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Piper (13 KP) rated Halloween (2018) in Movies
Nov 27, 2019
Strong Characters (3 more)
Clever Camerawork
Myers is Finally Threatening Again
Callbacks and Subversions
"You're The New Doctor Loomis" (3 more)
Plot Holes
Predictable
Too Much Off-Screen Action
Halloween: Predictably Unpredictable
Contains spoilers, click to show
After the nightmare of a film that was Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake, I refused to bother seeing the new Halloween on its release, choosing instead to pick up a DVD when the price got knocked down significantly enough - after all, we’ve had sixty-three Halloween films now and only half of them were worth watching (really, Season of the Witch?) and this looked, in all honesty, like just another slasher-film-reboot that wasn’t worth the time. Now don’t get me wrong, it absolutely was just another slasher film, but I wish I’d seen it in the cinema. And a year earlier than I did, too, because I missed out big-time with this one.
The plot is predictable, because of course it is. It’s Michael Myers, what’s he going to do except escape from a mental institution and murder some people? But it’s beautifully subverted; some of the characters you might expect to last till the end die before the halfway mark, and while there are a fair amount who are clearly written in just to be killed minutes later, they contribute to some fine, gory moments, so it’s kind of okay. There’s no real heartbreaker here - everyone you really rooted for just about makes it, and everyone that was kind of a dick is killed. And that’s fine, because in a way this isn’t the kind of slasher where it matters who lives or dies. This is a film about preserving a legacy, or perhaps just making one, and it works. We’re told fairly early on that this is a direct sequel to the original Halloween (Myers’ death toll at the start of this version, apparently, is five, which matches the amount of kills he made in the first movie - as far as I’m aware, Myers has actually killed over 100 people in all the films combined, so this is a nice subtle way of telling us what to remember and what to ignore completely). Having said that, references are made throughout to previous films, the best of which is of course a callback to the infamous scene where Myers tumbles out of a window only for his body to completely disappear - this time it’s Laurie Strode who does the tumbling, and she very much intends to do a little vanishing act of her own, Michael, so keep an eye on - oh, no, you looked away, I wonder what’s happening down there!
Focusing on Laurie for a moment, Jamie Lee Curtis does an absolutely excellent job here. Age has given her character wisdom, paranoia, and a whole lot of guns, and the acting carries a huge amount of weight and strength with it. Having said that, there are a couple of moments where all of Laurie’s fear-induced calculations don’t seem to have quite worked out - why bother going to such extreme measures to protect your house, if the front door you’re standing behind is half glass? But that’s the thing about this movie - whatever you plan for, whatever you think Michael Myers is capable of, he’s stronger than you think, he’s far more terrifying than you remember, and right until the end, he’s here to remind you that nothing you can plan for will ever be enough. Of course, we never actually see him die (again) so here’s looking forward to the next sequel…
The cinematography is something to at least wonder over - settings and locations are used well and established with some wonderful wide shots, and some of the best scenes are those where the camera just stays in one place, at a very carefully-selected window for example, and watches. Two scenes are worth a particular mention; the first, in which we follow our two podcast-host characters to a gas station, seems fairly dull until Myers catches up to them, but if you watch the background carefully enough you’ll see he’s there all along, beating people up and murdering quite happily (swapping his prison jumpsuit for those traditional blues in the process). The second seems a little superficial, in the grand scheme of the movie, but it’s well-shot nonetheless - we watch, from that aforementioned window, as a woman hears about all the nasty things Michael might do, and of course we can see him through another window, heading for her front door, and when he finally appears inside the house he’s all the way across the room, somehow, and he calmly wanders on over and stabs the woman quite coolly through the throat, in a scene which I think is most reminiscent of the original films.
