Tag: game review

Takenoko is a bamboo cultivation game where players must grow bamboo and grow their land, while taking bamboo and growing it while trying to get the emperor’s favor to win.

1. Was it fun?
   • I enjoyed it, the cultivation and growing of land, but having it be in a collective sense was fun, just some of the rules/mechanics (mostly irrigation) were a bit confusing.
2. What were the player interactions?
   • Yep! We had to work together to grow land, but we also were taking and interfering with other players’ goals.
3. How long did it take to learn?
   • Only 10 minutes, the rules seemed confusing at 1st but we had a video that explained it really well.
4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • Figuring out the irrigation systems, especially since you could only get one bar or irrigation per turn (unless the weather says otherwise) which would be annoying since half of your actions would be just getting water.
5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • The whole game and its design was very cute, one of the cutest and well visually designed games i’ve played. The game pieces of the bamboo were cute and same with the artwork, everything seems like there was so much effort put into it, and it turns out really good.
6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
   • I wish the panda and the gardener could move in a different direction instead of just straight, since it makes it take 3 turns minimum to move to a diagonal square, and any other player could mess that up.
7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
   • I would change the movement of the gardener and panda, just so it could move diagonally and be used more often. I found myself avoiding options that had to use the panda due to the annoying movement pattern.
8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
   • I would, it was fun to play and took up a good amount of time to play. However the age rating says for 8+, I feel that’s a little too low, as it seems a little difficult for an 8yr old to understand.
9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
   • Learning it (Act 1) was pretty easy, we had a video to teach us how to play and set up things. Act 2 of actually playing was fun, and Act 3 of ending the game was easy, since it immediately ended after a player got all of their objectives done.
10. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
    • Player could use each other land to grow bamboo and use it claim objectives, and competitively take and add upgrades to change the game in their favor
11. What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
    • The metaphor is growing bamboo for an emperor, which is prevented as those cards are claimed within the game, also the visuals helped push that point. The mechanic of irrigation made the game really unique, while annoying at times, brought a new level of challenge to it.

Argument is a competitive/collaborative game in which players claim pieces by moving and jumping on other players.

1. Was it fun?
   • I can see how it would be, but not a game I personally found fun
2. What were the player interactions?
   • There was, The size of the game made us rely on each other to move pieces in order to play.
3. How long did it take to learn?
   • About 5-10 minutes, it was nice because game pieces were color coded so that players could always tell what they were doing without having to look at the rules.
4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • The moving style was a little difficult to understand, even though it was on the game pieces. I think personally the unique shapes were cool, but hard to understand, especially with the circle board.
5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • The visuals and colors of the board were cool, I enjoyed the visual aspects of the game.
6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
   • Being able to stack your own pieces easily, and more more freely.
7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
   • Change some of the movement patterns for the pieces, since they were difficult to understand and translate to a circular board
8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
   • No, I am not a fan of collaborative games, and I didn’t find it super engaging enough to be willing to play it again.
9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
   • Act 1 is learning the rules, which is quick and easy. Act 2, playing the game was easy enough but took a little since we were still trying to understand the mechanics of the game. Act 3, ending was the quickest, as the game ends as soon as a player has 6 stacks of game pieces.
10. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
    • It was collaborative in the fact that, due to the size/shape of the board, other players would have to move pieces for you. Competitive still in the fact that there could still be a single winner of the game.
11. What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
    • The main metaphors were chess and rock paper scissors, however this was mostly due to the colors, the entire game was utmost stripped down to just mechanics. However the mechanic of having chess and rock paper scissors as a movement system was very cool.

Forbidden Island is a collaborative game in which players must collect all of the lost artifacts and escape the island before it floods by using their abilities and teamwork.

Was it fun?

No, not for me. I can understand how some people would find it fun, but the lack of competitive gameplay and the lower stake gameplay made it less engaging for me.

2. What were the player interactions?
   • In a collaborative aspect yes, we would each use each other’s abilities to move forwards and progress within the game.
3. How long did it take to learn?
   • About 10 minutes, it was decently easy, however we had missing cards so we had to relearn the rules to include the cards after we printed some out.
4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • Nothing was frustrating, except missing cards that were crucial to gameplay. We were missing the cards that connect with the abilities of our game pieces, so we had to make more. 
5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • The idea of the game was fun, and using one of our teammates’ abilities, the pilot, who can move anyone, allowed us to play the game quickly and survive.
6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
   • I would have enjoyed it if the game was competitive which would add a mechanic of stealing the treasures from other players. I would also want to un-flood certain sections of the map, however that may have been a gameplay mechanic that we missed.
7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
   • I would add an option for competitive play, which is a stealing or sabotage mechanic to make the game more competitive.
8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
   • No, but that is because I am not a huge fan of collaborative games, with tabletop games. I can understand how some people would find this game engaging, however it was not for my personal taste.
9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
   • Act 1: This was learning the rules, still the quickest section however there was a roadblock due to the missing the cards. Act 2: The middle lasted the longest since its the actual gameplay, where we would move across islands and grab cards in order to get the artifacts and best the game, this section took about an hour. Act 3: The end was easy, as we used certain classes’ abilities in order to skip sections and get to the end quicker, which is where we got on the helicopter and left.
10. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
    • Collaborative aspects were the fact we could trade and share cards in order to collect the artifacts, and each character’s ability works together. There were no competitive aspects within the game, except the fact we had different abilities as players, but that’s about it.
11. What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
    • The metaphor was an island obtaining artifacts. It was done really well, every epic had a mysterious vibe to it, or made to look like a treasure map. It looked really good and the theming was done well, as it was prevalent through the whole game. The cool mechanics were the moving and flooding based on locations and character abilities, and the water rise level was cool.