One of the brightest places of confinement in my house for four weeks (and counting) with my children is that we have them play a too much of board games. One of them, which involves a hedgehog and his friends moves quickly, which I think I'm writing about here.
Sonic the Hedgehog: War Racers , somehow, the second Sonic board game I reviewed last year, and they are not related! Various composers, various publishers, works. About the only thing they agree on is that they include Sonic, racing and plastic miniatures and … Well, that's pretty much the same.
Where Crash Course it was a quick, easy and accessible story, War Racers worse, I'm 14 years old (which means my nine and seven year olds fight), lots of rules, lots of pieces and general experiences.
This is better, but it's also worse.
Better because this feels like a race title Sonic game, rather than Crash Course Sonic's racing experience. In addition to just getting around the line and crossing the finish line first overcoming a few obstacles, here feels like a vivid balance of video game, as you run faster and higher, faster and slower, while also having to reach the world in enemy heads from all over the course.
And better because the miniatures are awesome! I've been going full play with them, including the expansion packs containing Shadow and Eggman, and they're all big, detailed, colorful and have a wonderful idea to come from the session. This would be a part of the game without them.
And … when the joy of spending great minutes is a big part of the fun, that's also the problem. This is a game that tries to be a race and platform game, only falling flat on both sides, with sometimes conflicting issues open to each other.
As a racecourse, there are some cool ideas about maintaining a basic level of inertia, as you can change how much you progress throughout the course of each turn based on the cards you play (or events that happen to you). Going flat is always wrong, because using enemies or obstacles (such as spikes) will cause you to destroy the rings, which in this game are more important than they are in any video game.
But the premise of a racing game is something unusual for this license. I know Sonic is going fast, but it's not only something he did, and shocked his entire muscle of his athleticism to the bottom by turning what would have been cool tactical decisions into speeding sprints in a continuous sprint.
Which is a shame, because those planning tactics, and the way they were used alongside inertia and momentum, were the best qualities of the universe! I liked seeing this half-way effort at Sonic's actual level and fighting it transferred to his esteemed board game, rather than making a sacrifice in the name of going faster.
All its brilliant ideas, War Racers I just wasn't the same it's fun like a racing game, or an adventure or, two things you need from a genre. Take it Flamme Rouge (which I've looked at before) as an example: it's flexible, strategic, allows for a nice twist of position and never ceases to amaze as everyone rushes towards the end.
In War Racers, existing platform items you should being the right text (and it could have been otherwise!) keeps getting in the way most of the time when it presents a challenge, and entering a race has left me more confused than anything else.
Direct racing is not the only way to play this game. There is also a capture mode, which you can play alone or in combination, and this changes the situation greatly. In the catch mode, instead of all the players just trying to get to the rim, you're all trying to get to the finish line and the AI-controlled boss, and if the boss hits you, you all lose.
Boss mode still has many problems like the main game, but with the inclusion of the boss to worry about – and they get confused about the game by dragging enemies and constantly hurting competitors – it is advisable to scale the racing vs the ultimate, looking for a more exciting experience.
Boss mode by itself is not enough to recommend me War Racers, anyway, unless you're there indeed it's Sonic and look for good miniatures, because as a racing game it's not the same level as high-end models like Flamme Rouge, Formula D either it's so cool and it's coming Drift.
If so indeed on Sonic, however, you'll probably be more forgiving than I was for the flaws of the game, because while I'm not as happy as the racist, if nothing else, it's a good adaptation of some aspects of Sonic's clarity.
