GAMING
BOARD AND CARD GAMES
11.Cards! – MonkeyBox 2
Price: £2.99
Cards! begins with you receiving
a plea for help – only, you’re in a
locked cell. The titular cards depict
your surroundings and actions
as you make decisions regarding
what to do next. One swift escape
later (by way of a deft few swipes)
and an arrow misses your foot by
inches. It’s instantly clear choices
you subsequently make will be the
difference between life and death.
What’s less clear is everything else.
If Cards! was marketed in an old-
school manner, it’d rock up as a disc
inside a plain
box. The
game isn’t
in a hurry
to explain
anything.
Instead,
there’s a lot
of trial and
error. Slowly,
you figure
out the order
in which to
play cards,
to avoid an
untimely
demise.Logic is sometimes – but not always- a useful ally. From the days of
Rick Dangerous on ancient home
computers, we’ve never been keen
on games that kill you without
warning. Cards! does this frequently.
But while the game is confounding
and occasionally frustrating, it’s also
forgiving. Lose your lives (you get the
classic three) and the game loops back
to the start of the current chapter
rather than the very beginning.
If you expect card-based
adventuring to work like clockwork,
the oddball nature of Cards! might
not appeal. But if you like the sound
of a mobile-friendly card game full of
charm, puzzles and experimentation,
look no further.
12.Card Thief
Price: £2.99
This game is what happens when
solitaire collides with stealth. Nine
cards are dealt as a three-by-three
grid, and your aim is to draw a path
through them that maximises the loot
you snag, but minimises stealth point
losses. Said losses can quickly rack
up, if you attempt to tackle too many
guards or monsters, or blunder about
extinguishing torches.
As you get further into the game,
new subtleties are unearthed. There
11.