Primordial Soup Review

Primordial Soup (Ursuppe in its native language) is a 4-player German board game from Doris and Frank. In it, each player takes control of a small tribe of amoebae, vying for survival in a pool of protoplasmic soup at the dawn of time.

The components of the game are superb, with sturdy wooden coloured blocks for each of your amoebae (which have to be assembled by hammering in a wooden peg), and a hundreds of little coloured blocks (food that you can eat (uh, your amoebae, that is, not you!)). The cardboard, fold-out board itself is rather unprepossessing, being generally blue and drab. But don't worry; you can soon brighten it up with all those little tiny blocks I was talking about! The layout is a series of squares, and a scoring track round the sides. There are one or two funny pictures of amoebae to break up the monotony, but the board is nothing to shout about. Truth to be told, the dullness of the board is the last thing on your mind during the game - generally you're more concerned about where your next morsel of food is coming from!

At first, gameplay can be a bit tricky, but after only a few turns we quickly got the hang of it. Each turn has multiple phases; Movement & Eating; Environment & Gene Defects; New Genes; Cell Division; Deaths; and finally Scoring. During each phase, every player completes their actions before everyone moves onto the next phase.

So, in phase one, Movement & Eating, the player who is last on the score track moves his amoebae first (in numerical order - each amoeba has a number on from 1 to 7). The environment card in the middle of the board shows which direction the current in the pool is flowing, so each amoeba can move one space in this direction, or move under its own power (rather erratically) in an attempt to gain a better position. Once it has moved, it will eat three of those little coloured blocks I told you about - one of each other colour - before excreting two coloured blocks of its own colour. It sounds more complicated than it is, believe me. If an amoeba cannot eat properly, it will starve, taking one point of damage (two points and it will die in the Deaths phase).

Once all amoebae have moved and eaten (or starved), then a new environment card is turned up, showing the direction of drift, and an Ozone level. This shows you how much protection form ultraviolet the pool gets, and any mutations that add up to more than this number must be discarded (this stops any one person from being too advanced genetically).

And then the New Genes phase begins. This is the best part of the game. As the game progresses, each player gains 10 Biological Points (BPs) during each Cell Division phase, which they may spend to add another amoeba, move erratically during movement, or buy Gene Cards. These are small advances that your little tribe can make during the game, such as Streamlining (movement becomes easier but is still uncontrollable) or Movement (moving is more controllable, but still as hard). There are more aggressive Genes, such as Struggle for Survival (if you would normally starve, you may now eat any other amoebae in the same space as you instead), or defensive, such as Armour (fairly self-explanatory).

Each Gene costs a certain amount of BPs, and also has an Ozone level, which cannot exceed the Ozone layer's number during the Environment phase.

All of this means that each player is essentially reduced to a few modifications to their basic genes, which aid them during the game. Doris & Frank claim to have playtested this enough to eliminate any "killer combinations" of genes that will automatically win the player the game, but there are still some pretty "almost-certain-death combinations" that will help above and beyond the norm (Streamlining coupled with Movement II are pretty bloody powerful if you can get them).

You score points for having gene cards and amoebae on the board, and the player with the most points when the final environment card is turned up, or when anyone reaches the darkened area at the end of the score track wins the game.

A very simple game, easy to learn with great components (maybe a bit fiddly with all those tiny wooden blocks, but at least the fun of packing away extends over several days as you constantly find them all over the house!).This is a little expensive, which could put people off, but it is worth the price, and we will certainly get many evenings of enjoyment out of this one.

NOTE: The German version has an expansion that adds a whole slew of new genes, and a further two players (making this a six-player game). This is currently not in print, but apparently Z-Man Games will be re-printing this expansion this year some time (2006). If they do, and you enjoy this game, then GET THE EXPANSION. Seriously. Just get it. You will not regret it.

