Well I've finally found a game that I didn't enjoy folks! Yes, I know that some of you may feel that this game is excellent but to me it was a clone, in fact almost an exact copy, of DUELMASTERS by RSI.
The turn sheet is a little more complex and the instructions a blow by blow narrative as in the RSI game. And the price I feel is much to high for what you can do and what you receive, $9.50! With the RSI game you can run a total of 5 combinations for $10.75, here you can run only 1 combatant for $9.50. That's a $1.25 difference and 4 less fighters to deal with.
I hate doing this, believe me, but I feel that I have to. It would not be fair to the gamers out there if I didn't warn them about this game.
And now for the review...
I received the rules and immediately saw that this was not what I expected. They say that first you must train your Adventurer at the Guild. Then when the master thinks you are ready you can form/join a group to go out into the world to find fame and fortune! There seems to be no outside adventure at all! In fact the second half (?) of this game hasn't even been programmed yet!
You have to set up your Character with the following: Sex, Race, Height. Next you get to split 50 development points into 3 categories:
HANDEDNESS: left, right, for no cost or ambidextrous at a cost of 5 points.
ORIGINAL ABILITIES: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Cunning.
WEAPONS TRAINING: cost of 4 points per weapon excluding Fist (which you are already trained in).
This doesn't leave you with much to work with. Most players will probably choose the left or right hand and save 5 points. 4 points already is used for weapons training so that leaves you with only 46 points to divide between 4 sections. Oh, you can put 18 points into, say strength but something else will suffer, so that means that when you fight, your character will probably suffer as well!
Next comes a section that says "you can program 4 lines of statements that will be used during the fight at specific times". Nice touch.
Next comes the part that differs from the RSI game...
COMBAT STRATEGY.
Unlike the RSI game where you could choose the type of attack, when to use the attack, type of weapon, and how to use the attack, here you are given percentages to deal with.
There are a total of 7 attack modes (notice I said modes): Closing/Retreating, Long range, Medium range, Short range, Defending, Special Tactics (?), and finally Yielding. Within each of the 4 top ranges there are several possible situations that you can choose from: to stay, close or charge, retreat. By using percentages, up to 100, you can decide what to do. With Defending you can parry with either your left or right hand, dodge, retreat, or ignore the attack. With Special Tactic god only knows what your Character will do! So far 3 opponents have tried to zap me with spells?! And finally there's Yielding, so what else is new?
There is an exact duplicate of the first column that's used for your Secondary Strategy. This is used when you either reach a certain level of low energy or health or when time is running out for your fight.
That's the Creation Sheet in a nut shell. You send this in and they put you up against 7 other fighters.
When you get back the results you'll find about 10 to 11 pages of descriptions of what happened. THIS is the exact same thing you get with DUELMASTERS! And I mean exact! The only thing that I see that is better is the fact that the results are laser printed. There's no rest between fights, at least that's what is looks like to me, and for all the hard work you put into the percentages it looks like nothing is really accomplished.
Tell me something, if you hit your opponent in the body with a long sword and he groins in pain doesn't that mean that you have wounded him? I think so! And yet in between clashes there is a little statement that tells you how you and your opponent are doing and low and behold he's not scratched! This surprises me?
You will also receive the next turn sheet. With it you can train in as many of your abilities as you have experience points. If you have anything left then you can save it for next time or put it into training with a new weapon. Only one problem, the points that you get are very hard to come by and you have to consider the fact that the next turn you may have to spend more to increase your abilities.
You can change your statement, bet on a combat (you can only get gold from the people if they like the way you fight), and you can donate your gold to a church Resurrection fund (remember that you'll need at least 100 gold for it to maybe work).
There is also something else that I found intersting, follow my character... "Shadowspawn spends 10 gold crowns towards his Resurrection fund. Walking back to the guild hall, Shadowspawn is approached by a middle-aged man sporting a huge grin. (Already I smell a rat - reviewer). He introduces himself as Smilin' Bob, and leads Shadowspawn by his elbow to a makeshift table on the streetside. Once there, Smilin' Bob invites Shadowspawn to play a game. Though feeling a bit (like hell) suspicious, Shadowspawn decides to give it a try. (At this point Smilin' Bob would have lost his hand! - reviewer). Shadowspawn thinks violent thoughts as Bob wins his 5 gold crowns and then quickly folds up his table and calls over one of the City Guards to escort him to the bank."
Is this a special encounter? Could I have told Smilin' Bob where he could put his table? What type of game was it anyway? Does this tell you something about this game? It does to me! It tells me that no matter how hard you work you'll run into a Smilin' Bob to take your gold and there's nothing on this planet that you could do to stop it!
Again I must say I'm sorry to the players for this review, for I'm not known to be this destructive of any game I've played or reviewed. It's just a gut feeling that I got that this is not a very good or even a mediocre game you should try. Still some may nahsay me and call me names for such a rotten review but I will live with what I say... Don't waste your money on this one folks it's not worth it!
After rereading this review I decided to give this game a special test. There are several things more you can do in the game, that I didn't mention: You can challenge someone or be challenged, you can bet on challenge fights, and you can go and possibly die in the Grotto.
After my encounter (?!) with Smilin' Bob, I decided to do several things at the same time to see what will happen!
Odds are number 2 will be done first, then my fights. The reasoning behind this was to see if I ran across another Smilin' Bob, as well as to see what happens or doesn't happen in my other situations.
And here is what happened!
Shadowspawn made it to the church and back again without meeting any unsavory characters, I won all 7 fights (5 against dwarfs or halflings and 2 against larger members of the Guild!). And to top this off, I won the Challenge fight! (Everyone bet on my opponent, the fools). I also won a "free" T-Shirt because I won the entire 7 matches! And as for the bet I made, well Let's just say I could go to the Inn for a few more ales than I am accustomed to. SO.
I rate this game a 1 to 2 stars game. If you are still interested in trying it out, you can contact: Entertainment Plus, P.O. Box 1981, Appleton, WI 54913-1981. Rules and setup are Free Turns are $9.50 per turn.
Well until next time, Good Gaming!
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