However, there are moments when you don’t see Michael at all, just the aftermath, or where we watch him enter a room and are forced to linger in the corridor while he does the dirty work. A couple of times that’s just fine, but considering the nature of the film it would be nice to watch the magic happen a couple more times. And while we’re on the negatives, I might mention that the reveal that the Doctor Loomis-type character who looked, felt, and sounded like a rip-off of Doctor Loomis, and was even referred to as “The New Doctor Loomis” did EXACTLY the same thing that Doctor Loomis did, surprise, and we were somehow expected to not see that coming like it was all one big, obvious, heavy-handed bluff. A couple of the other characters, too, felt like they were purely rammed in there to be irritating - there were a couple of strong scenes with our podcast hosts, but ultimately they were rude, on-the-nose and annoyingly egotistical, and I was happy to see them go, just like Alison’s friend Foggy Nelson.
The score, incidentally, is worth mentioning, from a haunting retune of the original Myers theme to darker and more dramatic variations on it later on that really would have been quite something to hear in surround-sound. I’m never usually one to appreciate the music of a film quite fully enough, so it was nice to have this grab my attention in quite the way it did. Overall, it’s a genuinely good follow-on that takes the best of the films before and makes the best use of the worst of them. Some of the characters might be a little annoying, some of the action could have translated better on-screen than off, but it was an honest and straight-up slasher film and it just wasn’t that bad at all.
The plot is predictable, because of course it is. It’s Michael Myers, what’s he going to do except escape from a mental institution and murder some people? But it’s beautifully subverted; some of the characters you might expect to last till the end die before the halfway mark, and while there are a fair amount who are clearly written in just to be killed minutes later, they contribute to some fine, gory moments, so it’s kind of okay. There’s no real heartbreaker here - everyone you really rooted for just about makes it, and everyone that was kind of a dick is killed. And that’s fine, because in a way this isn’t the kind of slasher where it matters who lives or dies. This is a film about preserving a legacy, or perhaps just making one, and it works. We’re told fairly early on that this is a direct sequel to the original Halloween (Myers’ death toll at the start of this version, apparently, is five, which matches the amount of kills he made in the first movie - as far as I’m aware, Myers has actually killed over 100 people in all the films combined, so this is a nice subtle way of telling us what to remember and what to ignore completely). Having said that, references are made throughout to previous films, the best of which is of course a callback to the infamous scene where Myers tumbles out of a window only for his body to completely disappear - this time it’s Laurie Strode who does the tumbling, and she very much intends to do a little vanishing act of her own, Michael, so keep an eye on - oh, no, you looked away, I wonder what’s happening down there!
Focusing on Laurie for a moment, Jamie Lee Curtis does an absolutely excellent job here. Age has given her character wisdom, paranoia, and a whole lot of guns, and the acting carries a huge amount of weight and strength with it. Having said that, there are a couple of moments where all of Laurie’s fear-induced calculations don’t seem to have quite worked out - why bother going to such extreme measures to protect your house, if the front door you’re standing behind is half glass? But that’s the thing about this movie - whatever you plan for, whatever you think Michael Myers is capable of, he’s stronger than you think, he’s far more terrifying than you remember, and right until the end, he’s here to remind you that nothing you can plan for will ever be enough. Of course, we never actually see him die (again) so here’s looking forward to the next sequel…
The cinematography is something to at least wonder over - settings and locations are used well and established with some wonderful wide shots, and some of the best scenes are those where the camera just stays in one place, at a very carefully-selected window for example, and watches. Two scenes are worth a particular mention; the first, in which we follow our two podcast-host characters to a gas station, seems fairly dull until Myers catches up to them, but if you watch the background carefully enough you’ll see he’s there all along, beating people up and murdering quite happily (swapping his prison jumpsuit for those traditional blues in the process). The second seems a little superficial, in the grand scheme of the movie, but it’s well-shot nonetheless - we watch, from that aforementioned window, as a woman hears about all the nasty things Michael might do, and of course we can see him through another window, heading for her front door, and when he finally appears inside the house he’s all the way across the room, somehow, and he calmly wanders on over and stabs the woman quite coolly through the throat, in a scene which I think is most reminiscent of the original films.
