A simple board game that keeps you guessing!Hey guys, its razor-987 here and I am off with another review today of a game you have probably never heard of, let alone played. It is called anticipation and it was released for the NES in 1988. I played this game with a friend once on NES box because it caught our attention, so I figured I would share it on vizzed! The object of the game is pretty simple and all you have to do is guess the object or item being drawn based on the categories presented. Without further a do, lets get on to the review!?
Gameplay:?
Before I really hit anything on this game, I am just going to go through the relatively simple gameplay of this game and it is rather simple believe it or not. If you are familiar with the game pictionary, it is a lot like that, you have to pick a game piece from the four that you are able to choose from which is a pair of high heeled shoes, a horn, an ice cream cone, and a teddy bear. After you pick your piece, the amount of spaces you move on the board is determined by the number rolled by the dice which will count down as the picture starts to form. Once you correctly guess what is being drawn, then you will move on to the next level, which there are 3 total. The first player to complete all 3 levels is the winner. It is really quite simple and there isn't very much to it. There are certain categories in the game tat are determined by the color of the space that your piece will land on, like science for example, or food, or things in the office, to name a few of the categories. If you think you can guess the picture being drawn before it is finished you click and type it in and if you get it wrong, then the other player of the computer gets a shot to guess it. Basically you will both get a shot to guess what it is and if you get it wrong, your opponent goes and if they get it wrong, then the drawing will finish itself and then reveal what it was supposed to be. You will keep doing this until one of you wins all 3 levels. Simple enough right? Now onto the review....
Graphics: 5
The graphics are extremely simple, there isn't much to them at all and they are all drawn on a simple board either by dots that are joined together by lines, or for the harder difficulty, there are no dots and you just have to wait for the lines to form a picture and then take a guess. Some of the pictures will take more time to guess what is being drawn and sometimes you have to wait until the last possible second to finally take a crack at it. Hence the name anticipation because you must try to figure out the picture before the other player. So there isn't really all that much to the graphics, some of the pictures barely resemble what is supposed to be drawn, and some of them you can tell right away from the start. So I scored it a simple 5 because the graphics aren't really vibrant, complex or eye catching enough to get a higher score.
Sound: 4
As far as sound goes, there isn't rally that much to it either, there is just a little cheesy bit of music that plays while your piece moves on the board and also when the drawing starts and finishes if you don't get it right. I would barely call it catchy but it is rather repetitive and it never really changes throughout the game. So because of that I scored the sound a 4 and you may disagree and say it is even worse than that, but in my opinion, any kind of sound is more exciting that none at all, so that is the only reason it got any points because it's better than nothing.
Addictiveness: 3
Considering the types of games that are out today and also the amount of plays this game probably gets, I don't really think it is all that addicting. can imagine it probably would've been more popular back in the late 80's and 90's when this game was released, but comparing it to today's standards I don't think this game is anywhere near as popular as games line minecraft, mario, sonic and all the modern warfare and black ops games of today, so this game stands a very little chance of being addicting at least in today's times anyway. Because of that I scored it a 3, but you may score it lower. It all depends on what your type of games are, if guessing or puzzle games are your thing, then you might like this more, so the score is variable depending on what you like. I scored it a 3 mainly because I played it 1 or 2 times and it was alright, but after a while it gets boring since a lot of the pictures are the same, and I just craved something else to play, so it may be a one time thing for you.
Story: N/A
As you can probably figure out, there is absolutely no story to this game whatsoever, you are playing a board game and trying to guess what the pictures being drawn are. It is a lot like pictionary, but there is no plot or story line to it at all which is why I simply can't rate it anything in this category.
Depth: 4
This game offers just enough for it to be fun one or two times around, maybe more, but then after a while it kind of drones on and you get used to the same categories and the same pictures being drawn over and over again, and it just got old for me after a few plays with my friend. There are 3 levels on the easy and medium difficulty settings in this game while there are 4 for the hard and very hard settings, the only major difference with the harder settings is that after the 3rd level onward, there are grey panels on the board which will cause you to fall through back to the previous level. So it is all up to the luck of the dice which will determine if you land on one or not. Overall, this game is pretty simple and the amount of stuff it offers is rather straightforward and basically the same all the way through with a f minor changes in the difficulty, I would say it offers just enough for a few good plays, but that is just me. You may find it more challenging and it might offer more for you, but based on what I think of the game, I gave it a 4 for depth, but again, it may vary depending on what you think of the game and how much it offers.
Difficulty: 5
In some parts of the game, especially when you get passed the first level which has dots that really help you figure out the drawing well in advance, it gets more challenging because you have to wait for the lines to formulate a drawing and it can take almost all of the time to be able to make an accurate guess, so at certain times in the game, the difficulty may vary from really easy to more difficult because as you go on, the drawings are a bit more complicated and they also may not entirely resemble the item being drawn later. So because of this I decided to keep the difficulty a neutral score of 5 because some may find it a lot harder than others while some might find it a piece of cake even on the more difficult settings, so once again, it varies depending on your guessing skills and how good you are at this type of game.
Overall: 6.6
All in all, this is a simple and basic game that is probably meant to be played only a few times before it starts to get boring. It is pretty anticipating to try and guess what the drawing might be though. I can't tell you how many times thought the levels in this game where we mistook the drawings for something completely different. Would I force you to play this game? Certainly not, but if board games or guessing games that relate to this sort of thing are right up your alley, then by all means, go ahead and give this game a try. If not, don't feel bead because you really aren't missing out on much. If you do decide to play this game,all I can say is be prepared to put your thinking cap on because some of these drawings will make you go crazy and will keep you guessing!
So what did you think of my review? Please feel free to comment or provide constructive feedback so that I can become a better reviewer because it's what I do, hope you enjoyed my review of this simple game! Thanks for reading!
Graphics
5 Sound
4 Addictive
3 Depth
4 Difficulty
5
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