you because you are too far ahead.

Online Multiplayer

The online multiplayer can be fun if you get into a room with people who are more sociable because a game where people don’t talk can get extremely drawn out. Although, there is more flexibility to negotiate trades and influence the others play a bit more then against the single player AI. The only downside is that gameplay tends to lag a bit as players get 2 minutes each to decide what move to make. People also tend to hold a grudge against someone who steals from then and simply neglects to realize that there is someone who is one point away from winning the game. Online has the potential to be extremely entertaining if you get together with a couple of friends, seeing as each game takes about 30 minutes to complete and gives the same feeling as playing a traditional board game in the comfort of your home.

Wrap Up

If you are a fan of turn based strategy games then it is a definite must buy seeing as it has a lot of replay value, although the slow pace of the game and complex understanding of how the game actually works will turn many away from trying it a second time. The game board can be a little boring to look at but if you can get past that then you will have tons of fun playing this game.

Final Score- 7.0/10 = Above Average

Recommended for turn based strategy fans

-Brandon “Hoosierdaddy812” Petesch-