Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
App Review – Neo Cab
There are quite a few interesting indie-developed Steam games that I have gotten into recently, but none of them have been quite as interesting in an experimental way than Neo Cab developed by Chance Agency and published by Fellow Traveller.
Neo Cab is the first game developed by Chance Agency and they’ve done a marvelous job with this “emotional survival” game. It really makes you feel the emotions of your character to a great extent.
In Neo Cab, you play Lina Romero, a driver for an Uber-like rider service where people use the app to put in a request for pickup and a drive to a certain destination.
Expansion Review – Smash Up World Tour: Culture Shock
Once again I happen to be current in regards to having new Smash Up expansions! Even though this review is four months after my last expansion review (blame Abomination: Heir of Frankenstein for that one, since it held up my pre-order for two whole months!)
Makes me want to Smash Up something. (Editor – Ouch, that was bad…)
Anyway, I’ve finally been able to get enough plays with these 5(!) new factions, enough so that I feel comfortable sharing them with you, like a fairy tale or old story to tell around the camp fire.
Gather ’round, children, as I tell you the tale of Smash Up – World Tour: Culture Shock, the latest expansion to come out before all of the officially licensed stuff starts coming out next year.
This expansion is the first one to have 5 new factions since It’s You’re Fault came out a few years ago (incidentally, that is now the last expansion I don’t have other than the two I have no intention of getting). That did make testing it out for reviewing’s sake a bit tough with our 3-player group, since we had to find one older faction to use with them.
But we managed (Aliens, Wizards, and Grannies fit the bill respectively in those three plays).
How is the expansion?
A bit more complicated than we’re used to, but overall the factions are really interesting and fun to play.
Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games
After looking at a couple of games from GMT that are getting close to reaching the magical level of the P500 track (it takes 500 orders for them to be “given the go,” so to speak), let’s get much more immediate.
In this month’s GMT Update newsletter, delivered yesterday (yes, a timely post for once!), a new game was added to the P500 list that looks incredible and I was one of the first 50 to order it (it was at 22 orders when I clicked on it early in the day and it’s now…well, it’s much higher (85 at the time of writing last night and 108 this morning).
Red Flag Over Paris is designed by first-time designer Fred Serval and is about the Paris Commune after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 where Paris had been besieged by German troops.
Paris had been protected mostly by the National Guard, the citizens of Paris who suffered greatly during the siege. They were humiliated by the French government signing the armistice with Germany in 1871.
Parisian socialists revolted when the government tried to take control over the cannons that had defended the city and the Paris Commune was born.
Don’t Viscount the West Kingdom Series – Next Game Revealed!
Edit (2/16/20) – The Kickstarter opens on March 3! I’m there first day. are you?
Edit (2/14/20) – The cover’s been revealed!!!!
Being the big fan of the West Kingdom series designed by Shem Phillips and S J MacDonald, I’ve been really salivating while wondering what the third title is going to be ever since I played the second, Paladins of the West Kingdom.
The wait is over!
In an announcement so low key that I’m not actually sure it exists, we’ve discovered that the third title is going to be Viscounts of the West Kingdom.
Low key is an understatement, as I don’t think I’ve seen anything official from Shem or Garphill Games. Not like a press release or anything. Maybe I missed it.
However, this title has shown up on Boardgame Geek and Shem has posted a couple of pictures (one linked above, but others are on the BGG page for you to look and marvel at) and the description sounds really intriguing!
“Viscounts of the West Kingdom is set at a time when the King’s reign began to decline, circa 980 AD. Choosing peace over prosperity, our once strong King began offering our enemies gold and land to lay down their axes. But peace is a tenuous affair. As poverty spread, many people lost faith in his ability to lead and sought independence from the crown. Since finding favour in his courts, our future has also become uncertain. As viscounts, we must be wise and decisive. Loyalty is to be upheld, but gaining favour among the people must be our priority, should there be a sudden shift in power.
