Infiltration - An In-Depth Review

Infiltration by Donald X. Vaccarino

Preface

The name of the designer for this game should be familiar to anyone who has any semblance of a hobby with board games.  Donald X. Vaccarino is the famous designer of the ever-popular card game, Dominion, as well as Kingdom Builder.  Infiltration is, however, a game that in no way, shape, or form intended to play like Dominion.  Anyone who has gone into a game of  Infiltration with the expectation of a Dominion-like experience has been nothing but disappointed; so please, look at  Infiltration as an entity completely void of correlation to Dominion - despite the same designer.


*NOTE* I will, from this point forth, implement a system for game reviews that I quite simplistically call the 5C's.  Each category will highlight a specific part of the game that I feel is necessary and paramount to a great game.  Each category will get a rating on a scale of 1 to 10, equaling an overall score out of 40.

Comprehensiveness of Rule Book

Arguably the most important part of any game is a well-written rule book.  As I approach a new game, I spend 90% of my time with my nose buried in the crease of a rule book as I try to commit each and every rule to memory for the sake of those to whom I wish to teach the game.  In so doing, a rule book that is well-organized and well-written is a necessity that cannot be overlooked!


The rule book for  Infiltration certainly is one of the smaller, more concise rule books I've experienced.  The rules are more-or-less sufficient for the lack of complexity in game play that exists in Infiltration though, a lot of the rule book is dedicated to depictions of the Android: Infiltration world.

The base rules, from my experience, were too dry and laymen for my taste as well as the taste of my gaming collective.  The consensus was that the rules proper felt ideal for players younger than 8 years of age; since the youngest in my group is 22, that doesn't quite fit well with us.  Instinctively we have implemented a house rule that almost all of the "variable rules" are now to be considered the base rules.

The enjoyment of the rule book is that these variants ARE at a group's disposal should they feel the game is too easy, simplistic, or anything else that would make a game less appealing.

Comprehensiveness of Rule Book: 7 of 10

Components

There's not much to mention here, honestly, this game is typical FFG fare.  All cards are of above average quality with a linen coating.  The room cards are quite large, picture two standard playing cards next to one another, while the item cards are FFG's ever-so-annoying favorite of the miniature cards (roughly the size of a matchbox).

I quite honestly don't know why FFG insists on using such small cards, for normal Euro-sized playing cards would work quite well with this game.  Perhaps the miniature cards cut down on materials cost, or speed up production, but I HATE games with such small cards.

My personal tastes aside, the quality of the components is great and they will withstand quite a lot of wear.


Components: 8.5 of 10.

Cohesion of Theme

Layout of a Game of Infiltration

This is where the game gets a little wishy-washy for me.  I am a self-proclaimed sci-fi/fantasy nerd.  I can't choose which of the themes captivates me more, but I have always been drawn toward Orcs, Trolls, and Elves all the same as I've been drawn to technology and the idea of what will happen in the future.


I cannot say that I have played any other games that are submerged in the Android world, but the theme of Infiltration caught my eye from the first day I read of the game.  The ONLY way that the theme stays cohesive with this game is if, and only if, the operative-specific items are assigned.  This gives a feel that every operative brings a unique set of skills to the facility and has ways of being better, and conversely worse, than other operatives when fraught with certain challenges.

The items themselves, fit with the theme of being futuristic, but their utility seems 2-dimensional.  Either the item helps you get to data file (DF) tokens quicker, or it helps you hinder the progress of your opponents.  There are parts where the theme works incredibly well with certain items and situations and other times where the theme appears to be pasted on through an item that really doesn't make sense (a gun that can be used to kill lab workers, but not to wound other opponents...really?).

As a whole, I don't think that the lack of cohesive theme ruins the game completely, but it does detract from my overall appreciation for the Android: Infiltration world.

Cohesion of Theme: 5 of 10

Compatibility of Mechanics

Well, the mechanics of movement and game interaction could not be any more simple: move forward, move backward, interact with the room, and collect DF tokens.  In addition to the basic action cards (broken up into 5 different cards of: advance, retreat, interface, and download or extract) there are item cards that are distributed to players dependent on what rule set has been implemented.


Each item is unique, but after 6 plays, no bizarre interactions of items were encountered.  That is to say that we did not encounter a few items during our plays, but since all item uses are solved in turn order, no two items are resolved simultaneously, interactions are not complicated and turn phases progress rather rapidly.


