Alright, I don't know how many of you go back as far as I do but as a kid we used to go to Magic Mountain in Valencia CA. These were the days before it was even called Six Flags. They had some real roller coasters in those days like the Revolution and the newly built(at the time) Colossus. But if you were a kid, and a little afraid, you could find your way to the back of the park and ride the Gold Rusher. It was a bit bumpy, and kinda beat up, but it was fun. It wouldn't scare the hell out of you but the line was short and you could ride a couple times in a day and feel like you got your 7 bucks worth.

After two plays in co-op mode(and forgive me if I really do think that is all it takes to understand and review this game) that is how I feel about A Touch of Evil. You can compare it to Arkham Horror, but the Colossus was scary. It was wood, it creaked menacingly, and at Halloween you could ride it backwards. So in the end the comparison is that they are both fun rides, but one is a bit low budget intellectually when the ride ends.

To the review...Components. Much has been said about the Flying Frog style up to this point. There is even a current thread on these here message boards about the quality of the Vampire, but there is no denying that the folks at the Frog believe in their bits and put out a quality product. The tokens are thick and there are plenty of them. The artwork is a matter of taste and is fine in my opinion. The board is where it breaks down for me a bit. It is fairly monochromatic without being the "aged old map you found in a beat up steamer trunk" that it is supposed to be. And frankly, it is pretty "roll and move" as well with specific instructions printed on the board limiting options for development and expansion. The cards are effective if somewhat uninspired in that you will find duplicates within a single play and that is a smidge disappointing. If you are tired of a lot of color text and a picture that really just amounts to a +1 on something then you may want to think twice here.

So how about gameplay...trained monkeys could play this game. That is not meant as an insult. Monkeys are cute and so is ATOE. This is not going to provide you with hours of agonizing decision making and frankly, I like that aspect in that I often play with an AP gamer and his turn zipped by when we played this one. You roll, you move, you pick a card, you resolve an event or two, you move on. Not hard, but locked in there is a bit of fun. In the end you build up far too much to attack an underpowered bad guy and the sun comes up on a town cleansed of evil.

So what does this thing have to offer? The same thing the Gold Rusher did: an easy ride if you aren't up to the big boy pants needed for Arkham. There are some clever bits to ATOE in that it is really about the story. You ride this game rather than playing it and it will have a fun twist or two as you discover the naughty secrets of the Elders, stock up on your torches and pitchforks, scare off a beastie or two, all the while using a simple "clue" mechanic that allows you to buy, heal, level up, hunt, search etc...This game is really about the story but not from the point of view that there is real danger afoot. It is a bedtime story that always ends well as far as I can tell because in the co-op mode we were never in any real danger.

So where does it fall short? ATOE falls short in the gaming part of the game. This game is too simple (at least in co-op mode). It lacks the constantly building tension of AH or the tidal wave of Ghost Stories. There is a Darkness track that ticks along as you play but it doesn't provide menace, in fact, it just makes the showdown cheaper. Sure it adds bonuses to the "Bad Guy's" combat and health, but who cares? The algorithm of angst is just not there. Maybe in competitive mode this is more of an issue because the game then becomes a race to see who can get tougher sooner thereby taking risks that simply aren't demanded by the co-op mode.

I like this game, it tells a silly little story, the bits are neat, it plays in an hour, anybody can learn it...but it isn't a Game with an upper case G. It is the kind of thing that Hasbro could have released and your mom could have bought you when you were twelve...about the same time when I would ride the Gold Rusher more than once. It's a charming bit of fluff but I will probably fight more GOOs than Scarecrows.

True