Showing posts with label Forbidden Desert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forbidden Desert. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 August 2019
Couch Co-op Replacement
If your split screen co-op console choices are becoming limited, switch to board games. Odds are you can play with more people (including those not tech savvy) and have a more interactive time to boot. Good co-op starters for those who don't know what to look for are Pandemic: Fall of Rome or Forbidden Desert. At the very least it gives you a few more choices of things to play.
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Forbidden Sky
Electrifying fun!
After escaping a sinking island and a burning desert you now find yourself on a floating platform where you must power up a rocket ship by wiring series circuit using the raging lightning storm all around you while trying to fight the high winds and evade getting zapped yourself!
Cooperative game play here is definitely required as players get to "build" the platform based on the tiles they scout (less randomness than Forbidden Desert), keeping in mind the length of the provided "wire" components and the main objective which requires a loop be built among the required components.
Harder difficulties require a bigger loop, while easier ones can be completed faster with less materials. That said, we've already won the Legendary mode of this game - unlike the previous two where you need to race to win, this one requires a good dose of caution and more thinking. As before, one player dies - it's game over for all!
Definitely an enjoyable game and one I can recommend! It gets it 5 lightning strikes out of 5. We particularly enjoyed activating the rocket. :P
After escaping a sinking island and a burning desert you now find yourself on a floating platform where you must power up a rocket ship by wiring series circuit using the raging lightning storm all around you while trying to fight the high winds and evade getting zapped yourself!
Cooperative game play here is definitely required as players get to "build" the platform based on the tiles they scout (less randomness than Forbidden Desert), keeping in mind the length of the provided "wire" components and the main objective which requires a loop be built among the required components.
Wiring up the rocket is great fun!
Harder difficulties require a bigger loop, while easier ones can be completed faster with less materials. That said, we've already won the Legendary mode of this game - unlike the previous two where you need to race to win, this one requires a good dose of caution and more thinking. As before, one player dies - it's game over for all!
Definitely an enjoyable game and one I can recommend! It gets it 5 lightning strikes out of 5. We particularly enjoyed activating the rocket. :P
Sunday, 15 July 2018
Forbidden Island
Cooperative Greed!
Inspired by my board game collection, one of our June guests decided to get Forbidden Island and got us all to try it out. In this prequel to the Forbidden Desert, players are trying to collect four treasures and escape before the island sinks completely.
Gaining treasures feels very Pandemic-y though, as you require four matching cards to get the doo-hickey from the matching tile - and given that you can trade cards the game ensures everyone starts out separated at the beginning.
While the game plays just as fast as the Desert variety and the double sided tiles are just as pretty, it seems like a much easier game and one that will hit the "solved" stage right away. Sure, a bad draw might actually trigger a loss but a team working together should be able to mitigate most of that.
Still fun and one I can recommend to cooperative board gamers, though I feel if you are only going to get either Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert, get the latter. I give this 3 sandbags out of 5.
Inspired by my board game collection, one of our June guests decided to get Forbidden Island and got us all to try it out. In this prequel to the Forbidden Desert, players are trying to collect four treasures and escape before the island sinks completely.
It does give you that sinking feeling.
Gaining treasures feels very Pandemic-y though, as you require four matching cards to get the doo-hickey from the matching tile - and given that you can trade cards the game ensures everyone starts out separated at the beginning.
While the game plays just as fast as the Desert variety and the double sided tiles are just as pretty, it seems like a much easier game and one that will hit the "solved" stage right away. Sure, a bad draw might actually trigger a loss but a team working together should be able to mitigate most of that.
Still fun and one I can recommend to cooperative board gamers, though I feel if you are only going to get either Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert, get the latter. I give this 3 sandbags out of 5.
Thursday, 12 July 2018
The Solved Games
Where enough experience leads to almost certain victory.
After numerous play throughs I'm finding that a few of my cooperative board games have reached a "solved" status - where repetitively using the right tactic often leads to victory. Spoilers / Tips ahead, depending on your point of view!
Police Precinct - never had a defeat in this, the team just to divide labour between keeping crime in check and finding the murderer / preferably focusing on what their character is good at but being fluid enough to adapt to the board. I still really like the "emergency" system. Score Adjustment: -1.
Pandemic / Pandemic: On the Brink - while defeat comes quickly if you go for the full epidemic card set having less than that almost makes for an easy game. The red ones of On the Brink are almost mandatory for us now as we can even win with the full green epidemic cards of the base game. Obviously the bio-terrorist option (which we haven't tried yet) might mix things up. Score Adjustment: -1.
Shadows Over Camelot - on full cooperative it is almost impossible to lose provided the team works together. Defeat only comes if everyone does their own thing and tries tackle the harder group quests solo, or keeps quest hopping. You don't have to win every quest, just be sure to win the important ones. I can see why the traitor mechanic is almost mandatory. Score Adjustment: -1.