Summary

Presentation: I really enjoy Doris Matthaus artwork; there is something quirky and distinctive about it. This wonderful tongue-in-cheek art, coupled with the fantastic wooden bits you get in the box make this a chunky little game that is a joy to unpack (but a bitch to put away again!). 9.1/10

Clarity of Rules: Very clear, easy and quick to pick up and play. The rules are pretty unique, and the rulebook does a good job of conveying the new systems and gameplay. 8.5/10

Game Length: The game can go on for up to two hours – and maybe more. There is lots of everyone to do at each stage, though, and player elimination (while a possibility) is very unlikely. 7.9/10

Value: Considering the manufacturing that must have gone into making these wooden pieces, the price of the game seems justifiable – if a bit high. The game is worth the investment, however, as hours of fun and enjoyment can be had with your little pet amoebae… 7.3/10

Overall: Enjoyable, quirky, and unique. The game will always be pulled out on request, and I will never turn down a game. Primordial Soup has been described as a simulation of protoplasmic life, but there is an interesting and fun game in there as well… 8.5/10 (not an average)

Review by David Plank    

Runebound 2nd Edition: Review

Runebound 2nd Edition is the update of Fantasy Flight's popular game of fantasy adventure. In the role of one of twelve heroes, players travel a large fantasy realm, completing encounters and growing in prowess with the ultimate aim of defeating the Dragonlords and their newly resurrected leader, High Lord Margath.

To be honest, impressions upon opening the box are a little dissapointing. Contained within are the gameboard, rulebook, two sheets of counters, two decks of cards, a bag of dice for movement and combat and twelve plastic hero figures. Why the dissapointment? Well, purchasers of FF's games are typically spoiled when it comes to game contents. Just take a look at how packed the boxes are for games such as Arkham Horror, Doom and War of the Ring and you will see what I mean. There is no difficulty getting the Runebound components to fit back in! But this should be taken as more of a cautionary warning for those used to an avalanche of pieces than a wholly negative comment, for what is there is of the usual high standard. The board depicting the land is not as large as the boards for Arkham Horror or War of the Ring (some may say this is a good thing!) but it is beautiful to look at. The cards are durable and well illustrated, the card counters thick and the dice have pre-placed stickers in indentations so there is no concern of the symbols eventually wearing off. Plastic figures are an upgrade from the card stand-ups of the first edition and, although they are not as detailed as wargamers might hope for, they certainly do the job well enough. As with all FF games, the rulebook has large pages and is well written, leaving little need to refer to it when players have got to grips with the relatively simple rules.

Each player begins the quest in the city of Tamalir with nothing but their various skills and three gold coins to their name. Counters on the board show the location of adventures, the completion of which forms the crux of the gameplay. They are rated at four levels of difficulty, each level corresponding to a deck of cards which is drawn from to determine the exact nature of the encounter. These vary from one off occurances, to epic lasting events and fierce battles. If an 'Event' or 'Encounter' card is drawn, then the player draws again until a 'Challenge' (battle) card is revealed. Upon defeating the foe, the character is rewarded (usually with gold or an item) and takes the adventure counter off the board to show the experience points gained (between one and four depending on difficulty). Depending upon the number of players, a set total of experience points can be spent to increase ranged, melee and magical abilities or even provide additional health.

Each turn is split into five phases. First cards used the previous turn are refreshed so they can be used again, then characters may move. Following this, any encounter on the final space landed on is resolved. The fourth phase only occurs if a character ends in a town. In this 'Market' phase a market card (which may be either an item or an ally) is drawn from the deck and placed in the space specific to the town. The player may then chose of buy any items which are there (gold permitting) sell items owned, hire allies or pay to be healed. In the fifth phase, accumulated experience points are spent.

