'Suburbia' Review

According to the rule book, Suburbia is a board game where players plan, build, and develop a small town into a major metropolis. Using building tiles, players build up their residential, civic, commercial and industrial areas, as well as special points of interest that provide benefits and take advantage of the resources of nearby boroughs. The goal is to end up with a greater population than any of your opponents. Bottom line is, Suburbia is the SimCity PC game played on the dinner table.

How Does the Game Play?
Players start with a borough of their own. Each turn, players look at the real estate market and decide what tile to invest. They could be residential, commercial, civic or industrial tiles, and each carry a cost on it. Depending on whether it's a newly revealed tile or one that's been on the market for quite some time, the bidding price adds to the tile's cost itself. After getting the tile, players can place it to any adjacent tile in his borough. After that, players will adjust the income and reputation of his borough based on the effects that the newly acquired tile provide, and the effect that the surrounding tiles may provide. Once that's done, the player will receive their income and adjust their population based on the borough's reputation. When all is done, the next player will go for his turn. The game ends when the '1 More Round' tile is revealed. At that time, there will be 1 last turn before everyone calculates their population to determine who is the winner.

Easy to Learn, Not So Easy to Win
The game looks simple on the outset, but is deeper than it looks because each tile has a unique effect that affects it's surrounding tiles. Factory tiles increase your income, but decrease your reputation. Commercial tiles increase your income but costs more than factories. Residential tiles instantly raises your borough's population, but does not provide benefits after the turn is over. Civic tiles increase your reputation, but reduces your income. Each of these tiles have its strengths and weakness, and if those are the only elements in play, the game still work fine. However, it is the subtle effects that makes Suburbia shine, for each tile provides additional adjustments to your income and reputation based on what tile is being placed adjacent to it. For example, Factory tiles will reduce your borough's reputation if you place a residential tile next to it, while a Fast Food Restaurant commercial tile will raise your population. Since everyone needs to eat, place a Retirement Village next to your restaurant to gain population. Make sure it's just next to your restaurant and not your factory, or your reputation will decrease, resulting in lower population in your borough. These are but a few examples among the hundred or so tiles you can place in your borough. Some even have permanent effect that spreads across the whole borough and onto other players' boroughs. When you step back from the game and look at it, it makes logical sense. Who would want to live near a factory that pollutes the air that we breathe in?

What If I'm On The Losing End?
Players who are ahead are not guaranteed victories due to the implementation of goals, both publicly and secretly. These goals can range from having the most commercial buildings to having the least income. At the end of the game, players adjust their population if the goals are met. This can really change the outcome of the game, although players who are much ahead usually wins the game. This is to balance out the game so that until the last round is played, no one knows  who will actually win. Although logically it doesn't make sense, in this game, it works and is a necessary element of making the game fun.

Conclusion
Suburbia is a little board game gem. The theme shines well. I've shown it to a number of people and once they learn the rules, they became so engaged in it that 2 hours can pass by and they didn't even notice it. Acquiring a tile makes you feels good. Placing a tile and gaining its benefits makes you feel as if you're in control of your little world. Be careful though, as the tiles usually have a ripple effect that will either make you smile or frown somewhere down the road. I found myself usually feeling good when I first acquired the tile, and somehow feel it was placed not at the optimal location 10 turns later. For players who plan ahead, they usually gain far better rewards in the long run. After playing this game a few times, I can safely say that Suburbia is worth getting, and the time spent playing it is time well spent.

Overall: A

'Zombicide' Review

Zombicide is a board game where a group of heroes fight against hordes of zombies and try to fulfill their objectives. Each game lasts an average of 2 to 3 hours, and every minute is an intense battle to try and survive the surmounting odds. By the end of the game, whether your group survives the zombie apocalypse or not, you will have a story that rivals a Hollywood blockbuster film. It's that epic.

How Does It Play?
Each game, players choose a scenario to play. The game can be played with 1 to 6 players, which will control between 4 to 6 heroes on the board. Each scenario has a specific objective, such as scouting for food to bring back to the camp. Players then setup the the board with objective tokens, shuffle the item and zombie cards, and place any props necessary for the game to start. After that, one of the players will be the starting player and the game will begin.

