Ticket to Ride PC Version Review by Mike Brunton

First off: this is an excellent transfer of Ticket to Ride (TtR) to the PC. For your money you get the US and Europe maps from the boardgames lovingly recreated, plus an exclusive Switzerland map with its own special rules. That's three versions of Ticket in a single pack!

The good news is that the game runs cleanly and on machines that are theoretically below the minimum required specification (it doesn't run quickly, but it does run) thanks to being written in Java. The really, really good news is that the game is being patched and updated regularly - at the time of writing it's up to version 1.07 - and it's well worth making sure that you have the latest patch downloaded and installed. Apart from anything else, the patches give you all the game contents of the 1910 TtR Expansion Pack. The patches add three play modes from 1910 at no extra cost, giving you a chance to learn the routes and practice your tactics.

If you can play TtR, then the game holds no mysteries. Once you're past the very simple start menu, the whole in-game control mechanism is drag-and-drop, and there's a tutorial to guide you through the mechanics. After about three minutes, you'll be playing fluently. There are two basic modes of play: online, for which I recommend a fast connection, and solo, played on your machine against AI opponents. Online play is as you'd expect: you're playing against humans with all their wiles and cunning. Are the AI players up to the standard of a human? Well, no, of course not. But they are better than no opposition at all, and do make the annoying card picks and route claims just before you need either the cards or the link. They will give you a reasonable game, but not an insanely challenging one; it is disappointing that there's no kind of difficulty level selection for them, but then we can't have everything. It's also a bit disappointing that you can't change the animation speed, as the slow and measured movement of cards from the stock to AI "hands" and out again to claim routes does drag after a while. But this is a very minor niggle.

If you're still undecided about whether or not to buy this game, then let me come back to the Switzerland map. This is a new version of TtR that plays rather differently from the other incarnations. The tunnelling mechanism used on the Europe map is used again, as you'd expect in such a mountainous country. Locomotives, however, are no longer general-purpose joker cards, but can only be used on tunnel routes. This makes them particularly valuable and, because there are no general jokers, makes it important to collect the right colour cards for any route. With a three-player and 40-train limit, plus the new rules, Switzerland is recognisably TtR, but it's a very neat twist on the game. For my money, this one map makes the game worthwhile.

So, it's a good package. The bonus Switzerland game is great for TtR fans, and the patching to a full version of the 1910 pack was unexpected and splendid. Well worth getting.

Bang! Review by Jabberwock

Cowboys are cool (not as cool as zombies or pirates, but still pretty cool). Of course, when you start to delve into the reality of what is was like to live in the Wild West, it all falls apart (much as the mystery and romance of pirates fails under scrutiny). But the idea of fanning a hot gun while protecting the stagecoach from the goldarned bandits is one that gets most boys’ blood fired up.

The elements of a gunfight are all recreated in the game Bang! from daVinci games. There are barrels to hide behind as you frantically return fire, sticks of dynamite for you to throw into the fray, Injuns, school marms, powerful weapons and, of course, lots and lots of beer!

It’s a rip-roaring ride from start to finish, and a frantic struggle to be the last one standing.

Each player takes on the role of an antagonist in the fight, and is either the Sheriff, a Deputy, an Outlaw or the Renegade. In a strange twist (that is never actually explained), other than the Sheriff, everybody keeps their role secret, so you are never quite sure who you are shooting at (unless it’s the poor, put-upon Sheriff).

Each role has their own goal: the Sheriff wins if all the Outlaws die, the Deputies win if the Sheriff wins, the Outlaws win if the Sheriff dies, and the Renegade wins if he is the last man standing.

This may seem as though the Renegade has the hardest job, and you would be right. His role is the hardest, as he has to switch sides, to make sure he can actually win. At the beginning of the game, he needs to help the Outlaws take out the Deputies, and then switch to help the Sheriff deal with the Outlaws, and then finally finish off the Sheriff in the Final Showdown. It’s not easy being this evil!

