'A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game' Review

A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game is a board game set in the 19th century where terror has struck the village of Shadowbrook. It you have seen the movie Sleepy Hollow, you will have an idea how the game works as it replicates the theme very well. For those who do not know about the movie, the game basically revolves around one or more investigator moving around the spaces on the board game to equip themselves with necessary equipment while avoiding the horror that befalls them every round. Once they are ready, they can find the lair of the villain and try to finish him off once and for all.

Welcome to Sleepy Hollow
This game is drenched in theme! The game tells you which villain is terrorizing the village right from the start. As one of the investigator, your job is to find his lair and kill him off. As easy as it may sound, the villain is more powerful than you are at the start of the game, simply because you do not have the equipment that allows you to withstand a battle with the villain. However, there are forces of darkness that will try to stop you at every turn. In addition, there are the villain's minions and bad events that will unfold throughout the game that will challenge you, or even knock you down (at a cost of losing your items). On the bright side, you can search and buy items that assist you in times of needs. If you are in town, you also have the opportunity to collect event cards that can help you during difficult times. After a few plays, you will start to realize how powerful these cards are, especially when confronting the villain during the showdown.

The Mysterious Elders (With Hidden Secrets)
As with all stories that revolve around murder and mystery, there are always mysterious characters roaming around. In this game, they are called the elders. They are NPCs (non-playing characters) that hold one or more secret unknown to the investigators in the beginning. As time goes by, you can know if they are good or evil as you unravel their secrets. Good elders can be invited to join you when confronting the villain, while evil elders will join the villain. The concept of the elders is really interesting. However, the execution of how the elders affect the gameplay is slightly disappointing. I guess I was expecting a bit too much. There are variants on boardgamegeek.com with how the Elders should be encountered, and how their secrets are harder to reveal. However, they make the game longer. With a gaming group of 4, it didn't work as well as I wanted.

Best For Solitaire And Team Play
Although the game supports up to 8 players, from my experience, the game is best for 1 to 3 players who play cooperatively. When played with 4 players, the game's theme fades off a bit. The reason is simple. This game has lots of text to be read and if the gaming group has players who do not immerse themselves into the game world, or if they like to chat and joke around during the game, the whole atmosphere will be gone. If it's played competitively, the game suffers more, as players tend to race against each other to get the best weapon and equipment, making the game lose its great theme. With 5 or more players, I highly recommend going with team play where the fun comes not from the story on the cards, but the interaction between the players.

Is The Villain Too Weak?
This is one of the factor that weakens the game. By the time the investigator goes for the final showdown, he has enough firepower, protection and event cards that will almost make him win over the villain. To remedy this problem, I play with a small variant. The mystery card is drawn at the end of each player's turn rather than at the end of the players' round. I thought it might make the game much too hard, but after using this variant for more than 10 games, I can still win 9 out of 10 games. The difference is that my investigator can never fully prepare himself due to the decreased time, resulting in suspenseful showdowns with the villains in every game. This variant also balances out the game, despite the number of players.

Conclusion
Will you like the game? That depends on whether you like thematic games in the veins of Sleepy Hollow. I personally love the theme and thus am willing to play the game anytime. There are more than enough cards to pull off in each location so you won't draw the same cards even after playing it a few times, making every game feel new. I've brought the game out onto the table quite a number of times, but in most occasions, the game was a failure. I believe the reason is not the game mechanic itself, but that I added numerous variants to make the game feel more like a movie. That actually backfired as the game dragged on longer than expected, and players who aren't into the whole supernatural thing simply gave up halfway into the game. I learned quite a bit from this experience, knowing that games and movies are two very different things, with movies being more passive and games more active. If you like mysterious atmospheres and are going to play alone, this is one of the best games on the market. If you have a gaming group that are there just to enjoy the evening, this game works with the base rules with the variant that I mentioned above. So for those who wonder if this game is worth getting, I say yes.

Overall (Group Play): B
Overall (Solitaire Play): A

'Dixit' Review

What a charming game! After 2 game sessions, I was brain-dead. I felt tired and wasn't sure if I will play Dixit again. Yet 2 hours later, I found myself thinking of the game non-stop as its dark, quirky, but appealing card images flooded through my mind. All I can think of is: Let's have another round.

Beautiful Artwork
The first thing that came to my mind was how beautiful the game is. As I glanced through the cards (while sleeving them), I can't help but think about the amazing stories each card holds. It is also extremely abstract - images that you would almost never other than in a contemporary museum, or an abstract artist's home. The colors are rich and vibrant. You could almost stare at it and enjoy every little detail the artist has put in, and time would just pass by quietly without you noticing. Even the box insert looks wonderful, with the beautiful numbered track and the bunny pawns to indicate your scores.

