Disclaimer: I am reviewing the demo copy of the game that I downloaded from their website and printed using my own dime. BattleCON is by Level99 Games and soon to be published thru Kickstarter (goal has been achieved) with a projected release date of late 2011 or early 2012. It is a fighting game (which will draw inevitable comparisons to Yomi and I'll get to that later) for two to four players that tries to simulate arcade fighting games using cards and a distance track. The game has been in development for years and simply has had the misfortune of Yomi being released first (unfairly drawing copycat conclusions). You can purchase the game thru
Kickstarter and they do offer great packages.
COMPONENTS:As I started in my disclaimer, I used the demo version, so having printed it myself, I can honestly say that the components are as nice as I made 'em to be. To those interested as to how I made my copy, I had the cards printed on photo paper (9x11) taking advantage of a recent promotional discount being ran by a nearby photo printing shop, cut 'em, and sleeved 'em in penny sleeves using a regular playing card to "back" it and provide support (and of course a uniform card back). The tokens, I cut into rounds and glued 'em on poker chips which ended up looking quite nice. Total cost of the printing and components $6.00 (or P260.00).
GAMEPLAY:Each player proceeds to choose his/her character and combines that character's special cards with a base set of cards, forming a deck of 12 cards. He/she then also proceeds to grab the tokens corresponding to his/her chosen character. You then place your meeple/token/avatar on the distance track, set your hit points to twenty each and you're ready to begin.
After initially discarding two special and two base cards, players simultaneously place down two cards, one from your special set and one from your base set. This will form a unique attack granting different powers, priorities and ranges. You can mix-and-match to your heart's delight. This gives you better control as you have access to nearly all your cards at all times. You don't need to draw and hope for the best... everything is at your disposal and you can assess the cards your opponents has as well by looking at the cards he/she currently has on their discard pile.
I will not go into detail on a card's respective properties as per my usual reviews.
Players are then given a chance to ante their tokens, which are different in accordance to whichever character you chose. After which both cards are revealed, effects/activations occur, distance/priority/damage is resolved, then rinse and repeat.
There're other nuances such as movement, stunning and damage soaking, but I believe there're other reviews that cover these in much better detail so I will not go into 'em.
COMPARING IT TO YOMI:Both of 'em are great games, and if you twisted my arm to... I'd give the slight edge to Yomi if only because of all the extra support (i.e. online client, expanded universe, multiple games using the same characters, etc.) it has. I also prefer the artwork in Yomi. But, on the flip side, BattleCON does offer more strategic options and provides a better feeling of control and that BOTH players actually get to attack simultaneously instead of depending on the RPS aspect in Yomi. It one-ups Yomi with its distance track and multiple game variants. So I think its safe to say that both games can co-exist in your collection.
FINAL THOUGHTS:BattleCON is a great fighting game. It provides great control, alot of tactical maneuvering and planning, and rewards character knowledge (like any other fighting game). If you love Yomi, you'll most probably love this game as well. If you didn't like Yomi because of all the luck involved, give this game a chance because the luck factor has been significantly reduced and the game does offer greater control. Try it or buy it, that's up to you... but at the very least, go PLAY it!
If you do support it via
Kickstarter, please e-mail them and tell 'em that you bought this game partly because of this review. It helps unknown reviewers like me get the word out that we do make a difference (if only a miniscule one).
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