I'm not anything close to a baseball fan. It's a fun enough sport to play, although I'd rather play basketball, hockey, soccer, football, etc. Watching baseball sounds about as enjoyable to me as watching golf or paint dry. Not to diminish the skills of baseball players (or golfers), it just doesn't make for an entertaining spectator sport (in my opinion). So I entered my Baseball Highlights: 2045 adventure with very little experience or interest about the sport. In fact, I probably never would have picked up the game except that I received it in a trade. I had read good things about it on BoardGameGeek (specifically in the 1 Player Guild's Solitaire Games on Your Table geeklist) and thought, "Hey! Why not?" How did I enjoy my time with America's national pastime? Let's find out together.
For those who don't know, Baseball Highlights: 2045 is a competitive deckbuilding game (although it comes with a solo mode in the box) set in the future. People have begun to tire of baseball and so robots and cyborgs have been added into the mix alongside human players (called "naturals"). Every card has both an offensive action (making hits and getting runs) and a defensive action (strikes and outs) that you have to decide when you will use. You play against an opponent (human or solo AI), taking turns playing offensive and defensive cards in a best of 7 series. For each inning, players draw 6 cards. After the first player plays their card, the offensive action takes effect. Player two plays a card and applies his/her defensive action against their opponent's offensive one to reduce their runs/hits. That same card then becomes player two's offensive card. Back and forth it goes until one player wins the game.
After each game you use the revenue you created (different players create different amounts of revenue) to recruit new players. Robots tend to be the best hitters, cyborgs the best pitchers, and naturals the best outfielders. You start the game with 15 basic cards (unless you're playing the solo made, then the solo AI deck is built differently) and when you recruit new players, you send one of your old players to the minors, so your deck will never be more than 15 cards. At the end of the series, one player will be crowned victorious.
TOTAL PLAYS: 20 solo, 5 competitive
COMPONENTS
I'm really a fan of the artwork in this game. Even though this game takes place in the future, the players have a vintage look in their clothes and hair styles. The colours are kind of muted and it feels fun. You're living in the past and future at the same time. The player boards are a really sturdy cardboard with notations for where your discarded and player cards go. It looks like a little baseball diamond (so cute). The cards are standard quality and the runner meeples come in red, blue, and white (fast, slow, and regular speed runners) wood pieces, the kind you might find in snakes and ladders. It'd be cool if the meeples were little running people or something, but not a deal breaker. Nothing blows me away, but there are no problems here either. 4/5
RULES
Being a teacher, I've taught kids baseball, so I have a general sense of the rules. I also do really enjoy sports so I've seen highlights and bits of games here or there. Having a basic understanding of baseball is definitely helpful for figuring out the rules. I could see it being a challenge otherwise. Having that knowledge, learning the game is really quite simple. It plays much like a baseball game would, with a few minor tweaks and more robot appendages than usual. The solo rules and some other variants are explained near the back of the book and are clear as well. As I said, I think it would be difficult to learn the game without a knowledge of baseball beforehand. 4/5
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is really where this game shines. It's surprisingly good and addictive! My favourite aspect of the game is the dual action card play. Let's say that you have a great card with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities. When will you use it? You might want to save a home run until you have the bases loaded, but if they have a few big hits coming up, you also need to be sure to stop them. There is a lot of choice in when to play your cards and when to save them. You also need to make smart choices about which players you will recruit, taking into consideration what your opponents strengths and weaknesses are.
In terms of solo play, it could be stronger. To build you solo opponent, you simply draw 15 random upgrade cards to form their deck. This means that they will be super stacked and you'll have 15 nothing cards to start (although they encourage you to do a few buying phases first so it's not so lopsided). This means you'll probably lose the first game or two until you can build up your team a bit. Also, there is no AI this way. Your opponent draws a random card. Sometimes it feels like the drew the exact right card that screwed over your home run card, but it's not. It's random. I wish it weren't, but, it's still fun. It's even better if you go to BGG and find one of the season/playoff variants that people have made to extend your experience. This game is much more strategic and thematic as a competitive game, but it is still enjoyable as a solo one. 4/5
REPLAYABILITY
There are lots of different cards in this game - you will not come close to seeing all of the free agents you can acquire in one series. Each time you play, there should be different players to add to your team. There is some variability in strategy - you might focus more on getting outs or getting runs, but generally you need to have some kind of balance in both offense and defense in order to win. This is one of those game that seems very similar each time you play it. Yes, there are some great memorable moments where you hit the perfect home run with the bases loaded or the opponent gets you with one out right when you were about to win the game, but each time you play the game you're getting roughly the same experience. It's a good experience, which I do really enjoy, but not so different each time. 3/5
FUN
This is a really engaging and quick deckbuilder to pull out. Sometimes you don't want to commit to a giant campaign or a lengthy experience. You just want a solid game with some exciting moments. Baseball Highlights scratches that itch. I think there are some better light deckbuilders out there (I prefer Goblivion, for example), but you can't go wrong with this one. If you like competing with and beating up on your friends (which I don't really enjoy doing), you'll have a blast setting up tournaments with this game. In fact, there are enough components in the box to run two games at once, so you really can have a tournament and have up to four people enjoying their time. I wish the game had a little more variability and a better solo system, but I would still recommend this game. 7/10
TOTAL SCORE - 22/30
If you're a baseball and deckbuilder fan, this game is a no brainer. There's a really unique dual action card system that I'd like to see more games adapt. The theme is really fun and the artwork brings it to life. There are a few bugs in the system, but this is a satisfying game, both competitively and solo. Have you played it? What did you think?
