I was never a traditional board gamer in my youth, always finding solace in my consoles and video games. So upon searching "Carcassonne" in my trusty search engine, vivid pictures of high walled castles and enclosed cities fill my screen. These scenes in France, surrounded by lush-green fields and circled with winding roads are all too familiar images that Sierra Studios' Carcassonne is so beautifully inspired by. In the wake of the recently released Catan for XBLA, Carcassonne follows with an excellent adaptation of Klaus-Jürgen Wrede's classic board game.

This being my first time, I head straight into the tutorial and I am given demonstrations and a brief hands-on experience, both of which are very concise but still get you on your feet for your first game. Now filled with confidence I head into a one-on-one with the AI to test my newly learned skills and comfortably complete my first game. I am still amazed at how subtle the learning curve is, allowing you to focus more on strategy and the game itself rather than a complex rule system.

Starting a game is easy, either play locally (4-player) for some fun or on Xbox Live ranked (2-player) or non-ranked (up to 5-player). Game settings and difficulty are all adjustable, as well as the AI and the inclusion of any expansion packs.

For those of you (like myself) who have no experience with Carcassonne, wrapping your head around the core elements is quick and easy, although mastering this game may take you years! You begin with seven "Followers", loyal subjects that will do your bidding as you see fit. Whether that be in a city/castle (Knight), on a road (Thief), in a monastery (Monk) or on a field (Farmer). These "Meeples" as they are affectionately called, can only be used when you first place your tile.

Once a Knight is placed in a city tile and that City is completed, your follower is returned to you and you are scored for that city. When a thief is placed on a road and that road is completed (either by ending it or placing it to a junction), you are scored for that road. Whoever has the most followers on said city or road is awarded the points. Once a monastery has been surrounded by tiles, your Monk is returned to you and you receive 9 points for your trouble.

Farmers are a little different and as such, have their own section in the tutorial. Once placed, you cannot get farmers back. They are placed on any "green" tile and are scored depending on how many cities that farmer serves. Long story short, the more the better and if your opponent places a farmer, you should look for ways to limit their reach to cities.

As the tiles are drawn and placed, the board comes alive as you place each tile next to a matching tile (e.g. roads have to be connected, cities to cities etc). As more tiles are played, cities form and roads connect, all the while you are scoring points towards your final total. Strategy comes to play here, you can make one large city – "But can I finish it in time?" or is it better to focus on smaller cities and farms…

Finally, once all tiles have been exhausted, all incomplete tiles are scored and a winner is announced. This game is an excellent example of the traditional comeback, as a player coming last at the end is awarded their final points, can very easily become King of Carcassone.

As the board grows, you can enjoy the gorgeous visuals that Sierra has so faithfully adopted from the rolling French countryside of Carcassonne. When cities are completed, you are rewarded with large parapeted walls and towers growing out of the board to the fanfare of royal trumpets and cheering. Audio is simple yet effective, immersing you in medieval ambience, greatly complementing the colourful visuals that seem to have been painted onto the screen.

With Sierra's intent to release downloadable content faithful to the original board game's expansion packs, Carcassonne has drawn me in where other games haven't. Offering beautiful visuals and sound, along with deep gameplay elements faithful to the original, Carcassonne was an easy choice when it came to part with my 800 MS Points. With a great assortment of achievements, this is one game that I will come back to again and again.