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Boardgame Spins On Computer Strategy Games Rated

Posted by simoniker on from the no-electricity dept.

Thanks to GamerDad for its article discussing some of the most recent strategy videogames to get boardgame conversions, including the Age Of Mythology, Civilization, and WarCraft boardgames. The author notes: "In much the same way that it is sometimes necessary for a good movie to stray a bit from a good book, a board game can sometimes play better by not trying to exactly emulate its computer predecessor. Regardless, all three of today's games provide a new way to experience a favorite computer game setting." He goes on to rate the AOM ("a very pretty game... [with] the fatal flaw of its combat mechanics"), Civilization ("quite complex and involved, but... possible to play and finish in a single long session"), and WarCraft ("succeeds in creating a slower paced, simplified version of the computer game") adaptions.

4 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. More info... by Iscariot_ · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can find frags website here:
    http://www.sjgames.com/frag/

    And the rules and some pictures are here:
    http://www.sjgames.com/frag/fragrules.pdf

    --

    Go here for teh [sic] funny.
  2. Civilization Originally a Board Game? by wambaugh · · Score: 2, Informative

    Didn't Sid Meier base the original Civilization computer game on Avalon Hill's game of the same name (albeit a British spelling)? (See, for instance: http://www.lilback.com/civilization/ah/board.html. ) I never played it, but I wonder how similar the gameplay of the original version is to the new board-game-to-computer-game-board-game version. At any rate, I call dibs on adapting the new board game into a computer game.

    1. Re:Civilization Originally a Board Game? by A+Big+Gnu+Thrush · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes and no. Avalon Hill sued Hasbro (The Borg) over their computer game. The Borg responded by buying Avalon Hill and shutting them down, killing the RTS board game industry, though it was mostly dead already. Later, The Borg resurrected some titles, regurgitating their assimilated, sanitized version to Wal Mart consumers.

  3. No, the original board game was very different by Xtifr · · Score: 3, Informative

    The original board game had almost nothing in common with the original computer game. The board game had no combat whatsoever, and mostly involved trading commodities. It did have city-building and technology development, and some would argue that Sid must have "borrowed" these elements, but the argument is circumstantial, and I find it unconvincing.

    Avalon Hill's Civilization-the-board-game was my favorite board game for many years. And, perhaps coincidentally, Sid Meier's Civilization-the-computer-game was my favorite computer game for several years. I will say, however, that my brother recently got Sid Meier's Civilization-the-board-game, and it's a pretty good game too.