The game map is separated by zone. A room in a building is a zone. A street between 2 traffic light is a zone. On each game round, players can do 3 out of the 10 possible actions: move, search, open a door, trade inventory, shoot, fight hand to hand, getting in or out of a car, activating an objective token, make some noise, or do nothing. Depending what action the players takes, and the equipment used, there is a chance of making a noise. This is what makes Zombicide a game that does not require a player to play the zombie's action. All zombies are attracted to noise and they will move towards the location with the loudest noise. All actions that cause noise will require a noise token to be placed at the location where the hero was. When the player has finished his turn, the next player on his left goes. Once the players' turns are over, it's the zombies' turn.

How Many Zombies?
There are 4 types of zombies: the Walker, the Fatty, the Abomination, and the Runner. Every zombie has 1 action per turn. On each zombie's turn, if they are with a hero, they will attack. Any hero being attacked will immediately gain one wound and lose one item. If there are no heroes, the zombies will move 1 zone, except for the Runner who has 2 actions and can move 2 zones. After the zombies have moved, 1 zombie spawn card will be drawn for each spawn point on the map. From our experience, zombies overwhelm the streets very quickly. In order to pass through them, a hero needs 1 action to go through a zombie. As you can see, if a hero is in a zone with 3 or more zombies, he basically has no chance of escaping other than to fight to the death. Hopefully, he has a decent weapon in hand already.

Look, I Leveled Up!
When a hero kills a zombie, he gains 1 experience point (xp). The more he kills, the higher the xp, which allows him to 'level up' and attain additional skills, such as an extra move action or a do a search for free. However, this also initiates more zombies appearing per game turn, causing harder ones to appear instead of the easier ones. We haven't had a chance to face the Abomination yet, but our earlier game with 6 Runners running into the room resulted in the gruesome deaths of 2 heroes, and one which carries an item necessary to accomplish the mission!

Live or Die? Survive or Sacrifice?
When bad situation happens, players in my gaming group asks, "Should I survive or sacrifice?" This is a tough decision to make. When a player dies, he's out of the game. Therefore, our group tries to keep everyone alive. However, it is sometimes not possible. When the overwhelming odds are in your face, you have to sometimes be selfish just so that you can live another day for the sake of humanity. This is where the game shines. Each scenario is a blockbuster film. Each escape against the hordes of zombies is an epic story to tell. Each action the hero makes can determine the fate of the group. Whatever you do, be sure it can help your teammates. Otherwise, you'll be cursed by them for eternity.

Conclusion
When I initially went through the rulebook, I thought that the game will be slightly lackluster due to the artwork and the special abilities each hero has when they 'level up'. However, when playing the game, I find myself feeling as if I was in the Walking Dead television series with the fun factor of the Zombieland movie. Our game lasted almost 3 hours. But every minute of that 3 hours was fun and exciting. We strategized every turn. We prepared our movements and made noises only when necessary. We even lost 2 of our members two-thirds into the game and faced a staggering number of zombies who were still on the streets. We almost lost all confidence and morale. However, we stuck through all the way to the end, chainsawing every runner that comes our way and blasting those that did not die in the chainsaw attack with dual sub MG. Once we found all the objective items, we ran for our lives towards the exit route, and yes, we made it! It was epic.

Zombicide is a simple game to learn with lots of actions you can take every turn and tons of interaction among the players. The game boils down to one simple conclusion: survive the mission, no matter what.

Overall: B+

Learning Game Design

For the past 3 months, our board game club has been learning about game designing from 'Game Design Concepts: an experiment in game design and teaching'. As we went through his topics at the rate of one topic a week, we found ourselves learning so much about game design. The key is doing the homeplay that is assigned after each topic. Because of that, we have actually made games that work. I will try to share the games that we made here. Stay tuned.