The aim of Viscounts of the West Kingdom is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game’s end. Points are gained by constructing buildings, writing manuscripts, working in the castle and acquiring deeds for new land. Players begin with a handful of townsfolk, but should quickly seek out more suitable talents to advance their endeavours. Each turn they will be travelling around the kingdom, looking to increase their influence among the various areas of society. The game ends once the Kingdom reaches poverty or prosperity – or potentially both!”
The cards look intriguing, and I can’t wait to get more information about this one.
I’ve heard (though can’t confirm yet) that the Kickstarter for this will open in March (like the other two games in previous years) and this is the only Kickstarter that I’m guaranteed to back first day.
Keep an eye on the blog for more information as I find it out!
(And yes, I know how “Viscount” is pronounced. It’s a visual pun, not a verbal one. Don’t @ me)
Review – Watergate
The beginning of the 1970s was a tumultuous time. The Vietnam War was in full swing, I had just been born so I hadn’t really amounted to much yet, and worst of all, people were wearing some really ugly clothes.
Oh yeah, there was also a political scandal that rocked the United States to its core and resulted in the first Presidential resignation in the history of the country.
You know, a minor thing.
Watergate, published by Capstone Games in North America, is a game about that political scandal that involved cronies of the Richard Nixon administration breaking in to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office building and the subsequent Nixonian cover-up of the crime.
This 2-player game was designed by Matthias Cramer and has artwork by Klemens Franz and Alfred Viktor Schulz. It was published this year (2019 if you’re reading this in the far future, and if so, welcome!).
How does it play?
Let’s take a look.
The Calming Effect of Onirim
It’s been almost a year since Dad passed away (December 22) and one thing I remember vividly about the blurry four days between finding out about it and December 27 when I had to do a bunch of stuff to get ready for the quick trip to Iowa is how much the card game app Onirim from Asmodee Digital just really calmed me down.
Over the last year, I’ve actually found myself retreating to the game whenever I’m feeling especially anxious or down, depressed or just unhappy.
I’m not sure exactly why that is.
For those of you who don’t know, Onirim is a card game where you are trying to escape a nightmarish dreamscape by unlocking a series of doors of four different colours. (See my review for the detailed how to play)
Terraforming Mars – the Dice Game?
Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a huge Terraforming Mars fan. I’ve played that game almost 20 times now and it’s still just as fun as when I started playing it…ok, actually since the second time (my first time almost drove me away from the game, actually).
It can be a very long, very table-hogging game, and surprisingly I don’t mind that.
But would you play a shorter, condensed version of it using dice?
Over the weekend, I saw this video, a quick interview with designer Jonathan Fryxelius about a new version maybe (hopefully?) coming out next year: Terraforming Mars: the Dice Game. (Edit: It’s now on BGG so I’ve added the link)
Some would ask: were you really a Debbie Gibson fan when you were a kid? And I would answer: please stay on topic. Ask another question.
Then you might ask: Does Terraforming Mars really need a dice game?
There’s not a lot of information in the video (an interview from the Swedish Championship in Terraforming Mars), but it does show you a little bit of what the cards and dice might look like (it’s all in prototype form, so who knows what will change?).
Apparently the dice are going to be resources can be produced (heat, titanium/steel on one die, biological resources, etc) but there is little information on exactly what you are going to be doing with those dice or how the game will work.
Consider this post just a passing along of the announcement that this is planned (though not definite, so more of a hope) for next year by Fryx Games.
Distributed by Stronghold Games? Who knows yet? I would guess so, but I’m sure that can’t be confirmed yet.
In lieu of information, why don’t you provide me some? Do you think a dice game version of Terraforming Mars can be good? Or are you a dice-hating maniac? (there are only two choices, you know).
Let me know in the comments.
1989: Dawn of Freedom from GMT Games
In what is quickly becoming a regular series, today’s post is about another GMT Games P500 game that I’ve ordered but it hasn’t quite made the cut yet.
