Flash Duel Review

Recently I've been trying out several games by smaller publishers. One of the ones with a strong reputation is Sirlin Games (makers of Puzzle Strike) - so I took an opportunity to try out Flash Duel.

In Flash Duel, you take on the role of a fighter that is trying to knock out his opponent. Fortunately for you, your opponent has a glass jaw - one hit and you'll take him down for the round (unless you're playing the dragon scenario). Unfortunately, you're a bit of a wimp, too, and you have the same weakness. To start the game, you each get five cards in your hand. These cards have a numeric value from 1 to 5. On your turn, you play a card - using this card you can either move, "push" your opponent backwards, or attack. In order to attack, the card played must represent the distance between you and your opponent. If you have several copies of the needed card, you can play all of them to "power up" your attack - thus forcing your opponent to play the same number of the card in order to block. If he can't, then he goes down, and you win the round. Also, after a move, you have the opportunity to do an attack (in the same way as a standard attack). However, this move/attack combo is called a "dashing strike." If your opponent cannot block your dashing strike, they have the option of playing a card to retreat (instead of getting knocked out), but then on their turn all they can do is draw cards. At the end of your turn, you draw back up to five cards. Play continues like this until a player is hit with an attack (at which time they collapse into a heap and lose the round), or the draw deck runs out. If the deck runs out, you each have one last opportunity to hit each other, and then whoever has advanced further along the track is declared the winner (in the "you couldn't hurt a fly" (also known as the "I like dancing better than boxing") division). After a round, you reset the board and go again. You typically play either best out of 3 or best out of 5.

The Dragon is pretty awesome

The first thing that I like about Flash Duel is that it has a lot of different modes that you can play. Ultimately, though, don't expect the game to play too differently in any of the modes - they are all the same core game, and I see them more as variants that allow you to play the game with anywhere from 1-5 players (instead of it being a strictly 2-player game). I personally like the Dragon scenario the best. In it, one player takes the Dragon character (who actually can take multiple hits - he must be in the heavyweight division), and all of the other players use standard characters. The Dragon is trying to knock out all of the other characters and they (other than trying to just not die) are trying to knock out the Dragon. (Seems like bribing him to leave you alone would be easier... but then again, didn't your parents teach you that you need to stand up to bullies?)

Another thing that I like about Flash Duel is that there are 20 different characters that you can use - each with his own abilities. Even more than this, there is also a "Clockwork" mode in which you can select powers from several different characters. This allows you some variability between games so that you don't feel like you're doing the exact same thing every time. However, the game will primarily still come down to whoever makes the best use of the cards they draw.

Finally, Flash Duel just "flows" well as a game. It is pretty smooth and intuitive. It doesn't take a long time to setup, and can be played with just about anybody. In this way, it's the epitome of what a "filler" game should be - a nice way of spending time while waiting until a longer game starts.

One of the more interesting abilities

My first con with Flash Duel is that the characters don't seem well balanced. Yes, you could argue this with me, and tell me about how each character is best in certain situations. That's fine, but from the games I have played, there seem to be some characters that have much more useful abilities than others (after all abilities like, "Draw until you have 6 cards total" after retreating from a dashing strike isn't especially helpful, since you would have drawn up to 5 cards on your turn anyway.) Fortunately, if you get too frustrated by this, you can simply play the Clockwork mode instead of the standard fighting mode, and you can select the abilities you want to use.

My only other real complaint with the game is that it seems to cost too much for what it is. I recently have thought this about a different game because of the limited number of components. That is definitely not the case with Flash Duel. I feel like the number and quality of components that you receive for the list price of $35 is just fine. However, the game takes 5 minutes to play. The box claims 15 minutes, but I'm guessing that is a best out of 5 scenario, or includes setup time. (Including reading the rules?) To me $35 just seems a bit too high for a 5 minute game.

Overall, I give Flash Duel a 7.5/10. I think that it is a fine game, and I definitely understand why people enjoy it, but I think that for $35, I'd be disappointed with just how brief the game is. (Though I guess "Flash Duel" is an appropriate name for it!)

If you like fighting games, you might also check out Yomi, BattleCON, or Jab.

