Board Game Review - Tokyo Highway

Tokyo Highway is a fun multiplayer game which is also incredibly aesthetically pleasing. It's simple and easy to learn, but can have different layers of difficulty each time and will always be random in the way that the roads are laid out.

Each player has a certain amount of roads, columns, cars and intersections, which are placed each turn. The game ends when one player completely runs out of cars. Of course, it's a little more complicated than just laying down a road, placing a car and moving on - each road must either be higher or lower by one column than the ones placed last round (you can ignore this rule by using an intersection piece) and you can only place a car if it's the first road to go above or below another road. Each column can only have two roads on it, and they have to be placed a certain way or it counts as an illegal move, but intersections (as the name suggests) can have more than two roads attached to them, allowing you to move your highway closer to other roads that haven't been crossed over / under. There are also buildings, which are obstacles for you to build around and are randomly placed after everyone has put their first road section down.

I really enjoy Tokyo Highway, and everyone that I've played the game with has enjoyed it too, plus it's quite a nice looking game, both whilst in progress and when finished!

Is it worth my money?

At about £30 I'd say that Tokyo Highway is a must buy - it's great for 'hardcore' boardgamers, people just getting into board games and everyone in between!

Board Game Review - Bad Bones

This was another game we played at MCM Comic Con, and it's a change from what I normally play. The closest game I own to Bad Bones would be Castle Panic and the only real similarity is that they're both tower defence games. Bad Bones, however, is not co-operative, it's a game you only win because someone else loses.

You start off Bad Bones with a tower that is four high, a Hero, four villages, six traps and a graveyard that is empty (but not for long). The aim of the game is to survive the onslaught of skeletons for as long as possible, and outlive your opponents.

Each turn has four stages - move your Hero, place / remove traps, move skeletons and spawn new skeletons (you always grab three more skeletons from the bag, and also place any from the graveyard onto the board as well). The Hero will destroy any skeletons he lands on / that bump into him, so he is arguably your best weapon against the ever-growing hoarde, but he can only move one square at a time. The traps at your disposal are: two Walls, which act like a mirror reflecting light and move the skeletons in a different direction; two Catapults, which fling skeletons over to the graveyard of an opponent of your choice; a Dragon, who scares away the skeletons in the direction you choose; and Treasure, which lures the skeletons to it, and they then continue to move in that direction. Each trap (apart from the Treasure) will break after two uses, so using the trap step to take a trap away can sometimes be more useful than using it to place a new trap.

We played the basic version, where you have normal skeletons that are constantly attacking you, but there is also an advanced version of the game if you don't find an endless onslaught of skeletons tasking enough - this includes a market, scarier skeletons, weapons and new traps.

You can, if you want, play the game solo, or cooperatively too! Plus, the game comes with six player boards, so it's a game you can crack out on a gaming night with friends without having to worry too much about someone sitting out (unless you have more than five friends, I guess!)

Is it worth my money?

With prices ranging from £33-45, Bad Bones may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you and your friends want to play something a little different, go for it!

Board Game Review - Magic Maze

I visited MCM Expo over the weekend, and they have an ever-growing board game presence there, so it was nice to be able to sit down with my friends and play some new things!

One of the games that we played was Magic Maze, a co-operative board game in which you control a party of four adventurers who have to steal their equipment from a store (the guy demoing it said this is because they have no money, apparently the rules read that it's because they have been stripped of all their weapons etc) and then get out of the store before you run out of time!

The game would, however, be far too easy if it was as simple as moving the pawns around the shop in whatever direction you want and being able to speak to the people that you're playing with, so of course that isn't how the game is played at all! You get to control a set amount of directions (we played three player, with one of us controlling left and teleporters;one of us controlling down, escalators and the pile of cards; and the other controlling right and up) and are not able to speak to the people you're playing with, instead using the big red piece to bang on the table to get the attention of the people that control the directions the pawns need to be moved in.

The game is actually fairly simple in premise - move yellow to yellow things, green to green things, purple to purple things and orange to orange things - but the execution of the game and the randomness (as well as the variety of scenarios) mean that you're unlikely to get bored any time soon, plus the game has a bunch of expansions you can use to spice up playing!

Is it worth my money?

