This week, XBLA in Brief takes on Happy Tree Friends and Ticket to Ride. One of them is a pretty good board game about building railroads. The other one is a weird game that doesn't really seem to take advantage of the cartoon upon which it's based. We'll let you figure out which one is which.
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I played Ticket to Ride for about 90 minutes today. It is difficult to describe why it's good, but it is. I haven't tried the local multiplayer-- I can't quite figure how that works when you don't want anyone to know which routes you have? Is there anyone who's tried local multi yet?
I expected to hate Ticket to Ride and like Happy Tree Friends. How wrong I was... whoever developed HTF missed a golden opportunity. I plan on spending my points on TTR.
You can't trade cards, but you *can* block routes. I haven't played much but I can tell you it's pretty annoying to have your route blocked off after you've already built most of it.
You only have a limited number of trains too, which means finding your way around a block can be costly.
Thanks a lot. I love Catan, so I'm tempted to at least give it a shot despite my initial impressions being that it's a bit too simple (both in theme and execution).
Carcasonne was enough for me and it was a great game. I'll pass on these releases. Instead I picked up Xevious and Dig Dug bringing my arcade total up to 66 games....Yay.
My wife and I played local multiplayer all night yesterday. It was great. You can block routes to the point of effectively sticking someone with a destination card or cards. Its really amazing how it sucked away our night. I am really happy we jumped on this one. Cataan i like but no local so thats a no, I have carcasonne and lost cities just couldn't get into it. Waiting to see what game they come with next.
Just wanted to say that I love these x3ftv things. It seems like you have quite a niche with these videos that i haven't seen satisfied quite as well anywhere else.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-25-2008 @ 8:30PM
RockerAnimeFreak said...
how do you guys capture video feeds off of the 360? =/ and nice review might consider getting HTF for some demented fun...
Reply
6-25-2008 @ 9:06PM
Momer said...
They use a video capture card. They're not very expensive these days and you can get one easily off TigerDirect.
6-25-2008 @ 9:08PM
Mike Schramm said...
All aboard the awesometrain!
Reply
6-25-2008 @ 10:17PM
SoxFan13 said...
I played Ticket to Ride for about 90 minutes today. It is difficult to describe why it's good, but it is. I haven't tried the local multiplayer-- I can't quite figure how that works when you don't want anyone to know which routes you have? Is there anyone who's tried local multi yet?
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 12:20AM
Richard Mitchell said...
From what I can tell, local doesn't work in the trial. I was curious about how that worked too.
6-26-2008 @ 2:22AM
stinger503 said...
I've tried it and they do give away your cards and destinations. However it just requires different strategies and was still tons of fun.
6-25-2008 @ 10:24PM
derektgreen said...
Great review. Gonna go get myself that train game.
Reply
6-25-2008 @ 11:36PM
Seanross said...
I expected to hate Ticket to Ride and like Happy Tree Friends. How wrong I was... whoever developed HTF missed a golden opportunity. I plan on spending my points on TTR.
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 2:34AM
Digital Limit said...
So, uh, what are the strategies in Ticket to Ride? Is there trading, can you block routes, or what kind of player interaction is there?
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 8:32AM
Richard Mitchell said...
You can't trade cards, but you *can* block routes. I haven't played much but I can tell you it's pretty annoying to have your route blocked off after you've already built most of it.
You only have a limited number of trains too, which means finding your way around a block can be costly.
6-26-2008 @ 3:38PM
Digital Limit said...
Thanks a lot. I love Catan, so I'm tempted to at least give it a shot despite my initial impressions being that it's a bit too simple (both in theme and execution).
6-26-2008 @ 5:43AM
ccc said...
Carcasonne was enough for me and it was a great game. I'll pass on these releases.
Instead I picked up Xevious and Dig Dug bringing my arcade total up to 66 games....Yay.
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 8:21AM
Tyr1n said...
Thnx for saving me 800 msp :-D
i was going to buy htf, but NOT anymore!
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 9:30AM
Dadidito said...
My wife and I played local multiplayer all night yesterday. It was great. You can block routes to the point of effectively sticking someone with a destination card or cards. Its really amazing how it sucked away our night. I am really happy we jumped on this one. Cataan i like but no local so thats a no, I have carcasonne and lost cities just couldn't get into it. Waiting to see what game they come with next.
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 11:44AM
Dralthi said...
Yikes...these two games look pretty bad and boring.
What's up with all the crappy games coming to XBLA lately?
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 1:55PM
corbin said...
Just wanted to say that I love these x3ftv things. It seems like you have quite a niche with these videos that i haven't seen satisfied quite as well anywhere else.
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 3:39PM
Digital Limit said...
I agree completely. Love the content, so keep it up!