However, there are moments when you don’t see Michael at all, just the aftermath, or where we watch him enter a room and are forced to linger in the corridor while he does the dirty work. A couple of times that’s just fine, but considering the nature of the film it would be nice to watch the magic happen a couple more times. And while we’re on the negatives, I might mention that the reveal that the Doctor Loomis-type character who looked, felt, and sounded like a rip-off of Doctor Loomis, and was even referred to as “The New Doctor Loomis” did EXACTLY the same thing that Doctor Loomis did, surprise, and we were somehow expected to not see that coming like it was all one big, obvious, heavy-handed bluff. A couple of the other characters, too, felt like they were purely rammed in there to be irritating - there were a couple of strong scenes with our podcast hosts, but ultimately they were rude, on-the-nose and annoyingly egotistical, and I was happy to see them go, just like Alison’s friend Foggy Nelson.
The score, incidentally, is worth mentioning, from a haunting retune of the original Myers theme to darker and more dramatic variations on it later on that really would have been quite something to hear in surround-sound. I’m never usually one to appreciate the music of a film quite fully enough, so it was nice to have this grab my attention in quite the way it did. Overall, it’s a genuinely good follow-on that takes the best of the films before and makes the best use of the worst of them. Some of the characters might be a little annoying, some of the action could have translated better on-screen than off, but it was an honest and straight-up slasher film and it just wasn’t that bad at all.
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Captain America: Civil War (2016) in Movies
Jul 24, 2017
Battle Royale
Contains spoilers, click to show
This movie is amazing. I know, I’m supposed to start with an intro but this film is just too good. I knew that I would love it and that I was looking forward to it for a fairly long time, but I loved this movie in ways that I didn’t even expect to. Based on the seminal Mark Millar event comic that saw most of the Marvel comic book universe go up against each other, this movie pits the heroes of the MCU against each other, which results in an exciting battle of all of the heroes that we’ve grown to love. The film doesn’t take much else from the comic though, other than the idea of the heroes fighting one another, there is no talk of exposing secret identities here, nor is there a battle between the massive amount of combatants that there were in the comic. If someone had told me these facts before I saw the film, I would have been going into the movie on a downer, but the thing is that this movie doesn’t have to be totally faithful to the comic book to be great, which is a credit to the writers and directors of the film. Watching the film is still like watching a comic book onscreen, just not the same comic book that you have previously read, which is awesome.
The vast majority of the cast of characters that have been introduced in the MCU so far are present here, besides Thor and Hulk. I can see why they omitted these characters, as they really would have given whatever side they chose an unfair advantage. We are left with two sides, there is Team Cap, made up of Cap, Falcon, Bucky, Ant Man, Scarlett Witch and Hawkeye and then there is Team Stark, made up of Iron Man, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, Black Panther and Spiderman. I went into this movie siding with Team Cap, probably because Iron Man was ultimately the antagonist in the book, but as the film progressed, I have to admit that I could see either side of the argument. The fight sequences are exciting, due to the excellent stunt work and convincing use of CGI, also the acting here is surprisingly deep, especially for a Marvel movie, with several cast members giving passionate, convincing performances. While the action and humour that we have come to expect from a Marvel movie is present here, this film definitely does take on a darker tone in a few sequences and it also questions the idea of superheroes as a concept, there is not only a physical battle present in this movie, but also a psychological one as well as a socio-political one.
The score is used well, there is actually not too many songs present and the score is mostly made up of orchestral instrumental pieces, which also tells you something about the tone of this movie in comparison with previous Marvel films. The editing is also good, snappy enough to keep a consistent pace, while being clear enough to still tell a comprehensible, cohesive story.
Okay it is becoming difficult to continue writing this review without spoiling the movie, so I’ll do a quick summary then I will delve into spoiler territory. This is probably the best Marvel movie to date. It works as a sequel to Captain America Winter Soldier, it works as an ensemble Avengers piece, it works as a sufficient introduction to several new characters and it also blends the more serious tone of previous Cap movies with the more light hearted tone we have previously seen in the Avengers movies. It is a well told, tightly woven story, that still feels large in scope, which is not an easy thing to achieve, *coughs* Batman V Superman, *coughs.* While it’s not what I expected to get when they told us they were making Civil War, it is still a fantastic comic book movie, 9/10.