Operation Flashpoint: Fire Rescue - while bad luck can ruin any game it can be mitigated a bit here simply through communication. Planning ahead pays well, as does not intentionally damaging the building more than necessary. Almost trivialized if you have the driver in the fire engine to provide cover. Score Adjustment: -1.
Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak - knowing your perks and staying together (more HP to share around) is the main rule here, as well as sharing the XP so that the spawns don't become overpowered ahead of your team mates. Bad things usually happen when people wander off on their own, and most scenarios later on even force the players apart because they know a team together is near unstoppable. And that's even without equipment juggling. Hot potato chainsaw is fun. Score Adjustment: -1.
D&D Adventure Boardgame System - all the ones I currently have reviewed (Ravenloft, Ashardalon, Drizzt, ToEE) fall into this category. Victory lies in finding the quest tile fast, and that usually means splitting up to burn through the tile deck quicker. Yes, this puts more monsters on the board but they are usually more manageable than the dreaded encounter cards. Score Adjustment: -1.
Xenoshyft - though it delivers a few brutal losses at the start, once you know how to manage your card hand properly (don't buy garbage), and how to position troops (weakest dudes NEVER go at the end of the lane) loss becomes a thing of rarity in this game. Just don't expect any of your troops to live through the whole thing. Score Adjustment: -1.
Forbidden Desert - PSYCH! This is the true stand out in my current collection. Despite having such a simple premise each game requires active thinking from each participant to mitigate those deadly loss conditions. Such a treasure of a little game, and one I'm going to recommend again right here: if you haven't played Forbidden Desert yet, please go do so! Score Adjustment: +1, and is now the "best" game in my collection.
After numerous play throughs I'm finding that a few of my cooperative board games have reached a "solved" status - where repetitively using the right tactic often leads to victory. Spoilers / Tips ahead, depending on your point of view!
Police Precinct - never had a defeat in this, the team just to divide labour between keeping crime in check and finding the murderer / preferably focusing on what their character is good at but being fluid enough to adapt to the board. I still really like the "emergency" system. Score Adjustment: -1.
Pandemic / Pandemic: On the Brink - while defeat comes quickly if you go for the full epidemic card set having less than that almost makes for an easy game. The red ones of On the Brink are almost mandatory for us now as we can even win with the full green epidemic cards of the base game. Obviously the bio-terrorist option (which we haven't tried yet) might mix things up. Score Adjustment: -1.
Shadows Over Camelot - on full cooperative it is almost impossible to lose provided the team works together. Defeat only comes if everyone does their own thing and tries tackle the harder group quests solo, or keeps quest hopping. You don't have to win every quest, just be sure to win the important ones. I can see why the traitor mechanic is almost mandatory. Score Adjustment: -1.
Operation Flashpoint: Fire Rescue - while bad luck can ruin any game it can be mitigated a bit here simply through communication. Planning ahead pays well, as does not intentionally damaging the building more than necessary. Almost trivialized if you have the driver in the fire engine to provide cover. Score Adjustment: -1.
Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak - knowing your perks and staying together (more HP to share around) is the main rule here, as well as sharing the XP so that the spawns don't become overpowered ahead of your team mates. Bad things usually happen when people wander off on their own, and most scenarios later on even force the players apart because they know a team together is near unstoppable. And that's even without equipment juggling. Hot potato chainsaw is fun. Score Adjustment: -1.
D&D Adventure Boardgame System - all the ones I currently have reviewed (Ravenloft, Ashardalon, Drizzt, ToEE) fall into this category. Victory lies in finding the quest tile fast, and that usually means splitting up to burn through the tile deck quicker. Yes, this puts more monsters on the board but they are usually more manageable than the dreaded encounter cards. Score Adjustment: -1.
Xenoshyft - though it delivers a few brutal losses at the start, once you know how to manage your card hand properly (don't buy garbage), and how to position troops (weakest dudes NEVER go at the end of the lane) loss becomes a thing of rarity in this game. Just don't expect any of your troops to live through the whole thing. Score Adjustment: -1.
Forbidden Desert - PSYCH! This is the true stand out in my current collection. Despite having such a simple premise each game requires active thinking from each participant to mitigate those deadly loss conditions. Such a treasure of a little game, and one I'm going to recommend again right here: if you haven't played Forbidden Desert yet, please go do so! Score Adjustment: +1, and is now the "best" game in my collection.
Sunday, 17 June 2018
Players make the Game
Just a quick follow up to the previous Forbidden Desert mini post, it seems the kids tried have a game on their own without me and found it less fun. I find that interesting given when I was "playing" I was actually only controlling the desert AI which traditionally is done by each player after their turn.
They've since played a few more of my other games and so far I've just been the arbiter / bank / rules person due to player number restrictions. It is interesting revisiting these though, and I hope to do a full list review of my collection once I have time to myself again. :)
They've since played a few more of my other games and so far I've just been the arbiter / bank / rules person due to player number restrictions. It is interesting revisiting these though, and I hope to do a full list review of my collection once I have time to myself again. :)
Monday, 11 June 2018
Better than Monopoly
Coming from a 15 year old who is a die hard Monopoly gamer, that's pretty high praise for the Forbidden Desert. It's definitely board game season at home, and I don't think I can do more than these mini-posts for a bit. This was quite the highlight so far though. :)
Saturday, 18 April 2015
Today I Smiled: Too Much of a Good Thing?
