puggimer
07-15-2005, 05:27 AM
I've been a fan of RoboRally since I first played on the giant board at Origins many years ago (does anybody remember the 18" tall Twonky and Twitch?). I bought the 2nd edition, and all the expansions. So I was very excited when I heard the new edition was coming out. So excited, that I felt I had to let people know what I thought of it.
First the graphics. Impressive as always. The box is beautiful (though I do miss Phil Foglio's art a wee bit, Peter Bergting keeps the spirt alive). The boards are clean and clear. The card backs are beautiful - more on the cards in a bit.
The Robots. "Prepainted Plastic Robots". A bit disappointment here. The robots are smaller - and the painting is a simple ink wash over the grey 'metalic color' plastic. From the company who does D&D and Star Wars miniatures I simply expected a lot better. THe bases are nice - very clear as to which way the robots face. The new sculpts are a bit smaller - the only one that I think is an improvement is Spin Bot. And why did they shuffle the names of some of them. Trundle became Hulk X90, Hulk X90 became Squash, and Squash became Trundle. A bit of a disconnect for those of us with earlier editions, though new players won't notice.
Plastic Flags. Fantastic. These are simply wonderful. 3d so you can easily see them, and clear so you can see what is under them. I love these. And giving us 8 allows for advanced players to get as wild as they want.
Program cards. Nice backs, nice layout. The only proglem is with the move cards. All the cards have an icon in the upper right corner as to what it does (like the suite of a normal playing cards), but the move cards don't have the move value (1, 2, 3). This makes them a bit harder to keep in your hand and program from, since you have to look at the middle of the card to see how far the move is. I'm already considering writing in a 1, 2 or 3 as appropriate on mine.
Option cards. Nicely done. For old time players, they swapped out the Turret and Shield for the Armed and Dangerous cards Crab Legs and Dual Processor. This removes any 'turn programmed' options from this basic set - keeping it simple for new players. All the rest are back, even the much maligned Robot Arm. The art and layout for these is nice, though art for the Mini Howitzer misses the mark. Also, there is nothing to indicate which set these belong to (as compared to 2nd edition and Armed and Dangerous), which doesn't bode well for expansions.
Tokens. These are great, and very sturdy. Full color, and a good size. And about time they added a power down token. Also an archive marker for each robot - always good to keep track of where you last archived. Nice improvement.
Docking Bay. Good addition - I like this. I played against Richard Garfield at Origins this past year, and when discussing this he said he always hated virtual robots. This eliminates them, and gives an interesting and fair way to start the races.
Factory Floor Reference Sheet. Nicely done, simple clear explanations of the floor elements.
Player Program Sheets. Fantastic addition. I have seen at least 3 fan variations over the years - it is nice they have finally added this to the game itself. The program sheets have places to put program cards, damage tokens, life tokens and a powerdown indicator. In addition they have a turn summary - nice for new players. This is a much needed addition.
Timer. Years ago, I acted as the timer for the National Championships at Origins. Not always needed, but it does keep the game going. The idea of only turning on the 30 second timer when there is only one player left is excellent - it doesn't rush the game, but keeps it moving.
Rulebook - Beautifully done. Simple, clear rule explanations. I did find it a bit humorous that the example pictures used the old icons for Twonky and Zoom Bot - even though the new Zoom bot looks nothing at all like the one in the examples (since his entire upper body is gone). Aside from this trivial point, the example illustrations are clear and concise.
Course Manual. 34 predetermined courses. A really great addition. From the fast and simple Checkmate to the Day of the SuperBot and Moving Targets for advanced players - these look to be great fun and a good way to get new players up and running, and to keep experts challenged.
So now the boards. I was a bit disappointed in the straight cardboard boards, as opposed to the heavier boards from earlier editions. While these don't appear to be flimsy and should hold up well enough, they are just a simple disappointment as compared to the previous editions. Having two sides to them is a nice idea - however it would be great if they were made available separately so that we could build some of the expert courses without buying an entire new set.
Of the 8 'new' boards, 4 are actually from the previous 2nd edition. Island is a direct reprint, while Cross, Exchange and Maelstrom have some minor differences (an additional wrench space, a wall moved here or there). At least these 'older' ones are all on the backs of the new ones. Spin Zone, Vault, Chess and Chop Shop all look to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to playing on them for many years to come.
The graphics on all the boards, as I mentioned above, and clear and concise. SOme are much improved, such as red gears for left, and green gears for right. The double arrows on the blue fast conveyers are also a nice reminder of how they work. And chaning the double wrench to a wrench and hammer was something I didn't notice immediately, but should make game play a bit more interesting (what, I can't heal two points any more?) The pushers are much clearer as well, and the walls of the pit heading down area nice touch.
Gameplay has been improved. For this starter set, they have gone back to the basic board elements - conveyers (both normal and fast), walls, lasers, gears, pushers, pits and repair spaces. Sorry folks - no crushers - yet. This will help to get new players into the game, as there is less to learn up front before playing. Eliminating the virtual bots, along with rules for when two bots are destroyed with the same archive point, should provide for a bit more carnage and mayhem from the start - and robot interaction is always one of the best points in the game. There are enough board layouts in the book to keep players happy for a while, and advice on avoiding the 'board of doom' that can so often pop up (and not many people enjoy a 4 to 5 hour slog fest, where you never manage to reach all of the flags).
Of course, all the boards are compatible with the previous editions, so those of us who are veterans have simply added to our libraries of widget factory destruction, while the new players have plenty to keep them busy.