Movement in the game is goverened by dice. Seasoned gamers may shudder at the thought of a roll-and-move system, but it works surprisingly well. Each die has one or more symbols on each face, depicting terrain types. The roll determines what the dice may be used to travel through, so a face depicting a river and a swamp shows the die can be used to move one hex into either of these terrain types. Certain terrain, such as plains, appears more frequently then harder to traverse terrain such as mountains and the effect is to give a player several options yet restrict total freedom of movement, which works well. Being wounded or tired reduces the number of dice rolled and more may be given up to rest and remove exhaustion tokens.

Combat consists of three rounds, after offering an escape opportunity. These are: ranged combat, melee combat and magical combat. Each character is rated in these three areas and also has a damage score in each. During each round, the player decides whether to attack or defend and rolls two ten sided dice, adding the total rolled to the value of the relevent attribute in an attempt to meet the target number of the card being fought. Only one attribute may be selected to attack each combat round, the other two can only be defended with. Allies allow addtional attacks to be made, although these are weaker than those of the hero typically.

Each hero has a wound rating and an exhaustion rating. Tiring occurances add to exaustion while combat inlicts wounds. Additional exhaustion above the hero's capacity is taken as wounds, so it is often wise to rest and recuperate. Should a character take wounds up to his limit, he is knocked out and placed in the nearest town, losing gold and his most valuable item or ally. In this way, failure is punished yet all players remain in the game until the end, which is a necessity in a game which typically lasts a good two hours!

Once players are sufficiently powerful, they can attempt to confront the High Lord Margath and his Dragonlords, represented on the board by the hardest level adventure counters. This is not a feat to be undertaken lightly as they are powerful opponants, but defeating either the High Lord or any three other Dragon Lords ensures victory for the trumphant hero.

Runebound generally does a good job of depicting an epic fantasy quest in a boardgame format. This has been attempted before more than once, notably in the classic game, Talisman. Perhaps it speaks for the genre that both these games share similar attributes... and flaws. Each sees heroes travelling a land, defeating foes and becoming more powerful in a similar way to a pen-and-paper role playing game. However, each can also be considered to be long and repetative, with little player interaction as each strives to achieve their aim first.

How players respond to this is largely a matter of personal opinion. Aside from the events, each encounter of Runebound really boils down to rolling dice until the challenge is overcome, grabbing the reward and moving on to the next one, pausing for breath only to heal and spend treasure and experience. Many people will not find this to their liking and it can be argued that Arkham Horror attempts a similar style of game with greater success. But if you don't mind a game taking a good two hours (or more with a greater number of players) to finish and essentially consisting of doing the same thing over and over, then you will probably enjoy Runebound. I believe this criticism to be a little harsh, but it is how many players may respond. On the other hand, if you yearn for heroic fantasy adventure and take pleasure in directing your hero through deadly encounters, becoming stronger and more powerful in an epic quest to defeat a great evil, then Runebound could well be the game for you. Also, if you have fond memories of Talisman, then Runebound should be very much seen as a bigger and better version.

This review only considers the game as it comes out of the box, but FF have already released several expansions for the game, ensuring longevity and freshness. Having alternative adventures to face certainly appeals, but the game as it stands should satisfy for a long time.
At the end of the day, if the theme and gameplay appeal to you, Runebound 2nd Edition is a veritable must buy. If not, perhaps you should look elsewhere. Either way, Runebound appears destined to become the definitive epic fantasy adventure game.

Summary

Presentation: Good art throughout and quality components are what you will find in the box. It is a slight same that FF have not included something better than a feeble plastic insert to contain everything though. 8.3/10

Clarity of Rules: Generally clear rule book with good examples and several optional rules which are easy to implement. 8.5/10

Game Length: Can be a bit overlong for what it is, especialy with more players, although with two or three who are familiar with the rules this is much less of a problem. 5.5/10

Value: Less value than many of FF's big box games and perhaps a bit expensive for the contents. Perhaps not the best choice if you are not aware of what you are getting 4.9/10

Overall: A very strong contender for its type. Runebound is one of those games people either love or hate, strangely, for very similar reasons.... 8.5/10 (not an average)

Review by Chris Walkley

Carcassonne Review

Carcassonne seems to sit in a rather nebulous area complexity-wise - it's a game that seems very light, due to the tile-laying mechanic, but the scoring is of sufficient complexity to put off very casual gamers if not explained correctly - yet it is a hugely enjoyable game. Tasked with building the city of Carcassonne, players compete to score the most points as the aesthetically pleasing city grows ever bigger, turn by turn.