As the base game is around £15-20 I'd say yes, especially if you're looking for a fun, quick game to break up board gaming nights!

EGX Rezzed 2019

So yesterday I went to EGX Rezzed. I haven't been to Rezzed before, and it was a really different experience. Usually I go to MCM Expo in London, which is huge and spread out but very busy.

Above is a map of this year's Rezzed! There was a lot of stuff there, and some of the games are really new in terms of their development but others are either out or very nearly out.

Primetime Detective, one of the games on show at the UK Games Fund area.

There were groups of games such as the above Primetime Detective in an area funded by the UK Games Fund. These games were all in differing states of development, and I enjoyed all of them. Primetime Detective, Growbot and Billie Bust-Up were all great games to play, my favourite was Billy Bust-Up where I got to be a goat and a fox! Holo Fist is also a really good game which I was watching be played, it has a really cool concept and the main character is adorable!

Muse Games were there (you know, the people that made Guns of Icarus) with 2 of their new games; Hamsterdam and Embr. Hamsterdam is a cute little fighting game with an adorable art style and it'll be coming out on many platforms (including the Nintendo Switch, Steam and iOS) and Embr was advertised as "like a ride sharing service for the emergency services" where you are contracted to save people from fires!

Coatsink were also there, with PHOGS and Cake bash. PHOGS is a 2 player game where one of you controls one half of a sausage dog, and the other player controls the other half. It's very puzzle based, and possibly one of the cutest games (they had plushies set up around a dog bed and it was all very soft). Cake bash is an up to 4 player multiplayer game where you play as a choice of different cakes who have to make themselves irresistable, or throw fruit into a tart which gives you points!

I also got to play Sunless Skies, Inops, Songbird Symphony, Gato Roboto and Close To The Sun, all of which were pretty awesome. There was a board game area too, where I finally got to play Tokyo Highway which is a super cool dexterity game!

Switch Preview- Arms

With Nintendo's latest console due to come out at the end of the week, I figured a review of one of its cooler games was due!

I got the opportunity to play Arms at the Switch event in London, and it was definitely one of the better games I've been able to play in a while.

Arms is one of the best games on the Switch in terms of multiplayer right now, with the only drawback being that both players need 2 Joycons for the game to work (there was no official news re online multiplayer at the time I played the game, but this could easily rectify the issue).

If you're into multiplayer fighting games with diverse characters, maps and a fun art style, Arms is definitely something worth taking the time to play. It uses the Joycon's rumble feature to make it really feel like you and your opponent are punching, grabbing and blocking each other. One of the features I love is that each character has their own selection of arms to choose from, and you can try to play a sort of rock-paper-scissors game with matching the arms of your opponent's character.

Arms is a game I'm looking forward to being released, and I'm keeping my ear to the ground for further updates as I cannot wait for the release date to be announced!

Project Cars

The last car-based game I played was Burnout, but before that it was Driv3r so it's safe to say that Project Cars is the most modern racing game I've played- this is mainly down to a lack of a PS4 rather than a dislike of the genre.

So, when I was given the opportunity to try out Project Cars for myself, I picked up a Dualshock 4 controller and began a race. Or, I would have if it weren't for the excruciatingly long loading times.

The first thing I noticed was that you have literally zero control over the car as you exit the pit, which I feel could have been a good area in which to get the player familiar with the controls. As soon as the AI was no longer controlling the car, I came to a grinding halt as I tried to figure out the controls. Once I had worked out the controls, I drove along the straight part of the track but the car seemed to want to veer to the right. I continued around the track and kept crashing, because the car handled like a cow. So, I reset all the settings and chose a different car but seemed to have the same problem. In the interest of fairness to the game, I switched to a different PS4 and reset all the settings and managed to do a handbrake turn by accelerating and not using the analogue stick at all.

I like racing games, but I also like being able to actually race in them, So although Project Cars is pretty and has a wide selection of cars to choose from, it won't be on the list of "games I need when I get around to acquiring a PS4". (Nor will I be buying it on Steam)

Samsung Galaxy S7

I got me a shiny new phone. In fact, that is what I'm typing this on!

Camera

The main reason I got the s7 was for a better camera. I previously had an s6 so it wasn't a massive leap in technology. The camera is good, but I definitely need to adjust some settings because it seems a bit overexposed but that could just be the lighting in life.

