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Adam Baumeister
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A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game » Forums » Reviews
An Honest Rundown of A Touch of Evil
Ok, so first off, I'm going to start by saying I REALLY like this game. It is a ton of fun, and very characterful. That said, there are things that are particularly good (or not so) about it.

Construction:

Overall, the construction of the game is good. Sturdy game board, well cast plastic pieces, with just enough give so they don't break, heavy cardboard counters, and sturdy glossy cards. I have already had a few of the cards have little flakes of their gloss coating come off around the edges, which peels away the printing as well. Not a game killer, but it does offend my OCD.

Setting:

As said in other posts, this game does do a good job of setting the stage. The town elders each have a Secret dealt to them at the beginning of the game. They might be a servant of the monster, they might be the monster, they might just be a drunk. All of the locations, Villains, Heroes,and cards are characterful. Take into account the bundled CD with period music, and you've got a reason to turn the lights down low and enjoy the game!

Gameplay:

Overall, the game is slick. It has consistent mechanics that are much easier to learn than the relatively big rulebook would have you believe. It works primarily on a "skill" system where you roll a number of dice equal to a statistic (Honor, Combat, etc) and any roll of 5+ is considered a success. Occasionally 5+ is not the target, but that is the base dice mechanic for the whole game.

Most of the game occurs at the four corner locations on the board, the Windmill, the Abandoned Keep, the Old Woods, and the Manor. You go to these locations and "encounter the space" to draw a card from the location. These are either; "Puzzles" which are all different, require rolling skills, and reward with Investigation (money); Fights, where you try to beat up monsters for Investigation; Items which help out in a number of different ways from increasing statistics.

After all players have taken a turn, the villain gets a turn, which releases its minions onto the board, kills an elder, or unleashes weather effects which pretty much all suck when they are in play (move slower, or fight with fewer dice, for instance).

Event cards are typically held in your hand and are played to alter or cancel effects as they occur in game. They boost your health in combat, and pull useful things out of discard piles.

The only portion of the game that I'm not fond of is just how random the cards are. The goal is to build yourself up with items and statistic boosts until you can fight the monster.Every game I have played (two 6 player, two 4 player, two 2 player, and a single 8 player) has had one person strongly out in front at the end of the game. I would like to see some more town items for people to buy who are overflowing with Investigation and haven't managed to draw the right equipment cards.

Villains:

There are four villains, the Scarecrow, the Horseman, the Werewolf, and the Vampire. They are each very different from one another both in their specific abilities and in their Minions. I still don't know which one sucks worse to have to fight (which is a good thing), although you need to play the advanced rules to really get the "whole experience". The Scarecrow and Werewolf are decidedly hardest in the Easy rules.

Scarecrow: he gets tougher as the town descends into darkness, gaining fight dice and health. Additionally, his minions are VERY annoying, and move the darkness track even faster than usual.

Vampire: He isn't all that hard, but he is REALLY tough to hurt, and if you don't hurt him he can run away. His minions are a bit tougher and he has several of them.

Werewolf: An absolute beast to fight (no pun intended), his minions are very straightforward and not too difficult. He also infects the heroes with lycanthropy which makes them periodically have to fight each other.

Spectral Horseman: This guy is my least favorite. Not because he isn't cool, or because he is too hard, but because you see him ALL THE TIME. Every couple turns, he pops up at a random location and rides directly to Town hall, fighting everyone on the way. Additionally, his hounds don't always go away when you fight them, and his soldiers are tough.

Heroes:

They did a pretty good job of balancing the Heroes out, with a couple notable exceptions. There are a few abilities that seem overpowered. The Lady's ability to buy off wounds, the Outlaw's ability to fight on a 4+, the Inspector who gains one extra Investigation from pretty much everything, and the Courier who gets +2 to his movement all the time. I don't think they are out of line, only because everyone has things like that.

The exception is the playwright. His abilities are very useful in a couple specific cases, and pretty much worthless otherwise. At least that is the way he has played out for us.

In Conclusion:

Definitely worth picking up if you like games with a bit of "meat", but not as much as Axis & Allies. Play seems to be a bit long, at about 2 hours a play (1.5 with two players). There are quite a few extra pieces included with the express purpose of use with House Rules. Check it out... This game is tons-o-fun.

