Catan Stories: Legend of the Sea Robbers

This clunky game book is a classic example of a poorly conceived promotional add-on. Lacking the board game's strategy, suspense, and ingenuity, the only thing it has in common with its namesake is its setting. In three separate storylines, three heroes meet people and do things, but none of the storylines are particularly interesting. Adding to the overall ho-humness is the obvious lack of meaningful choices. The tedium is prolonged by pointless pauses built into the text; every few paragraphs, the heroes run off to do something, you get a message telling you they "will return," and it's 5 to 15 minutes before the story continues. There's no way to speed this up, no currency you can buy to shorten the timer. All you can do is wait. If you're patient enough to get through all this pointless padding, your reward is a disappointingly abrupt, cliffhanger-ish ending. Though the writing's not terrible, and the limited sound effects and graphics are competently done, this boring fish story just isn't worth your time or money. You're better off putting that $1.99 toward a copy of the board game.