Not that there’s anything problematic in this game, but many find his ideas repellent and hackneyed enough to reject anything related to them. The second is your tolerance for the mythos of arch-racist H. The first is the idea that it requires neither strategy nor luck, but a mixture of textual interpretation, good notes, and making conceptual links. Whether this is a game for you or not depends on your reaction to two things. Overall - should you buy Bureau of Investigation? Which is perhaps not a fault in a game that rewards close reading and analysis. The publisher is French, however, and while the English translation is both passable and parsable, it contains idiosyncrasies that can make a native speaker stop and re-read. Given you’re going to spend a lot of time reading and analysing the text then, ideally, you’d want it more than 'fine', but it suffices to deliver character and atmosphere to proceedings. There are examples of these kinds of improbably pedestrian puzzles littering all five scenarios, and they’re frustrating in addition to removing you from the narrative.Īs such, the writing is fine. But here it’s something you have to sort out for yourself. As an FBI agent you would not, in reality, have to spend time trying to work out where the local police station is you’d either know, or your superiors would have told you. In a similar vein, Bureau of Investigation: : Investigations in Arkham & Elsewhere often poses some rather unlikely problems in the name of trying to make an engaging game. Worse, it can lead to nonsensical situations such as tipping off a criminal they’re under investigation with an interview, only to find they’re still operating freely for you to stake out their hideout. However, this is not always the case, and the mechanic can waste those valuable actions. You might expect such an individual to give you useful information, but without a suggestion that they’re corrupt, tailing them is unlikely to turn up anything helpful. Often it rewards sensible decision making, such as a public official. The other major addition, the split between interviews and investigation at each location, is less successful. In all of them, the action limit, an addition to the Consulting Detective formula borrowed from another game called Mythos Tales, helps to inject some much-needed tension into proceedings. It’s a good amount of variety to get your teeth into. The third and fifth both add elements of spatial movement to the challenge, while the fourth is something of an information dump. The second case has a time-based element, where you can revisit scenes and interviewees for possible additional information as the investigation progresses. The addition of the mystery, leaving you able to delve again to try and resolve the full story, does give it a bit of extra mystery and replay value, though.īureau of Investigations often poses some rather unlikely problems in the name of trying to make an engaging gameĪfter the first case, further scenarios introduce further wrinkles to the formula. ![]() Although this never reaches the mind-bending levels of the Consulting Detective series, the later cases can still leave you stuck in a frustrating rut with no leads to follow. After that, things become more difficult. The first two cases are relatively easy to crack so long as you’re paying attention. If you stick with it, though, you’ll uncover quite a novel experience. This makes it stand out in the sea of identikit puzzle or narrative-based co-op titles.įor some, that’s reason enough to walk away from this. Rather, there is genuine cooperation as players discuss the clues they have and try to reach a conclusion over which is likely to be most productive. Unlike almost every other cooperative game you’ve played, there are no 'right' answers. ![]() It works fine both ways, but the latter highlights what an odd bird this is. Bureau of Investigation can be played solo or as an addition to your collection of cooperative board games, with the latter meaning players take turns deciding on what actions to undertake.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |