Someone to Love
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Game Chief Review FORM
(one review per email, and use the game’s title as the Subject Line)
REVIEWER NAME: Michael Selvaggio
1) CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INCORPORATION OF RULES (1-10): 5
Feedback: All elements are met. Committee and Love work. The ingredient ancient is not a significant ingredient. The use of time 10 one hour sessions I believe is a poor choice and dose not work for this subject regardless of the 10hrs div. by five player issue. A 2 hour format would add pressure for the committee and the dating dead.
2) CLARITY (1-10): 4
Feedback: Using the tem “roll” (there are no dice in the game) when cards are played is confusing even for mega players. It took four readings of the rules to understand the game mechanics. Twice is expected four is laborious. Also how gender specific is the game? Shouldn’t it be a game for 6 (three couples) instead of five. Is odd man out or is there three on a match?
3) COMPLETENESS (1-10): 3
Feedback: This is not a game for the imaginational impaired. The key here is to get into a role and have the committee set the stage. Unfortunately I liked the premise of meeting with weird dates and having some tribunal awareness add to the pressure. It was unfortunate there was little guidance from the maker of this game.
There is no mention of the contrary natures of some of the dates. The goals of the committee are mentioned but not defined. The land of the dead is only mentioned in the intro yet it is the main selling point of the presentation. The limiting of three cards for Com. Members is a poor mechanic. If the committee votes three times and is forced to use three random cards the only power you have is the order of play. Weight of card, suit, replenishment, combinations are not address. In the underworld is there dinning at the river Styx, the Hells Bells Disco, and how about having Hitler as a chaperone. Even an actors workshop needs parameters. The work isn’t here.
4) ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS IN PLAY (1-10): 4
Feedback: I did like the use of cards and the way colors of suits worked a lot. The level of motivation required and the poor use of goals, Identity, the lack of guidance, and the over done use of the 10 x 1hr. rule makes this game only playable by fellow designers or drunken actors.
5) SWING VOTE (1-10) 4
Final Feedback: I really like the premise of the game and felt the lack of effort to do it justice disappointing. This is a first draft. Make it happen and get it to a store shelf. Not as a RPG but as a board game. How about the title “Night of the Living Date?”
TOTAL SCORE (add items 1 through 5, above): 20