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Reviews written by san il defanso

59 results - showing 41 - 50
1 2 3 4 5 6
Ordering
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
5.0
Board Games

One of the all-time best economic games out there, rewarding good play and tight outcomes. Its neatest trick is how it borrows from the realm of train games to make something that still works thematically with power plants. It's one of the best games to come out of Germany. I've been playing it for over ten years, and it will easily make it to another ten years without breaking a sweat.

SI
san il defanso
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
3.5

This game is almost the definition of a "7." Some well-observed design work, including the exciting dice mechanic and the great system of companions. Its biggest problem is that it lacks a defined arc, meaning that you basically do the same thing until the game ends. It punishes failure harshly, and doesn't really reward success meaningfully. I like it enough to keep on playing it, because I'm a fan of the show and I like the broad strokes. But a little more time in development could have made this something great.

SI
san il defanso
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
5.0
Board Games

Still one of the best family games I've ever played, filled with excitement and trash talk. Great art direction and simple rules makes for an intuitive game enjoyable by just about everyone. Still one of the best six-player games there is, always lean and exciting.

SI
san il defanso
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
5.0

An outstanding dungeon crawl, because it is the rare dungeon crawl board game that chooses to emphasize narrative and surprise over tactical depth. This will hurt it for more traditional board gamers, but it means it is the sort of dungeon crawl board game that is able to compete against traditional roleplaying games. Add in the wild art direction and the bizarre bestiary, and you have a great dungeon-crawl experience.

SI
san il defanso
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
4.5
Board Games

One of the best bluffing games out there, only dinged a bit by its tendency to run long with more than five players. Still, it's fun with anywhere between 4 and 7 people, and is a half-way decent game with two as well. It's rare that a game so sharply punishes players for play optimally, but in the world of Citadels, choosing what is obviously the best option is a good way to get assassinated. It's a game about sideways thinking, and I think that's where it's found its stride.

SI
san il defanso
April 22, 2019
Rating 
 
5.0

My favorite adventure game, mostly because of its sparse design and wildness. It's definitely a big random fantasy hootenany, but all of its most contentious design decisions are vital to its success. It needs the ability to end the game whenever you want, because it's one of the key things characters have control over. It needs binary movement to force the players into difficult or even impossible situations. It needs that abstract rectangular board because it puts the game in easy-to-learn gaming vocabulary. The best version is really the FFG version, because of the addition of fate and the copious and varied expansion content. It's definitely not for everyone, but the people it is for will absolutely love it.

SI
san il defanso
April 21, 2019
Rating 
 
5.0
Board Games

Probably the best two-player game ever. The asymmetrical design is easily digested and requires no previous 40K knowledge. It's just man versus nature, order versus chaos, in its most primal form. The overwatch mechanic in particular is outstanding, because it makes for tense shootouts that are almost cinematic. Definitely a classic.

SI
san il defanso
April 21, 2019
Rating 
 
3.0
Board Games

In theory it's a lot of fun, but I find it just a little too deterministic for my tastes. This is the sort of game where a touch of chaos would liven up the interaction for me. It's not so much a game about screwage as it is about cold calculation. Humans are never as calculating as they should be, which means this game often is won by the clearest thinker. That pushes against the backstabbing atmosphere in my experience.

SI
san il defanso
April 21, 2019
Rating 
 
4.0

This game will simply never work for some people, and that's fine. But as a choose-your-own-adventure book in board game form, it's a lot of fun. There's an element of limitless potential to this game, even if most encounters end with nothing too spectacular happening. The prose and art are all great, and it embraces the fatalism of Middle Eastern culture admirably. That said, the most recent edition does require a couple of house rules to really pay off well and not continue interminably.

SI
san il defanso
April 21, 2019
Rating 
 
2.5
Board Games

So pared down and polished that it manages to slide right through this world without making an impact. I know the underlying design is solid, because the game functions pretty well in app form, but in person its pretty forgettable. It moves too fast for its own good, rushing forward so fast that the phrase you'll hear most is "it's your turn." I applaud this return to streamlined German-style design, but this one is a little too streamlined for my money.

SI
san il defanso
59 results - showing 41 - 50
1 2 3 4 5 6