My little cousin stayed over for a night of boardgames and did we go through a whole bunch! Won two rounds of Pandemic (easiest level then easiest with mutation), lost two rounds of veteran level Flash Point: Fire Rescue, lost one and won one novice round of Forbidden Desert, and surprisingly won two games of Eldritch Horror, without any detective casualties, against Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth!
We then moved onto more competitive rounds of regular playing cards and a game my cousin calls "Chinese". She won 4 out of 5 of those, followed by me winning two rounds of Bluff and finishing off with two games of Lords of Waterdeep where once again my wife proved she was the ultimate Lady of Waterdeep winning both games by a huge margin. As you can imagine a little bit of board game fatigue has since followed. :P
I've also finally gone through all the "vigilance quests" (just shy of 200, counting repetitions) introduced in Neverwinter Online's Elemental Evil and am now level 70 on my rogue. At least you get a lot of good gear for going through all of that - an artifact main hand and off hand weapon to boot! I normally put video links at this point, so for those who don't play or haven't reached any of the dragons, here's a clip taken by my brother. That's me with the knives and the weird helmet! Or, if that doesn't interest you - have a trailer to Batman vs Superman instead. :D
Hope you all have a great day!
We then moved onto more competitive rounds of regular playing cards and a game my cousin calls "Chinese". She won 4 out of 5 of those, followed by me winning two rounds of Bluff and finishing off with two games of Lords of Waterdeep where once again my wife proved she was the ultimate Lady of Waterdeep winning both games by a huge margin. As you can imagine a little bit of board game fatigue has since followed. :P
I've also finally gone through all the "vigilance quests" (just shy of 200, counting repetitions) introduced in Neverwinter Online's Elemental Evil and am now level 70 on my rogue. At least you get a lot of good gear for going through all of that - an artifact main hand and off hand weapon to boot! I normally put video links at this point, so for those who don't play or haven't reached any of the dragons, here's a clip taken by my brother. That's me with the knives and the weird helmet! Or, if that doesn't interest you - have a trailer to Batman vs Superman instead. :D
Hope you all have a great day!
Monday, 9 June 2014
Forbidden Desert
In this cooperative board game, your team of explorers have to find and put together pieces of an airship before the raging sand storm that made you crash land in the first place finishes the job and buries you all. It sounds so simple and also has simple mechanics that are easy to understand and teach but difficulty wise the game is HARD. Just to give you an indication: So far we have had two wins on "Novice", and around twelve loses on "Normal" difficulty.
The "board" is made from a randomly shuffled set of face down tiles in a 5x5 configuration with one empty spot marking the eye of the storm. The tiles are double sided too with the "back" usually just being an empty desert and the "front" being a piece of the fantastic city underneath. Some of the city cards indicate where you might be able to find a piece of the airship, and you need to locate two such cards (for x and y axis) before you can spawn the part. After finding all four parts, everyone needs to get to the airship hangar bay to escape and win the game.
After each players move though, that dastardly storm moves around the board using its own card deck and piling up tiles of sand all over the place, often on spots you've already excavated and on spots you need to go. As you progress the storm gains more and more strength too making it even deadlier. If the storm reaches the maximum intensity, or you run out of sand tiles, or ONE player dies of thirst then EVERYONE loses.
Despite our current win/loss ratio I really like this game. It's fast to setup, fast to play (under 1 hour) and easy to learn. The variety of character choices is also a bonus. Perhaps the only thing I don't like is the 5 player limit as sometimes we have more players than that but otherwise I think it's great! Four out of five airships from me! :)
Score after re-review: Five out of five airships!
The "board" is made from a randomly shuffled set of face down tiles in a 5x5 configuration with one empty spot marking the eye of the storm. The tiles are double sided too with the "back" usually just being an empty desert and the "front" being a piece of the fantastic city underneath. Some of the city cards indicate where you might be able to find a piece of the airship, and you need to locate two such cards (for x and y axis) before you can spawn the part. After finding all four parts, everyone needs to get to the airship hangar bay to escape and win the game.
A picture of our first victory! :P
After each players move though, that dastardly storm moves around the board using its own card deck and piling up tiles of sand all over the place, often on spots you've already excavated and on spots you need to go. As you progress the storm gains more and more strength too making it even deadlier. If the storm reaches the maximum intensity, or you run out of sand tiles, or ONE player dies of thirst then EVERYONE loses.
Despite our current win/loss ratio I really like this game. It's fast to setup, fast to play (under 1 hour) and easy to learn. The variety of character choices is also a bonus. Perhaps the only thing I don't like is the 5 player limit as sometimes we have more players than that but otherwise I think it's great! Four out of five airships from me! :)
Score after re-review: Five out of five airships!
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