Straight to Hell, Boy- CLAUSTROPHOBIA in Review Hot

Another favorable review but for some reason nothing about this game "grabs" me and makes me want to play it. I like Space Hulk and I like Descent and sometimes I wish Descent were shorter but something is missing.

Maybe it's just if I wanted to play 30-minute game or a 1-hour game with two players I could play Summoner Wars, Netrunner or The World Cup 2010 Card Game.

It's a solid 2-hour game I'm looking for.

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with Claustrophobia, but I also don't see any reason why I would buy it. I'm sure that I would enjoy playing it a few times, but I generally like longer games and games with more replay value.

I can see where you're coming from, but I think there's a lot to be said for a game that does pretty much everything that a larger dungeon crawl game would do but in a fraction of the time and with a lot fewer rules. I like a big, wrangly game like anyone else here but I also like something a friend and I can sort of toss out, get up and playing in ten minutes, and just sort of play casually without having to dig into it. CLAUSTROPHOBIA does this really well, and like I said in the review, barring DUNGEONQUEST or SORCEROR'S CAVE, there's nothing else really like it on the market. Maybe something like DRAKON or CAVE TROLL, but those are really different kinds of games than a bona fide dungeon crawl.

I really like this one. It's got all the tension, bloodshed and action of a big hairy dungeon game, but streamlined for speed. It's like if you took Descent, added some wacky French theme, and boiled it in a pan until all the extra stuff evaporated and you were left with concentrated dungeon crawl. Everything you want in a dungeon crawl game, none of the stuff that slows them down. If you want a 2-hour game, play it twice.

Pacing.

That's a great point Matt. That's the one thing that this game has over DESCENT in particular. It actually _moves_. There's not all this hour per room business. Part of the reason it works like that is because the movement scale is much bigger- each tile is a "space" instead of each tile having a grid of spaces on them. You move into a room with monsters, you fight them. You don't manuever around and try to get your ranged guys in positon or any of that. Those things are fun in a big game, but they take time.

Is there any reason for someone that owns Space Hulk to get this?

SPACE HULK is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the better game and given the choice between the two nine times out of ten I'll go with the Hulk. But that being said, CLAUSTROPHOBIA is still pretty different. It's not a chessy, tactical positioning game like SPACE HULK. You move guys, roll dice, there's limited equipment and variety, and the bad guys spawn from various points. That's really the extent of the similiarities, and they play in a similar timeframe.

I like having both...I like CLAUSTROPHOBIA enough to keep it, so that should tell you something. In the future, expansions could do some pretty neat stuff with the game.

I love Claustrophobia! It even gets a mention in a later "Game Freak" cartoon!
What I find most appealing about it is what Metalface 13 doesn't like about it- it is short and action packed. No need for a sleep over or a slumber party to play this jewel.

Yes, I own this and space Hulk- yes, both games are worth owning, not just one or the other. It's like, "I have an orange...do I really want to have a lime as well?" The answer is YES! An orange (Space Hulk) is fine to eat, but a lime (Claustrophobia) goes great in a beer or on Mexican food!

This is another one that I really wanted to get, but backed off after reading the rules. They made it sound like a lot of fun, but it was also very apparent that I was looking at a very small game in a big, extravagant package.

That's a shame, because if they hadn't gone to such great lengths to make the game look like a big behemoth like Descent when it's cleary not at all the same type of game, people might be enjoying it for what it is, rather than hemming and hawing over its limited scope.

Hopefully I can get it in trade, because I really haven't heard anything but good things about it so far.

No slumber party means no pillow fight. I was sixteen when I attended GenCon the first time, and our pillow fight on the last night resulted in one broken cot and two broken light fixtures. Ah, those were the days.

No need for a sleep over or a slumber party to play this jewel.

HA! It's short enough though that you can still paint each others' nails and talk about boys though.

This is another one that I really wanted to get, but backed off after reading the rules. They made it sound like a lot of fun, but it was also very apparent that I was looking at a very small game in a big, extravagant package.

I'd definitely agree with that. Prepainted minis, big ol' tiles, great artwork...it's a lot of hullaballoo, and realistically it could have been done with MYSTIC WOOD production values and been just as good as far as I'm concerned. But you know, this is a case where it feels like you've got $65 worth of product in the box.

Look, I'll admit. If you want me to say that your game is worth $65, just stick some plastic consoles (like MUTANT CHRONICLES or SPACE CRUSADE) in there.

