Review: Carcassonne [Xbox 360]

At first glance this game may not have seemed like much of a game, but after giving it a try I have to say it is a fun and entertaining little strategy game. The game itself is a video game revisualization of a popular board game of the same name that originated from Germany and it looks like they translated it quite nicely.

Graphics: 69/100
The game is nicely illustrated with some decent texture mapped polygons that make up the field of play though it’s nothing to write home about it still has it’s charm. As the game progresses the field of view will zoom out to accommodate the ever growing play field. If you have a really large board going then it gets a little hard to see whats going on, luckily they included a zoom function for when you need a little precision.

Sound: 70/100
The sound is pretty good for this game, you have the typical sounds for when your moving and rotating a tile, though when you finish a city you get to hear your followers cheer and if you have finished a rather large city you get roars of cheers and fireworks which are a nice touch. The monastery tiles give you a nice Gregorian chant when finished, a rather satisfying sound I’ll explain later in this review.

The music is period music from the time period the game takes place in and it is very authentic and calming, nothing ear grating or annoying at all.

Gameplay: 78/100
The game is hard to pick up at first, it’s a game of strategy where you are given a tile at random (either a road, piece of a city wall, intersection, or a monastary.) It’s not simply a matter of placing land but finishing it only getting points if you have placed a follower on the tile.There are several pieces to put into play each with their own rules for example the Monastery tiles have to be surrounded on every side to finish it but they are worth 9 points each so finishing one is something you want to do. Thus, learning the best way to use each tile is the best way to win. The computer can be down right stupid or rather clever depending on the difficulty you have it set to, from personal experience on Easy the computer would never place followers on Farmland though on Medium and higher they did. Farmland can be a trump card if you know how to use it with a win being only a matter of a point or two.

The Multiplayer feature is a great touch as playing against the computer can get alittle boring particualrly when the AI isn’t at it’s best. You also have the option to play with upto 4 friends for an all out battle of the brains.

Replay: 75/100
This game isn’t for everybody and requires some patience in learning the rules and formulating a good strategy when your playing. Though its Multiplayer feature will keep you coming back for more along with expansions adding new tiles that have never been used in the original board game incarnation (though at 300pts for a pack of 12 tiles, its a little steep..) bringing new ways to play. If you missed out on the free Download during the 5th year anniversary of Live I still suggest dishing out the 800pts for this gem if not try the demo and see if its for you.