For those who want to start from the beginning, start with his first topic: 'Level 1: Overview/ What is a game?'.

'Panic Station' Guest Review

(This game is being reviewed by Shokou Okano, member of the board game club.)

Panic Station, is a board game that falls into the science fiction, betrayal, and adventure category.  The minimum number of players is at least 4 players but is recommended to be played with 6 players.  The game is about a group of people called the Extermination Corps, sent by the government, to investigate the deadly virus that may infect the human population. Each player will control two characters, an android and a human, uncovering room by room searching for the virus hive to burn it, while cautiously keep a distance from each other, not knowing who has already been infected by a parasite.  As for the player who is the host, he or she must set out more parasites while infecting others to win the game. This game is a unique game which includes a traitor system, tactical plays, and an intense mind game between every single player. In my opinion, Panic Station, is a really fun game which has many great points, but it does has parts where it could be fixed to become a better game.

The points that make this board game a fun and intense game, is the traitor system and the mind game that plays a huge role in this game. As you start the game, everyone knows someone is the host of the virus, but they can’t tell who. This keeps everyone in suspense and focused on the game. After a few turns you can usually start to tell who is the host, because of their actions, face expressions, and cards. That is where the mind game kicks in and keeps the game flowing.  If you are a human it is crucial to listen and watch the game to pinpoint who’s human and infected. The host would have to take smart moves to trick others to fall into his trap and infect them. The host who can make the best poker face and fool others to believe him will infect everyone one by one. However others will start to notice some abnormal movements the host may take to infect someone, such as, moving onto the same tile to infect them multiple times.

Although this game works really well it does have some points that could be fixed. One point is that it is really hard for the host to infect others because it is like one against five in a six player game. And the humans would easily find out who is host if the host doesn’t infect someone quickly, which usually doesn’t happen. So a suggestion could be that you could increase one more host that would be infected later in the game if they draw a host card from a search pile. This would make the game much more interesting and to make it fair for the humans, additional gas tanks could be added so that the humans would have a higher chance to get them. Another point that could be adjusted is to allow a human to defend itself if it is armed with a gun. In this game the android the only character that could be allowed to shoot a weapon. However if your android is killed, the human is defenseless. That situation has happened to me a few times, and it frustrates me to find that I can’t shoot the suspected host with the fully loaded heavy gun right in front of me.

Putting all these points together, the good and the bad, I would rate this game with a 9/10. The reason is that the intense mind game and the traitor system works really well in this game and it is a perfect family or party game. Next time you bring your friends over to your house, take this game out of your shelf, or even buy this game to play with them, because you guys would be finishing the game, with enthusiastic faces, ready to explain how the game ended.

'BattleCON: War of Indines' Review

BattleCON is a card game that emulates the feel of a 2D fighting game similar to Street Fighter and King of Fighters (KoF). I have been looking for a good fighting game to introduce to my gaming group ever since I saw Yomi. Having playtested BattleCON for a few games, I can safely say that my search is almost over. BattleCON is the game that I've been looking for.

Gameplay
BattleCON revolves around 2 players fighting for a maximum of 15 beats (each beat is similar to one turn) on a platform consisting of 6 spaces. The platform is similar to the fighting ring. Whoever defeats the opponent's 20 hit points or has the most hit points at the end of the 15th round will be declared the winner. Players start by choosing one out of 18 characters in the print-and-play version (or 4 in the free version). With it comes a set of style and base cards. Styles represent the way the character functions, while bases are the common attack patterns, with each character having an additional base card that only the character posses.

During each beat, players pull up a style and a base card that forms an attack action. The cards are placed face down. Then, each player can choose to ante a token if they like. Tokens are character based, and not all characters have it. Once done, players reveal the cards they played. There are 3 things to consider: priority, range and power, in that order. Whoever has the highest priority goes first, where he/she calculates the range to see if the attack hits the opponent. If it does, then the power determines the damage the opponent takes. If the opponent has equal or more stun value than the damage taken, the opponent then calculates his range, followed by the damage dealt. If the opponent receives damage more than his stun value (or having no stun value), then the opponent is considered to be stunned, and the beat ends. Once the beat ends, the set of cards is placed in the discard pile, where 2 turns later, they return to the player's hands.

