Carcassonne

Name: Carcassonne
Genre: Board Game
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade


It seems almost silly.  I’ve got an Xbox 360, a technological tour-de-force that is capable of rendering the insane graphics of a Gears of War, the fluid animations of Assassin’s Creed and the massive game worlds of Oblivion and Mass Effect, and here I am staying up until 3:00 AM using it to play a German card game.  

Carcassonne is a digital translation of a popular strategy game that tasks players with building roads, castles, farms and monasteries by taking turns placing randomly selected square tiles.  There are 72 tiles in total, but only 24 unique types.  Tiles must be placed so that they connect to tiles with similar features on their bordering sides: roads must connect to roads, castles to castles, etc.  Points are scored when you place one of your followers on these types of terrain to claim it.  Completing a road or castle with one or more followers on/in it will immediately score you double points, plus return the follower to your stable.  You still score some points for incomplete castles and roads, but they are not counted until the end of the game and only count half as much as completed structures.  The exception to these rules are the farms.  Placing a follower in a field, a blank area of a tile, makes him a farmer.  Once a farmer is placed, he cannot be removed and does not score points until the game is over.  Farms score points according to how many castles they border at the end of the game.  This end-of-game scoring system creates some seriously tense situations where players have no idea who is really winning the game until the final tally ends.  The rules sound complicated, but are actually very intuitive in practice while making for some truly complex strategic gameplay.  (I do, however, recommend playing through the tutorial before testing  your skils in ranked play.)

Scores mean almost nothing until the end of the game

From a presentation standpoint, Carcassonne is a bit stripped down. Visually simple without too many bells and whistles, the graphics are functional and clear without bothering to try to impress.  The game board is static 2d, but when castles are completed a nice looking 3d pop up of the structure rises from the ground offering a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. Sound design is minimal with two or three rejected Oblivion tracks looping innocuously in the background.  Slick visuals and audio are certainly not why anyone is playing this game, however, and with the exception of the bland music, there isn’t much that could have been improved here that would make the game any better to play.

Carcassonne on XBLA is mostly designed for online play and supports up to 5 players per session.  The more people you play with, the more complex and deep the game becomes, but a 2-player game offers its own set of strategies and challenges, so regardless of the player count the game is enjoyable and different every time you play.  Matchmaking is generally veryquick and efficient, usually connecting players in under 30 seconds.

The random nature of the tiles makes for some interesting castle shapes. 

In celebration of the 5th anniversary of Xbox Live, Microsoft offered Carcassonne free for 48 hours, but sadly, that window of opportunity has closed.  800 Microsoft Points ($10 real money) will get you the full version of the game now or you can play the trial version for free.  It’s certainly not a game for everyone, and if you’re looking for action or story-based gameplay, you’d be better off skipping this one.  Strategy fans, on the other hand, will definitely find reason to spend some time on their high-powered machine playing this low tech gem.