At the beginning of the game, players don’t know who everyone else is (the roles are dealt out randomly), and it is usually a slow start until table banter convinces someone that they are the enemy (you can tell other players whatever you want – so the Renegade can quite easily hide himself and pretend to be a Deputy (mind you, so can an Outlaw!)). Anyone who shoots at the Sheriff (who is known to all) generally becomes a target for everyone else as they try to protest their innocence and deal with the Outlaw.

The game is played with cards, and to shoot someone you need to play a Bang! card, and hope that your opponent doesn’t play a Missed! Card. If they don’t (and can’t avoid the damage any other way), they lose a bullet from their health. When all of their bullets are gone, they are out of the game.

It is generally very simple; you can play as many cards as you want or can during your turn, but only one Bang! card (unless you have a weapon or special ability that allows you to play more than one). Generally, you spend some time ‘buffing’ yourself with weapons, advantages, and inconveniencing other players with distracting female company, making them panic with a gun in the face, leading the Injuns into town, and so on.

The cards are symbol-driven, with easy-to-understand pictures that let you know what each card does (and handy reference cards that give you more detail, but I think you all know what the bullet-hole symbol means without reading the reference card, right? It’s all very intuitive). There are a few cards with special rules that can’t be explained with symbols, but these are few and far between, and all pretty easy to remember once they have been explained. Dynamite is one of these, which bounces around the battleground randomly until it goes off – and it’s not nice to be standing next to it when it does!

Each player also has a special character which further defines their abilities. The characters break the rules in interesting and useful ways to help you stay alive that bit longer, such as Jesse Jones allowing you to take cards from other players instead of the draw deck, and Vulture Sam, who takes all the cards of any player who is eliminated. These are also balanced by defining how many bullets (life) each player gets (so, in theory, the more powerful abilities would have less life, although this doesn’t always seem to be the case, meaning some characters are more desirable than others).

It’s fast and furious, and usually a good laugh, with lots of banter and taunting being tossed back and forth across the table. Always good for a laugh, with the right group. Non-players (or non role-players) will struggle a little with ‘getting into character’, and this will bring the game to a dead stop as people don’t have a clue who to shoot, or what to do for the majority of the game. And this is definitely one to keep away from non-confrontational players!

Summary

Presentation: It’s pretty basic, with 110 cards and a rulesheet (two rulesheets to be precise – one in English and one in Italian (I think)). But it has everything you need to play, and is presented well. The cards have a canvass-y feel, and have held up well with repeated playing. The art on the cards is clear and evocative, and even some of the same cards have different art (so not every Bang! card has the same picture), which is a nice touch. The summary cards are useful and informative, and the whole thing hangs together very well. 8.7/10

Clarity of Rules: The game is quite easy to learn and play, but the rules are somewhat daunting to read. There are lots of little foibles and exceptions (all of which are intuitive and important), which the game goes to great lengths to explain, and the overall effect is of a complicated game that is hard to understand. The layout isn’t the best either – presumably because of the translation from Italian – but once struggled through, it should be pretty simple to put it all into practice. 5.7/10

Game Length: This is over quite quickly. It says 20-40 minutes on the back, and that is about accurate. It will either be towards the beginning o r the end of that range, as people are taken out rapidly, or have time to ‘dig in’ and take a lot of punishment before being eliminated. The short play time is good, as this is an elimination game, meaning some players may have to sit out the majority of the game while they wait for it to end. 7.7/10

Value: It’s a deck of sturdy cards, with great artwork. The game is good fun, and with the random characters and roles, the replayability will stretch for some time. And if you like cowboys, this should be in your collection… 8.6/10

Overall: This is a rootin’ tootin’ romp in the Ol’ Wild West with bullets zinging, High-Noon style duels, bad guys being put in jail, lots of beer-guzzling and (of course) Injuns! OK, so PC it ain’t, but if you want a chaotic shoot-out, then you have to give this one a go… 8.9/10 (not an average)

Review by David Plank