Players take turns to draw a tile and then lay it adjacent to a tile already laid. They have the choice to then place one of their 'followers' on the tile they just laid, and the scoring opportunities differ depending on where the follower is laid. Once the supply of tiles is depleted, final scoring takes place (followers placed in a field become farmers and are not scored until the end of the game, and any followers on incomplete features are scored at the end of the game too). The player with the highest score wins.

Those are the rules in their simplest terms, but as stated above there is an extra layer of complexity due to the placing, scoring and management of followers. Placing them on a road is a route to a quick score - once a road is 'closed' (which can happen very quickly), the player who has the follower on the relevant road scores 1 point for each tile the road is on and then the follower is returned to their supply. One of the most important aspects of the game is being able to efficiently turn over your followers, so that they don't go to waste. It is often the case with new players that they are loath to place followers on roads as it is seen to hardly be worth the effort, but in the early stages of the game for example, players have a full supply of followers anyway, so should take every opportunity they can to score.

It is this layer of depth that lies at the heart of Carcassonne's appeal. Far more than just a simple tile laying game, there are subtleties to the game that are only revealed through repeated play. Of course there is a huge amount of luck involved in the tile draw, but there is generally a huge amount of choice as to where to lay it, and there is seldom a right or wrong way to play the tile. The layout of the tiles as a game is in progress is another factor - the tiles have a very pleasing look to them as Carcassonne is gradually built during the game. It's a very feng shui thing, and it is very satisfying to survey the landscape once complete.

The length of the game is perfect, especially for the type of game that it is - games rarely take longer than 40 minutes, and it is all too tempting to play again immediately after finishing! In short, Carcassonne is a great game to introduce to players not used to the intricacies of, for example, a Knizia game. It is easy to teach within minutes even to non gamers, and it's quick enough that more than one game can be played, therefore giving new players a chance to learn and adapt very quickly indeed. Also, once players tire of the standalone game (not that this has happened with my group yet...we haven't even used The River Expansion, which comes free with the game), there are several fairly inexpensive expansions for the game which add differing layers of complexity and scoring opportunities, thus increasing the replay value even further. One of the best games to lure new gamers into the fold, Carcassonne will also keep them interested in games for years to come!

Summary

Presentation: Nicely sturdy box and components – the tiles themselves are brilliantly produced and will stand up to lots of punishment – which is good because you will be playing this a lot. The wooden followers are also well made and appealing. 9.6/10

Clarity of Rules: Very simple to play and learn – except the farmer scoring – with excellent, short rules that come with lots of illustrated examples. 9.3/10

Game Length: Usually around 30-40 minutes, and is always a hard fought battle for first place. Farmer scoring when the game is over keeps thing tense and unpredictable right up to the last moments! 9.5/10

Value: The game comes complete with a free expansion which varies the game slightly, adding to its already immense replay value. Very tough to fault. 9.7/10

Overall: I count Carcassonne among the very best games in my collection, both for new players and experienced players alike. Whenever it gets played, it never fails to be played more than once - and is always appreciated highly by anyone who plays it. Superb! 9.6/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Dawn of the Dead Review

This is a board game based on the movie of the same name. It completes, to my mind, the 'Big Three' of zombie games, what with Mall of Horror (a recent inductee into my own personal Zombie Hall of Fame), and Zombies!!! by Twilight Creations (both reviewed elsewhere in this Blog).

