I finally got a chance to check out Carcassonne last night and I can see why people like the board game. There are so many layers of strategy. A couple of them are obvious right off the bat, but I could tell that there will be more layers of strategy to figure out once I spend more time with the game. The tutorial was really helpful in understanding how the gameplay works and it did not take that long to go through. I like that there are multiple ways of scoring. You can try to build your own areas, or you can try to build of other peoples areas and steal their points at the last minute. Sure, it will make for some unhappy friends, but there is nothing to stop them from returning the favor. I also like that the games don’t take a long time to play. Since there are only 72 tiles to play with you know when they are gone the match is over. While the graphics are nothing spectacular there are a couple things about this game I really like.

First, you can play with 4 players on the same screen. This is a great addition to a game like this, and I think more Xbox Live Arcade games should include support for multiple people on the same system. I realize in some games this would not be possible since each person has their own cards that they need to keep hidden, but since in Carcassonne you just draw a tile at the beginning of your turn so there is nothing to keep hidden from the other player. This definitely adds to the value of Carcassonne as I can play it with my friends and family even if they don’t have an Xbox 360.

Second, I like that they make it so I can only place the tile in spots where it would fit. I think learning Carcassonne form the board game would be much harder because there is nothing stopping you from trying to place a tile in an invalid location. In the Xbox Live Arcade version they have set it up so you can only place the tiles in locations where they would be a valid play.

Finally, I like the little extras they added. They have added one of the board games more popular expansions, River II, and Xbox Live Vision support. I heard on an interview that they are open to the option of making more of the board game’s expansion as DLC if the game sells well. Give the fun gameplay I think we can expect to see some expansions in the future. I really like when companies add support for the Vision Camera in their games because it is nice to be able to see my friends while I chat with them in a turn based game like this.

While the game is not for everyone since it requires you to think and it could use better graphics it is a lot of fun. If you’re into board games or strategy games this one worth the cost.