Previous attempts have born fruit! The Barracks Emperors has gained a whole 8 more orders! Last week’s Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East has gained 13!
That’s dedication, don’t you know. That’s success!
(Editor – Just bear with him, folks. Let him have his delusions)
This week’s game is a classic that’s up for its 2nd printing.
1989: Dawn of Freedom was designed by Ted Torgerson & Jason Matthews with artwork by Donal Hegarty, Rodger B. MacGowan, Leland Myrick, and Mark Simonitch. It is in the same vein as the highly ranked Twilight Struggle, a card-driven game that simulates the end of the Cold War just like its predecessor did with the entirety of it.
App Expansion Review – Talisman Origins – Eternal Conflict
Another month and another expansion to the really fun digital app Talisman: Origins. Nomad Games seems to be putting these out quite frequently, which is a joy for those of us who like the game.
Talisman: Origins – Eternal Conflict is about the eternal conflict between Good & Evil.
As with the other Origins expansions, this story has 5 quests that will give you a wide variety of things to do and characters to play.
Why I Won’t be Buying Mobile Terraforming Mars
(Edit 8/5/21): Somebody pointed out that this post is on the first page when you Google “Asmodee Terraforming Mars bugs iOS. Woo! I’ve arrived! And I just realized that I haven’t updated the post in a while, so let me do that here.
Notifications are working fine on iOS now, which is great. It still sucks that you have to choose your cards in turn order, but at least you get a notification when it’s your turn even to just do that. Also, they’ve added a nice exclamation mark on the game menu so you know which game it’s your turn in, if you are playing multiple games. That’s a great help!
On the “still needs work” side, there are two other major issues that unfortunately do affect asynchronous games. First, only the person who ended the game gets to see the end result of the game. Thus they have to take a screenshot of the final results to give to everybody else.
Secondly, the final results don’t give the names! It was great that Asmodee finally added the player’s names during the game so it wasn’t just the corporation and you knew who was which corporation. However, that doesn’t carry over to the final results page! It’s just the corporation.
Both of those are incredibly stupid.
But overall, I am enjoying the app and it has come a long way since I originally wrote this post.
(Edit 3/28/20): I probably should have said that I did go ahead and buy the game a month or so ago. A little bit of peer pressure (a bunch of my friends wanted to play it) and a little bit of “Asmodee seems to be working to make the game better”
Nothing since then, though, and it could still use a lot of work.
They really need to fix the “have to choose the cards in turn order” thing, though. It’s incredibly annoying! And notifications still aren’t working, so we’ve resorted to a texting group to let people know when it’s their turn.
It’s a fun game but it could be so much better.
(Edit 12/10/19: Asmodee has released a patch on all platforms.
Still no word on the other issues, especially the weird order of choosing cards, but this is definitely a start!
(Edit 12/6/19: Apparently Asmodee has responded to some negative iTunes reviews by saying they are working to make the asynchronous experience better. If they do, I will certainly report that here and maybe even buy the thing.)
Original post below
When Asmodee Digital announced that they would be producing an app for one of my favourite games, Terraforming Mars, I was ecstatic.
When it came out on Steam, I was reasonably happy but the game had some issues.
When the iOS beta opened up, I eagerly joined it. By this time, some of the issues had been addressed (the initial 15-day timer for online multiplayer games was horrible, but now they had added a 30 and 45-day timer which made asynchronous play a breeze).
I was pretty happy, though acknowledging that there were still issues that needed to be addressed.
Unfortunately, during the beta, developer Lucky Hammers closed their doors and Asmodee had to take over the app. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for the lack of improvements, but nothing major has really changed in the two updates (I think) that happened after Lucky Hammers was gone.
The app released on Wednesday, December 4, and it apparently still has all of these issues.
Terraforming Mars mobile is available for $11.99 CDN (I’m not sure what the US price is, but maybe $7.99 or $8.99?) on iOS and Android.
Dude! Take Your Turn! 