[Card Game]: Igor: The Mad Scientist's Lament, reviewed by ShannonA (3/3)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10351.phtml

Shannon Appelcline's Summary:

Build insane devices as a mad scientist in this beer & pretzels card game.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Eric Johnson at 2004-05-26 11:59:55
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I've never found the wording on the Bwahahahahaha! to be distracting. Looking through the cards in my deck, I think there are enough different actions and that using icons instead of text would just make things more confusing.

I like the icons used on the basic Bang! cards, but I think Bwahahahaha! cards are just complicated enough that it wouldn't work out well. To be fair though, my gaming group has always been used to text on cards and found the icons on Bang! difficult to get used to.

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-05-26 12:20:36
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To be honest, I find the icons on Bang! cards difficult to use too, so it's clearly a fine line.

Personally, I'd like the text, but also a quick-ref icon so that I can see what the card does at a glance, but understand all the nuances with a read.

Shannon

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-05-27 00:25:12
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In starting another review for another game, just now, I was better able to define the problem.

The bwahaha cards don't give any clue as to what they do without reading the text. An Icon might have been nice, but a short and descriptive title could have worked just as well, so you could quickly identify what a card did when you grabbed it (once you were familiar with the game), but more importantly be easily reminded whenever you glanced at your hand.

Shannon

Post originally by Eric Johnson at 2004-05-27 14:31:12
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Ok, I see what you're saying now. Yeah, the clever card title approach (Give Me the Brain comes to mind), would probably improve the ease of use of Bwahahahahaha! Cards, and could add more cheesy roleplaying to the game as well.

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-05-27 16:39:01
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Exactly.

(The other game I was reviewing was _Memoir '44_. Even though 1/3rd of the cards are text heavy, when I pick up an "Armor Assault" or "Infantry Assault" or "Medics & Mechanics" or "Their Finest Hour", I know exactly what the card does.)

Shannon