Written and directed by George A. Romero, the master of zombie flicks, the movie charts the adventures of four people trying to find a safe place to hide, and wait for the all of the dead to rot away. They discover one of those huge American shopping malls, infested with zombies. They land on the roof, and begin the dangerous process of clearing the mall of the infestation, in order to barricade up the doors, and live in luxury. There is more to the movie, but this game focuses on the characters’ efforts to gain control of the shopping mall.

The game is not available to buy any more, but there are places on the net that you can download the components from, ready to be printed out, stuck together and played. Thus the low Presentation score; it could rise if you go to town with your manufacturing, but essentially, you have a very functional board and counters. And the rules read like a dictionary! They could have made the rules a bit friendlier…

Essentially, it is a two-player game, with one player taking control of the zombies, and the other player controlling the four humans. However, we have very successfully played three player games, with just as much (if not more) fun. The rules suggest splitting up the human characters into three piles, and running the zombies according to the solitaire rules, but we find it much more fun to split the humans into two piles, and have the third player control the zombies. Using this method, you could conceivably play a five-player game (four human players, one zombie player), but I have no idea how that would pan out.

The rules, as I have stated before, are a hard read, and there is a lot to take in about various little sub-systems, and modifiers that are easy to forget. It is the rules that make me think that this must have originally been an Avalon Hill or SPI game – very, very thorough, with no ‘soul’ behind them. They are dry, but informative. We are still, however, discovering things that we are doing wrong after several plays, and no doubt will continue to do so for a time to come. The rules simply place no more importance to any of the systems used, so basically, what seems like a simple enough little rule can get missed, or dropped as being unimportant, when in fact it makes a huge impact on the game play!

(For our first few games, we had all completely missed the fact that human characters that moved in the last movement turn cannot move in the current turn – kind of important, really!)
The humans win if they manage to kill all of the zombies, close all four external doors of the mall, and get a hunting rifle each for Steve and Fran (two of the human characters). The zombie player wins if any three human characters are killed, or any two if one of them is Fran. (Fran is the worst character, and the temptation is to use her as bait, or fodder, but this rule puts an end to that little plan.)

The Humans have different values for their attributes, depending on how good they are; Peter and Roger, being ex-cops, are quite competent, but Steve and Fran (especially Fran) are a lot worse than the cops.

The game plays remarkably well. The rules are, in essence, quite simple, and once you have played one game you should be fairly conversant with the way it runs. Essentially, it goes like this: The humans move first, then the zombies. Humans can move up to the movement value on their counter (anything from 12 to 20), using movement points to achieve special actions (such as shutting doors – zombies can’t open doors). At any time during their move, the humans can shoot as many times as their rate of fire (from 2 to 5), rolling dice, with modifiers for range, shooting through a doorway, etc. Peter and Roger roll two dice, Steve and Fran roll one (until they get a hunting rifle).

Zombies are strewn throughout the mall, with the green side face up. Nobody knows the value of these zombies until an attack is made by either party. Then the chit is turned over to reveal a number between 2 and 11. In order for the Humans to kill the zombie chit, their attack roll must equal or exceed this value (after modifiers), and it is removed from the board.

More than one character can move in a human turn. The characters moving must begin in the same space, and move as a stack, up to the movement value of the slowest character. The benefit of this is that for each shot (up to the fire rate of the worst character) gets three (or two) dice instead of two (or one). The problem is panic. Each character has a panic value (from 1 to 3). The lower the better. In certain circumstances, characters must make a panic check, which involves rolling a single dice higher than their panic check (with modifiers sometimes). For example, firing at a zombie in the same space as your character requires a panic check with no modifiers. If you fail, the human turn ends there and then. And if more than one character is moving as a stack, they each have to make the roll…

Then the zombie gets to move. Each zombie that saw any human do anything during the human turn gets to move one square toward the humans. The zombie player then rolls a dice and moves that many zombies (those that didn’t move in reaction) one square anywhere.

