This is a tangential review of Age of Gods. It does not contain game rules, which can be found elsewhere. The review is divided into 4 general categories.

Components:

Pros: The game comes with tons and tons of nice chits representing the population of various races. The game board is thick and sturdy. The art is bright and colorful, perhaps too colorful. One standard 6-sided die is provided for resolving combats.

Cons: The game board is folded in a somewhat awkward way. I think it would be nicer if it is divided into 6 sections evenly. The god cards and race cards are thin and not laminated, so they can and will probably wear out during normal play.

Poor Excellent

Game Play:

Pros: The rules are relatively easy to follow and teach. The special abilities are clearly written on the cards themselves. There is a built-in bluffing aspect of the game, where a player is not 100% certain what races are being controlled by other players. The fantasy setting seems to be appropriate.

Cons: Setting up the game can be quite long, as there are 24 races to sort out and populate on the game board. Often there will be confusion about the size of the races. Some gods may be over-powering. Down time between player's turns may be high, since there are many races to choose from. Analysis Paralysis is likely to happen, but not too often. The various offence and defence bonuses may make the combat resolution slightly harder.

Slow Fast

Replayability:

Pros: This game uses just 1 die to resolve combats. The god cards are randomly shuffled and dealt to the players. The race cards are randomly shuffled and gradually dealt to the players. Players can choose any race (with certain restrictions) when doing combats, not just the ones they are controlling. This bluffing aspect keeps players constantly guessing the other players' intensions. Replayability is quite high.

Cons: This game board is set up the same way for every game. Some people may find the game board becoming too chaotic for planning long-term strategies.

Low High

Overall:

Even though the review seems negative, I do enjoy playing this game. I quite like the bluffing aspect of the game, where it is possible to mislead other players into thinking I'm controlling another race. I also like playing poker, so that may explain it. It is a highly tactical game. The chaotic factor may be a turn-off for some people.

Boring Fun