About the game
Let’s set the scene. Its high noon, the vultures are circling, tumbleweed goes across your path as you enter the town of Sweet Haven, Arizona. Here you find Lord Overkill, the necromancer who destroyed your life, and his villains and goons have took over the town.
How do you take out those brought back from the grave. 6 shooter, henry rifle, throwing knife? No, you’re going to need something more powerful. You’re going to have to channel your magic and use your poker deck to take out the lackeys, get across town, into the graveyard to get to the edge of hell and reap your revenge.
Game play
About the game
Let’s set the scene. Its high noon, the vultures are circling, tumbleweed goes across your path as you enter the town of Sweet Haven, Arizona. Here you find Lord Overkill, the necromancer who destroyed your life, and his villains and goons have took over the town.
How do you take out those brought back from the grave. 6 shooter, henry rifle, throwing knife? No, you’re going to need something more powerful. You’re going to have to channel your magic and use your poker deck to take out the lackeys, get across town, into the graveyard to get to the edge of hell and reap your revenge.
Game play
The core to this game is poker, so if that’s not your game you better keep on riding to the next town. For those ready to embrace your inner gambit then pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of whisky and lets play.
First choose your level from easy to nightmare. Next randomly choose the villains and goons for the rest of the rounds. Who will you be up against. Billy the kid, the demon barber, the priest? Each game you will come up against a different devilish gang. Then draw yourself 8 cards and you’re ready to begin.
Each opponent will take more damage to defeat than the last whilst you’re limited to the amount of attacks and new cards you can take. The better your poker hand the more damage you can afflict. Fail, then it’s you’re own pine box you’re going in.
Each goons you defeat will gain you an advantage in next round whilst each villain will give you an everlasting bonus. You will need these if you ever hope to take down Lord overkill. Don’t forget to keep the Ace of Spades up your sleeve, it’s your most powerful weapon.
My review
Artwork 3/5 – Now I’m probably being overly harsh here but David Rubin pulled off some fantastic designs for the box and the enemy card, so when you then get to the deck of card I felt a bit underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong the deck isn’t bad but this is Ace of Spades, a game about a gambler using his cards to create different poker hands to take out his enemy’s. As a person who has played many a card game I was expecting the deck to be something special but the court cards were all a bit samesy and the back average. This doesn’t affect the game but as a card connoisseur who has used many a deck I just wanted more.
Complexity 2/5 – If you know how to play poker the mechanics are simple but that doesn’t mean it any less challenging. Now I’m not competitive but I like the jeopardy of the game where to win will take a lot of consideration and luck but defeat will be swift. I took me back to the 90s playing my Sega mega drive where you would be cruising along and then get stuck at 1 point and bang. Game over, start from the beginning.
Replayability 5/5 – With the 12 rounds having 4 characters each to choose from, you can have many a combination to go up against. Its also quick to set up so perfect for a replay.
Player interaction 1/5 – There is a co op mode but with you only being able to have minimal communication it not one for interaction. ( which some of my fellow Boardgamers may prefer).
Component quality 3/5 There’s a deck, enemy cards and a players mat. Not much can go wrong. A bit of wear on the cards won’t do the game any wrong. The deck itself could of had a bit of texture to it to make it feel a bit of a more high quality deck.
Comebackability 1/5 – You’re only 1 bad move away from game over. You can’t afford for your weapon to jam.
Solo 5/5 – This is 1 of the few solo games I’ve played where you don’t have to do the heavy lifting for the game. You can just play.
Co op 3/5 – It not so much co op as the people individually going against the same opponent. You do use the shared river but cooperation is a minimum.
Improvements to be made
- The deck, maybe they will bring out a limited edition deck
- I would of like to see more recognisable enemy’s. Butch Cassidy, Tuco, Black Belle.
- The Ace of Spades plays as other aces, it should have an extra power.
What I enjoyed
- The jeopardy. No respawn, no second chances, win or die.
- The range of enemy’s.
- Not having to do the thinking for the game.
My final thoughts
It probably a deck of cards away from being a perfect solo game. Mechanics it’s spot on but just loses it on the design.
Zatu Review Summary
