In Greater Than Games’s Sentinels of the Multiverse, not only did many of the heroes (and villains) bear a resemblance to popular comic book characters, but the environments did as well. The base set gave us The Wraith, a female Batman equivalent without the childhood trauma, but the only urban city environment, Megalopolis, felt more like Superman’s (or in the case of Sentinels, Legacy’s) Metropolis than the game’s Gotham City. That particular location, Rook City (dubbed “Crook City” by some graffiti on the back of its cards), would be found in— and serve as the title for— the first expansion for Sentinels. It is every bit as dark and dangerous as its inspiration, and it is not alone in that respect. READ MORE
At E3 2006, the Wii made its playable-demo debut in anticipation for its launch later that year. A lot of solid titles were previewed in one form or another, including a five-minute demo of a game being developed by Nintendo Software Technology (Metroid Prime: Hunters, Mario vs. Donkey Kong) that looked unlike anything else Nintendo had published to that point.
Instead of any of the established characters that would eventually make up the roster for the then-unfolding Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it starred a hulking cyborg known as M-09 as he made his way through a series of robots armed with only one weapon: a titanic hammer that smashed robots as easily as it smashed everything else. Cars, walls, crates, whatever. READ MORE
Previously in GU, I discussed Power Grid, a game that I respect but hate playing. For me, the game simply requires too much work; every move has to be carefully evaluated to the point of encouraging analysis paralysis, and the return in fun for the effort invested is just not there. If someone could take the basic mechanics of Power Grid and streamline it a bit, I’d probably like that game very much. Amazingly, this is exactly what Power Grid designer Friedemann Friese has done with Power Grid: The First Sparks. READ MORE
Last year I covered Factory Fun, a puzzle-style game that forced players to connect pieces drawn from a central pool. Mondo, designed by Michael Schacht ( Zooloretto, Web of Power/China) and published by Z-Man Games, takes that same style of gameplay and removes the round-based structure and math to create a simpler, more frantic experience. Mondo is also incredibly quick to play, with a full three-round game taking less than half an hour. READ MORE
Dominion designer Donald X. Vaccarino has put together another winning mid-weight gaming experience in Kingdom Builder (published by Queen Games). Ideal for both a “gateway” game for new strategy gamers and as a filler for gaming veterans, Kingdom Builder plays fast and has very simple rules, and yet provides enough game to offer a decent challenge. It’s never going to be the centerpiece of game night, but as a warm-up groups could do far worse. READ MORE
