DS #5595: thinkSMART Scotland Yard (USA)

[Chanser]

^^ndsrelease-7058^^

 

[emigre]

Do you get to set up incompetent phone hacking enquirers in this game?

 

[Fel]

I heard the board game is actually good, I'll probably try this one out. It would be great if it has wifi and pass the DS multiplayer (if the game itself is good as well).

 

[Ruri]

Oh, this is based on the board game? I think it's been released before and I passed over it thinking it was just some dumb hidden items shovelware... but the board game is pretty good, yeah.

 

[Sausage Head]

what the fuck? this was released early this year but this is exactly the same but rebranded as 'thinksmart'

 

[Ruri]

No, it was only released in Europe. This is the US release (presumably ThinkSmart is the US publisher or something.)

Anyway, I just played it a bit. It's very well done for a budget title -- faithful adaptation of the rules, and a campaign mode where you can play as either the detectives or Mr. X. It avoids wasting too much time on the plot, too, which is a good thing IMHO for a game like this. I recommend it to anyone who likes logic puzzles.

For those who don't know the boardgame: Five detectives, represented by five colored pawns, (working together, and all controlled by the player when you're playing Detective Mode) have to capture the black-pawn thief, Mr. X, within a set number of turns. The game is played on a city map with bus, train, and cab routes; the twist is that the detectives can't see where Mr. X is except on certain turns (marked in red on the turn list, so both the detectives and Mr. X know that there's an upcoming turn of 'vulnerability' for him -- a huge amount of the strategy is based on planning around these), but they can see what type of route he uses each turn. Of course, Mr. X can see where the detectives are at all times.

There's a bit more to it (rules are in-game, but you have to go to the menu to read them), but nothing too complicated.

It does a good job of giving you that "gotcha!" feel, both when you slip through the detective's fingers as Mr. X and when you predict his movements and capture him as the detectives.

Oh, yes, and of course it has wifi-fi multiplayer (including download play), but no WFC on a budget title like this one, obviously.