I would like to thank Sirlin Games for providing me with a review copy of Flash Duel via Game Salute.

Puzzle Strike Review

A game with an interesting take on the deck building mechanic is Puzzle Strike.

Specifically, you could say that Puzzle Strike is "what Quarriors was trying to do" (build a "deck building" game without cards). Instead of cards, Puzzle Strike is played with chips. And, instead of the traditional means of victory (victory points of some sort at the end of the game), it mixes in an element of classic Nintendo-style puzzle games like Tetris. Each turn you ante a gem into your pile (like having rows fall down on your screen), and the last person to have his ante pile filled up is the winner. So, to start each turn, a player takes a one point gem and puts it in his ante pile. Next, he is able to perform an action using the chips in his hand (actions can include combining chips into larger chips and "Crashing" chips to remove them from your ante pile and send them to the opponent on your left (who can counter Crash, etc)). After playing an action, you have to buy a chip from the bank. If you have no money, then you have to buy a wound chip - which does nothing, but it makes your deck worse because it keeps you from drawing something useful. Finally, you discard all of your chips and draw back up to five. And, depending on the size of your ante pile, you may draw some bonus chips (one bonus chip for every three points in your ante pile). Finally, you check to see if you have ten or more points in your ante pile - and if you do, then you lose (after all, your screen has filled up - you can sit there envisioning a TV screen with a pixelated "Game Over" label flashing).

Gambling Panda

The first thing that I love about Puzzle Strike (yes, love) is that there are character specific chips. Each "deck" starts with six one-point gems, a Crash gem, and three character specific gems. I have not played enough to see if any of the characters are overpowered (I've played 4-5 times), but they at least all seem balanced. However, each character plays quite differently. Some are good at defense, some help you perform extra actions, one transforms into "Dragon Form" which causes him to ante 2's instead of 1's, but also makes his crashes un-defendable - and one (the Gambling Panda) has a chip that can only be used when he has 10 or more points in his ante pile (is about to die). I wish that more games would start doing this! Can you just imagine playing the Star Trek: Deck Building Game and getting to pick whether you're using the Klingon, Romulan, or Federation starting deck? Sure, Nightfall allows you to draft at the beginning of the game to make player-specific piles, but Puzzle Strike is the only game I've seen that allows you to actually start with different items that have different powers - and it does it well!

The next thing that I like about Puzzle Strike is the vintage puzzle game feel. I really think that this theme allows it to be played and enjoyed without feeling as competitive. Yes, I want to win (as with all games), but the theme is just relaxing and allows you to enjoy the act of playing the game - almost like it reminds me of my childhood to an extent.

Dragon Form!

Next, I think that it's interesting that, essentially, the entire game is played with a countdown timer. Every turn, each player gets closer to losing. Sure, you can counteract this by playing Crash chips to send some of your pile at your opponents, but unless you actively do something to prevent it, you will lose the game simply by playing. For whatever reason, this mechanic resonated well for me.

Finally, I like that the closer you are to losing, the more chips you get to draw. This leads to more combos being played. If I am doing incredibly poorly, I am more likely to draw several Combine chips (these let you combine two gems in your ante pile and perform another action) and then Crash a larger gem at my opponent. It also gives me a better chance of drawing something that helps me to defend. It can do quite a bit to balance out the luck of having to draw the right chips at the right time.

For the most part, I really enjoyed Puzzle Strike. However, there were a few things that I should point out. First of which is that a lot of the chip piles will be left untouched in most games. Whereas, in our first game every chip seemed crucial (and, truly, I haven't seen any chips that aren't ever useful), some are simply better than others. Specifically, Crash and Combine are better than a lot of the other Action Chips - so unless there is a chip that lets you string together several Actions, you will probably find yourself mostly focusing on buying the Crash & Combine (and 2-4 of the other chip piles; especially if there are some that let you steal other people's Crashes and Combines... and then you'll be quite pesky.  And other people will have to play the "Really Annoying" chip on you.  That's right - that's what the chip's name is.  Why?  Well - because it's really annoying.). To be fair, though, this is true in any deck building game - you are trying to hone your deck as much as possible, and so you will often avoid buying good cards in an effort to get better cards. (*cough* I mean chips.  Did I say cards again?  It's like there's not really a difference or something.)

