Let's Travel in Time, Point and Click Style!

So I saw this game online somewhere while browsing Reddit probably. The game was called T.I.M.E. Stories. Upon first glance, you might think: 'Hmm... This game has absolutely nothing on the cover but a stranger device, which I cannot fathom what in the world it could be.' Looking at the back of the box, it reveals some more details of the game but nothing really intriguing enough for someone to make an impulsive purchase. But let me tell you right now, if you love the classic "Point-and-Click" games on PC back in the nineties, this game is most definitely for you. Let me get into it.

Upon first glance, you probably can't tell what the cover art is about. I'll tell you so you don't have to guess what it is. It's a capsule to transport your mind back in time... to... do stuff. The circle thing at the top of the picture is the pivoting point of the capsule, and the black part is the view glass. But that's about as detailed as I want to get about that.

SUMMARY:

Anyway! The game is ALL about story telling and figuring out certain mysteries that are presented before you in the form of giant flash cards. The flash cards are laid out on the board and the other side goes into detail what you're investigating if you decide to investigate the location represented on the said card. The players take role of minimum 1 character to 2 (if you're playing 2 players) and try to solve mysteries by prying into things you're not supposed to be prying into and resolving conflict of some sort. You obtain items as you would in the "Point-and-Click" games and use the said items to open or further progress the story to reveal more of the mystery. The game is quite easy to learn and easy to master. The fun comes in NOT knowing what is waiting behind each location and the twists and turns of the story.

Now, the one caveat to this game is that once you play through it once and beat the scenario, it has zero replayability value. I am an adamant advocate for replayability in a board game, but this is the only game I will forgive. I think for the price, I got enough play time to say it was worth it, and it was just like playing a computer game. Currently the game has 3 expansions on top of the first scenario that comes with the core game.

I cannot say much more for the fear of giving away any of the game details in this review. Even the rule book is kind of confusing to read because they're trying to keep all the stories a secret. But once you get how it works, you'll realize that it's really easy to play!

JUDGMENT!

RECOMMENDATION:

So I would recommend this game to anyone who heavily enjoys narrative game over competitive games. This game is most definitely the most immersive experience I had playing a board game ever. Our house rule between me and my wife is that we have to read the story in an epic voice that matches the theme of the scenario which we are playing and play some ambiance music in the background. There were some jaw dropping moments in my game and some WTF moments that pissed us off, but all in all, a wonderful game. I would highly recommend this game to all those who enjoy a good story time. 

Thanks for taking your time to read my reviews! I hope they are helpful if you were on the wall about making a certain purchase. If you have a certain game you'd like to have reviewed, feel free to leave a comment! Thanks again!

Star Wars: Rebellion a Game of Galactic Conquest!

This is a game that probably doesn't really need any introduction. If you have been into developer board games, this is something you might have been looking forward to for a long time. Well, for me, I am an avid Star Wars fan to put it mildly, and I own almost all the Star Wars game that Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) has published so far.

Now this game, to put it simply, is a game of hide and seek, warfare, and tactical battles put into one tightly packed board game. As I was playing it I felt a little bit of a few different FFG game flavor in it, but I'll get to that later in the review.

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SUMMARY:
The game basically depicts the galactic struggle the Rebel Alliance goes through to overthrow or at least deal a heavy blow to the support and power that the Galactic Empire holds in the universe. As the Rebel Player, you are trying to gain enough reputation and support throughout the galaxy so that the alliance can get a foothold into fighting back the empire. The Empire wants to find out there the secret rebel base is and either wipe out all the forces on the system or blow it to smithereens with the death star.

You can see how big this game is based on my wife at the bottom of the picture. But don't be put off by the sheer amount of stuff on the board. It's NOT that complicated!

As the Rebel Alliance, I felt very over whelmed by the sheer number of units that my wife had placed on the board, but at the same time I had to keep her on her toes at all times because the Rebel Alliance abilities are played under the nose of the empire, sabotaging their production, causing insurrections in systems to fight against the empire, etc.

