Can you make out important game aspects at a glance? Neither can we.

The board game, Settlers of Catan is among the most elegant, refined strategy games you could ever play away from a computer. So with such great roots, we're disappointed that the iPhone transition flubs the clean design of the original without adding an online multiplayer option, the biggest advantage a digital game could gain. Catan fans will play against the computer-controlled characters a few times and maybe muddle through a pass-the-iPhone game with friends. But beyond that--and for newbies--iPhone Catan poorly copies the original.

Catan victories rely upon deft resource management and trading. At the beginning of each turn, a dice roll determines who earns cards that represent wool, lumber, brick, ore, and grain. Certain combinations build on the board, such as one lumber and one brick creating a road. You'll add towns to the board in this manner, one of a few ways to collect enough points for victory.

Instead of just asking what opponents would want for a certain resource, you have to keep offering trade combinations.

But instead of tactfully weighing how the look of the iPhone affects the game's design, the developers needlessly try for eye candy. It's hard to identify important game aspects at a glance. For example, the graphics look okay, with grain areas blowing in the breeze, but the yellow player's roads blend in with that grain. In another example, the honed Settlers of Catan board game original includes subtle, dotted icons to show the odds that the dice-roll will match each resource. Developers of iPhone Catan omit these bits and lose the game's sense of craft.

Catan also lacks a robust, online multiplayer system. Instead, you face-off with up to four people by passing the phone at prompts, interrupting any sense of group play.

 

Catan's interface and design lack the board game's elegance. Worse, the always-connected iPhone could have led to robust, online matches. Instead, Catan is a lonely island.

Catan 1.1.1
COMPANY: USM
CONTACT: www.usmiphone.de/genial_en.html
PRICE: $4.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.1 OS or later.
Bottles the rules and basics of Catan into an iPhone game. End-of-game statistics give interesting perspective to the match.
Lacks Settlers of Catan's multiplayer soul. Middling interface and design often disappoint. Can't see transaction costs unless interacting with purchase screens. Can't see the board at important times, such as when making trades. Trading process drags down game momentum. Tutorials and rules can cause confusion for new players. Can't play your own music in background.