Compatibility of Mechanics: 10 of 10

Conclusion

As a whole,  Infiltration  is not a very beefy game in any respect.  The game plays quickly, easily, and does not involve too deep of decisions so groups plagued by analysis paralysis (AP) shouldn't have too much difficulty.  The average game length is 15-30 minutes for 4 players, and solution of who wins is quite easy - the player with the most DF tokens when an end game criteria is met wins.  Should the value of DF tokens be shared by more than one player, those players share in victory.


Infiltration should never be the center piece of a game night, but it is a great wind-down game or a filler game.  For a fast-paced, somewhat Android-themed card game, Infiltration fits the bill.

Overall Score:  30.5 of 40
Grade: C

Board Games - Who likes them? Who hates them?

Preface:

Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed board games of all varieties and it is only recently that such an enjoyment has turned into a hobby.  My dilemma doesn't come from my new-coming to the category, well at least a few generations' worth, of board game enthusiasts; rather, my difficulty with my hobby is the never-ending battle to find people who are not only willing to try a board game that they have never heard of before.

The Gateway Game:

The largest issue that I find with non-gamers is a hesitance toward all things related to board games due to a childhood scarring from the evil, and ever-repetitive, Monopoly.  First and foremost, I have found that the best introductory game to any and all hobbyist board games, is not Monopoly - in fact, it's chess!  If chess is too deep of an intellectual game (that is not to say that prospective players are too daft to comprehend the game, though some players may not enjoy an intellectual bout) then checkers is a very close second.  I mention these two age-old games because they introduce concepts that permeate through all games today - clear, concise, and finite rules that translate into an insurmountable possibility of movements and actions.  Again...ERASE ALL CONCEPTIONS AND BELIEFS OF MONOPOLY AS THE GRAND-FATHER TO BOARD GAMES!  This game was great in its day, but has long overstayed its welcome in the board game "world".

When I say "No Monopoly", I mean it!

As a self-proclaimed nerd, I can say that my largest personal complication with playing games in my collection sits within the challenge of finding friends/family that are willing to venture out for an hour, or more, to play a game.  The single most difficult challenge in this venue is finding games that my wife-to-be will enjoy as well as myself!  My fiancée enjoys the occasional game of Guillotine or Fluxx; she RARELY enjoys a game of Arkham Horror (admittedly, it's a stretch to even state that for her attention span is gone after the first hour - with a game that takes AT LEAST 2.5hrs to play, the lack of attention proves a problem).  That being said, any and all party games we have in our collection are instant favorites of my fiancée's and though they aren't my favorite genre, I'll gladly take any game she enjoys!  With my passion for horror/fantasy themed games and my fianceé's passion for fun party-type games, I feel I need to mention various types of "gamers" I've encountered during my journey to growing a group of fellow hobbyists.

Types of Board Game Players:

Enthusiast - People with this type of personality welcome any opportunity to try new games (board, card, or party alike).  They often find themselves not only trying to play every rule perfectly, but also attempting to commit such rules to memory.  Board games aren't so much of a collector's hobby for this gamer, they are a passion - an escape.  The Enthusiast does what he/she can to broaden their game collection in an attempt to have games that all groups of friends/family will enjoy regardless of the occasion.  I would categorize myself in this group.

An Enthusiast's Game Collection

Hobbyist - This is an interesting group of personality for their interests lie not in playing the games, but in collecting them.  These gamers will spend hours upon hours painting their Warhammer miniatures to their perfect expectations.  Many will theory-craft (a term used to express the process of reviewing and running scenarios of game play in ones mind over and over to try to establish meta-strategies to trump the mechanic of a game) their favorite games, or even run real-life scenarios in a single-player setting.  Hobbyists don't play games for the social aspect, they play it for the enjoyment of the game itself - games are a direct interaction between the game and player.

A Hobbyist in his natural habitat

Casual - Any and all games serve one purpose and only one purpose, to serve as a medium for social interaction.  These players do NOT enjoy games with heavy rule books, complicated play mechanics, or deep strategy.  What is needed for this disposition toward games is a set of easy-to-learn/easy-to-play games such as party games (i.e. Quelf, Why Did the Chicken...?, or Apples to Apples).  A casual views games as a way to fill the awkward silences that are bound to happen during any social exchange, but the game, itself, is to be more of a background action.  My fiancée is categorized in this group.