There are also berserk zombies. Once a turn, the zombie player checks any zombie to see if it goes berserk. On a four or less, it does (he also makes the same roll to see if any previously berserk zombies are still berserk). Berserk zombies can move two spaces, and require panic checks to shoot at. It is not much, but it makes all the difference… They can also attempt to break through glass doors.

The zombie player rolls on the Zombie Generation Chart to see if any more zombies find their way into the mall via doors the humans haven’t got around to closing yet, and makes any zombie attacks if there are any zombies on the same space as humans. Just before a zombie attack, any humans on the same space get to shoot at the attacking zombie – if they make their panic check (at minus one if the zombies is berserk). If the zombie is still alive, then the zombie player chooses how many characters are being attacked (the human player chooses who is attacked if there is a choice), and divides the zombie value accordingly. A quick roll on a chart provides the result – No Effect, Stunned, or Infected.

When Stunned, the character can do nothing until rescued, by having another character move into the same space – with the attacking zombie. Note that if there is already a character on the same space, that character will have to move away then back to qualify – and moving off a space with a zombie costs movement points equal to the value of the zombie!

An Infection is worse. The character chit is replaced by an Infected chit (there is one for each character), with significantly lower attributes. And each turn, the human player must roll two dice for each infected character – on a 2 or a 12, the infected character becomes … a Super Zombie! These creatures can move three squares in a turn, and team up with any other zombie chits (adding 2 to the zombie chit’s value) to make an almost unstoppable force. They always require panic rolls to shoot at (with nasty modifiers), and can break through glass doors automatically. We’ve never seen one pop up in any of our games, and I can only count myself lucky (or unlucky if I happen to be the zombie player) that we haven’t! If a character is already Infected or Stunned, and receives another Infected or Stunned result, they die.

That’s pretty much it for the rules. There are lots of other wrinkles I haven’t mentioned, but the main gist is there. As for how it all fits together, well, it is very atmospheric. The human player seems to cut a swath through the ranks of the undead, and then (usually) something goes terribly wrong, and it all goes completely to pot! In the games we’ve played (properly), we have had a win for the zombies, and one for the humans. In the zombie win, the last few zombies managed to polish off the remaining humans, even after all the doors had been closed. When the humans won, they had one death, and another infected, before managing to wipe out the last zombies, securing the victory. The game seems delicately balanced, and works very well. The only problem is that the rules as written are quite user-unfriendly, and it is easy to miss out certain rules that tip the balance one way or the other (our first few games were easy wins for the humans).

Despite this, hidden under the veneer of a stale rules set and mediocre components, is a rather excellent game. If you can get it, and are a fan of the genre, I highly recommend it. It is very evocative of the theme, with the slow-moving zombies meandering around the mall, and the quick-moving humans running about, gunning them down – until one of them panics next to a berserk zombie with a value of ten! We’ve always had fun playing it, no matter what the outcome (even as the zombie player, who generally doesn’t have much tactics available, watching the plans of the human players get ripped to shreds due to a big glut of high-strength zombies is especially satisfying).

Summary

Presentation: This can be what you make it – literally. The game comes as a zip file that you can print off, cut out and stick together. Even when new and out of the box, the game would hardly win any beauty contests. The chits and board are of typical SPI-game functionality, and anyone of a certain age with certainly get a twinge of nostalgia from just looking at it. 5.4/10

Clarity of Rules: This is where the game really suffers. The rules are complex and all-inclusive of pretty much everything you might want to do when beating back an undead horde. Unfortunately, they are not necessarily intuitive, and certainly not easy to absorb or even reference during the game. Fiddly and crunchy rules, in a dry and uninteresting rulebook. 3.5/10

Game Length: The game does last about an hour and a half, and that is plenty. Any longer, and it would become boring, any shorter, and it would feel half-finished. A good 90 minutes of zombie-bashing fun! 8.3/10