Okay, spoiler time. This movie came out in the UK a week before it did in America, so I have had the opportunity to see it twice so far. However, I am very aware that this movie isn’t opening in America until May 5th, so I do want to make it very clear that if you haven’t seen the film yet, you really should before reading the rest of this review.
They absolutely nail Spiderman here, in every way. He is the most faithful adaption we have had on the big screen to date, Tom Holland was the perfect choice and it there is no doubt that this young actor clearly has a very bright future ahead of him. Aunt May is played by Marisa Tomei in the film and because she is so young compared to comic book Aunt May, I did initially have my doubts, but she also nails the small role that she has here. The suit is also awesome and after seeing Civil War, I honestly cannot wait for Spiderman: Homecoming. Black Panther is another new character that they introduce and do a good job with, they establish him quickly and clearly and from the get go, we understand this character and his motivations for feeling the ways that he does. The other surprise star of the film is Ant Man, who for the first time onscreen, becomes Giant Man and it is epic. This would have been so easy to make cheesy and just have it not work at all, but here it is convincing and very well implemented into the airport battle. The CGI during this scene is also fantastic. The airport scene is also a highlight of the movie, to see all of these characters onscreen together is truly amazing and as comic book fan I was in heaven. I still can’t believe that we got to see Spiderman making a Star Wars reference, whilst he was swinging around Giant Man, the nerd part of my brain went into overload and I physically couldn’t wipe off the massive, stupid grin that was on my face. The final battle is also pretty cool.
The third act starts off with Tony Stark deciding that he may be wrong about Bucky and that it wasn’t him who set off the bomb in Wakanda, so he, Bucky and Cap team up again to go and confront Zemo, but then the three are shown a CCTV tape from one of Bucky’s past missions, which reveals that it was in fact Bucky that killed Tony’s parents when he was being mind controlled and that Cap knew about this the whole time. This results in Tony being overcome with rage and attacking Cap and Bucky, during the fight he rips off Bucky’s robot arm, but Cap manages to overpower him and he sticks his shield through Tony’s ark reactor, shutting down his suit. We then learn that Black Panther has followed Tony and intends to kill Bucky for setting off the bomb that killed his father, but when he learns that Zemo was behind it, he confronts him and demands an explanation. Zemo tells him that his family were killed when Ultron attacked Sekovia and that he has planned to destroy the Avengers ever since, but because he knew he couldn’t take them down himself, he decided to instead pit them against each other and let them kill one another. Panther then decides that he is sick of seeing people being consumed by revenge and decides to let Zemo live, but Zemo attempts to kill himself anyway, before Panther stops him, telling him that he must remain alive to answer for his crimes. After their fight, Stark tells Cap that he doesn’t deserve his shield, and so Cap drops his shield and helps Bucky out of the bunker. The movie ends with Cap busting his teammates out of prison, where they were put after the airport battle and going into hiding in Black Panther’s mansion house in Wakanda. While the movie is fairly long I did feel that it could have went on a while longer, it’s almost as if the films are at a point now where they know they are going to continue the story in a few months, so they don’t even bother writing a proper ending for the films. This is the only criticism that I have though and like I said we will be getting another Marvel movie in a few months anyway so it doesn’t really matter how this one ends. So yeah, best Marvel movie so far and whether you are a comic book fan or not, this is a damn good time.
The vast majority of the cast of characters that have been introduced in the MCU so far are present here, besides Thor and Hulk. I can see why they omitted these characters, as they really would have given whatever side they chose an unfair advantage. We are left with two sides, there is Team Cap, made up of Cap, Falcon, Bucky, Ant Man, Scarlett Witch and Hawkeye and then there is Team Stark, made up of Iron Man, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, Black Panther and Spiderman. I went into this movie siding with Team Cap, probably because Iron Man was ultimately the antagonist in the book, but as the film progressed, I have to admit that I could see either side of the argument. The fight sequences are exciting, due to the excellent stunt work and convincing use of CGI, also the acting here is surprisingly deep, especially for a Marvel movie, with several cast members giving passionate, convincing performances. While the action and humour that we have come to expect from a Marvel movie is present here, this film definitely does take on a darker tone in a few sequences and it also questions the idea of superheroes as a concept, there is not only a physical battle present in this movie, but also a psychological one as well as a socio-political one.
