Played my
board game "mark your territory" with Owen and Veronica today. I found that there was not enough interaction with the other players in terms of taking over someone
Else's territory. Even when it
there eventually was, it was not enough and was only towards the end of the game. So it seemed by the time we got to each other the game was over. The game needs quicker conflict. I think also there is no way to gain the upper hand. The end result is to even. I also found that keeping tabs on the number of turns that have been taken doesn't work to well. Also I think using 2 moves to mark a territory may be confusing sometimes and then the 1 move point on top of that to take over someone
else's territory can be more confusing.
Need more conflict!
So i think to take maybe either 4 to 8
territories out to make territory more precious and thus encourage taking of each others territory. Maybe the first to use all their territory markers win the game instead of keeping track of what move it is. Also an idea would be if a player owns a territory block you gain an extra move point, which would encourage players to take over each others territory. Maybe to get the game going quicker players start with the first 3
territories at the starting location already marked. Which also adds another move point for them (unless an aggressive players wants to mess that up :) ) Maybe add some diagonal movement too.
I also enjoyed the other two games by Owen and
Veronica were good. I can see there's
definitely scope for improvement in all 3 games and new concepts/design elements.
The game itself is a pretty simple idea but it makes for some interesting puzzles. The graphics are basic as there are only two colours white and black. It may be a straight forward idea but it it does the job and looks wonderful. The music and sounds add a nice ambiance which creates the ominous atmosphere. The music is a kind of chilling heart beat with a heavy wind and works perfectly for this game.
You are introduced quite slowly into the game. The controls are intuitive enough using just the arrow keys. The first few levels serve as an introduction and also is the title sequence to the game. You start off not really knowing what you are doing with just a few written clues on the walls. The puzzles begin slowly and suddenly you are in the thick of some mind-bending puzzles. These become more complex as the game progresses but the game still maintains a bit of variety as it seemed a few easy ones were thrown in for good measure. There is no real dying in Closure so to speak of. You can fall into darkness but you just start back at the start of the level. Also you can just restart at anytime if you get stuck anywhere.
The game is quite entertaining. I like the dark feel to the game. I would say an average gamer would complete the game over the course of a couple hours. Once you have solved the puzzles and completed it there would not be much interest in playing again. It starts to feel a bit repetitive the 2nd time through but for a free game it is most certainly worth it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes puzzles and a bit of a challenge.
