If you’re unable to strike up a deal with the opposition there is always port trading. This is a simple process of trading four identical resource cards for any one of your choice.

Then there’s the robber.

During a resource roll if a seven comes up the player gets to put the robber tile in play, or move him if he was already in play. The robber tile prevents the selected resource tile from generating its goods and also allows the player to take a resource card from that opposing player. Brutal, eh?

Finally we have the previously mentioned Development cards. There are five cards you can randomly draw from if you have enough resources to pay for it. The solider adds to your army total and allows you to steal from another player. Monopoly allows you to select a resource and every player must give you one if he has it in his stockpile. Road building gives you two roads to put on the map, which allows you to possibly get more resources and increases your count towards the longest road victory point. There is the very confusing victory point card which…gives you a victory point. Finally, there is the year of plenty card, which allows you to grab any two resource cards you want from the general pile.

There was much concern from the board game community about how Catan would translate to Xbox Live. The concern should be put to rest because Catan is fantastic. Although it’s a turn based game, the constant trading and quick game play make it an ideal fit for bridging the Live frontier. The interface is set up perfectly and the playing area looks great, although that’s not really a factor in this type of game.

There is a single player element which has a tutorial scenario which brings you up to speed on the rules very quickly. The single player does a very good job of challenging you but the heart of the game is multiplayer. There is always someone ready to play and the usual Catan player is a bit more mature than your stereotypical gamer so hopping intro random games is rarely a problem.

Throw in some nice bells and whistles such as calling up die roll results charts and reference screens and Catan really gives you everything you need to play. It’s nice to see that the first Euro game to hit the market place is certainly a complete and polished package. Let’s all hope this trend keeps chugging along and that Xbox Live continues to introduce people to the wonderful world of board gaming.