This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
Image Courtesy of kherubim
Summary
Game Type - Dice Game
Play Time: 20-45 Minutes
Number of Players: 2-6 (Best 3-4+)
Mechanics - Dice Rolling ,Card Drafting, Conflict
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learnt in 20 minutes)
Components - Good
Release - 2011
Designer - <PERSON> (RoboRally, Magic: The Gathering, Netrunner)
Overview
King of Tokyo is inspired by the long standing Japanese fascination with huge monsters wreaking destruction on their beloved city of Tokyo. All of the fan favourites from Anime and Hollywood are here, although their names have been changed to avoid copyright issues. <PERSON> is now a mechanical cyborg called <PERSON>, <PERSON> is now <PERSON>, there is The Kraken to cover the ocean realm and <PERSON> is just plain cool…to name a few. But it won’t take long for players to be chanting out Kong or <PERSON> if they are fans of the originals.
Anyone over the age of 30 who played computer games as a kid (or younger if they came across the remake/port) may well remember a game called Rampage. Essentially the players controlled a monster and set about trying to destroy more of the city than their opponents and they were also able to wail on each other. This just about sums up the aim for players in King of Tokyo. Enter Tokyo and destroy it to earn VPs (although this is abstracted) and attack the other monsters to either take them out or keep them down long enough to allow you to win. Last monster standing or first to reach 20 VPs will be immortalised in monsterdom!
The only final thing to say is that King of Tokyo wraps all this silliness up in a nice, fast dice roller that is more subtle than it may first appear.
The Components
King of Tokyo has definitely taken a functional approach over top end quality…but there are some nice touches to the components as well.
Monster Cut-Outs and Stands – Each monster is represented using a 2D cut out that slots into a loose fitting stand. The artwork used could come straight from a comic book or cartoon show and are really neat to look at. The image of each monster is accentuated by the use of a white background that flows and borders the illustration.
Could the game have used minis instead? I don’t really think so. 581
The figures are only required to show which players are in Tokyo or outside it so miniatures would have been an unnecessary cost and a definite case of being overdone. Not to mention that the miniatures would have to be huge to really stand out. That is the main advantage of the 2D cut-outs…they are easy to see and they allowed some neat artwork to be developed.
Image Courtesy of cnidius
Monster Boards – These boards are simple but clever. Two dials are used to allow players to track their Monster’s health and the number of VPs they have gained as the play unfolds. The boards themselves are adorned with artwork, with the dynamic pose of the 2D cut-out being replicated. But instead of the white background, an image of some part of Tokyo or its bay are displayed as your monster goes to…errr…town…on it.
Image Courtesy of binraix
Dice – The dice are larger chunky affairs with square corners. In all there are 8 dice but only 6 are used each turn unless a Power is acquired to gain additional dice. The regular dice are black with radioactive green symbols…of which there are 6 different symbols on each dice.
The additional 2 dice use the opposite colour scheme…black icons on a radioactive green background.
The one disappointment here is that the icons on each dice face are not etched…they are simply painted on. In a dice roller, and one that is this much fun, it is inevitable that they will fade at some point (mine have begun to do so after some 20 odd plays).
Image Courtesy of Appleseed54
Power Cards – In all the game comes with 66 Power Cards to enhance your Monster and make it as bad-ass as possible. Each card features the Energy Cost in the top left corner, the title at the top, a stylized piece of art in the center that dominates each card and at the bottom is listed the type of Power (Keep or Discard) and its effect. In regards to the effect of each card, the symbols for dice icons, VPs, Energy and Health are used instead. 872