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App Review: Parcours.robo is like RoboRally... if you don't like RoboRally
Parcours.robo really, really wants to be RoboRally, the well-received 1994 board game from Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield. Whether because the developer, Impara GmbH, didn't want to negotiate for the actual board game licensing rights or for another reason, the game plays a lot like RoboRally, but it's actually a sad little clone that also makes me really, really want it to be RoboRally. It's not a bad game, but Parcours.robo's biggest impact is that it makes me realize that what the App Store needs is an official RoboRally port, full of the board game's crazy "automated" movement; it could be amazingly animated on an iPad without losing any of the tension in the game's secret planning. Until that happens, though, read on to see what Parcours.robo has to offer us today. %Gallery-112033%
Off the Grid: Long-distance gaming
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital."Non-digital games are awesome" is the line I usually insist upon in this column. But even awesome analog games have their faults: namely, if you don't have anyone to play with, you can't really play.So, as an end-of-year treat, let's look back at the last year+ of games reviewed, and find some ways to play those suckers against some internet folk:Settlers of CatanI still haven't gotten around to reviewing Settlers, but I did chat with Brian Reynolds about the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, which is probably the best bet for consistent, high-volume net play.For those who don't have an Xbox 360 (like, well, me), Aso Brain Games hosts an unofficial, Java-based version of the game called Xplorers. After a free registration, the site allows users to player ranked and un-ranked versions against other users and bots, and features a number of expansion and additions to the base rules, which can be toggled on or off. Don't let the low-fi look of the site dissuade you; Xplorers is a well-put-together Settlers clone, with a solid interface and a consistent number of users online at any time.
Off the Grid reviews RoboRally
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor. In 1992, Richard Garfield met with a new company called Wizards of the Coast in order to get them to publish a board game he designed with Mike Davis. They liked what they saw, but at the time they weren't interested in board games; they wanted something more portable, a game that "would go over well at conventions." For this, Garfield revisited a card game he'd first designed in the early 80's.The card game became the phenomenally successful Magic: The Gathering, but we're not dealing with that right now. A year after Magic first hit the shelves of hobby stores, Wizards of the Coast published Garfield's clever board game about robots: RoboRally.The premise is simple enough to be appealing. A factory's computer reprograms its robotic workers during after-hours to have a little fun. Robots compete against each other to capture flags placed around the factory, while avoiding hazards like pits and lasers, and each other. Sounds like fun? Well, it is. Eventually.
