|
Titan: The Arena
Notify me if/when this item becomes available:
(you will be asked to log in first)
from 2 customer reviews
Designer(s):
Manufacturer(s):
Please Login to use shopping lists.
|

Titan: The Arena--where quick and deadly battles for survival take place. This non-collectible card game for 2-5 players involves strategy, wagering, cunning, and a little good luck. You'll be backing serveral beasts and your challenge is to keep them alive until the game's end... and victory.
This is an excellent game, simple to pick up and plenty of fun for players of all skill levels. Good players are handicapped by other players invariably ganging up against them. This game is the favourite of my casual gameplaying friends.
Although it is a reasonably simple game, the rule book is confusing. You need a lawyer to interpret it.
This, despite the obvious tie-ins to Avalon Hill's Titan, doesn't have much beyond the purely cosmetic to do with it, instead being developed from a horse racing card game Reiner Knizia had previously designed (Grand National Derby).
Play is simple and quick, as is setup and pack away, and requires a good mix of skill, luck and forward planning. There are only two obvious problems with the game, first is that availability is subject to chance since it went down with AH, and we don't know yet whether Hasbro will reprint it. The second problem is the rules, which manage to make a simple game very awkward to understand, though fortunately a search of dejanews looking at rec.games.board will answer most questions.
Like other Knizia designs I've seen, and as is suggested by the game's heritage, the theme is only loosely tied to the play. Whether this is a problem depends on your outlook: if you want something that 'simulates' fantastic battles between monsters you'd probably be disappointed, but if you want an elegant, simple game that plays quickly, a keeper.