By Jason Van Horn
It hasn't been around for too long yet, but I love Felicia Day's new Youtube
channel Geek and Sundry. One of my favorite programs on the channel is Table
Top, a show hosted by Wil Wheaton where each show he gets a bunch of friends
together and we as the viewer get to watch and learn about a new board game
while seeing celebrities get super competitive and into them - quality viewing
(I demand it go weekly). A few weeks ago one game on said show was Ticket to
Ride, a fun looking game that I really wanted to play, but without any friends
willing to play board games, I went online in search of a fix and found a
digital, online version of the game to quench my railroad tycoon thirst. You
lose that face-to-face human element, but it's still a fun game no matter if
you're training or competing against others online.
Ticket to Ride is a pretty easy game to explain the rules to and thus you can
get new people quickly into the game and playing; doesn't mean you're going to
win right away, as the game requires planning and strategy, so while easy to
pick-up it's hard to master. Players start by choosing three destination cards,
which give you two locations on the map that you must connect; do so and you get
the points, fail and you lose the points you were supposed to get. If the
destinations are fairly close together you'll only get around six or seven
points, but some that go across the whole map can net you points in the high
tens or twenties. Each turn you can perform one of several activities. You can:
1) Draw one face up wild card, 2) Draw a mixture of two face up and face down
cards, 3) Play cards in your hand to claim a track, or 4) Draw three new
destination cards of which you must keep at least one.
Simple enough, but it's knowing when to play and how to play where the strategy
really comes in. Do you draw face up cards and give your opponent an idea as to
what tracks you might be trying to claim or do you draw face down cards and hope
for the luck of the draw? Do you place tracks right away and show your hand as
to locations you might be trying to connect? Do you spend track tokens trying to
block another player's route? What about gambling and taking on a bunch of
destination cards? Do you try for that longest continuous route bonus or is it
not worth the effort? For a game with such simple mechanics, there is a great
deal of depth to the game and tricks and strategies to work on.
Ticket to Ride has a single-player mode, which has so far been a good testing
ground for me and a way to help me learn as the computer is quite smart I've
found and more often than not wins, so at least it's not an easy win all the
time and when the wins do come it feels rewarding. Also, for those just getting
started, the game features an excellent play as you go tutorial that expertly
teaches you the gist of the game while still letting you play an actual game
(much easier to grasp board games this way than just reading a manual).
Playing against real people is where it's at, however, as Ticket to Ride
features rankings so you can see how you stack against the rest of the
competition. Much like with the single-player options, you can create games for
anyone from two to five players or create rooms where the match creator can
start the game whenever a number is reached and the group agrees to start;
otherwise if you begin a match saying it's made for three people, the match
creator can't start the game until there is three people. Matches move pretty
fast and players don't linger too long, but despite having a chat area, I've
never seen anyone use it as everyone is more focused on playing and winning than
talking.
The game features several DLC packs you can buy, which give you access to some
different maps such as Switzerland and Europe to name but two, and these aren't
just the same maps re-skinned as they're different maps completely, sometimes
allowing more or less players than you're used to (you can play against up to
four AI opponents in the largest games) and even some slightly tweaked rules as
well.
You can't really rave about the game's graphics considering you're playing a
digital board game, but they're still crisp and easy to read and figure out the
necessary information you need to win. I also like the background music used in
the game, as it's strangely hypnotic in its old-timey charm and very soothing.
The extra maps - besides what I previously mentioned up above - also feature
their own graphical looks and music that are tailored to the material at hand,
so when playing the Switzerland map the music is equally comforting, but with
its own unique traits like a tiny bit of yodeling to really set the mood.
Whether you're looking for a way to train or you don't have the friends or
people around you interested in board games, you'll find a faithful and
wonderful translation in the Ticket to Ride videogame. Unlike some board games
there's not a huge time commitment to the game, so you can jump on and get your
fix whenever you have the time for a quick game or two. I wish every board game
could be transitioned to the realm of videogames as well as Ticket to Ride has
been handled.
Rating: 4 out of 5
http://store.steampowered.com/app/108200 |
