The Doom That Came To Atlantic City: Gamer and Non-gamer Point of View

DoomThe Doom That Came To Atlantic City from Cryptozoic Entertainment.

  • Good for two to four players.
  • Playtime takes about 45 minutes
  • Directions very detailed.
  • Dice/Board game
  • Good for ages 16 and up.
  • You play one of the great old ones trying to destroy the world, Cthulhu Mythos.

Non-Gamer POV

Let me just get this out-of-the-way now – I loved this game. It is the anti-Monopoly and it is fun to play, once you learn all the mechanics, and there are a lot of mechanics. This is my biggest issue with The Doom That Came To Atlantic City. I am not good with directions to begin with, and this had a lot of them. If you are a first time player, I highly recommend playing with someone who has, or watching one of the “how to” videos on YouTube. 

The are a few things that I really liked. Once we got into playing the game it is far easier than the directions read. I like that playing with two people does not impact the game to the point where it is boring, both players have goals to meet, but they are never the same, and can possibly change throughout the game.  And when we do play it again, which we will, it is impossible to play the same game again.

I also very much enjoyed the look of the game. The artwork on the boards and the cards is colorful and well done, without being so busy that it becomes distracting. The lettering is large and easy to read. The figures of the great ones you play have been amazingly sculpted and I can’t wait to get my hands on the pewter set.

Like I said before, I enjoyed this game enough that I plan on playing it again soon, but I am the non-gamer. What does a hardcore gamer think about it?

The Gamer’s Perspective – Christopher DeLisle

What I Like

It’s Basically the Anti-Monopoly. The game is designed to resemble Monopoly is many ways, which makes it very familiar and easy to pick up for new players. I personally believe that Monopoly is the worst board game ever created. But the Doom That Came to Atlantic City takes the standard Monopoly components and turns them on their ears.
Examples:
– Instead of building buildings on the board spaces, you are trying to tear them down and open gates to beyond and destroy the world.

– Instead of Chance cards, you have Chants cards.
– Instead of collecting money, you collect cultists and houses which you sacrifice to play your Chants cards.
– “Mi-Go” instead of “Go”

The Humor – Doom brings in humor from a wide variety of sources to make the game more entertaining and enjoyable. With Doom cards like “Fright Club”, “The Yellow Sign-Off” and “Copy Cataclysm”; Providence cards like “Mail-Order of Dagon” and “The Sisterhood of Ya-Ya-Yellow Sign” and Chants cards like “Back to the Drooling Board”, “Raze and Repeat” and “Those Meddling Kids” you can see how the designers were poking fun at the Cthulhu Mythos.

High Production Values  The figures are beautifully sculpted and are almost worth the cost of the game by themselves.  The board and cards are of high quality and durable enough to survive repeated play. Colors are vibrant add to the play experience.

 

What I Don’t Like

The Price Tag – At $74.99 MSRP, this game is a hard sell to casual gamers and people who aren’t familiar with it. As a long time gamer, I’ve used to shelling out $50 to $90 for a high quality board game, but not everyone is.
The Rulebook – The rulebook seems to have been thrown together pretty quickly.  It explains how to play the game well, but there are some notable discrepancies that can cause confusion, as can be seen by a quick glance at the many questions on the boardgamegeek.com forums.
Examples:
– Leaving out set up instructions telling you to start your Great Old Ones on the Mi-Go space.
– There is no mention of whether or not the corner spaces are part of regions. There is only a brief mention that you can only attack another player on a corner space if you land on the same space.
– No mention of what to do if you can’t pay a toll or perform a required sacrifice.
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