The next con is something that has already been addressed by the game company. It is very easy in Puzzle Strike (during your turn) to get your hand, in-play chips, and ante piles confused. And, if this happens, it can inadvertently change the game dramatically (by changing how many gems are in your ante pile). Fortunately, the Puzzle Strike Upgrade Pack provides you with playmats to keep track of each of these things separately.  Sweet - now if only it weren't $25.  I'd guess at some point they will combine them and sell them together for a discount.

Those are really my only two (very minor) cons. I will mention two other things briefly, though. Using chips instead of cards is unique. It doesn't really affect gameplay at all (which is why I kept referring to chips as cards), but it does reinforce the theme, so that was nice. Finally, the rule that forces you to buy a chip each turn is interesting. It forces players to pay attention to how they construct their deck to ensure that they can always afford to buy something. At the same time, it can water down a deck - which I think is intentional. This prevents the game from dragging out if several players are all able to build decks that consist of only Combines and Crashes.

Overall, I give Puzzle Strike a 9.0/10. I was quite pleasantly surprised by this game, and I'd recommend that anyone that likes vintage puzzle games or deck building games should "hit start" on this one.  (Whoa!  Vintage Game reference!!!  If only anybody else thought I was nearly as funny as I did!)

And, if you like deck building games, you might also want to read my reviews about Thunderstone or Dominion; or if you like the Fantasy Strike world that Puzzle Strike is set in, check out Yomi.  Or, for a complete change of pace, you might check out Glory to Rome.

I would like to thank Sirlin Games for providing me with a review copy of Puzzle Strike via Game Salute.

Yomi Review

A somewhat hotly debated board game that came out recently is Yomi.

Yomi is a fairly simple fighting game. Each player takes on a character and attempts to knock out his opponent. This consists of a series of rounds in which both players will play a card and (depending on what cards are played) one player will most likely take damage. Specifically, each player chooses a card (and a side of that card) to play each round. Both reveal at the same time, and there is a Rock/Paper/Scissors style resolution. Attacks beat Throws, Throws beat Blocks & Dodges, Blocks & Dodges beat Attacks. If both players play the same type of card, then the tie is broken based on the speed of the attacks. Once a player successfully scores a hit, depending on the Attack or Throw, they will probably be able to combo that attack to score more damage. His opponent has the opportunity to counter by playing a Joker, though - or to bluff and pretend that he is playing a Joker. If the person being attacked truly played a Joker, then all of the combo damage is deflected.  Otherwise, he takes all of the extra damage and loses the card he used to bluff!  Finally, both players have the opportunity to "Power Up" by discarding various poker hands to retrieve Aces (each character's super moves) from the discard pile and/or deck. Play continues in this manner until one of the characters is knocked out.

Now that you understand the rules of the game, it's time to discuss the crux of the game (I normally jump into pros and cons, but this is a much more topic in Yomi). The crux of the game is the Attack/Throw/Block (Rock/Paper/Scissors) mechanic. As opposed to standard Rock/Paper/Scissors, in Yomi you aren't just guessing at what the other person will play. You know enough information that you will be thinking, re-thinking, and over-thinking the situation. Each character has a different breakdown of cards in their deck (with a cheat sheet on their character card telling you this breakdown on a 0-5 scale). Therefore, you know if your opponent is more likely to have Attacks, Throws, Blocks, or Dodges. You also may know if they have a Block (if they have successfully Blocked previously). You also might know if they have some Aces, and if you paid attention, you'll know how that Ace can be played. But you also know that they know all of this. Therefore, the game of Yomi is truly a battle of wits against your opponent as you both try to stay one step ahead of each other as you try to outwit one another. If you like this type of mechanic, then you will absolutely love Yomi. If this sounds like something that you are uninterested in, then you should definitely stay away.

