Carcassonne (video game) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Carcassonne is the Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...

version of the popular board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

of the same name

Carcassonne (board game)

Carcassonne is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glück in German and Rio Grande Games in English....

Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Klaus-Jürgen Wrede is a German board game creator, the creator of the best-selling Carcassonne and Downfall of Pompeii....

for the Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

, and developed by Sierra Studios. The game was released on June 27, 2007, and is the second designer board game

German-style board game

German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...

to be released on Arcade, the first being Catan
Catan
Catan is the Xbox Live Arcade version of Klaus Teuber's The Settlers of Catan, developed by Big Huge Games in collaboration with Teuber. It was released on May 2, 2007 for 800 Microsoft Points...

. It is priced at 800 Microsoft Points

Microsoft Points

Microsoft Points are the currency of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Games for Windows - Live Marketplace, Windows Live Gallery, and Zune online stores. The points allow users to purchase content without a credit card and to reduce the number of small credit card transaction fees, which Microsoft would...

. For Microsoft's "Xbox Live is 5ive" celebration, Carcassonne was offered free of charge from 12:01 PST November 15 through 11:59PM PST November 16, 2007.

Features

Unlike Catan, whose initial implementation included only the base game, Carcassonne includes "The River" expansion (originally published as a separate board game add-on). An extra expansion based on "The River" is available for purchase and download from Xbox Live Arcade, as is the "King & Baron" expansion. According to Sierra Online, additional expansions based on those from the board game including "Inns & Cathedrals" and "The Tower", will be released through Xbox Live at a later point in time. Expansion modules can be enabled or disabled individually based on player preference.

Both online and offline multiplayer modes are supported; while four people can compete against each other offline on the same console, up to five can play via Xbox Live

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...

. However, in ranked matches, play is restricted to two players.

The game also features customizable AI

Computer game bot

A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison,...

settings and several step-by-step tutorial

Tutorial

A tutorial is one method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture; a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task....

s. The tutorials explain how to play and how the game is normally scored, although the scoring rules can be tweaked when setting up a custom non-ranked game.

Lastly, the title supports the Xbox Live Vision camera, allowing players to view each other during play.

Gameplay

Gameplay mirrors that of the actual board game. Each player is granted seven followers (colloquially called meeples, a portmanteau of either "my" or "miniature" and "people"), and each takes turns placing random land tiles, after the initial "starter tile" is placed, from a group of 71. An optional (30- or 45-second) per-turn timer can be enabled in multiplayer games to prevent extended analysis paralysis

Analysis paralysis

The term "analysis paralysis" or "paralysis of analysis" refers to over-analyzing a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. A decision can be treated as over-complicated, with too many detailed options, so that a choice is never made, rather than...

; there is no timer in single player. Players can also customise scoring in casual games to follow the International rules (3rd Edition) or the US rules (1st Edition).

Expansions

As with the board game, various expansions are available to change the gameplay and scoring. Any of the expansions can be used in any combination, together or separately.

The River

If The River expansion is used, a river is first built with 12 extra tiles before main gameplay begins. This serves to add some element of randomness to the board configuration before normal tiles are played. The river acts as a divider between two halves of the land (separating farms), but otherwise does not affect scoring. This expansion was included with the main game download.

The River II

On August 8, 2007, The River II expansion was released for 300 Microsoft Points

Microsoft Points

($3.75 USD). This expansion adds additional river tile pieces, including a fork in the river.

King & Baron

On October 3, 2007, the King & Baron expansion pack was released, based on the King & Scout board game expansion. In this expansion, the player who builds the biggest city becomes King of Carcassonne, and at the end of the game receives extra points for every completed city; likewise, the player who builds the biggest road becomes Robber Baron and receives points for every completed road. It also adds 7 new tiles, including a special tile that bridges two cities over one another. It retails for 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75 USD).

Reception

Reviews of Carcassonne concluded that the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game was indeed a faithful adaptation of a well-respected board game. IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

, awarding it a review score of 8.0 out of 10, summarized this as "The question was whether or not an Xbox Live Arcade version would retain what made the real-world game fun, and the answer is 'indeed.'" GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

echoed this sentiment, noting "All things considered, Carcassonne is a solid addition to Live Arcade's slowly increasing library of board games." While the GameSpot review did point out a few difficulties with the automatic camera zooming, the title earned a score of 7.5 out of 10.