Features

It's an android phone. Not a lot has changed since my 1st android way back when they first became a thing, but the s7 has brought back the clock on sleep which I actually find kinda annoying. They've also brought back the ability to expand the 16gb of storage with a micro sd, which may be something I use or it may be something I completely forget about.

Ergonomics

In width and height, the s7 is identical to its predecessor. It's ever so slightly deeper, but the back has been curved a little more so it actually sits in your hand (or hands, if you're like me and have toddler hands) quite nicely without feeling uncomfortable.

Would I have upgraded if I hadn't broken my s6?

The second reason I upgraded from the s6 was that the top speaker had blown. There was minimal sound coming from it even when I had it turned wayyyy up. The s7 top speaker is possibly the loudest thing in the known universe, so I definitely no longer have the same issue but the real question is: would I have got this phone if my s6 was fully functional.

The answer is yes. I mean, had I been able to have my perfectly functioning s6 I may not have thought about upgrading so soon, but I have been considering upgrading for a little while because I like to have nice things and I guess the speaker blowing out just gave me an excuse to do so!

So overall, I like the s7. If you're looking to upgrade then go for it!

Pokemon Go: One month later

I know, I know. Everyone's just about sick of hearing about Pokemon Go. "It's buggy"- yes "It's a waste of time"- No, no it is not. You see, although Pokemon Go is by no means the perfect app, it certainly has a lot going for it. I mean, it's Pokemon but in real life and, as with actual Pokemon, it doesn't like to behave well.

 Do you remember the episode of Pokemon where Ash couldn't even catch a Pidgey? Because I sure do! Pokemon Go is a combination of nostalgia and modernity- and I honestly cannot think of an IP that Nintendo could have used to make a mobile game that isn't Pokemon. Let's get reviewing!

In the beginning

The hype was real. Everyone was downloading the APK for the game (at least, everyone outside of those countries deemed worthy enough to possess Pokemon Go) and playing. People who had previously had little to no interest in the Pokemon series started playing, taking over gyms, spinning Pokestops and catching Pokemon. Then they picked teams- Mystic, Valor or Instinct. These teams were given personality.

Then the servers crashed because too many people were playing the game.

The servers came back, people played more. The sales of external battery packs for mobile phones tripled (probably). The tracking system was working, people were going outside. Some guy quit his job to go find Pokemon (no, really). Everyone was having fun.

Then the servers were hacked. When they came up, the tracking system was broken. But still, people played. People of all ages, all backgrounds, all levels of nerdiness- no matter who they were, they were playing Pokemon Go.

And now

People are still playing, even though it's kinda broken. It is a good mobile game that encourages people to go outside!

My actual and literal thoughts

So I like Pokemon Go, but I think it needs a few tweaks. I don't think Niantic thought it would be as popular as it has been and that's probably why it has had a few teething issues. But, once it's back to tip top shape (or, y'know, the PokeTracker is working again) then I'd certainly give it a shot.

Plus it's FREE (with microtransactions)

Check out my "look at" here:

Bioshock infinite

https://youtu.be/HIKeATcKo-4

Let's Look at: Pokemon Go

League of Legends: One for all

BBCs Versailles- ep 1

Ok so i just finished watching the first episode of BBCs Versailles and I rather enjoyed it. It caters to my history needs, my drama needs and there are boobs which is great.

First things first- that hair! OMG they had literally perfect hair. Not gonna lie, i am jealous of the hair. It was GORGEOUS, though the men had better hair than the women.

The plot was a little higgledy-piggledy but it caught itself up at the end... not gonna spoil it here but it was a shocker (though I did call it because I thought it'd be hilarious).

There was A LOT of sex. And a very minor rape scene (they showed about 2 minutes of it) and to be honest, I don't think it was entirely necessary to put it in- though maybe it'll be explained next episode?

In terms of rivalling GoT, i feel like it has a way to go BUT it was only the first episode, so we'll see how it goes from here. See y'all next time for my thoughts!

Splatoon gun- Splattershot pro

Pros:

Range, coverage, special weapon

Cons:

Speed, sub weapon, damage output

I'm not a big fan of this gun, mainly because it's a little slow for me. Plus the damage output is slightly lacking. Coverage isn't amazing, but the range of the gun makes up for it. I played a few rounds with the splattershot pro and my "Turf Inked" averaged about 600p, which wasn't too bad.