Storytelling At Its Best For A Game
Do you like storytelling? Have you ever taken a composition class where all you are given is an unfinished line like this: "You're walking down the street when you see a rabbit walking on two legs..." and you're asked to finish a two page essay within 50 minutes? I felt like that as I was playing the game, and it was simply amazing! What you do on each turn is you are being dealt 6 random cards and a set of number tokens equal to the number of players. The one who will start the round, called the storyteller, will pick one card from his or her hand, and with it, think of something that implies the story in that card. After that, every other player will look at their hand, pick a card that best represents that storyline and hand it to the storyteller, who will then shuffle all the collected cards including his, and then lay them flat on the table. Everyone then have a chance to guess which card belongs to the storyteller. Now, here's the catch: the storyteller has to tell a story that represents the card close enough, but not directly. If the storyteller had said something that literally represents the image on his card, then everyone will choose the correct card. In that case, he will not get any points. If he had said something that's too difficult for the other players to guess, then no one will be able to choose his card and he will get no points either. The game ends when the last card has been played.

Will You Like It?
I believe it's everyone from young to old, but that depends on your taste in games. In my gaming group, everyone loved it. Even players who did not like English classes loved the game. Can it be played many times? It can. But there's a limit to how many times it can be played back to back. After 2 games, we all found ourselves burned out due to the lack of good phrases or words to describe the cards. However, after a good night sleep (or a few hours away from the game), I believe we are ready to play it again. And while you're resting, your mind will eventually wander to the beautiful artwork on the Dixit cards that you played not too long ago. You will find yourself thinking of what phrases you would have used if you drew those cards again.

Conclusion
I really like the game, so much that I ordered expansions for it that night. Dixit 2 adds 84 more cards, and Dixit: Odyssey not only adds another 84 cards, but allows up to 12 players to join in. I believe it will make the game really shine. More cards are always better for board games, and in this case, it is truly so. As I am typing, I cannot help but want to finish it up and play another round of Dixit. It is that good.

Overall: A

'Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game' Review

Designed by Corey Konieczka, Battlestar Galactica is a game of politics, betrayal and survival. Throughout the game, the humans are on board Battlestar Galactica, trying to protect civilian ships and defending the onslaught of the enemy cylons, while at the same time finding out who are the cylons that are already on board. The problem is: these cylons look just like the humans.

It Oozes Theme
Battlestar Galactica: the TV show is one of my favorite. Upon finishing each episode, I found myself wanting to go on to the following episode, just to see if the humans will survive. While playing the board game, all the great memories of the TV show just flooded through my mind and for the next 4 hours, I found myself immersed in the game as I played Admiral William Adama. Little did I know, I was a sleeper cylon.

Playing With A Group That Has Never Seen The Show
My gaming group that afternoon consisted of 5 other players who have not seen the TV show. Initially, I was worried if they will be able to sustain the long gaming sessions. However, it seems that they enjoyed the game quite a lot that by the end of the game, none of them complained of the length of the game. We did play a few rules incorrectly, but they weren't enough to kill off the game. Looking back at why our gaming experience turned out great, I believe it's a combination of the game elements and the chemistry of the gaming group. Each character plays an important part in the game. Whether it is the Laura Roslin the political leader, or "Chief" Galen Tyrol the engineer, they each have a role to act, and the skills they possess contribute greatly to the survival of Galactica. The players in our gaming group really played the roles as if they were on the ship. Is that because they role-played them well? I doubt it since they did not enjoy Pathfinder. I believe the tension caused by the crisis cards, the roles each character has to fulfill and the difficult decisions they have to make throughout the game infused a great gaming element to it.

Are You A Cylon?
This game introduces to players the concept of backstabbing and betrayal. It implements the role of traitors perfectly. When the time comes to fulfill a certain crisis, every player can choose to play skill cards. 2 destiny cards will also be added to the pile of cards so as to ensure a lower chance of suspecting who may be trying to sabotage the missions. This game mechanic, in my opinion, works wonders. Although The Resistance and Panic Station implements them to a certain degree in their games, the Battlestar Galactica's version works best. Why? Because players are so busy trying to survive the crisis that trying to pin-point who the traitors are become less important. That's not to say that not finding out the cylons are not important. Also, when someone is revealed as a cylon, he or she can still do a whole lot of stuff in the game. I sometimes feel that by revealing themselves to the others, these cylon players actually have a better advantage at winning the game. It is at this time that the humans have to work as one in order to survive. And this really reflects the great moments of the TV series.