The overall feel of the game feels like White Chapel and Fury of Dracula (Both are also FFG games) in that the Empire is constantly searching for that blasted Rebel base. The combat and unit building and deploying has a feel of Forbidden Stars (also FFG game), and the heroes going around the board carrying out missions feel like Middle Earth Quest (ALSO FFG game). So basically this game is a mash up of all the things that made those games so great.

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JUDGMENT!

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RECOMMENDATION:
The time commitment isn't too great and I feel like every game play is a little different because of all the different mission cards and action cards that you can obtain throughout the game. I would really recommend this to anyone who LOVES Star Wars, and to those who don't really like Star Wars too! The only caveat is that the game says it's 2-4 players, but it's more 2 player game since if more than 2 players play the game, the players just divide up the actions that they can take in the game. Doesn't add any strategy or other game mechanic. I would definitely recommend it as a 2 player game and no more than that. Thanks for reading!

It's Elementary My Dear Watson.

I saw somewhere on Reddit that Sherlock Holmes actually never said those words to Watson in any of the original books. But being the lazy redditor I am, I didn't double check my facts so I'm just taking it on face value that some stranger on the internet is always telling the complete truth.

You thought I was going off on a tangent but NOT REALLY! Today we talk about that very man, the man of unmatched skills in deduction, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!

In Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, you DON'T play as the man himself, but another dashingly handsome and cunning detective that may or may not be so good at his job. It is a co-op game that you can play with a group of your friends or by yourself. The game says you can play up to 8 people, but in my opinion, the MORE people, the better. You'll need the brain power.  In my case, I should never be a consulting detective because I am REALLY NOT good at this game.

The game comes with 10 cases for the players to solve within a certain amount of leads. The game starts out with a premise, a story in which the main dilemma of the case is presented to the players. With that original story, the players must work together to come up with an idea of what happened, who killed who, or who stole what, and HOW which is all listed in the goals to win at the end of the case booklet. The game comes with a few very detailed and awesome components that make the game really draw you into the story. Players have access to newspapers from the day of the case, a book of directory for London, and a map of London to aid them in their perilous quest to find answers to the dastardly difficult case.

With their arsenal of endless amount of information in front of them, the investigators (players) set out following leads given to them in the opening story. They can first go to the crime scene, or the house of their suspect, or the victim's family member, or even to Sherlock Holmes if you have absolutely NO idea where to begin. Once you FINISH, if you can finish, you check to see if your answers are correct. There are multiple questions and you have to get them ALL right. Or else you're not doing that great of a job as a detective now are ya? Most likely, Sherlock Holmes solved the case in FAR less leads than you. And you'll end up cursing at yourself for missing such simple things that led Sherlock Holmes to solve the case far quicker than you.

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Summary:

In the end, when everyone leans back as the case is solved, and feel like all of you need to go out for some smoke from the stress of solving the puzzle, you realize that this game has absolutely no element of luck, and you finished the case through the power of either your own or combined effort of the investigating team's gray-matter. This game requires a LOT of reading, but it has absolutely no luck factor in it at all. The game proceeds as people carefully read every sentence and every word carefully as to not miss anything and then find the next lead from that passage you just read. For me, it felt like I was taking the critical reading section of the SAT's all over again. I'm not into reading, I want to feel the rush and thrill of gambling, the intense suspense of the dice roll. Be prepared, to sit down and think and deduct for a few hours when you set up this game. To solve mysteries that are specifically assigned to Sherlock Holmes is a great task.

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Recommendations:

- If you love mysteries and reading them, this game is totally for you

- There is absolutely no luck element and everyone must wrack their brain to solve these mysteris

- If you're not really into reading, this is NOT for you. There is a TON of reading in this game, and not a lot of pictures.

- Be prepared to commit several hours into this game for each case. Reading takes time and thinking takes more time.

- Because the cases are pre-made, there is very near to none replay value for the owner of this game, or for those who have seen the answers for the cases.