A Casual gamers' go-to...especially when alcohol is involved

Scrooge - Plain and simple - this person will not play any game other than their absolute favorites (even then, getting them to play is a challenge).  From my personal experience, this personality tends to exist in the older generations when Scrabble and Monopoly were "les pieces de resistance".  A variation on this personality is a person who will play games with which they are unfamiliar, but once the game begins, complaints about rules, actions other players make, or severe over-thinking (known as analysis paralysis by the hobbyist regime) ruins the game for all others who partook.  My parents are both in this category (my father being the latter variant).

An artist rendering of a Scrooge shortly after hearing the rules of Arkham Horror

Conclusion:

I know that people cannot be categorized and compartmentalized into the finite descriptions provided below, but the list is that of extremes, not mediums.  At times I find myself meshing between an Enthusiast and a Hobbyist while my fiancée, pending a good/bad day at work, can be a Casual/Scrooge.  The important thing to note, and the purpose of this Blog, is to say that not every friend or family member is going to enjoy the same games as you, nor you, they.  A great game night host will recognize such a fact and will implement a variety of games, perhaps even several games going at once, to satisfy the needs of all guests regardless of their board game disposition.  In so doing, you can expect your game collection to grow infinitesimally, meaning your pockets had better be quite deep!

What gamers have you had the privilege, or dishonor, of joining on the "battlefields"?

As always, thanks for reading, and happy gaming!

Diablo III Release - Not Without the Typical Blizzard Hiccups

May 15, 2012 - a day that was marked on calendars, iPhones, Blackberries, and Droids of millions of fans of the long-awaited addition to the Blizzard Diablo series.  Diablo III is a revisit to the things adored in Diablo II by fans and designers alike, all while adding the allure of new classes.  Whether these classes be completely new, or combinations/remakes of older classes, their playability and appeal will form new class favorites without ENTIRELY renovating the feel of Diablo III's predecessors (Diablo and Diablo II).

Now, I won't pretend that I am an expert on all things of the Diablo realm for I have never played Diablo or Diablo II, but I have been a long-time fan of Blizzard games and Blizzard lore.  My preference of play always was Warcraft, Warcraft II, Warcraft III (including Frozen Throne), and World of Warcraft.  I've always enjoyed DotA and have been participating in the DotA 2 beta test.  The lore of the latter two games overlaps some of the lore from Diablo so I am familiar with several of the key members of the lore (Deckard Caine, King Leoric, and Tyrael among the few), but I don't want to bore anyone with my lack of knowledge of the Diablo world - though Deckard Caine is quite the character!

It seems that no matter how many content patch releases Blizzard has under their belt, they never seem to learn how to effectively launch a new project - especially expansions to World of Warcraft or new games all-together like Diablo III.  Some problems that have come from the Diablo III release are:

• Error 3007 on login and during gameplay
• Hardware requirements
• Unsolved glitches/bugs
• Server saturation

Now, the first bullet is the most important for it proves my point earlier, that Blizzard just CANNOT effectively launch a game in which they expect millions of players to log in immediately at release date/time.  The "solution" that Blizzard chose to enact was to release the game by regions (Europe, Asia, and the Americas).  That's a step in the right direction, but releasing a game for the ENTIRE continent of North America is hard enough, then tacking South America on to it was a nail in the coffin of log in errors galore come 12:01am on May 15, 2012.  The release should have been staggered by hour and released as per time zone - Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, etc. that way the several million players in the Americas, alone, will not all log in simultaneously at 12:01am causing an Error 3007.

The following three points come with any PC game.  Games are produced with better graphics, better physics engines, and the like so naturally hardware requirements are going to rise with every new game release.  PC gamers are not console gamers - we don't buy a system and expect every single game release ( until a console upgrade is provided or a new model is introduced) to work perfectly with our system, regardless if it's 5 months, or 5 years, old.  PCs are an investment and require frequent upgrades and are a much deeper money-sink than consoles due to the far more responsive graphics that a computer can provide over a console.  Complaining that your game doesn't look pretty enough or work well enough ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING WITH THE MINIMUM SUGGESTED HARDWARE means you either 1) need to not play this game 2) sell your computer and play on a console 3) bite the bullet and drop $100 on a slightly better video card.