The score is used well, there is actually not too many songs present and the score is mostly made up of orchestral instrumental pieces, which also tells you something about the tone of this movie in comparison with previous Marvel films. The editing is also good, snappy enough to keep a consistent pace, while being clear enough to still tell a comprehensible, cohesive story.
Okay it is becoming difficult to continue writing this review without spoiling the movie, so I’ll do a quick summary then I will delve into spoiler territory. This is probably the best Marvel movie to date. It works as a sequel to Captain America Winter Soldier, it works as an ensemble Avengers piece, it works as a sufficient introduction to several new characters and it also blends the more serious tone of previous Cap movies with the more light hearted tone we have previously seen in the Avengers movies. It is a well told, tightly woven story, that still feels large in scope, which is not an easy thing to achieve, *coughs* Batman V Superman, *coughs.* While it’s not what I expected to get when they told us they were making Civil War, it is still a fantastic comic book movie, 9/10.
Okay, spoiler time. This movie came out in the UK a week before it did in America, so I have had the opportunity to see it twice so far. However, I am very aware that this movie isn’t opening in America until May 5th, so I do want to make it very clear that if you haven’t seen the film yet, you really should before reading the rest of this review.
They absolutely nail Spiderman here, in every way. He is the most faithful adaption we have had on the big screen to date, Tom Holland was the perfect choice and it there is no doubt that this young actor clearly has a very bright future ahead of him. Aunt May is played by Marisa Tomei in the film and because she is so young compared to comic book Aunt May, I did initially have my doubts, but she also nails the small role that she has here. The suit is also awesome and after seeing Civil War, I honestly cannot wait for Spiderman: Homecoming. Black Panther is another new character that they introduce and do a good job with, they establish him quickly and clearly and from the get go, we understand this character and his motivations for feeling the ways that he does. The other surprise star of the film is Ant Man, who for the first time onscreen, becomes Giant Man and it is epic. This would have been so easy to make cheesy and just have it not work at all, but here it is convincing and very well implemented into the airport battle. The CGI during this scene is also fantastic. The airport scene is also a highlight of the movie, to see all of these characters onscreen together is truly amazing and as comic book fan I was in heaven. I still can’t believe that we got to see Spiderman making a Star Wars reference, whilst he was swinging around Giant Man, the nerd part of my brain went into overload and I physically couldn’t wipe off the massive, stupid grin that was on my face. The final battle is also pretty cool.
The third act starts off with Tony Stark deciding that he may be wrong about Bucky and that it wasn’t him who set off the bomb in Wakanda, so he, Bucky and Cap team up again to go and confront Zemo, but then the three are shown a CCTV tape from one of Bucky’s past missions, which reveals that it was in fact Bucky that killed Tony’s parents when he was being mind controlled and that Cap knew about this the whole time. This results in Tony being overcome with rage and attacking Cap and Bucky, during the fight he rips off Bucky’s robot arm, but Cap manages to overpower him and he sticks his shield through Tony’s ark reactor, shutting down his suit. We then learn that Black Panther has followed Tony and intends to kill Bucky for setting off the bomb that killed his father, but when he learns that Zemo was behind it, he confronts him and demands an explanation. Zemo tells him that his family were killed when Ultron attacked Sekovia and that he has planned to destroy the Avengers ever since, but because he knew he couldn’t take them down himself, he decided to instead pit them against each other and let them kill one another. Panther then decides that he is sick of seeing people being consumed by revenge and decides to let Zemo live, but Zemo attempts to kill himself anyway, before Panther stops him, telling him that he must remain alive to answer for his crimes. After their fight, Stark tells Cap that he doesn’t deserve his shield, and so Cap drops his shield and helps Bucky out of the bunker. The movie ends with Cap busting his teammates out of prison, where they were put after the airport battle and going into hiding in Black Panther’s mansion house in Wakanda. While the movie is fairly long I did feel that it could have went on a while longer, it’s almost as if the films are at a point now where they know they are going to continue the story in a few months, so they don’t even bother writing a proper ending for the films. This is the only criticism that I have though and like I said we will be getting another Marvel movie in a few months anyway so it doesn’t really matter how this one ends. So yeah, best Marvel movie so far and whether you are a comic book fan or not, this is a damn good time.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Magical Friends and How to Summon Them in Tabletop Games
Sep 29, 2021
If there is one game theme that will never get old for me, it’s fantasy. Something about a world of magic and magical creatures is fascinating to me, and I will never turn down the chance to play any sort of fantasy-themed game. So when I came across Magical Friends and How to Summon Them, I was immediately hooked. Does the gameplay live up to my expectations of what a great fantasy game should be, or does it miss the magical mark?