Value: You can’t beat the price! The effort and resources used to actually make it can be tailored to suit any pocket. Colour printing is better, but even this can be sacrificed for the sake of thriftiness… 9.7/10

Overall: A lost gem of a game that could really do with a new polish and some nice components. It’s Zombies!!! done right – a really good zombie bashing game that works. Exciting and nail-biting, and very reminiscient of the movie it is taken from. 8.6/10 (not an average)

Review by David Plank

Pokémon CCG Review

The very first incarnation of Pokémon was a monochrome Game Boy game (or actually two Game Boy games), way back in the early months of 1996. Released in Japan as 'Pocket Monsters', Pokémon took nearly three years to reach America - undergoing a name change along the way due to the fact that Pocket Monsters was already a registered trademark belonging to another company - and yet another year to reach Europe. These first games, released initially in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green (with an enhanced Pocket Monsters Blue released at a later date), were released in the US and Europe, confusingly, as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue (and both including the enhancements featured in the Japanese Pocket Monsters Blue).

The Pokémon games quickly became known for their deep and rewarding gameplay, with emphasis on capturing and nurturing dozens of different types of Pokémon. The focus on trading with friends also helped the game to become a true playground phenomenon - as it is impossible to collect all available creatures alone, co-operation and social interaction is actively encouraged, and actually essential to fully complete the games. The games were a hit with all ages and all types of gamers, although many did (and still do) ignore the games due to their cute, childish image.

Since the initial release, the Pokémon series has continued in the form of sequels and spin-offs on various formats, and the Pokémon franchise even spawned its own console in the form of the tiny Pokémon Mini. The Pokémon series became a true global phenomenon in the space of a few years, with the cute little critters seemingly becoming omnipresent, appearing everywhere on huge amounts of licensed products.

One of the many licensed products to appear at the height of Pokémon fever was the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The game itself focuses on the battling aspect of Pokémon, with players as Pokémon Trainers using their creatures to fight each other in an attempt to prove themselves as the superior trainer. Like the video game, the surface gameplay is simple but has surprising depth - thus attaining true cross-generational appeal in the same way that the video game does. Collecting extra cards in the booster packs is akin to finding Pokémon through random encounters in the video game - just as satisfying but quite a bit more expensive. The object of the game is to either:

a) Collect all six prize cards by knocking out six of your opponent's Pokémon,
b) Make your opponent run out of useable, in play Pokémon or
c) Run your opponent out of cards in his/her deck.

Set up is simple, with players shuffling their decks (they can use either pre-constructed, standard 60 card decks or use the cards they have collected to create their own 60 card deck) and then dealing themselves a hand of seven cards. They then set aside six prize cards face down in front of them (playmats are packaged with Theme Decks which list all necessary information on special rules and turn options, and also have areas for placing the deck as well as prize cards). They then choose their starter Pokémon from their hands - one is placed face down as their active Pokémon and up to five more can be placed in their 'bench' area (face down in a row below the active Pokémon). Starter Pokémon must be Basic - there are certain Pokémon that evolve either once or twice, and they evolve in stages: from Basic to Stage One, then Stage Two. Stage One Pokémon can be placed on Basic Pokémon to evolve them, and Stage Two on Stage One.

The game is played as follows: on a turn, players draw a card and add it to their hand. They can then perform any of the following actions in any order:

a) Put as many Basic Pokémon cards on the Bench as you want (up to a maximum of six in-play Pokémon including the active Pokémon)
b) Evolve as many Pokémon as you want (place a Stage 1 card of the correct type onto a Basic card or Stage 2 onto a Stage 1)
c) Attach one Energy card to any in-play Pokémon (only once per turn)
d) Play as many Trainer cards as you want (but only one Supporter card and one Stadium card per turn)
e) Retreat the active Pokémon (only once per turn)
f) Use as many Poké-Powers as you want