How To Approach The Game?
The game is best approached by players who are looking for a fun thematic experience and do not mind longer than usual gaming hours (our first sessions with six players took around 4 hours). At its core, Battlestar Galactica does not have a deep game mechanic. It can be broken down into (1) draw your character's skill cards, (2) move to a location on the board and do an action of the player's choice, and then (3) draw a crisis card and resolve whatever's written on it (most of which are usually not so good). If you are looking for some form of deep strategy to win the game, then you'll be completely disappointed. What it makes up with is the strong interaction between the players. This is where the game succeeds amazingly.

The Game Is Long...
But our gaming group did not mind the length, and that testifies to the greatness of the game. I admit I was worried a few times during the game since my gaming group did not experience the TV show. However, they all testified that Battlestar Galactica is better than Panic Station and Resistance, both of which are brought out onto the table on a weekly basis. The reason, I believe, is because this game brings the best experience of betrayal and survival. The length of the game just deepens the players' bond with Galactica and their characters. And trying to survive the last jump when the cylons are doing everything they can to destroy humanity's last hope, that climatic experience will probably be etched into the minds of our gaming group for years to come.

Conclusion
If you like games that involve lots of player interaction, you should at least try this game. If you are into thematic games, you have to try this game. And if you like games that involves survival, betrayal, politics and theme, you owe yourself to buy this game. If not, find someone who has it and ask persuade them to let you play the game with them. As for me, Battlestar Galactica is currently my favorite board game.

Overall: A+

'Pathfinder: Beginner Box' Review

Our gaming group played through Pathfinder: Beginner Box last Friday. The whole game experience did not turn out well, not because of the game, but the gaming group. However, they brought up some valid points which forced me to look at the game from their perspective. Here's my thoughts after the game.

Great Introductory Adventure For Beginners
As I read through the adventure prior to the start of the game, I thought Paizo did an amazing job bringing everything into it. From understanding initiative to how to handle traps, it's all in there within one single adventure. Just reading through the fluff provided, it got me really excited to share what I felt with my gaming group. In addition, the adventure also had a great layout so at anytime during the game, the GM does not need to flip through the hero's handbook or the game master's guide to find information pertaining to the adventure. It's all in there, and laid out very nicely. Kudos to whoever created the book layout.

Easy To Understand Character Sheet
One major gripe I had with 4E D&D box games is trying to explain everything in the character sheet to new players. With Pathfinder Beginner Box, the pre-made character sheets had everything in them. Not sure what the feats are? Just refer to the columns next to it and there's a description of them. How many spells can be used per day? It's stated there next to the spell name. Even though everything's there, there are still times during the game when players would ask, "So, what does this do again?" However, compared to 4E D&D, it's so much better and makes the task of the GM that much easier.

Good Map With A Minor Gripe
The map does not lay flat on the table. As the map is laminated so the GM can use dry-erase markers to mark stuff on it, the bends caused by the folding make the map extremely hard to lay flat. Some people suggested using a clear plastic to place it over the map, which I thought was a great idea. But not knowing that would happen, our pawns toppled quite a few times, and we found ourselves flattening the map while grumbling over the map. It is, however, a minor gripe as the map is beautifully illustrated and being able to indicate contents on the map itself is a huge plus.

Aren't The Battles Too Long?
This is the major problem our gaming group had. Years ago, I bought the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. It was beautiful, thick, filled with tons of contents, and a great price tag. Upon testing out the game, I found the battles a little too long, resulting in boring gameplay. Years later, with the Pathfinder Beginner Box, the same feeling came back. Only 1 player in my group could endure the lengthy battles because she tried to roleplay. All the other 3 players found themselves bored enough that at the end of the game, they would not want to continue the adventure.

Afterthoughts
I gave some serious thoughts about it while driving back. Could the battles have been made such that there are less misses and more hits? Would that make each battle shorter but more intense? As I looked back at some of the 4E D&D sessions I had with another group a few years ago, I realize that those sessions proved to be much more fun. Not because the game was better, but because there were more stuff to consider during each player's turn, and each action they took seemed to make an impact from the player's viewpoint. Some people might say that 4E D&D is more of a miniature game than a roleplaying game. From what I experienced, it is not so. Rather, 4E D&D cater to the generation of today while Pathfinder and 3E D&D fits those who prefer the traditional RPG. I have both, and like both equally, but I will choose more wisely which version to bring to the gaming group.

Conclusion
In terms of production value, the Pathfinder Beginner Box is full of quality content. As a game, it is a great product if catered to the right audience, meaning, players who love to roleplay their characters and are full of imagination. Just for those points alone, the Pathfinder Beginner Box is a worthy collection to players who wants to try out D&D style games. But it is so much more that I find it impossible not to recommend to anyone who wants to try out table-top roleplaying games. 

Overall: A