Great Card Combos
What makes BattleCON feel like a 2D arcade fighting game is the fact that the 2 sets of cards, the styles and bases, makes a great list of combinations (card combos). These combos can alter the way the battle goes. Although priority is a main factor in determining the winning beat, if the range fails to reach the opponent, then the player has wasted or lost that beat. To achieve that, some style and base cards include start of beat actions and start of activation actions, which usually allows the player to advance 1 or 2 spaces towards the opponent. As you can see, mixing and matching the style and base cards creates very interesting attack patterns. There's a card that allows players to evade attacks. Finally, there's a special card that mimics a super/finishing move found in fighting games. This card can only be used when the player's health drop to 7 or less. Once used, the card is removed from that game round.

Button Mashing Will Not Win The Day
Growing up in the arcade during the 1990s, I love playing the Street Fighter and King of Fighter series. One thing that makes me love KoF a lot is the fact that button mashing makes you go nowhere. Only with skills can one prevail in combat. BattleCON mimics that precisely. During gameplay, I found myself trying to think what my opponent will do, and to counter that, I decide the cards to be played. If chosen wrongly, I would have wasted that turn and probably get hit badly by the opponent. If played correctly, I would have played my cards well and my character would do damage to my opponent. That victorious feeling is immensely satisfying even though it's just 1 turn of the game. Playing with the same character numerous times allow me to see the character's strengths and weaknesses, while at the same time learn about my opponent's fighting pattern. This form of investment makes me feel like I am one with the character, with me as the mind and him as the body.

Huge Characters List And Variants
Currently, there are 18 character on the print-to-play version. If you pre-ordered the game before the end of December 2011, you will receive 3 more characters, making it a total of 21 characters to choose from. All characters are separated into 3 groups - basic, moderate and advanced. With basic characters, it's a bit easier to win battles. Moderate characters are recommended once players are comfortable with the gameplay. Advanced characters are hardest to use. In the hands of experts, any character can fight against anyone and still have a chance to win. It all depends on how good the player is at utilizing the strengths that the character has, and how well he can out-think his opponent.

The game also comes with a few variants such as arenas, tag team, character teams, multiplayer mode, ex and almighty duels (with more powerful and devastating actions), and 3 vs. 1 boss mode. I haven't had a chance to try those yet, but reading through it, I feel the designer has given us options that play similarly to the fighting games such as Tekken Tag Tournament. Even without these variants, BattleCON is already an amazing fighting game.

Conclusion
Once, my friend asked me," Can my character move whenever he wants?" The answer is no. Apart from the start of beat or start of activation action, there's no way for any character to move. As I thought about that later on, I wondered whether implementing moving or jumping action would make the game better. It could, but I would not know as I haven't tested it as a variant yet. However, as it stands now, the game does not need one. The available actions formed by the different combination of cards create all that is needed for the game to work. Whether I move behind my opponent and caused extra damage to him, or if I escaped using my dash to avoid being hit by his special finishing move, I feel like I'm playing KoF. The difference? I don't have to practice lighting fast reflexes with the joystick and buttons to pull of a 9-hit combo with my character.

Overall: A

P.S. For those interested in the designer's diary, click here to read.

'Shadow Era' Review (iOS Game)

Shadow Era is a trading card game similar to Magic: the Gathering and World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game that's available online for free. While browsing online for good iOS games, this game popped up. Since it's free, there' no harm trying, right? Well, in a way, yes. But after playing it for the past week or so, I got attached to it ever so slightly (maybe more than I thought I would) and now, I'm thinking of how to get more cards to customize my deck so I can challenge others online.