The sub is the traditional splat bomb, which is useful for hitting moving players but not so good for situations where a suction bomb would be better.

The special weapon is the inkstrike, which is a generally good special, but you're vulnerable both before and after the strike, meaning it's less overpowered than it could be (though it's still one of my favourite special weapons).

Rating:  (3/6)

Free Games week- E3 1915

Splatoon (WiiU)

I don't play a lot of shooters, but I was super-excited when Nintendo previewed Splatoon- to me, it looked like the kind of game that people would go out and buy a WiiU for. It looked fun, cool and fresh all at the same time.

Let me tell you, it sure does live up to the hype.

Controls

You entirely use the WiiU's gamepad in this game, which is great for people like me who haven't forked out for a Pro controller. The gamepad is used in a very intuitive way, including seamlessly using the in-built motion detecting.

Battle controls

In-lobby controls

Exploring Inkopolis

The little town you spawn into in Splatoon is called Inkopolis. Its main source of power is Zapfish, which are these cute little dudes that power things by being inside them. The storyline is very much reminiscent of the Super Mario Sunshine plot, except that there isn't someone masquerading as the hero who's actually the bad guy- the bad guy is made clear when you talk to an old guy who goes down a manhole at the beginning of the game.

There are many different areas to explore in Inkopolis, which encompass the different game modes. You can accessorize your character, which gives you buffs, by visiting stores within Inkopolis. The single-player mode is pretty fun, which you access by following the old man I previously mentioned. There are a few multiplayer modes- these include 4v4 matches with random opponents/ allies, the same but with friends, and an as-yet unreleased ranked mode. You can talk to people in Inkopolis and gain their gear once you reach level 4 in PvP, which I guess is to make sure you're confident with the controls before you get new weapons. There's also Amiibo support, which allows you to gain coins to spend in the stores by going back through single-player missions you've completed, usually through a time-trial format.

PvP 

At the time of writing, there are only 2 PvP maps, which are equally as fun. There don't seem to be set tactics to follow, and even losing is fun sometimes!

PvP matchmaking seems to work fairly well, though for my first couple of games it did seem a bit unbalanced as there was a level 14 player online who kept being put onto the same team. I think with a bit of tweaking, the matchmaking system would be perfect- these tweaks could include matching up similar item builds and levels, as well as randomly changing up the teams so that the same people don't end up facing each other 4 or 5 times in a row, which is something that happened to me.

Single Player campaign

Though the single player campaign isn't particularly long, it is incredibly fun. The enemy mobs are quite varied, and they very much have a Super Mario Sunshine vibe about them. You start off with easy mobs and gradually they become harder. Each "world" has a boss, which is in a boss kettle (which is the coolest thing in the known universe), and each has their own set of unique moves.

Honestly, the game would be worth it for the single player campaign alone in my opinion, but adding the Amiibo support and online multiplayer makes it 10x more awesome. I set out to play the game for half an hour whilst some of my videos rendered and ended up playing for two hours straight, and I only stopped because I had to go to work.

It's a game that I'm so glad I bought, and if you don't own a WiiU already, they are doing the coolest looking WiiU ever which comes bundled with the game. Seriously, check it out!

Click to go to the store!

So yeah, get it if you have a WiiU. Get a WiiU with Splatoon if you don't already own the console. It's the best!

Boardgame review: Takenoko

I'm a big fan of both pandas and board games, so when I saw that there was a combination of the two in existence, I was ecstatic and had to play it immediately.

So, what is Takenoko?

Takenoko is a fun game for 2-4 players. The aim of the game is to get the most points, which are gained by completing quest cards.

Actions

There are 5 actions to choose from in Takenoko, and you can do 2 each turn. These actions are- picking & placing a tile, moving the gardener to grow bamboo, moving the panda to eat bamboo, drawing a quest card and irrigating tiles.

Of course, you can only do each action once each turn, so your turns have to be planned wisely!

