http://xblaratings.com/ 2299-6045 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/2299-avatar-deluxe-blackjack Not sure you can do much about keeping track of the count as the stack of remaining cards are unseen and do they ever shuffle? Cool to play with your friends but god do I hate the lack of basic required features for useful practice. ]]> Tue, 14 Aug 2012 02:20:01 -0500 5234-5786 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/5234-pedro Apparently Pedro is a classic card game. Played in teams of 2 for 4 to 6 people. I say apparently because before picking up the game in its xbox live indie game form id never heard of it. Coming totally blind to a card game was a little worrisome at first but really in the end those worries were totally founded. Oh sure the rules are listed in the games main menu. 8 and a half pages of text that is supposed to step you through the game. "Pedro is a trick taking card game" according to the guide. "played by two teams" OK more then simple so far. "in Pedro only certain cards are worth points. The ace, the jack, ten and deuce are all worth 1 point. the five is worth five. But only of the suit in play?? and five of the same colour also..??!? " And from here on in I'm lost. Maybe the game has some other assists to help teach me. Like a basic tutorial mode and game to play. One that teaches as you play the first time? Well it has a "hints" option. Hints being a +1 on some of the cards as you play. And that's Pedro's biggest problem its inaccessible to someone new to the game. Yes you could read all the rules to the basic game but keeping that information in your head when you actually play is hard when starting out. So what about the rest of the aspects to the game. Well its essentially a simple looking Uno clone visually. You can select from a range of 3 play mats. Or 3 simple Photoshopped backgrounds. Likewise there's a selection of 3 different decks of cards. I say different they are all more or less the same just with a different back image. The soundtracks not too bad, nothing extremely original or special, sometimes the musical direction seems odd. The music is something you don't tend to really notice, it doesn't add to the mood but its not disruptive at all. Games involve you first creating a game for you and up to 3 of your friends, setting up the points needed to win and the top and bottom possible bids. Then 9 cards are dealt to each player and you have to select your bid. Person with the highest bid then chooses the suite with which you play. From there I don't quite understand how the game works. You select a card, hopefully its worth something, every other player plays a card, the hand moves to whoever placed the best card, i think... Sometimes you win the hand but have minus points for your team, other times cards just vanish from your hand automatically. And again your lost. Looking at a none too impressive looking and baffling card game. A card game apparently restricted to offline only play. At least it seemed to be. There's no hint of xbox live play. There's an option for system link games. but that's not clear. That's what does the most damage at the end of the day. Pedro's lack of clarity. It could easily be quite a fun if throwaway card game on xbox live but instead is just entirely baffling and frustrating. ]]> Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:28:32 -0500 4904-5705 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/4904-masters-of-influence As someone who does a lot of his gaming with cardboard and meeples, I'm a bit saddened with the lack of innovative card and board games on XBLIG. Not only is it a great avenue for putting your own ideas out there for a larger audience and with less risk, it also keeps me from having to clean up 429 game pieces after every match. Some may call that last bit selfish, but I call it "win-win." Recently released Masters of Influence makes a good attempt at filling some of that board game void on the XBLIG Marketplace. Feeling a bit like a combination of Risk and Settlers of Catan, Masters sets two-to-four players on a bid to either claim 60% of the board or max out their resources, obtaining victory over the other players by meeting either condition. Doing either of these involves building towers, building towers, and then building more of them. Or upgrading them so it's easier to build more. You can also attack other towers that are close enough to your own, which keeps people from doing the same to you. And makes them feel foolish for wasting all their resources on something you just blew up right in front of them. (Again. Win-win. See how that works?) There's a nice instruction screen to look at from the main menu that explains everything and, when you go into a game, you'll see little messages that tell you that you can't do what you just tried to do. More importantly, they tell you why, which is quite helpful in learning how to properly play. Simple, effective, good. Also somewhat simple is the presentation. You'll be staring at a hexagonal board the entire course of the game. For the most part, everything's pretty easy to see. Symbols by the map tiles tell you what resource that tile gives you each turn if it belongs to you and each tile has its own terrain type. Water, farm and desert are easy enough to see. Unfortunately, it gets a little bit more difficult with forest (a tile you can build an upgradable tower on freely) and defensive zone (a spot you can only build a specific one-level fort on). The tiles are small so you'll either be zooming in quite close or you'll be squinting more than your grandparents at a poorly-lit library. The sound leaves a little bit to be desired as well. One music track plays the entire time, the sound effects are louder than the music, and there's no option to tweak the volume of either. The controls, though simple as well, have a couple minor issues. No confirmation message for anything you do, though possibly speeding things up a bit, also leads to a mistakes you wish you could take back. Especially since games can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a good hour or more, much like any self-respecting cutthroat board game of tile-claiming and resource-hoarding. The left stick acts as a mouse pointer, which has its advantages but also feels a bit slow. Once you get the hang of everything, though, you'll be pumping through turns in no time. All these gripes are little things. The only large one I have is that games feel somewhat one-track. Choose a good starting area (if you can't, you're in trouble), get a tower to level 3 on your first turn (if you can't, you're going to be in trouble), and hoard enough so that you can build just within firing range of an opponent to take out their tower and hope they don't have enough to retaliate next turn (if they can, well...it'll be a long game). You'll be in a long power struggle over little bits of space, much like trench warfare, and it'll remind you of Risk. All that said, that last bit is really what the game boils down to. If drawn-out board games aren't your thing, or you don't enjoy spending roughly an hour on one game, then this isn't the title for you. However, if you want a more resource-oriented Risk without the continent bonuses and