If you want more information on my review system, check out the full description here.
After each game you use the revenue you created (different players create different amounts of revenue) to recruit new players. Robots tend to be the best hitters, cyborgs the best pitchers, and naturals the best outfielders. You start the game with 15 basic cards (unless you're playing the solo made, then the solo AI deck is built differently) and when you recruit new players, you send one of your old players to the minors, so your deck will never be more than 15 cards. At the end of the series, one player will be crowned victorious.
TOTAL PLAYS: 20 solo, 5 competitive
COMPONENTS
I'm really a fan of the artwork in this game. Even though this game takes place in the future, the players have a vintage look in their clothes and hair styles. The colours are kind of muted and it feels fun. You're living in the past and future at the same time. The player boards are a really sturdy cardboard with notations for where your discarded and player cards go. It looks like a little baseball diamond (so cute). The cards are standard quality and the runner meeples come in red, blue, and white (fast, slow, and regular speed runners) wood pieces, the kind you might find in snakes and ladders. It'd be cool if the meeples were little running people or something, but not a deal breaker. Nothing blows me away, but there are no problems here either. 4/5
RULES
Being a teacher, I've taught kids baseball, so I have a general sense of the rules. I also do really enjoy sports so I've seen highlights and bits of games here or there. Having a basic understanding of baseball is definitely helpful for figuring out the rules. I could see it being a challenge otherwise. Having that knowledge, learning the game is really quite simple. It plays much like a baseball game would, with a few minor tweaks and more robot appendages than usual. The solo rules and some other variants are explained near the back of the book and are clear as well. As I said, I think it would be difficult to learn the game without a knowledge of baseball beforehand. 4/5
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is really where this game shines. It's surprisingly good and addictive! My favourite aspect of the game is the dual action card play. Let's say that you have a great card with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities. When will you use it? You might want to save a home run until you have the bases loaded, but if they have a few big hits coming up, you also need to be sure to stop them. There is a lot of choice in when to play your cards and when to save them. You also need to make smart choices about which players you will recruit, taking into consideration what your opponents strengths and weaknesses are.
In terms of solo play, it could be stronger. To build you solo opponent, you simply draw 15 random upgrade cards to form their deck. This means that they will be super stacked and you'll have 15 nothing cards to start (although they encourage you to do a few buying phases first so it's not so lopsided). This means you'll probably lose the first game or two until you can build up your team a bit. Also, there is no AI this way. Your opponent draws a random card. Sometimes it feels like the drew the exact right card that screwed over your home run card, but it's not. It's random. I wish it weren't, but, it's still fun. It's even better if you go to BGG and find one of the season/playoff variants that people have made to extend your experience. This game is much more strategic and thematic as a competitive game, but it is still enjoyable as a solo one. 4/5
REPLAYABILITY
There are lots of different cards in this game - you will not come close to seeing all of the free agents you can acquire in one series. Each time you play, there should be different players to add to your team. There is some variability in strategy - you might focus more on getting outs or getting runs, but generally you need to have some kind of balance in both offense and defense in order to win. This is one of those game that seems very similar each time you play it. Yes, there are some great memorable moments where you hit the perfect home run with the bases loaded or the opponent gets you with one out right when you were about to win the game, but each time you play the game you're getting roughly the same experience. It's a good experience, which I do really enjoy, but not so different each time. 3/5
FUN
This is a really engaging and quick deckbuilder to pull out. Sometimes you don't want to commit to a giant campaign or a lengthy experience. You just want a solid game with some exciting moments. Baseball Highlights scratches that itch. I think there are some better light deckbuilders out there (I prefer Goblivion, for example), but you can't go wrong with this one. If you like competing with and beating up on your friends (which I don't really enjoy doing), you'll have a blast setting up tournaments with this game. In fact, there are enough components in the box to run two games at once, so you really can have a tournament and have up to four people enjoying their time. I wish the game had a little more variability and a better solo system, but I would still recommend this game. 7/10
TOTAL SCORE - 22/30
If you're a baseball and deckbuilder fan, this game is a no brainer. There's a really unique dual action card system that I'd like to see more games adapt. The theme is really fun and the artwork brings it to life. There are a few bugs in the system, but this is a satisfying game, both competitively and solo. Have you played it? What did you think?
If you want more information on my review system, check out the full description here.
No comments:
Post a Comment