- Even though there's not much replay value, you will play it long enough to make it worth the buy if you're into solving mysteries that take hours and MUCH reading.

Don't Lose Your Mind... From the Terrors at Arkham

Arkham Horror is a board game of "EPIC" proportions. The game has so many things going on, the first time someone runs through it might feel the pain of their brain literally bulging with the amount of information going in.

Just look at all those CARDS! Long cards, short cards, square chits, heart shaped chits, brain shaped chits, circular chits, rectangular chits.... the list goes on. The rule book is like a text book and pretty hard to understand if this is one of your first board games to play. But if you're an experienced gamer (in the sense of board games), you will see that there are just a whole bunch of parts, the game actually is pretty simple. In a nutshell, the phases are:

1. Upkeep

2. Movement/Combat

3. Arkham Encounter

4. Other World Encounter

5. Mythos

Pretty simple right? phases 1 and 2 are simple. You do all your paperwork in the first one, and then move in the second one, and if necessary, fight (and hopefully destroy) monsters. The fun is in the third and fourth phases in my opinion. In the Encounter phases, you draw different cards according to where you are in the city of Arkham or whichever "Other World" you are in, and read the adventure that your character is going through at that moment. You might be lucky and find an inscription on the wall that you can understand if your lore is high enough, or you can find money if your luck is high enough. But other times you can run into monsters lurking in the dark, or get jumped by a bunch of goons and lose all your money. Simply its up to your lady luck to see how your character fares. 

Then comes the mother of all stress inducing part of this game: The MYTHOS PHASE. This part is pretty much up to your lady luck whether you get an event that helps the characters or drastically turn the fate of the heroes by introducing MORE monsters on top of the monsters that are already rampaging through the streets.

If you survived that night's event, you can start all over and encounter different events over and over until the players seal enough gates to prevent the Ancient One from awakening or.... run out of time and the Ancient One awakens to devour the city and the players must now make a last ditch effort to destroy the ultimate monster.

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Summary:

That is basically how the game goes. You continue to draw events and play the story of your investigators and build up their inventory to prepare for a possible end of the world event. Or be lucky enough to seal up gates to the other world that the ancient one cannot awaken for another millennium or so.

The game is very random, there is a very HIGH level of luck that plays into the core game play. Some people absolutely hate that aspect of playing board games and would prefer that they know what the outcomes are and be able to solve mind blowing puzzles, or have some sort of strategy. If you're into choose your own adventure or in a video game sense, point-and-click adventure game, this is most definitely your cup of tea. The players never know how the turn of events will play out. Beware, the game play is pretty long on average. I would say be prepared to devote roughly 2-3 hours into this game (assuming that at least one player is very knowledgeable about the game).

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Judgment!

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Recommendations:

- Get this game if you LOVE choose your own adventure type of games

- Be prepared to spend 2-3 hours

- Don't get this if it's your first game

- Don't get this if you don't like a lot of random elements in your game

- When playing, make sure at least ONE person knows how to play or the first time run-through of this game will most likely be a horrible experience.

Hope you guys enjoyed this review, if you have any suggestions on which game to review or how I could improve my reviews, please let me know in the comments below or by sending me a private message. Thank you for reading, see you on the next review

A Brand New Beginnings

We can all try to become Youtube stars by recording videos of our hobbies, and try... TRY to become popular and hope that MILLIONS of people watch my show. But nah, I don't think it'll happen, and plus I like writing a lot more than talking to my camera.

I thought I'd try something new and review one of my hobbies, which I've quite grown fond of over the years: Board Games!

In this modern era, board games may seem to have taken a back seat while the video game industry have been enjoying all the sights and wonders sitting in the front seat. I believe that someday soon, board games will make a come back. Just watch.

So sit tight and relax as we delve deep into the realm of game pieces and face to face social interaction between players as alliances are made, and backs are stabbed; as players work together to survive, and to keep the world from a certain doom from plagues.

Welcome, to the world of board games.