As we mentioned in our review a few weeks ago, Liv and I have been playing a lot of Carcassonne lately. Well, one night we wanted to get a game going with more than just the two of us, and it was too late to call any friends, so we did what anyone with an blog about board games would, we looked for an alternative online.
And a simple Google search lead us to AsoBrain Games, and more specifically their version of Carcassonne (or as they call it, Toulouse.) It’s pretty much like the offline version, and you even have the ability to use a few of the expansions, specifically Traders and Builders and “The Expansion.” “The Expansion” is merely the addition of a large Meeple with the strength of 2 normal sized Meeples.
The game play follows the same rules, but tends to be a great deal faster than the offline game. One thing I love about the online version over the offline, is the automatic score talley. I don’t have to think about who scored this turn, or how many points that ginormous city is. It’s all done for me automatically.
In many ways, however, the online game lacks in comparison to its physical predecessor. My first issue with the online version is the lack of expansion options. I would really like to be able to add the “River” at least, and I think the “Count” would make for a great openning to the game (and would probably be better online than off.)
All in all, the online version is pretty fun, and worth wasting an hour on here and there, but I don’t think it will replace the original version anytime soon. I do think the potiential is there, it just hasn’t been fulfilled yet.
