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Jeff Pratt
United States
Anacortes
Washington
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I haven't posted anything since my Gen Con recap because, well, I've been too busy gaming. Two games in particular have been responsible for that and both of them are pretty controversial, at least here on the geek. Namely, Innovation and Quarriors!, both heavily hyped and in the end, somewhat critically bashed. Right now, I'm loving both of these games and here's why.
Innovation has been attacked by some for being a giant pile of random effects that offer players very little control of their game as it goes wildly careening into a chaotic and completely unpredictable ending. This is absolutely a true statement, but weirdly, only for the first 3-5 games. As you play through it again and again, you realize that there is an "innovation" to combat almost every single tactic your opponent can use against you. Things that seem unbalanced and out of whack your first time through can be fairly easy to counter, once you know what you are looking for. Also, aside from the card abilities that drive the game, there are also some tactics built into the game's basic rules that aren't readily apparent until you have played a few times. It took me three games to realize that sharing a technology with my opponent could be a more effective weapon than a direct attack. Weird, right? I understand the criticisms leveled at the game from those who have only played it once or twice, but take my word for it, the game doesn't show it's true colors until you invest some time with it. My wife and I have played almost nothing else for the past few weeks, it has even made Dominion sit down for a spell. Trust me, if you didn't like it the first time give it another shot (or six), it's worth the effort.
The other game I want to talk about is Quarriors!. This one has really been taking a beating on the forums for a number of reasons. (Of course it's still selling out, so maybe the silent majority actually doesn't have any complaints!) Like Innovation above, I actually tend to agree with, or at least understand, some of the complaints leveled against it. There are times when it is much too random. I have seen my son buy four Dragon dice, yet never get to summon one because of freakishly bad die rolls. I have seen the runaway leader problem that crops up when someone gets lucky and scores multiple assistant dice and then culls down to a super efficient dice bag. These are real problems...but Quarriors! has still been an enjoyable hit for my family because of one simple feature of the game. The fact that summoned monsters attack everyone at the table, every time and with no targeted aggression makes for a fantastically peaceful family game session. Sure, there is the occasional Spell card that must be targeted; but for the most part there is little, if any, reason for anyone to ever feel picked on. Would I necessarily want to play this with my Power Grid buddies? Probably not, but I think that's what everyone who is complaining about it is missing. I wasn't all that impressed with it either (just check the Gen Con recap), but I also hadn't played it with my kids. I think maybe this is just a kid's game and for that target audience, it really does work.
That's not to say that it can't evolve into something more and I certainly hope it does. Looking back I felt much the same way about Dominion when I first played it. I thought it was a neat idea, but poorly executed (or at the very least, boringly so). A half dozen expansions or so later and Dominion has evolved into one of the best games in my collection. Quarriors! is built for the same type of expandability, so hopefully the game's design team will be able to address some of the its flaws through clever and interesting new card abilities, the way Dominion has. I think it's certainly possible to tighten up the game play, even if it never quite makes it up to par as a hardcore strategy title.
Next up, I think it's time for a return trip to Arkham Horror. I think the kids are good and ready to recieve their scholarships to Miskatonic U.
I just hope all those cards don't collapse the kitchen table...
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Culling - for being an important element feels poorly implemented. It really shouldn't have been linked to scoring.