Disclaimer: We were provided with a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this preview. The components pictured are not finalized, and could change after a successful Kickstarter campaign. I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook, but rather provide a general overview of the rules and gameplay. For more information, head to the Magical Friends website. -L
Magical Friends and How to Summon Them (referred to as just Magical Friends from hereon out) is a strategic game of card drafting and variable turn order in which players take on the roles of mages attempting to summon the most magical creatures to the local tavern in order to win the Midsummer festival competition. Played over 8 rounds, players will take turns summoning creatures, moving them towards the tavern, using special creature abilities, and occasionally fighting off your opponents’ creatures. The player who gets the most creatures to the tavern by the end of the 8th round is the winner! To setup for the game, lay out the main board and summoning board in the center of the table. Take the 4 double-sided map tiles, randomly choose a side, and place them in their corresponding places on the main board. Shuffle the Summoning cards and reveal a number of cards, determined by player count, to create a market row and preview row. Each player receives a player mat, heart tokens, and Artifact Cards in their chosen color. Place the round marker on Round 1 of the main board, select a player to get the starting player token, and the game is ready to begin!
To start a round, first you will need to determine turn order. Each player has an identical deck of 11 Artifact Cards, numbered 1-11. The player who offers the most powerful (highest number) Artifact gets to act first in the round. The player with the starting player token chooses their card first, and places it face-up on their player mat. The next player, in clockwise order, will do the same. Here’s the catch though – once a number has been played, it cannot be played by anyone else for this round! So say I put choose my value 8 card – no other player may choose that card for this round. Once all players have chosen their Artifacts, determine the turn order for the round. The player with the highest valued Artifact goes first, then the next highest, and so on.
Once the turn order has been determined, it is time for players to take their turns! On your turn, the first thing you will do is to select a Summoning card from the Summoning board and take it into their tableau. The selected card tells you which friend (creature) you have summoned, and tells you how many moves/what types of movement you may take this round. After choosing your Summoning card, you will take any/all of the following actions: Summon a friend (bring its standee into play), use basic movement (as determined by your new friend), use bonus movement (from other cards), or use the abilities of any friends in your tableau. You may perform as many of these actions as you want and are able to perform. It is important to note that each friend may only use one basic movement and one bonus movement per round. So you can’t just move a single friend with every movement available in one turn.
Once you are finished performing actions, you will end your turn. Refresh the Summoning board by shifting cards down and refilling any empty creature slots. Play then moves to the player with the next highest valued Artifact card. When all players have taken their turn, the round ends. Move the Round marker up one spot, and pass the starting player token to the next clockwise player. A new round will then start with the turn order determination, beginning with the new starting player. After 8 rounds of play, the winner is crowned. Players score points for the number of their friends who reached the tavern, and the player with the highest score wins!
I’ll come right out and say that I really have enjoyed Magical Friends. There are lots of elements that I like and that work well together to create a fun, strategic, and engaging game. First, turn order determination. I love that the turn order isn’t set for the entire game, because that could really be a detriment to whomever would be last every round. Being able to ‘bid’ for turn order, in a sense, allows players to be proactive (or conversely, reactive) with their strategy. And after you’ve used an Artifact card in a round, it is discarded and cannot be used for the rest of the game. So you need to decide when it’s worth it to play your high value cards to hopefully act first, or if you’re willing to risk playing a mid-value card that might be out-bid by an opponent.
