Mysterium is an English reprint of a game about a bunch of psychics trying to read visions sent to them from a ghost. It is a fully co-operative game, with one player as a ghost and the others looking at cards passed out by him.
The aim of the game is for each psychic to guess who in the past they are psychically connected to, and then which one of them murdered the ghost. It is a bit like Cluedo, but the ghost controls the information from a hand of 7 beautifully illustrated abstract-style cards.
This game is a really fun social game that has a low barrier to entry in terms of rules and knowledge/past game experience. However, it looks nice and can draw people in from the artwork. That and it is always a blast to figure out things or have a surprising guess be correct.
The downsides of this game is the final guessing round. It feels far too random and lucky for all the effort spent to get there. I have no solutions off the top of my head. Of course the other problem is that it may be too light for people who like heavier games.
In the end, Mysterium is just allot of fun. The assymetric roles, the beautiful cards and the solid mechanisms make a really good time. The climax leaves a bit to be desired, but you can't fault the rest of the game.
4 out of 5 spooky waffles.
Wednesday 14 June 2017
Thursday 1 June 2017
MOVIE REVIEW: APPLESEED ALPHA (2017)
Appleseed Alpha is an animated movie set is a post-apocalyptic future. In it, there is a women and a former cyborg soldier who hire themselves out as mercenaries. However, on their last mission, something goes wrong and they end up protecting another girl and her cyborg protector. These new survivors may just hold the fate of the world in their hands.
Appleseed Alpha's story is not interesting. It is highly predictable, leaning very heavily on the tropes of the past and not bothering to change any of them. The innocent girl who bonds with them. The disgruntled soldier. The loveable former thug who repents. The death to raise the stakes after a final speech.
And that would be okay if there were other things the movie offered. Instead, what we have are female characters in plenty of poses and cleavage drawn for the male gaze. Even if this were not the case, the action scenes and environments are quite bland and uninspiring.
So in the end, I can't really recommend Appleseed Alpha. It is competent but boring. Considering that this is meant to be for entertainment, competent is simply not good enough.
1.5 out of 5 Apple Waffles
Appleseed Alpha's story is not interesting. It is highly predictable, leaning very heavily on the tropes of the past and not bothering to change any of them. The innocent girl who bonds with them. The disgruntled soldier. The loveable former thug who repents. The death to raise the stakes after a final speech.
And that would be okay if there were other things the movie offered. Instead, what we have are female characters in plenty of poses and cleavage drawn for the male gaze. Even if this were not the case, the action scenes and environments are quite bland and uninspiring.
So in the end, I can't really recommend Appleseed Alpha. It is competent but boring. Considering that this is meant to be for entertainment, competent is simply not good enough.
1.5 out of 5 Apple Waffles
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