Characters add flavor

The first pro that I have found in Yomi is the different characters. This game could mechanically work with a standard deck of playing cards (where you make each suit a certain type of move), but it would have no flavor. Instead, with the characters, the differences in decks, and the different breakdown of moves, you truly get the feel that each character has a unique style that you need to embrace in order to win.  Along the lines of theme, the next pro that I have for Yomi is that I really enjoy the artwork. Whereas I don't often care much about the components in games (unless they are really good or really bad), I found the art in Yomi to be a definite highlight of the game.

Next, I really liked the fact that each card was double sided. This essentially doubles the possible plays that you have available. This is critical as you are trying to stay one step ahead of your opponent. If all of your cards were one-sided, then you would be more likely to guess what your opponent is going to play based on how many cards they have in their hand. However, with the double-sided cards, you are almost guaranteed that they at least have a chance of countering whatever card you are going to play.

Double-sided cards add variety

When playing Yomi, however, I found that I was often frustrated by not having my deck "flow" well. I will freely admit that I have not played Yomi to the point where I consider myself a master at the game, and so this con may go away with continued play. However, I often found myself short on cards, which makes comboing and powering up very difficult (these actions both require several cards to perform). Without being able to combo, you are not able to hit your opponent for more than a few points each turn, which in turn leads to the pace of the game being much slower. Now, Blocks allow you to draw extra cards, so if you are very good at picking the right time to play a Block, you may not suffer from this problem - but it was frustrating in the games that I played.

My other con is really just a confession - I was not in love with the Attack/Throw/Block mechanic. I think that it works, but it wasn't something that captured my imagination and made me want to keep playing it. Since this is the crux of the game, you can imagine that the game didn't really click very well for me.

Overall, I give Yomi a 7.5/10. Even without being enamored with the key mechanic, I thought that it functioned well enough to give it a respectable score. The closest comparison that I know of is BattleCON, which I also gave a 7.5 to; however, in a direct comparison, I believe that Yomi would score the victory.  At $100 for the complete Yomi set, I would highly recommend trying out a friend's copy or buying some of the smaller sets before investing in buying the complete set.

Want some more opinions? You can read a review of Yomi at Play Board Games, or another , or another Yomi review at Games With Two.

I would like to thank Sirlin Games for providing me with a review copy of Yomi.

BattleCON Review

A sweet little game that I've been drooling over for a while is BattleCON.

BattleCON is a card game version of a 2D fighter (like the original Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, etc). Each player chooses one of the 12 fighters and also takes a set of "bases" (basic moves). Each turn, both players will choose a combination of a base (standard move) and a style (character specific modifier) to play. These two cards work together to determine the final move that each player is attempting to execute. Both players reveal their cards at the same time, and then they determine priority; whoever has the highest priority gets to attack first (but most likely has the weaker attack). If his opponent is in range, then the attack will hit and will do damage based on how powerful it was - and if it is powerful enough (and your opponent was arrogant enough to not prepare for it), you can stun him, thus preventing him from being able to attack back! The game continues like this until one player is dealt 20 damage, at which point the duel is complete. Then (like in all the other 2D fighters), you fight again. And again. And (if you're losing), you eventually walk away before wanting to actually punch your gloating opponent in the face. Or maybe you are nicer to your friends than I am.

The first thing that I like about BattleCON is the way the bases and styles fit together (yeah, this is the most obvious choice for a pro). Through this system, it both allows your characters to have personality (their character specific cards change how the basic cards will wind up executing), and also allows a large number of potential moves each turn. I don't remember the exact numbers, but there are about 6 bases and about 6 styles; since each style can be played with each base, this means that there are about 36 different moves that can be performed. Now, each player will have a couple bases and a couple styles in his "recycle" pile at any given time so it won't be quite 36 options each turn, but there are still enough options that there's a game of cat and mouse that goes on as you try to out-think your opponent.

The next thing that I liked about BattleCON (which I briefly mentioned before) is that each character is different. There are twelve different characters that each play differently. Keep in mind, by "different", I don't mean that each character will be a revolutionary experience - they each fight better either at range or in close combat. However, even within these confines, the characters still have different abilities that help them feel distinct. Some of the characters I can remember allow you to take on an Elemental Form, have an "iron body" that allows them to avoid being stunned, prevent opponents from getting bonuses, and set a "Gate Marker" (trap) on the board. I enjoyed playing with the different characters and figuring out how each one worked best.



