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Practically everyone has played the classic board games. They are normally easy to learn,
and easy to play. But The Settlers of Catan is not a classic a board game. Catan was created
in Germany in 1995 and is unlike any other board game. And this release for the Playstation
3, brings all the fun and excitement of Catan to the virtual world.
Catan is a pretty complex game. There is no pick up and learn component to this. You will
definitely need to spend some time in the tutorial before you will have a solid grip
on the game. You play as a settler and start off with two towns. The game is played on
a bunch of hexagons, each one representing a different land type. You roll the dice,
and what number appears determines what resource will be harvested. If you have a town on the
corresponding number you receive that resource. So the game quickly deals more with your bartering
skills rather than your luck. And through gathering resources, and upgrading your towns
into city and building armies, you earn victory points. I know I’m doing a terrible job
at explaining this, but the game is that complex.
Your first time playing, you will be lost. But with each game you will quickly understand
and become hooked. One of the fun things about playing this on
the Playstation rather than with your friends is: instead of playing with Dave, Kyle, and
Clint from school, you get to play with historical figures like Marco Polo and Magellan. Each
character is come with their own personality, and will play the game differently. While
it might be easy to get a trade going with Columbus, Sindbad might be less likely to
give up his wheat.
The game is also presented very well. It supports 1080p graphics and 5.1 surround sound. Which
sounds crazy as to why they put so much effort into a board game. But the visuals look great
and the effort is well appreciated.
Now you might ask, why would anyone choose to play a board game virtually instead of
in person? Well, it is cheaper, and playing over the internet is much more convenient
than meeting somewhere. If you have never played Catan before and not sure if you will
have anyone who wants to play with you, this is a great way to pick up the game and learn.
Plus, it delivers all the Catan action, without the fear of losing pieces.