The other awesome strategic element are the friends in the game. Each friend is a different creature with different movement options and special abilities during gameplay. An important thing to note is that although every friend has a printed movement value on its card, you may only ever use that value on the round in which you summon that friend. So a Griffin, for example, lets you move 3 friends 2 spaces, which you may do when you first summon the Griffin. But in future rounds, the Griffin will only move based on the movements provided by the most newly acquired friend. Maybe you don’t necessarily want to summon a Mermaid, but the movement she offers is exactly what you need to get some friends to the tavern for scoring. It’s all a neat mix of strategy that you are changing with every turn. Along with the movements, each friend has a special ability that can be used on your turns. Some abilities allow you to move extra spaces, move opponents, or even slay creatures. When you slay a creature, you collect its heart token for endgame scoring, and the player who controlled that creature gets a Pity Power card (which provide bonus movement). You need to decide when to move which friends, and in what order to trigger your abilities. You must always be paying attention to the board layout and your opponents’ turns as they will help you determine your strategy for future turns.
Components. As I mentioned earlier, this is a prototype version of the game, but with that said, the components are pretty nice! The cards are sturdy, the text is clear, and the artwork is fun to look at. The main game board and summoning boards are colorful, and the creature standees are nicely sized for the board. I do have to say that I really like the heart tokens used to identify to whom each creature belongs on the board. The hearts slide over top of the standee and create a base of sorts to color-code every creature on the board. Just a neat little use of components that make the gameplay smooth. And how about the insert? It’s awesome! The standees are all stored, assembled, in a slotted inlay that allows for quick selection of creatures. I hope that’s something that makes it to final production because it really helps streamline the gameplay. Some of the wording in the rulebook could use some clarification, but I know that it is still a work in progress and continues to undergo edits. The only negative I would have to say is that 2 of the player colors are black and gray – and they are sometimes difficult to differentiate between. But changing one color should be an easy fix!
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by Magical Friends. At first glance, I thought it would be a pretty simple ‘roll-and-move’ type game, but it proved to be much more strategic and engaging than I initially thought. The variable turn order, the movement rules/restrictions, and the unique friend abilities all work together to create a cohesive, thematic, and strategic game. I very much am looking forward to following the progress of Magical Friends and How to Summon Them on Kickstarter, and I encourage you to check it out as well!
Disclaimer: We were provided with a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this preview. The components pictured are not finalized, and could change after a successful Kickstarter campaign. I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook, but rather provide a general overview of the rules and gameplay. For more information, head to the Magical Friends website. -L
Magical Friends and How to Summon Them (referred to as just Magical Friends from hereon out) is a strategic game of card drafting and variable turn order in which players take on the roles of mages attempting to summon the most magical creatures to the local tavern in order to win the Midsummer festival competition. Played over 8 rounds, players will take turns summoning creatures, moving them towards the tavern, using special creature abilities, and occasionally fighting off your opponents’ creatures. The player who gets the most creatures to the tavern by the end of the 8th round is the winner! To setup for the game, lay out the main board and summoning board in the center of the table. Take the 4 double-sided map tiles, randomly choose a side, and place them in their corresponding places on the main board. Shuffle the Summoning cards and reveal a number of cards, determined by player count, to create a market row and preview row. Each player receives a player mat, heart tokens, and Artifact Cards in their chosen color. Place the round marker on Round 1 of the main board, select a player to get the starting player token, and the game is ready to begin!
To start a round, first you will need to determine turn order. Each player has an identical deck of 11 Artifact Cards, numbered 1-11. The player who offers the most powerful (highest number) Artifact gets to act first in the round. The player with the starting player token chooses their card first, and places it face-up on their player mat. The next player, in clockwise order, will do the same. Here’s the catch though – once a number has been played, it cannot be played by anyone else for this round! So say I put choose my value 8 card – no other player may choose that card for this round. Once all players have chosen their Artifacts, determine the turn order for the round. The player with the highest valued Artifact goes first, then the next highest, and so on.
