by gameon3948
Salimo wrote:
ChrB wrote:
Thanks for the review. I agree that it's a great game!
My only concern is the (strategic) replayability; yes, there is definitely some variety, but most games tend to be about getting a lot of coke and steel and ship those goods. It's hard to win without doing that, at least that's my experience after playing Le Havre ~20 times.
Also, I don't like that getting a loan (or several) is not that bad; I think the penalty for getting those should be increased.
My only concern is the (strategic) replayability; yes, there is definitely some variety, but most games tend to be about getting a lot of coke and steel and ship those goods. It's hard to win without doing that, at least that's my experience after playing Le Havre ~20 times.
Also, I don't like that getting a loan (or several) is not that bad; I think the penalty for getting those should be increased.
Both of these issues are highlighted when one plays the iPad implementation a few times...it really makes the game feel very repetitive.
As for the iPad version, like nearly all iPad boardgames, the AI is terrible and only really good for learning the rules. If you aren't playing against yourself (trying to get higher scores each time), I think it would definitely get boring quickly.
As for the strategy complaint, I did address this in the review. Personally this is a pro for me, but I understand different people like different things and it's a con for others:
"Careful, tight balance. This is not a game about specialization or about mutual exclusive paths to victory. This is a game about using your limited number of actions as efficiently as possible. You have one goal, to make money, and more often than not that means getting ships, getting valuable goods, and shipping them! As such it's not a game of devising an overarching strategy (the game provides that to you); instead it's about constantly reevaluating fluctuating markets, knowing when it's too risky not to take something, knowing when your opponent is being too greedy and leaving something to accumulate that they really need, knowing when it's okay to take a loan if it means being able to build that truly critical building a turn early, and knowing when it's best to wait and make sure everyone gets fed this round."