everyone fighting over who gets to keep Australia, this is actually a pretty simple yet fun and strategic board game without all the messy setup and tear-down of your normally piece-heavy board games. I personally don't even like Risk and I had fun with the game for a few hours against the computer. And if you have friends who want to spend some time on the couch with ya, up to 4 can play locally, guaranteeing some heavy value for your 80 MS Points. ]]> Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:49:09 -0600 4857-5541 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/4857-avatar-chess I consider myself an enthusiast chess player so when I saw this come up on the newest list for indie games I gave it a download. It's a solid chess game with several options for how to display the board (I like the basic 2D view, but there are probably some who have fun with the avatars). I haven't tried the Xbox live multiplayer stuff yet, but it looks decent enought -- there are options to invite friends to a private game or find an opponent on matchmaking. I can tell you that the AI when playing against the computer is actually really good. I've played quite a bit of chess and I have a hard time beating it on the moderate setting. Having tried a couple of the other chess games released previously on xbox Indie, I'd say this is probably the best one so far. It's not quite up to the level of the full studio released products for either the PC or consoles -- but those typically cost a lot more than $1 and really don't provide that much more. ]]> Sat, 05 Nov 2011 03:40:08 -0500 4551-5388 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/4551-lucky-game This game has to deal with "Luck" just like what the title has said. I played the trial so many times and just was never lucky enough. You basically get this and hit it, like golf. Though you must hit it into the gaps in the ground. If you miss you get a thing that is like a scratch. Once you get the ball in the gap then you must have pure luck in the slot machine. Or you'll get another scratch. __----___-- Overall View: Read the Title! Thats exactly what the game is about. Pure Luck. Your chances are slim, no matter what. You'll lose lots of times. I say for 80msp you should still try it out or even add it to your collecion. Not a bad price and hey...at least you didn't lose lots of money like in real slot machines. ]]> Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:08:42 -0500 455-5288 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/455-nuke-your-neighbor This game is one of the few indie games you will find that supports 4 local players against up to 4 remote players. Perfect for a game party. We've actually had as many as 3 vs 3 over the net between out house and my friends in another city. The rules seem complex at first glance but anyone can pick it up within two rounds. There are several different game types to mix it up and keep the game interesting. Lucid Vision Games has also recently released this game for the Android, iPod touch, iPhone and iPad which can be found at: Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.LucidVisionGames.NukeYourNeighbor Apple: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nuke-your-neighbor/id448550573?mt=8 ]]> Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:45:56 -0500 4258-5268 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/4258-egyptian-rat-smash The object of the game is to collect all of the cards. This game supports up to four players. When it's your turn, you press the A button to place down the next card. If there's a match, you press the corresponding button and you'll get the pile. If you press the wrong button, you'll lose the your card. The other players have a chance to steal the pile from you. This is where the game gets really hectic because anyone can get back in the game. I would imagine that this game could get really hectic if you're playing against your friends. Even if a player has zero cards, they still have a chance to win the game. The face cards will start a challenge. In the challenge mode another face card will allow you to win the card. The Ace card gives the next player four chances to win the challenge. A queen face card gives the next player 2 chances to win the challenge. A jack face card gives the next player 1 chance to win the challenge. If nobody wins the challenge, the pile will go to the last challenger. The starting rule of getting a match still applies during the challenge. In conclusion, this game is a lot of fun and easy to pick up. It has a decent learning curve to it, but it's worth the investment. Give this game a try today! ]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:39:46 -0500 2299-5148 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/2299-avatar-deluxe-blackjack I liked it. It was fun and for 80 msp, it's a steal. Really recommend. I play with my friends on the online mode all of the time. The graphics and sound are a little cheesy, but other than that it is fun. There are also rewards you can unlock and different dealers and backgrounds to choose from. Solid game! ]]> Tue, 24 May 2011 22:29:04 -0500 3149-4507 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/3149-go Hi ! I tried your Go game. first of all, thanks for making one. there was shogi stuff already but no Go. I only got the trial so I could test only the basics. I played the computer on a 9x9 a both difficulty level. both are very weak. I pass on my first game to finish the game as all computers stones were dead. but the scoring did not figure it out properly and I lost. no undo possible or anything. I admit the board was not clearly settled but any humans could have figure out my stones were all alive. the UI idea is interesting. the board is moving around instead of the stones. but it is hard on the eye after the computer has made his move and the board suddenly jump to his last position. with the right stick being able to move the board camera around, I guess the left stick could simply move the stones around. apart from that, I don't see much innovation. here is a few ideas on top of my head after 20 seconds brainstorm. - 3D board, many chess games are like that. - animation for captures - invite friends to observe the game - kinect support (voicing position) - save game for later - i presume there is already a xbox live leaderboard. ]]> Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:41:41 -0500 2261-4347 http://xblaratings.com/xblig-list/55-card-a-board/2261-bingo-party This game isnt your normal Bingo that we all know and love. This game has many different patterns and shapes you have to form to get Bingo. Each match is long, and boring. It takes forever for the voice to call out your numbers, and the bad part is is that there isnt much to winning. The game can get extremely boring, as after a match or two, you dont want to play all that much. The online multiplayer for this game is pretty much dead. After 20 minutes of searching, a match couldnt be found, and the sad part is, most of the unlockables in the game come from winning online matches. This game might be fun to your "hardcore" bingo player, but otherwise I dont suggest this game. ]]> Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:36:02 -0500