Overall, a great update to a fantastic game. While the boards and minis are a bit disappointing, the playing aids and accessories are a fantastic new edition.
I give this and A-, and have just one question - When is the first expansion coming out?
First the graphics. Impressive as always. The box is beautiful (though I do miss Phil Foglio's art a wee bit, Peter Bergting keeps the spirt alive). The boards are clean and clear. The card backs are beautiful - more on the cards in a bit.
The Robots. "Prepainted Plastic Robots". A bit disappointment here. The robots are smaller - and the painting is a simple ink wash over the grey 'metalic color' plastic. From the company who does D&D and Star Wars miniatures I simply expected a lot better. THe bases are nice - very clear as to which way the robots face. The new sculpts are a bit smaller - the only one that I think is an improvement is Spin Bot. And why did they shuffle the names of some of them. Trundle became Hulk X90, Hulk X90 became Squash, and Squash became Trundle. A bit of a disconnect for those of us with earlier editions, though new players won't notice.
Plastic Flags. Fantastic. These are simply wonderful. 3d so you can easily see them, and clear so you can see what is under them. I love these. And giving us 8 allows for advanced players to get as wild as they want.
Program cards. Nice backs, nice layout. The only proglem is with the move cards. All the cards have an icon in the upper right corner as to what it does (like the suite of a normal playing cards), but the move cards don't have the move value (1, 2, 3). This makes them a bit harder to keep in your hand and program from, since you have to look at the middle of the card to see how far the move is. I'm already considering writing in a 1, 2 or 3 as appropriate on mine.
Option cards. Nicely done. For old time players, they swapped out the Turret and Shield for the Armed and Dangerous cards Crab Legs and Dual Processor. This removes any 'turn programmed' options from this basic set - keeping it simple for new players. All the rest are back, even the much maligned Robot Arm. The art and layout for these is nice, though art for the Mini Howitzer misses the mark. Also, there is nothing to indicate which set these belong to (as compared to 2nd edition and Armed and Dangerous), which doesn't bode well for expansions.
Tokens. These are great, and very sturdy. Full color, and a good size. And about time they added a power down token. Also an archive marker for each robot - always good to keep track of where you last archived. Nice improvement.
Docking Bay. Good addition - I like this. I played against Richard Garfield at Origins this past year, and when discussing this he said he always hated virtual robots. This eliminates them, and gives an interesting and fair way to start the races.
Factory Floor Reference Sheet. Nicely done, simple clear explanations of the floor elements.
Player Program Sheets. Fantastic addition. I have seen at least 3 fan variations over the years - it is nice they have finally added this to the game itself. The program sheets have places to put program cards, damage tokens, life tokens and a powerdown indicator. In addition they have a turn summary - nice for new players. This is a much needed addition.
Timer. Years ago, I acted as the timer for the National Championships at Origins. Not always needed, but it does keep the game going. The idea of only turning on the 30 second timer when there is only one player left is excellent - it doesn't rush the game, but keeps it moving.
Rulebook - Beautifully done. Simple, clear rule explanations. I did find it a bit humorous that the example pictures used the old icons for Twonky and Zoom Bot - even though the new Zoom bot looks nothing at all like the one in the examples (since his entire upper body is gone). Aside from this trivial point, the example illustrations are clear and concise.
Course Manual. 34 predetermined courses. A really great addition. From the fast and simple Checkmate to the Day of the SuperBot and Moving Targets for advanced players - these look to be great fun and a good way to get new players up and running, and to keep experts challenged.
So now the boards. I was a bit disappointed in the straight cardboard boards, as opposed to the heavier boards from earlier editions. While these don't appear to be flimsy and should hold up well enough, they are just a simple disappointment as compared to the previous editions. Having two sides to them is a nice idea - however it would be great if they were made available separately so that we could build some of the expert courses without buying an entire new set.
Of the 8 'new' boards, 4 are actually from the previous 2nd edition. Island is a direct reprint, while Cross, Exchange and Maelstrom have some minor differences (an additional wrench space, a wall moved here or there). At least these 'older' ones are all on the backs of the new ones. Spin Zone, Vault, Chess and Chop Shop all look to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to playing on them for many years to come.
The graphics on all the boards, as I mentioned above, and clear and concise. SOme are much improved, such as red gears for left, and green gears for right. The double arrows on the blue fast conveyers are also a nice reminder of how they work. And chaning the double wrench to a wrench and hammer was something I didn't notice immediately, but should make game play a bit more interesting (what, I can't heal two points any more?) The pushers are much clearer as well, and the walls of the pit heading down area nice touch.
Gameplay has been improved. For this starter set, they have gone back to the basic board elements - conveyers (both normal and fast), walls, lasers, gears, pushers, pits and repair spaces. Sorry folks - no crushers - yet. This will help to get new players into the game, as there is less to learn up front before playing. Eliminating the virtual bots, along with rules for when two bots are destroyed with the same archive point, should provide for a bit more carnage and mayhem from the start - and robot interaction is always one of the best points in the game. There are enough board layouts in the book to keep players happy for a while, and advice on avoiding the 'board of doom' that can so often pop up (and not many people enjoy a 4 to 5 hour slog fest, where you never manage to reach all of the flags).
Of course, all the boards are compatible with the previous editions, so those of us who are veterans have simply added to our libraries of widget factory destruction, while the new players have plenty to keep them busy.
Overall, a great update to a fantastic game. While the boards and minis are a bit disappointing, the playing aids and accessories are a fantastic new edition.
I give this and A-, and have just one question - When is the first expansion coming out?