-R
Usta Playalot
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Thumbs up simply for the use of the word "characterful."
Dan
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aerhead wrote:
Thumbs up simply for the use of the word "characterful."
I concur. :)
Tom Grant
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OrangeCat X wrote:
aerhead wrote:
Thumbs up simply for the use of the word "characterful."
I concur. :)


Likewise. It was wordtastic.
Carbon Copy
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Rubberchrist wrote:
There are quite a few extra pieces included with the express purpose of use with House Rules. Check it out... This game is tons-o-fun.

-R


They put extra bits in the box? After the uproar about all those extra bits in Last Night on Earth?

Will Flying Frog never learn? :shake:

:D
Simply Not There
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Toronto
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Nice review - I especially appreciated the gameplay summary, as I've been looking for a concise overview of how the game plays. Is it really as similar to Arkham Horror as your descripion seems to suggest?
Adam Baumeister
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I haven't played Arkham Horror, but I've eyeballed it a few times.

I read over a couple of thorough reviews and it sounds like the mechanics are very similar. There is a Darkness track that counts down, and you lose if it drops off, the stats are the number of dice you roll with target numbers for success, and it looks like you visit different places on the board in Arkham to do different things.

I'll give a tentative, Yes they are similar.

-R
Jonathan Franklin
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There are quite a few articles comparing the two. One interesting comment (other than that AToE is faster) is that AH has more character development for the players, but that AToE has more diversity among the foes.
Casey Rogers
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Two hours is actually shorter than most adventure games, and sounds like the sweet spot to me.
Ryan S.
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grandslam wrote:
There are quite a few articles comparing the two. One interesting comment (other than that AToE is faster) is that AH has more character development for the players, but that AToE has more diversity among the foes.


Having played both, I'm not so sure this is true. I mean, in AH, you don't really get that many skills (they are hard to obtain). most of your development occurs through items. In AToE, you have more flexibility to increase your stats, or even fight with different stats. Also, the death penalty in AH is much worse, so the "development" of your items is much more easily lost than in AToE.
William Collins
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killjoy00 wrote:
grandslam wrote:
There are quite a few articles comparing the two. One interesting comment (other than that AToE is faster) is that AH has more character development for the players, but that AToE has more diversity among the foes.


Having played both, I'm not so sure this is true. I mean, in AH, you don't really get that many skills (they are hard to obtain). most of your development occurs through items. In AToE, you have more flexibility to increase your stats, or even fight with different stats. Also, the death penalty in AH is much worse, so the "development" of your items is much more easily lost than in AToE.



Would it suffice to say that one is like a B movie of supernatural events and one is more of a Lovecraftian short story?
Dan
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More like the other way around.

I've heard that Touch of Evil has a better handle on the "short story theme" idea. I've heard that Arkhan horror's monsters are a grab bag of random characters depending on the game you play.
K Fritz
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Rubberchrist wrote:
The Lady's ability to buy off wounds,


What??? No Socialized medicine in this game? Bah!

Really, it sort of makes sense.. Maybe not fair in how quickly she can recover though. If she has the cash to go to a doctor, I'd say that covers buying off wounds.. Like I said, the quickness in her recovery could be the issue. Maybe a house rule could be instated that she can only heal a certain amount per turn.
Last edited on 2008-09-25 12:11:58 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
David Cole
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willco wrote:
killjoy00 wrote:
grandslam wrote:
There are quite a few articles comparing the two. One interesting comment (other than that AToE is faster) is that AH has more character development for the players, but that AToE has more diversity among the foes.


Having played both, I'm not so sure this is true. I mean, in AH, you don't really get that many skills (they are hard to obtain). most of your development occurs through items. In AToE, you have more flexibility to increase your stats, or even fight with different stats. Also, the death penalty in AH is much worse, so the "development" of your items is much more easily lost than in AToE.



Would it suffice to say that one is like a B movie of supernatural events and one is more of a Lovecraftian short story?


There is nothing short about a game of Arkham Horror. :)
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