Remember when families got together and played board games like Life and Monopoly? Remember when the age of video games took over and families slowly drifted apart and went their own way. Games became too complicated for older people to play and therefore a great family tradition was thrown out the window. Board games were just not fun anymore, because no one could think of any new games to get people back to the dining room table for some family fun. That is until now.
With the new millennium and the advancing outrage against the video game industry, it seems like the board game market is heating up again. New versions of Monopoly are constantly being made, old games are coming back into favor, and some new games are actually worth the money people are paying to play them. The latest batch of games comes from Hasbro, and if there has ever been a series of games worth playing, these games are it.
Based on the popular series on the Cartoon Network, The Power Puff Girls, this card based, roll of the dice game is a whole lot of fun for children of all ages. Yes, despite what the age requirements say, I let my girlfriend's five-year-old nephew play with us and he was one of the winners. And if you knew how we played, you would know we didn't let him win.
Everyone plays as the young heroines, Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles as they do battle against the evil forces of the Amoeba Boys, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and Mojo Jojo. Each person must fight crime before bedtime. Each player draws cards and strategically plays them in hopes of doing battle against the bad guys. On one turn, all players play a card and the person with the lowest time on their card goes first. Take one or all of the girls to a location straight from the show and roll some dice to see if you beat the baddie you are given to face. The more bad guys you beat, the better your chances at winning the game. This game is a whole lot of fun, and it was worth playing over and over again, and losing over and over again. If you are a fan of the series, you will definitely want to play this game as it stays true to the show and offers a lot of fun to anyone, no matter how old you are. As far as board games for children go, this game gets a 10 out of 10.
This game is based on the hit movie from Dreamworks. Just like the movie, this game is phenomenal (Read the review of the Gameboy Game in this month's issue!). It is a unique board game that gives players a lot more to do than just move your player around the board. It's just plain fun.
The object of the game is to make two chickens out of Play Doh and lead them to safety. The game includes a device for you to put the dough in, and squeeze to make your chickens. The dough is even supplied for your creative pleasure. A roll of the dice then determines whether you move on, get shot out of a cannon (also provided) or made into a pot pie (chicken pot pie maker also provided). You can stay safe under a protective cover, or risk instant death by braving the cruel world on your journey to safety. Of course, the only way to win is keep moving on, or hope the cannon shoots you to safety (fat chance of that). If you are made into a pie, you get to relive the fun of making a new chicken while the pie remains on the board in memoriam of a fallen loved one (weep-forgive me. It's just so emotional).
This game is a lot of fun. I enjoyed playing it with the kids. They sure had a good time making the chickens and probably enjoyed it more, smashing them into pies. I never heard people laugh so much while they played. This game gets an 8 out of 10. The cleanup was a bit hard on me, but the game itself played very well and was easy to learn, fun to play and great for families to enjoy.
This game is for an older crowd. It wasn't my cup of tea, but the family enjoyed it, saying it reminded them of the old Risk game. I never liked that game either. Still, I can see the novelty in the game and the fact that it appears to have been updated, sure is a difference from the updates we see of Monopoly where all that is changed are the names of the properties.
This is an odds-defying, risk-denying family dice game that challenges everyone to try their luck in a pretty cool chance and strategy game. The object of the game is to score 2000 points to honor the new millennium of course which doesn't really start until this coming year. Now like the saying goes, you have to know when to hold them, know when to roll them, and so on and so on. The scoring comes from the dice, which you may or may not want to roll depending on whether you think you can score big or mess it all up.
The game features six dice, a dice rolling tray and 24 action cards which adds to the intensity and strategic value of the game. While I couldn't get myself into it, my girlfriend's family played on and on until they actually scored 2000 points. I would have given up half way through. I give this game a 7 out of 10 for the simple fact that it reminded me of those older games that live on and get played for hours upon hours with no thought of the time wasted. There is no time wasted here.
This was the best game of the four. (Read the review for the Buffy Game Boy Game in last month's issue) I totally loved it and besides playing my version over and over again, I bought one for my sister for her birthday. It has all the fun of a board game and also plays like a roll playing card game. Despite the age recommendations, if you play it through with a younger person, they will have a good time too.
This game is phenomenal. One person or four people play as the good guys, Oz, Buffy, Xander, or Willow. One person plays as one of four evil masters. These masters control various baddies, like Faith, Angelus, Darla, Spike or Drusilla. There are four different objectives to try to complete, depending on which bad guy you chose. The objective is to kill Buffy or sire her. There are four artifact cards, one for each different story, that will help you on your way to victory. Each good guy gets either a research card, artifact card, help card or weapon card that will contribute to your chances for victory. You can pick up more as you move on through the game board. Evil picks up evil cards that help them create havok, like summoning more bad guys, or turning a good guy into a vampire and having them do your bidding.
Evil isn't at a disadvantage as one person gets to control four people and based on a die, can move up to three of them each turn. So, everything is even. Everyone has their strengths, and weaknesses. Each character has a particular amount of fight dice they can use to help defeat the enemy. There are up to four fight dice to roll and depending on the character, you roll a particular amount to take a certain amount of damage off of your victim. Cards add to this value, allow you to dust a vampire or sire a victim, or more. There is no limit to the things you can do. I haven't even touched upon the movement dice that double as phase dice. These phase dice cause the sun to come up and hurt vampires, the full moon to appear and create super powerful werewolves and more.
This game is chock full of things to accomplish. It seems complex, but as you play through it, you will enjoy it more and more. This game is kick ass, and even if you are not into board games, you will find this game unique and fun to play. I give this game a 10 out of 10 and then some as I will never stop playing this game even after the series is long gone. There are just far too many people in my various families playing it, to stop the fun now.
There you have it; a return to an art of gaming long forgotten. Well bring family night back, buy one of these board games and enjoy. Video games have not totally taken over...yet. That depends on you.