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They do this by moving through the semi-randomized neighborhood and increasing the crime rate in the different neighborhoods. Yes. You read that correctly. You are 100% the bad guys in Yokai. No shades of grey. You’re just not a good person. But I digress.
At the start of the round, players reveal a City Card which tells the players where toplace various tokens representing Crime Rates, Money to be made in each neighborhood, and where the snitches are!
There’s a snowball effect at play here. If you get into the lead early, it’s damn near impossible for other players to stop you, because you get to do whatever the heck you want to do FIRST.
The thing is this is I feel like this could have been a really simple fix, with the second round of Actions resolving in reverse order, starting with the last place Player and ending with the first place one, but as it stands, about halfway through the game, if you’re in last place, there’s very little reason to keep playing as your chances of winning dwindle and dwindle.
Sure, there are things you can do to try to screw over the first player, like snitching on them to draw the Police there for a raid,but even that doesn’t have that much of an effect if you’re already winning the game, but it can absolutely destroy you if you’re in last place. It’s like the first place Player is getting in trouble for running a Ponzi Scheme and can buy his way out, meanwhile the last place Player got in trouble selling dime bags to his buddies.
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| by Mad Lab Games |
Yokai Neighborhood Watch
Crime is a fascinating theme. Not necessarily becauseI think that we as a society have some base desire to commit crimes, but because the idea of a mobster has been romanticized in everything from movies, to books, to television and everything in between. Heck, I bet if you asked most people who was the good guy: Elliott Ness or Al Capone, most would say Capone.
So, Mad Lab Games has created a game where you play as Gangsters in a futuristic Blade Runner-esque city trying to snatch up as much Money and Reputation as possible. That game is Yokai - City of Crime.
A City That Never Sleeps
Yokai City of Crime is a secret action selection style game for three to five players who take on the role of Gangsters, trying to make name for themselves in futuristic Japan Hong Kong Generic Asian Setting Yokai.
They do this by moving through the semi-randomized neighborhood and increasing the crime rate in the different neighborhoods. Yes. You read that correctly. You are 100% the bad guys in Yokai. No shades of grey. You’re just not a good person. But I digress.
After that, players then secretly select which action they want their Gangster to perform this turn by exposing the proper icon on their Action Dial pictured above, and then simultaneously revealing the Actions they chose, resolving them in the order ofthe Player with the most points to the Player with the least points. Once all the actions are resolved, the Players repeat this Action Selection step again, with the Player in first place once again resolving their action first.
Are you starting to see the problem here?
There’s a snowball effect at play here. If you get into the lead early, it’s damn near impossible for other players to stop you, because you get to do whatever the heck you want to do FIRST.
It’s like you’re the kid in elementary who hits puberty in like 4th grade and grows a moustache. All the other kids are trying tocatch up to you, stealing their dad’s regain and slathering that all over their upper lips, but it doesn’t work, and by 6th grade you’ve got a beard, while they’re still waiting for their leg hair to grow in.
The thing is this is I feel like this could have been a really simple fix, with the second round of Actions resolving in reverse order, starting with the last place Player and ending with the first place one, but as it stands, about halfway through the game, if you’re in last place, there’s very little reason to keep playing as your chances of winning dwindle and dwindle.
Sure, there are things you can do to try to screw over the first player, like snitching on them to draw the Police there for a raid,but even that doesn’t have that much of an effect if you’re already winning the game, but it can absolutely destroy you if you’re in last place. It’s like the first place Player is getting in trouble for running a Ponzi Scheme and can buy his way out, meanwhile the last place Player got in trouble selling dime bags to his buddies.
WHO’S GONNA FEEL IT MORE?!?
Impressive Evidence
So, I have to say, I've only gotten to tinker with the prototype version of Yokai, but from what I've seen, the production value is stellar. I love the art style and all the tokens are easily distinguishable from each other. I especially love the gun shaped Crime Tokens and the word bubble shaped Tip Off Tokens.
The only real problem with production here is the RULE BOOK. OH. MY. GOODNESS. That thing is AWFUL. I really hope the designers take some time and revise it, because it took me a few times of reading, and a few times of watching the instructional videos online before I fully understood how to play, and the gameplay itself is actually very simple.
Buy It!, Try It!, or Fly It!
Okay, so I'm really torn on this one. I like Yokai. I like it a lot, in fact. But I really only like it when I'm winning. When I'm losing, it feels like I'm stuck waiting for the opportunity to turn the whole game around, that ONE HUGE PLAY, to get me back in the running to win, but it never really comes.
Area Control, Secret Action Selection, Futuristic Cyber Punk Theme. These are all great things, but once you start losing, it doesn't matter awesome all these things are, it was just hard for me to have much fun with it. But even as I was sitting there, stewing in my juices and lamenting how I would never come out of my last place, I was devising plans for the next game. Promising myself that next time, I'd take this action, or do this one thing better, to stay in the lead. So, will I play this game again? You betcha! And next time, I'm gonna stay in the lead the whole time, damn it!
The Verdict...?
TRY IT!
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