The last thing that I will mention in the pro section for BattleCON is how "stun" worked. Being able to stun your opponent drastically changes the game (I know this because I didn't play it correctly for the first half of my first game). Since each turn you may be stunned (or able to stun your opponent), you are really forced to pay attention to both priority and your "Stun Guard." If you don't pay attention to both of these aspects of your cards, you can quickly find yourself losing because none of your attacks will actually occur. Therefore, the game isn't as simple as "play my biggest card each turn"; instead, it forces you to try to outwit your opponent to ensure that whatever you throw at him will actually get the opportunity to hit.

Now for the cons... do you remember when you got the latest new fighting game (like Killer Instinct), but none of your friends liked it because they still wanted to play Mortal Kombat? I had this problem a lot with BattleCON. I taught the game to a handful of people, and only one of them seemed to like the game anywhere near as much as I did. Because of this, though I do enjoy the game, they really prevented me from having a good experience with it. The greatest positive and negative about playing board games instead of video games is the social aspect of them. If the people you play with really make a game enjoyable, it can be immensely better than any video game ever made, but if they make the game miserable, they can make it worse than playing through a video game that's scratched so that you can only play the first 5 minutes over and over.

The next con that I will mention is actually related to gameplay. Whereas each character plays quite a bit differently, I often felt a bit too constrained in what I could do. I don't know how much of this is the game itself, and how much of it is how much I stunk at playing the game, but I was often in a situation in which I didn't really have very good moves that I could execute. The guys at close range didn't always seem to have enough cards to get them close enough to really start dealing the major damage; and with the ranged characters I couldn't get far enough away to capitalize on my range. For example, one of the ranged characters could wind up with a range of 4-10 on one of his attacks... but the game is only 7 spaces wide - which means this is a combo that will rarely, if ever, actually be useful.

The final thing that I will mention I will classify as a "point of note." Some of the characters are significantly easier to play with than others. Some players will love this, because it adds depth to the game - you feel like you've accomplished something if you master a difficult character. However, other players will get frustrated with this, especially if they randomly choose a character to play when they first try the game (like we did), and they get a hard to master character. I believe this is what skewed the opinions of several of my friends that I played the game with.

Overall, I give BattleCON a 7.5/10. I really enjoyed a lot about this game; unfortunately, I don't think that it's going to have very much long-term table time because of how it went over in my group.

Since this game is still in a preorder state, you currently cannot buy it at any of the sites I'm associated with (which I normally link to here).  If you are interested in getting a copy of BattleCON, check out their site here.

If you like fighting games, you might also check out Yomi.

I would like to thank Level 99 Games for providing me with a prototype copy of this game to demo.

Lunch Money Review

For a less complicated little card game, I will do a review of Lunch Money.

In Lunch Money, each player takes on the role of a student at a generic school, and they are fighting each other for their lunch money (hence the name). Each player starts with a certain amount of life, and from there all of the players attack each other trying to knock each other out. You can use punches, kicks, weapons, special attacks, etc., as well as being able to block, dodge, disarm, heal, and the ultimate - humiliate your opponent.

One thing in its favor it that the game system of Lunch Money works very well - though it can be argued that the Humiliate card is a bit too overpowered.  Another positive is that the game is small and easy to carry around, but also very enjoyable and so it is a good choice when you have a little bit of extra time. Please realize that the game is not especially complicated, and so don't go into it looking for an in-depth strategy game. However, if you look at the game as an excuse to be able to trash talk all of your friends, you will have a great time with the game!  (You've got to love a game that causes you to regularly tell your one of your friends "I'll pimp slap you.")

Overall, I give Lunch Money an 8.0/10. I really enjoy this game, though some of the material on the cards (specifically Humiliation) can be offensive (and quickly fixed with a sharpie). Also, if you are looking for a quicker game, you can remove the number of "First Aids" from the deck (these are the cards that let you heal - the game normally has 8 in the deck, and I normally play it with 2), and this will cause the damage you do to your opponents to stick a little bit better.