Category: Review

Review

Quick Review: Moon

Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-5 Players

Designer: Haakon Hoel Gaarder

Artist: Haakon Hoel Gaarder

Publisher: Sinister Fish Games

About The Game

Third in a series of games designed and illustrated by Haakon Hoel Gaarder, Moon is maybe the simplest of all three, with very simple drafting and card play. But simple does not mean easy, as it’s a tight race game.

Gameplay

Moon Card Play

Each turn, you will draft and either build a card or discard it for resources, and also possibly use your lunar modules to access other people’s resources, or claim awards. Cards come in 4 types : resources production, flags, once per era abilities and end of game scoring. At the end of each era, each flag is scored for majority, as well as ongoing point earning opportunities.

One thing that I felt it differ from other drafting games is that the costs do not scale too much. So the crux of game is not if you will be able to score, but it’s how tight you can win so you can branch out and win on other areas as well.

Solo Gameplay

Moon AI

Instead of having a way for the AI to draft, it simply plays a card from the top, do some action, and score some points. Meanwhile, you draft once from each of 4 hands. Then the AI takes one away, and you draft a second time from the remaining 3. It’s simple, elegant, and feels like a natural player. On my first games, the scores were usually 10-15 points apart, in a game that scores 100+.

Conclusion

I was surprised on how elegant this how package is. The components, as usual, are top notch. Great art, great tokens, good storage. But Moon takes elements from Villagers with the drafting, and Streets with the color dispute, and ties it into a game that is easy to learn hard to master. Moon presents you with lots of options, and it’s very rare to be stuck. But the almost Feldian way that everything can contribute to scores means that you have to juggle a lot. Also, I really enjoy the tight dispute that forces you to predict your opponents moves so you are not too far ahead, just a bit. Because, here, winning by a little in 2 areas is worth way more than winning by a lot in one.

Score: 9/10

Review

Quick Review: River Wild

Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 player
Designer: Steve Aramini
Artist: Milan Zivkovic
Publisher: Button Shy Games

About The Game

Steven Aramini has made a name for himself with the ‘Opolis trilogy for Button Shy games, and now he is presenting another tile laying game, this time about a river with inhabited by mystical creatures. Is it unique enough to stand out?

Gameplay

The basis will sound very familiar. You start with a card, which is the top of the river, and you have a hand of 3 cards to chose and place. I promise I will stop making ‘Opolis references, because the similarities end there. Each card has rivers, lands and mountains, and you need to match them (mountains can be matched to and by either). Each card can be placed directly below or half shifted from the card above, and the goal is to created completely enclosed islands along the way.

On each land section, there will be either one of 4 animals, or one scoring condition. When you created an enclosed island, called a protected land, you score that at the end of the game. The lowest amount for the biggest protected land, and the higher for all others.

Components

As usual, Button Shy has great card quality and the snazzy little wallet it comes in. Iconography is pretty clear, and the rules, that are sometimes an issue with the company, are clear enough and I think it leaves little room for questions this time around.

The artwork is something else though. While the theme is not super unique, the decision to go with striking funky palette was absolutely a win here. Milan Zivkovic was able to transform a fairly mundane setting into this cool little world that you look and know it’s River Wild.

Conclusion

It’s hard to review River Wild in isolation, as it carries a lot of DNA from other games from the same publisher and it’s against a line of very good solo games. But, on its own, it’s a super fun and light game. It is a completely tactical one, as you need to be quick to evaluate the opportunities you will be able to actually accomplish. Placement is not trivial, as the positioning and be awkward at times, forcing you into less than optimal plays.

But, inserting it into the line, it does have some issues with replayability. Yes, there is and there will be expansions for it to increase longevity. But, on its own, even though each game will be unique, the overall arc is mostly the same. Luckily, I think this is pretty much the only criticism of the game. It’s cool, beautiful, quick and fun.

Score: 7.5 / 10

Review

Quick Review: For Northwood!

Luiz Gustavo Mendes

About the Game

1 player
Designer: Wil Su
Artist: Wil Su
Publisher: @sideroomgames

Restrictions breed creativity, and designing a solo trick taking game seems like a challenge.

Gameplay

You play on 8 fiefs, valued 0-7. Each turn you draw 8 cards, and you have to win exactly that amount. The fief always leads, and you have to follow suit as usual. You also have 4 once per fief powers, and you get more as you collect them.

Components

Sideroom has a great production with high quality cards, and a nice small box to store them. The art is absolutely adorable, and it really ties in the theme even though the game is mostly abstract.

Conclusion

I absolutely love small solo games, and this one has it all. Quick, easy to play, lots of replay value, great decision space and small package. Sideroom has tons of amazing solo games, but this one is on the top easily.

Score: 9/10