Once the turn order has been determined, it is time for players to take their turns! On your turn, the first thing you will do is to select a Summoning card from the Summoning board and take it into their tableau. The selected card tells you which friend (creature) you have summoned, and tells you how many moves/what types of movement you may take this round. After choosing your Summoning card, you will take any/all of the following actions: Summon a friend (bring its standee into play), use basic movement (as determined by your new friend), use bonus movement (from other cards), or use the abilities of any friends in your tableau. You may perform as many of these actions as you want and are able to perform. It is important to note that each friend may only use one basic movement and one bonus movement per round. So you can’t just move a single friend with every movement available in one turn.
Once you are finished performing actions, you will end your turn. Refresh the Summoning board by shifting cards down and refilling any empty creature slots. Play then moves to the player with the next highest valued Artifact card. When all players have taken their turn, the round ends. Move the Round marker up one spot, and pass the starting player token to the next clockwise player. A new round will then start with the turn order determination, beginning with the new starting player. After 8 rounds of play, the winner is crowned. Players score points for the number of their friends who reached the tavern, and the player with the highest score wins!
I’ll come right out and say that I really have enjoyed Magical Friends. There are lots of elements that I like and that work well together to create a fun, strategic, and engaging game. First, turn order determination. I love that the turn order isn’t set for the entire game, because that could really be a detriment to whomever would be last every round. Being able to ‘bid’ for turn order, in a sense, allows players to be proactive (or conversely, reactive) with their strategy. And after you’ve used an Artifact card in a round, it is discarded and cannot be used for the rest of the game. So you need to decide when it’s worth it to play your high value cards to hopefully act first, or if you’re willing to risk playing a mid-value card that might be out-bid by an opponent.
The other awesome strategic element are the friends in the game. Each friend is a different creature with different movement options and special abilities during gameplay. An important thing to note is that although every friend has a printed movement value on its card, you may only ever use that value on the round in which you summon that friend. So a Griffin, for example, lets you move 3 friends 2 spaces, which you may do when you first summon the Griffin. But in future rounds, the Griffin will only move based on the movements provided by the most newly acquired friend. Maybe you don’t necessarily want to summon a Mermaid, but the movement she offers is exactly what you need to get some friends to the tavern for scoring. It’s all a neat mix of strategy that you are changing with every turn. Along with the movements, each friend has a special ability that can be used on your turns. Some abilities allow you to move extra spaces, move opponents, or even slay creatures. When you slay a creature, you collect its heart token for endgame scoring, and the player who controlled that creature gets a Pity Power card (which provide bonus movement). You need to decide when to move which friends, and in what order to trigger your abilities. You must always be paying attention to the board layout and your opponents’ turns as they will help you determine your strategy for future turns.
Components. As I mentioned earlier, this is a prototype version of the game, but with that said, the components are pretty nice! The cards are sturdy, the text is clear, and the artwork is fun to look at. The main game board and summoning boards are colorful, and the creature standees are nicely sized for the board. I do have to say that I really like the heart tokens used to identify to whom each creature belongs on the board. The hearts slide over top of the standee and create a base of sorts to color-code every creature on the board. Just a neat little use of components that make the gameplay smooth. And how about the insert? It’s awesome! The standees are all stored, assembled, in a slotted inlay that allows for quick selection of creatures. I hope that’s something that makes it to final production because it really helps streamline the gameplay. Some of the wording in the rulebook could use some clarification, but I know that it is still a work in progress and continues to undergo edits. The only negative I would have to say is that 2 of the player colors are black and gray – and they are sometimes difficult to differentiate between. But changing one color should be an easy fix!
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by Magical Friends. At first glance, I thought it would be a pretty simple ‘roll-and-move’ type game, but it proved to be much more strategic and engaging than I initially thought. The variable turn order, the movement rules/restrictions, and the unique friend abilities all work together to create a cohesive, thematic, and strategic game. I very much am looking forward to following the progress of Magical Friends and How to Summon Them on Kickstarter, and I encourage you to check it out as well!