Glitches/bugs will never disappear with PC games, every patch opens new bugs that weren't there before, but patches the old holes.  And server saturation - though a thorn in the sides of gamers - is a blessing to game designers and Blizzard for their game is popular!

That being said, due to my 9-5 job and actually needing a decent amount of sleep, I have not been able to log in to Diablo III since its release and I'm DYING a bit on the inside with every minute I have to wait!  My monk is anxiously waiting to punch demons and zombies in the face!  Come onnnnnnn 5pm!

Board Games - Excitement for Things to Come!

First and foremost, I'd like to validate my worth for the board game hobby.

I first began my obsession with board games and card games at a young age (I'd say around 6) when I began playing games like Memory, Trouble, UNO, Yahtzee, and Parcheesi.  Though these games are frowned upon and scoffed at by game enthusiasts, they have served a greater purpose for they've been my "gateway drug".

Now, my appreciation has wandered into the territory of heavily themed games that follow the ambiance of fantasy, horror, or dark fantasy.  Arkham Horror, Shadow Hunters, Ultimate Werewolf, and Castle Panic are among the games that quickly come to mind that exemplify the types of games I enjoy.  Recently, I've enjoyed games such as Locke & Key: The Card Game, Bang! Dodge City, and Fluxx - each of these are quickly slithering their ways to the top of my "most played" list due to enjoyment not only by myself, but by frequent members of my gaming group.  Now that the nitty-gritty is done and over with, on to the fun part!  My love for Kickstarter and my overwhelming excitement for the games that are to be added to my collection in the coming months (all thanks to Kickstarter campaigns).

I came to Kickstarter through my many browsings of boardgamegeek.com, aka BGG.  I immediately realized how unique of a site Kickstarter was and wanted to help contribute whatever money I could afford - given my current occupation, that isn't much - to help fund games that I felt would be not only great contributions to my personal collection, but to the collections of other collectors/hobbyists.

The first game I helped fund was the standalone/expansion to Eaten by Zombies!, a successful card game about surviving the zombie infestation of your town.  This game, Eaten by Zombies! In Cahoots can be played as either a 2-player stand-alone game, or as an expansion to the EBZ proper, allowing 5-6 players to join in on the zombie mayhem.

I can gladly proclaim that I am not one who particularly enjoys anything that falls within the all-too-saturated theme of zombie movies, games, books, etc. nowadays, but this game caught my eye for one reason and one reason alone: It's not a matter of who will survive, it's a matter of who will die LAST!  The game mechanic operates in such a manner that your death is inevitable and it's just a matter of out-living the other players that will lead you to victory.  This game is projected to be printed and circulated to backers by mid/end June of 2012.

Fleet is a game that strays so far from my normal attraction of horror/fantasy games that I was EXTREMELY hesitant to back this project.  I will admit that I have been an off-and-on watcher of Deadliest Catch TV and my instant correlation (however right or wrong it may be) between that show and this game is what inevitably turned me into a backer for this project.

Players compete to earn the most points by the end of the game and can do so through several different means, all utilizing similar mechanics.  Players bid on fishing licenses that warrant the catch, and later the sale, of certain types of marine goods (tuna, shrimp, lobster, cod, and crab). The collection of these licenses are crucial for holding multiple licenses of one type grant advantageous bonuses to your money cycle or to the scoring at the end of the game.  This game is expected to be in my hands come September and I can't wait!

Garden Dice is yet another game that doesn't fit my normal interest, but that's the beauty of games - they can be completely out of your normal radar, but can keep you intrigued and entertained from start to finish every time!

Garden Dice is a game about, well, you guessed it...GARDENING!  The mechanic of this game is dice rolling, plain and simple.  There are certain special abilities that can be used, and special tiles that can be played, but all movements utilize the pips from 4 dice that you've rolled.  Tiles include 5 types of vegetables, a bird which can be turned over to a rabbit, a sundial which can be turned over to a scarecrow, and a sun.  All of these have special abilities and uses that add variation and fun to this game.  It'll be a while before I get this game, but it will certainly prove to be a fun light-medium game for my collection!

As you can see, Kickstarter has really opened my tastes to games that aren't anywhere near my usual types of game, but that's why I love the site.  It showcases games that wouldn't normally even be a blip on my radar and allows me to read about the game, it's creation, it's vision, and any overviews of the game's play :).