There are a lot of games on the XBLA, and apparently I missed the Settlers of Catan port called Catan until Nelson and Victor pointed it out to me. Pauline and I played the demo for awhile, which forced you to use the same initial conditions, and we ended up buying the game (well I found a good deal on MS Points, so it only cost $9.50).

We’ve been playing it a lot the last few weeks, although it has started to lose its appeal. It’s a fairly good rendition, and the AI is somewhat challenging. Although if you play on easy, the AI will almost accept any trade you offer (unless they have you on an embargo), but at hard, you get to a point where you don’t even bother trading. Hard is actually challenging, and I got schooled many times by them. People complain about the computer colluding against you on Hard, but I think they are just playing smart! The only downside is that you can’t play multiplayer locally (because you would be able to see everyone else’s hand). I guess we will have to wait for a DS port for that (or you know, get the physical game – gasp!).

There is an online record board, and I’m in the top 3000 in the world! Although, that is with a record of .666. Plus, some of the games I won with ridiculous methods, such as having a 26-card hand (I’m white and about to win):

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: games, xbox