After a player has performed as many of these actions as they can (or as many as they want to do!), they can then attack the opponent's active Pokémon. Attacks require differing levels of energy to be used, and certain attacks require specific types of energy to be attached to the active Pokémon. Calculating damage is simple - simply check the number next to the attack and factor in any special effects relevant to that attack, then apply any resistance of weakness modifiers (most Pokémon have a weakness to a certain type of Pokémon, which allows double the listed damage to be done - resistance is checked in the same way but instead of halving damage, a standard 30 points is subtracted from the relevant attack). Once modifiers and effects have been calculated, damage counters are added to the defending Pokémon - if this number exceeds the defending Pokémon's hit points, it is removed from play along with any special cards attached to it, and the defending player must choose a new active Pokémon from their Bench if possible. If the Pokémon survives the attack, play continues. Other effects can be applied to Pokémon with certain attacks - including poisoning, confusion, paralysis, burns and sleep.

For such a simple game, it proves to be surprisingly addictive - it plays quickly and simply, and also there is the added attraction of customisation which is very enjoyable indeed. Unlike most CCGs, there are no ‘timing’ issues – it’s always clear when you can or can’t play cards, and turn order is clearly laid out on the play mat to avoid any confusion. One problem that Pokémon does have in common with many CCGs is that sometimes players may find themselves without any Energy cards in their hand, or at least without any that they can use, which severely limits their options and can be very frustrating. This problem usually only occurs when a player has constructed a deck without enough energy, so it can be attributed to the player’s lack of skill in deck construction – but it’s much worse if it happens with a pre-constructed theme deck, although it is very rare.

Buying new cards and customising your deck is expensive - but this is true of any CCG, so it does seem unfair to level this criticism directly at Pokémon. You aren't necessarily forced into buying new cards, and Theme Decks are well constructed and well balanced against others in the same series, so unless you are totally serious about customising decks for tournaments it is easy to get started and stick with one or two decks. Theme decks often come with one or two very powerful cards, a nice balance of energy cards and some complete Pokémon evolutions (so a Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the same Pokémon for instance), so it is entirely possible to construct a nicely balanced, reasonably powerful deck from a couple of Theme Decks.

Even so, the attraction of buying new cards for deck construction or collecting purposes is hard to resist - as with anything of this nature collecting and constructing new decks is incredibly addictive and provides a lot of excitement in itself.

As a fan of the Pokémon video games for many years, it has been a great pleasure for me to see the beautifully illustrated cards and well integrated powers of each creature in the card game. I have enjoyed collecting the cards and playing the game, and would wholeheartedly recommend the game to any Pokémon fan. Despite the fact that it is a simple game that children can play, it is still a very well designed game that is enjoyable for gamers of all ages. I do find it hard to recommend Pokémon to experienced CCG players used to deeper game experiences and more complex play mechanics, but players new to CCGs as well as Pokémon fans will have an absolute blast with this faithful representation of the well known digital menagerie.

Summary

Presentation: Theme decks are packaged in nicely designed and compact boxes. Playmats are well designed around the theme of the deck that they are packaged with. Cards are on nicely sturdy stock and illustrations are consistently excellent. 9.1/10

Clarity of Rules: The game is easy to learn due to the turn order and special effects being printed on the playmat, but the rule book does not set up the detailed rules in a very logical manner. 7.1/10

Game Length: Games are usually over in less than half an hour, which always leaves time for more! 9.2/10

Value: Theme decks are excellent value considering what is contained – a nicely balanced deck along with damage counters, playmat and plastic game coin. Packs such as the Battle Stadium or EX Trainer Kit contain enough for two players with no need to buy more packs. To construct competitive tournament decks does take a significant time and financial investment however. 7.6/10

Overall: As Pokémon is a lot simpler than most CCGs, it plays quickly and without any of the timing issues that plague more complex card games. Lots of fun, especially for Pokémon fans – but the simplicity can work against it for more mature players, who may find that the game becomes repetitive after a short while. 7.8/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown