Tech Review: The Carcasonne App
I took a chance recently picking up the Carcasonne App for my iPad seeing as I have never played the game before. I was jonesing for some board game action and since I loved Settlers of Catan I had heard that Carcasonne was a similar sort of game play. It took me awhile to figure out the game since I’d never actually played, but once I got a few games under my belt, things settled in better.
In general I like the game, better actually than the Settlers of Catan App I bought around the same time. The simplicity of Carcasonne’s game mechanism really lends itself to the digital format. First things first, the app is kind of expensive at $9.99. My Pages app cost that much. So, I’m just a little skeptical there. I personally don’t see why the game was so much, I think $5.99 would be a better price point, but hey the game does run pretty smooth and has some great options for changing the challenge level and optional game play.
So on that note, one great feature of the app is that you can play solitaire, a solo game of tile placement requiring you to complete roads and cities in 2-6 tile compositions in ascending order. The great thing here is that every week the “city” (tile order) changes. Pretty cool. This is a good place to learn the basic mechanisms of the game and how to play, more or less, if you’re new to the game like me. You can also post your scores, brag to your friends, and then challenge them to beat it. You start with a fixed point set and it diminishes every tile that you have to place. So it’s kind of a game of less-is-more.
Solitaire game
If you’re not familiar with the rules for Carcasonne, points are awarded based on completing cities, roads, claiming fields, and cloisters. Higher points are awarded for incorporating more tiles. Once a road is “completed” by having a crossroad, cloister, or city on both ends, you are awarded points. Likewise when city walls have been enclosed the player is awarded points. Finally when a cloister is completely surrounded by other tiles, then the player receives points for the cloister. Fields don’t award points until the end of the game, which occurs once all the tiles have been played.
The way you claim a road, city, field, or cloister is by placing one of your “meeples” down. They are all different colors based on the player and there is a limited number. This is where some of your strategy has to come in as once you have placed all your meeples then you may be passing by opportunities for points. So there is a delicate balance to strike between going for a huge point sink that will tie up your figures for a long time and multiple small point sinks which will help you get your score up, but may not win you the game. You only get your Meeples back when a road, city, or cloister point is awarded. The ones you use to claim fields stay down until the game ends.
Opponent Selection for full game
The app offers eight AI opponents with different strategies and difficulty levels. You also have the option to play between multiple devices or on the same one with other live players. Overall the interface is very simple and easy to use. And one function that the board game version doesn’t offer is the option to see a pop up bar that reveals the remaining number and type of tiles left, though it doesn’t show the order in which they’ll show up. The developers are releasing expansions to Carcassonne available for in app purchase soon. Replay ability is pretty high as the random element of tile order makes it a different game every time.
All in all the game is fun and makes the app transition well. While I’m still skeptical about the $9.99 price tag, if you are a fan of this style of game then I’m sure it’ll be worth it for you. Personally as someone who doesn’t game much on his devices, it’s a welcome distraction for my bride and I on the train or before bed, but not worth the price tag.
What are a few of your favorite game apps for your device and how much is too much to pay?