$65 dollars worth of product, sure, but is it $65 worth of game? That's my real sticking point.

Those Mutant Chronicles consoles were a really great idea, though. You could essentially "save" your game without any fuss. Somebody needs to do another campaign-focused game like that, but better.

Look, I'll admit. If you want me to say that your game is worth $65, just stick some plastic consoles (like MUTANT CHRONICLES or SPACE CRUSADE) in there.

I paid 45 bucks for mine and feel it was a great value! And yeah, plastic consoles are sweet - they really add to the look and organization of a game.

No slumber party means no pillow fight. I was sixteen when I attended GenCon the first time, and our pillow fight on the last night resulted in one broken cot and two broken light fixtures. Ah, those were the days.

Can you imagine what you could break NOW in a pillow fight at your age... other than your brittle arm bones or the breaking of wind! (By the way, Shellhead, I am older than you!)

Is it $65 worth of game? That gets into the whole ephemeral concept of how many "fun dollars" you're going to withdraw from the game over time. I'd say that if you do a lot of two player gaming- or gaming with kids- then you'll probably get a good ROI. It's the ability to play this kind of game with this size timeframe and pace that's the big selling point to me, and it's key value.

Let me put it another way then; if this were a video game, would it be an on-the-shelf retail thing, or an XBLA downloadable?

It's like how you feel about a coffin box OGRE. It's a great game and all, and a nice set wouldn't be bad, but really, OGRE's a cheap little game in a VHS case to its core. You can dress it up all you want, but at the end of the day, it's bringing a Magnum rubber to bed that it can't fill out.

That's one area where I'm perfectly happy admitting video games have a leg up on board games. Now that you've got stuff like XBLA, you're seeing a much greater vareity in what's coming out. They're also revisiting older franchises that wouldn't otherwise be getting new sequels, like the new Bonk, or Bionic Commando, or the WiiWare Castlevania (which is fucking awesome BTW). Hell, we're even getting a new Spelunker, which is something that never would've happened without download services.

It's too bad board games have no real equivalent to this aside from the PnP format, which is pretty problematic.

I haven't p[icked this up yet but probably will. There is a very good chance that you'll get your money's worth out of it because its an easy shorter game that you can get to the table but still fills that dungeoncrawl itch. There are also 10 (? not sure) scenarios. So if you play each one once thats the worth the price of the game right there. Expansions are imminent and would be easy to intorduce (or even home brew some. The tiles and acrads add to replayibility since they're randomly pulled.

The only thing that cuts down on the accessibility is the two player thing. Around here, two player games almost never get to the table.

Stephen"Brute"Avery

Maybe I'm just claustrophobic?

I did say "might".

In some ways I do enjoy Claustrophobia more. The game isn't as deep, but adds the exact amount of variety and chaos to the proceedings. Mt one issue with Space Hulk is that it is in some ways a little too predictable. Space Hulk is still far trickier and far more tactically interesting than Claustrophobia.

But in my game against Avery, the absolutely soul-crushing wrench of victory as I turned up 3 dead ends in a row and had to trek back through a growing mass of Trogs made me adore the game.

So what are the house rules you've implemented to the dice assignment mechanic to mitigate the end of game hero spiral to death?

Is a tiny rule: Heroes always roll a minimum of two dice.
It doesn't actually change much. It gives the hero a couple of turns at most, and probably not even that. The game doesn't have much of a spiral--if you are down to one hero, he has perhaps two turns, and will almost surely not get to do anything on them.

This gives you at least a reasonable chance to do something, but the pinning rule is probably going to keep you from doing much more than succumbing to waves of Trogs.

I'm ok with this. In one game, I absolutely had to go back and save another figure as a strategic choice instead of sending a bodyguard ahead to try a run for the exit.

It's better than 3rd edition SH by far. It's right on par with 2nd edition with all the expansions. Unfortunately the price of 2nd edition and the expansions is pretty steep so Claustrophobia wins out easily.

Okay, lte me ask this...

I have Siege of the Citadel, Space Hulk 3rd Edition, Dungeons and Dragons Fantasy Boardgame (and expansions) and I have Dungeonquest and Ravenloft on order (no thanks to Kommandant Barnes' reviews!). Is there truly any reason for me to want to bother with this one? I've played it once, and it seemed alright but it felt a bit like an "evaporated, condensed" (thanks, Matt) version of Doom.

If it came with a John Constantine character...maybe it would be an easier decision...