How Does The Game Play Out?
I've never actually played M:tG or WoW:TCG. But I have a feeling it's more towards WoW:TCG. There are 2 factions - the humans and the shadows. With each faction, you can find 5 classes that includes the warrior, hunter, mage, priest and rogue. When you start the game, you choose one of the class and have a pre-constructed deck of 30 cards available at your disposal. You are then brought into the world map where computer opponents are available based on your character's level. Select one of the opponents and you are brought to battle him/her. If this is your first game, it will be your tutorial game.

You first start with 5 cards. At the beginning of your round, you draw 1 card from your deck. Each card lists the card's ability and the cost of resources needed to use it. So one of the most important thing to build up is your resources. Since you can only sacrifice 1 card and turn it into a resource point, your first 4 - 6 rounds consist of you building up the resource pool. With more resource points, you will be able to pull off more cards each turn, as the resource pool refills at the beginning of your turn. Too many resource points makes it redundant if you do not have the cards to use. So a balance of useful cards and enough resource points will aid you in finding a strategy to defeat your opponent.

Allies, Neutral Cards & Class Power
Allies are crucial to winning the game. With more allies that you deploy, you will have a high chance of defeating your opponent. Knowing that, the opponent will try to eliminate your allies if they are smart. You also need neutral cards that both you and your opponent possess. These cards can aid you by either protecting you and your allies, or by damaging your opponent. Then there are the class power cards that only the class that you play possess. A warrior's power cards will be very different from a mage as the warrior tend to favor high hit points and damaging single foes, while the mage focuses on damaging spells on single and multiple enemies. Knowing well the cards available in your hand and when to use it is crucial to winning the battle.

Game Balance Issues
At this moment, I've only played about 20 times and posses the warrior and mage base decks. From my experience, the mage edge out the warrior quite substantially. Initially, owning only the warrior deck, I was able to even out the winning ratio when combating other warrior and rogue opponents. As I level up and higher level opponents start appearing, the winning ratio dropped drastically, especially when my opponent is a mage. After I acquired the mage deck, I defeated my opponent quite easily, even with the base deck. This made me wonder how balanced the classes are. The luck factor also affects the balance strongly. Even when I know all my warrior cards, as long as the cards that I needed were buried deep in the deck, my opponent (that I won easily the previous round) defeated me without a flinch. As I looked through the deck of cards that can be purchased through the website, I saw powerful allies that I think can turn the tide easily. This made me realize why I've never gone into CCG games prior to Shadow Era. They are just going to burn a hole in my pocket.

Beautiful Artwork!
For an online game, the artwork is phenomenal. Currently, it supports iOS, PC and Mac, so the game is multi-platform. This is really a great implementation! As I don't own an iPad right now, I have to borrow one whenever I play iOS games. For Shadow Era, I could run it through firefox and play as if I were playing it on an iPad. I look forward to other card gaming company implementing their games beyond the iOS format. Sure, the iPad paved the way for iOS games. However, not everyone have an iPad on their hands but I believe most people have a PC or Mac, or at least access to one. For those interested in a physical copy of the game, Wulven Game Studios is now crowdfunding the project. If you pre-order the game, you are rewarded with shadow crystals, their in-game currency, that you can use to buy their virtual cards.

Interface & Play Modes
One thing first: there's only online mode, meaning, you cannot play the game when you have no internet connection. Wulven Game Studios have mentioned that they will add an offline mode where you can play against computer A.I. but will not gain any XP or gold through that means. The interface, as of now, is pretty clunky. Eventually you will know where to find what, but for newcomers, it is a drag to try and navigate through the links. The battle interface is also not as refined. There are camera options that can be switched from a close-up to a mid-shot and a wide-shot of the playing field, but they don't come close to being intuitive. There's no option to choose which angle to go to. Instead, you just have to cycle through them. Cards also have a slight delay when being drawn from the deck to the hand, or when it's being used. Combats, though fast, also suffer from an initial delay when they are being drawn. Compared to Ascension the iOS game, Shadow Era's interface simply cannot compete. When players are losing, each small delay increases their frustration level.