Weather

After the first round, each player has to roll a die to determine the weather for that day. There are six types of weather, each of which apply a different effect:

1. Sun- the player gets an additional action
2. Rain- grows a bamboo on an irrigated tile
3. Wind- the player can perform the same action twice
4. Storm- move the panda, it eats a bamboo section
5. Cloud- draw an improvement tile, either use it or store it until later (this is used as a free action)
6. "?"- choose a weather type and apply its effect

Players do not have to follow the weather die and can choose to ignore it.

The end of the game

When one player completes 8 quest cards, the final round begins. Each player gets another turn to try and complete any remaining quest cards. Once each player has taken their final turn, the game ends and each player's score is totalled. Whoever has the most points is then declared the winner.

I played this for the first time with two people I've never met before, who also hadn't played it. Takenoko has the advantage of being fairly easy to learn, as well as not being a very long game.

I really enjoyed playing Takenoko, as it is an easy game to pick up and play- plus the different quest cards also add a level of re-playability to the game.

Grab it by clicking the image above

MmRed

Boardgame Review: Duck! Duck! Go!

Recently, it was international Tabletop day, so my local gaming store decided to hold a massive tournament of Duck! Duck! Go! (there were 12 players)

So, what is "Duck! Duck! Go!"?

It's a fun, fast paced game, where the object is to pass over buoys using your rubber duckie. Once a player has collected all of the buoys, they then have to get to the drain tile (of which there is only one) and escape. Seems simple, right? Well, there are more elements to the game that increase its challenge level as well as the fun you have with it. For example, there is duckie bonking, which is where you knock another player's duck away by landing on the same hex as them. They then follow the path you were travelling, and you can force them to face the direction of your choice once they stop. Which brings me onto movement. In the game, your movement is controlled by cards which you choose at random. The number on each card determines turn order, and the card has a path set out on it for you to follow. If two players have the same card, they take their turns simultaneously. There are also life rings, which act as teleports within the game- quite handy if you want to avoid other players, but you have to land on them rather than passing over them to use them.

How much is it?

Duck! Duck! Go is a relatively cheap game, at around £20-£25, and in the box you get 4 ducks as well as a bunch of tiles! You can also combine Duck! Duck! Go! sets to make the game bigger and more challenging, which makes it a brilliant party game!

So, what do you think of it?

Whilst I was playing the game, I was really enjoying myself. We were playing in teams of 2, so the game had both competitive and co-operative aspects, which is a really fun way of playing it!

MmRed

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Cook, Serve, Delicious

As someone who was a fan of the Cooking Mama series of games, Cook, Serve, Delicious really appealed to me as a game.

It's available on Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS and Android!

Your very own restaurant!

You are the new proprietor of the Cook, Serve, Delicious restaurant, based in the SherriSoda tower. Your job is to upgrade the restaurant slowly but surely and to be the best restaurant in the world!

You can buy different food/ drinks to enhance your menu- some items give you bonuses for the weather, some for the time of day, and some give you negatives due to smell, fat content and other factors.



Crazy Dave

Crazy Dave is a character in this game, his role is that he makes bets on the odd occasion which you generally can double your money on relatively easily. There is another betting system in place, but it's a lot more specific than Dave's bets are!

The overall game

I really enjoy playing Cook, Serve, Delicious and the levels of difficulty are not too different, meaning that progressing through the game never really becomes impossible, unlike some other games out there.


I do enjoy Cook, Serve, Delicious and at about £7 (less on mobile devices), it's worth the money!

MmRed

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Apologies

I've been super busy the past few weeks, so there hasn't been time to play games and review them. There should be a review up on the 19th.

Sorry

MmRed

Space Invaders (1994)

I recently bought myself a copy of the 1994 Game Boy edition of the classic game Space Invaders. Previously, I had only played this game on my Nokia N-Gauge as a child, and I wanted the full experience.

The game basics

For those of you that haven't played Space Invaders, it's a game where you have to save the world from an invasion of aliens- using just one ship. You have barriers you can hide behind whilst the aliens shoot at you, or you can be brave and pop outside of the barriers to shoot at them.

Different aliens

There are five different types of aliens, each worth a different amount of points. The points are lower for the closer aliens and they increase as shown below.

Is it fun?

To me, the game is quite fun because I enjoy racking up the points. Some people may not enjoy it, but it's nostalgic and the sounds made by the game are cool too.

MmRed

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