Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Groaning with top-quality eldritchness, 28 Aug 2008
Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best co-operative boardgames out there, provided you don't mind being eaten alive. Arkham Horror takes the horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert W. Chambers and Brian Lumley, mixes them all together and creates a sort of evil RPG version of Monopoly, except that instead of buying property you're closing dimensional portals. And you can move in any direction you want, but there'll probably be something chasing you.
AH is a sort of 'random-RPG-quest-in-a-box', in much the same way as Talisman but which much more variety and content. The game has quite a few RPG trappings, such as character sheets, hit points and so on, which mean it might not be one for the kids. It is, however, definitely one for players who'll get a buzz out of the atmosphere of Lovecraftian futility that the game quite often creates. The Arkham Horror experience is one of gradually losing control. At the start of a game, it usually seems like it'll be easy for the players to keep things under control, then as the turns roll on the board descends into chaos and it becomes a question of whether the players can grab what they need to survive when the nightmarish Great Old One rises from Its millennial slumber. Actually winning a game of AH can be a bit of an anticlimax, and the best games I've played have ended with me and my comrades snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at the very last moment.
The game features huge numbers of counters, markers and decks of cards, which can get fiddly at times and might intimidate n00bs. But actually it's not nearly as complicated as it looks, and you could probably afford to lose at least half of it before the game would become unplayable. Once you remember the order in which to resolve everything, all the game really consists of is running around the board, drawing the right-coloured cards, and following the instructions on them before MEETING YOUR INEVITABLE DOOM. Seriously, I can't overstate how much doom there is in this game. And if you get bored of the amount of doom, you can get the expansion boxes, which add loads more doom and about thirty more decks of cards.
In summary: almost freakishly awesome. You may be intimidated by Arkham's apparently complexity but you will come to love just how much stuff there is to do. It's tremendous fun once you understand it, and there is a certain sprawling beauty in its arcane fiddliness.
P.S. This game comes with six dice in the box. This is bonkers. The optimum number of dice needed is probably somewhere in the region of five bajillion. Just a heads up.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovecraftian Horror , 14 Dec 2008
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars
I have only just started playing more complex board games but this moves the benchmark to a new level for me. You play one of a team of investigators trying to close a series of gates through which will appear all types of hideous monsters. If you get overrun you may be devoured or worse still the Ancient One may appear and you may have a chance to fight it or suffer a fate even worse....
Depending on which investigator you are you will have some special powers, weapons and some money. However you only have a finite amount of stamina and sanity and these can be lost quite easily when fighting a nightmare like the Leng Spiders. In which case off to the Asylum or Hospital you will go....
There are a lot of game pieces and cards and dice with this game. The only fault with the game is that the manufacturers do not supply enough storage containers to use during game play for the various different types that need to be laid out.
I've played the game twice now and it has taken 4 to 5 hours on average. This will undoubtably speed up as you get used to the games rules (there are lots). The chances of winning seem quite small but that is part of the fun. This is very entertaining, not to mention claustrophobic and there is a sense of impending doom!
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Arkham Horror Review, 25 Jan 2008
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars
Arkham horror is a great game for people with some imagination. It is steeped in myth and legend and anybody who likes H.P. Lovecraft's work or video games such as Eternal Darkness or more recently Bioshock will love it.
It is very cerebral - you have to think alot. It isn't easy to play, but in my opinion that makes it more fun. The game can be played with very few players, but it benefits being played in a big group.
Each game can take up a few hours if you get into it properly. So, this is definately a 'night in with friends and a pizza' job.
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