Catan is a popular board game in Europe. According to Wikipedia, some people have called it the “killer app” for board games. It is also popular on MSN Games. Catan is now an XBOX Live Arcade title. The trial version is free and will offer almost an hour of gameplay. The full version costs 800 points ($10) to unlock.

I have noticed that quite a few people on my buddy list have been playing Catan. I decided to check it out yesterday. I ended up playing for several hours. I bought the full version of the game after my second trail game.

I would describe Catan as a blend of Civilization, Go Fish, and Craps. It’s like Civilization in that you start with a board of empty land in front you. Each player can place settlements, cities, and roads on the land which is divided into hexagons. Each hexagon has a resource that it produces (wool, ore, wood, brick, or wheat).

Catan is like Craps in that each hexagon has a number assigned to it. When you roll the two dice, players with cities and settlements on the edge of the hexagon of the number rolled will get resources (cards).

Catan is like Go Fish in that you can trade those resources (cards) with other players. Need some wool to build your city? I've got some extra sheep that we could trade.

BTW: Catan is also like Craps in that if you roll a “7”, you can have a big reward (steal away a resource from a player and prevent a hexagon from producing resources) or a huge loss (being forced to discard X number of resources).

The gameplay is very deep. I definitely need to play the single-player version of the game two or three times to get the hang of it. Even then, you may not learn all of the rules.

There’s a lot of replay value in this game because you can’t master it. The random placement of the numbers or resources and the rolling of the dice introduce uncertainty and cause all players to continually adjust.

Because you can score points in a variety of ways, there are different paths to victory depending on the “hand you were dealt” so to speak.

The game can be won by accruing 10 points (perhaps you can adjust this to a higher number). 10 points will take 1-2 hours to attain. You gain points by building settlements, cities, and by achieving certain goals (building the longest connected road or having the biggest army, for example).

What makes the game fun is that the game is usually in reach for everyone. You play to just 10 points and it's easy for everyone to get 3-5 points. Battling for the remaining points is the challenge as more roads are built and more settlements and cities crowd the board.

Besides the randomness of the dice, another thing that can keep the game in reach for all players is that anyone can lose points. For instance, only one person gets the 2-point bonus for having the longest road. So, if you are behind, build the longest road and gain points for yourself while taking away points from someone else.

The game also appears to be in reach at all times because you can’t damage anyone unless you opt to not trade with them or send a robber (rolling a “7”) to their hex (preventing it from producing resources) and taking one resource. You can't necessarily "own" a player. You can't over power them.

The graphics are great, but they don’t have to be. What is surprising is the UI and the tutorials. The UI is very well laid out. It makes playing the game really easy. Stats and information are nicely tucked away in easy to access menus. The tutorials for the game are interactive and well thought out. The game did an amazing job at teaching me the in’s and out’s of the game -- adapting to what I did on in the game to teach me moves I should do. Also, the game audio will put you into a trance.

The game supports AI, so I can play against 3 other computer players if none of my friends are online. The game also supports online multi-player, matchmaking, stats, and leaderboards.

Is it worth $10? It was for me. I was looking for a simple game like this to play before the HALO 3 beta.

http://catanlive.com/ for info.

Reviews

* Eurogamer: 7/10
* 411Mania: 8.1/10
* GameAlmighty: 9.2/10
* GameSpot: 7.9/10
* Games Radar: 7/10
* IGN: 7.7/10
* Official Xbox Magazine: 8.0/10
* Team Xbox: 8.6/10
* UGO: B