Conclusion
CCGs (collectable card games) have the tendency to attract its players for a long time such that by the time they are done playing the game, they have spent quite a considerable amount of money they never thought they would spend on a game. For Shadow Era, you can get the game for free, not spend even a single dime and be able to construct a deck substantial enough to challenge other players online. Currently, there are about 200 cards in the game. As you win battles (both against the computer A.I. or online players), you earn gold and experience points. The accumulated gold can be used to buy better cards, which can then be added to your deck and provide you with a higher chance of winning. In a way, it's a good option for people who are not willing to shell out money. On the other hand, I believe most people will head into the cash shop and plunge in some money just to get the cards they need. And in this era where buying things online is as simple as clicking on a button, many players will not have the patience to acquire the cards via the long route. For me personally, I wouldn't mind paying $5 to get 6 pre-constructed class decks and then use in-game gold to get specific cards to build up my hand. It is that fun to play.

Overall: B

'Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer' Review (iOS Game)

Recently, I have been playing Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer on iPad and I must say I'm very impressed with it. I've been holding back on the board game for quite some time because I read quite a number of reviews which gave me the impression that it is a deck building game that builds upon Dominion. Since I already have Dominion (and Thunderstone before that), I thought Ascension will be just a passable game. So when I came across the iOS version, I was intrigued by it. Not only can you play against the computer A.I., you can also go online and compete with players across the globe. Since it costs only $4.99, I got the app and have been playtesting it for the past week. So how was the game? Fantastic!

What's the Game About?
I don't have the physical board game yet, so I haven't had a chance to read the manual. From my 40+ games on the iPad, I still don't know what Ascension is all about. The game revolves around 3 things: runes, power and honor. Using runes, each player can buy heroes and constructs from 4 different factions to empower his hand. With power, the player can battle the monsters that spawn across the table and gain the cards if the monsters are killed. All cards gained through runes and battles generate a certain amount of honor, with the player having the most honor points winning the game.

Is The Game Strategic Or Luck-Based?
It definitely has luck factored in due not knowing what cards will hit the table each round. Compared to Dominion, the luck factor here seems to be of a higher percentage. I usually dislike games that have too much luck. Yet, in Ascension, I simply love it because I don't know what will appear, but I know what cards I'm going for. How is this possible? Because of the 4 different factions in the deck of cards: Void, Enlightenment, Mechana and Lifebound. Each one of these plays very differently. Void has more to do with power, while Lifebound gives more runes. Enlightenment seems to provide second chances to the player, and Mechana focuses on honor points. Each faction is further divided in heroes and constructs. For Void and Enlightenment, it doesn't matter much whether the player gets heroes or constructs. For Lifebound, they implement each other. But for Mechana, getting the right cards is crucial. In my experience, Mechana is the hardest to use, yet most of the time, the computer AI wins by acquiring Mechana cards. I've used it once and it was a landslide victory for me. Since then, I've a hard time winning the game with Mechana. Maybe I need to test it out more. Bottom line is, the game is full of strategy despite random cards being drawn onto the table at almost every turn.

The iOS Version Plays Great!
Ascension was the first game I played on the iPad and I already very impressed with how it handles. The interface is sleek, the game plays fast and everything is calculated by the computer, leaving the player to focus solely on the cards. Should there be unused runes or power when the player ends his turn, the game actually asks if the player really wants to end his turn. It's like an assistant the the player. The online games also function really well, with a 'lobby' that allows players to either find other gamers online, or create their own game room for others to join. As this was the first game, I didn't really know how well it was implemented, until I installed Shadow Era (a deck building game in the veins of Magic: The Gathering) that I start to realize how slick and amazing Ascension's interface is. No wonder it was voted the best iOS game of 2011!

Conclusion
After playing Thunderstone for quite a while, and with Dominion hitting the game tables recently, I never thought there could be a game to top them off. I was wrong. Ascension has now become the number 1 card game among the three. I feel as if it contains all the best parts of both Dominion and Thunderstone. The end result was that it played as immersive as Thunderstone with the game length of Dominion. My only gripe is that by the time I have my deck of cards ready to dominate my opponent, the game has just ended.

Overall: A