Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsA Game About Passing a Spinner
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2020
Make no mistake, this is a game about passing a spinner around the table. I'm a huge Star Wars fan. Ever since I saw Return of the Jedi in the theaters at 4 years old. This review would have been 1 star - but because it is Star Wars themed and because it comes with quality action figure, it gets a second star.
ACTION FIGURE: Speaking of the action figure - it is high quality, made like the original Luke Snowspeeder figure in hard plastic (not the cheap, bendy plastic that is found in the modern 3.75" figures). The figure has it's own card backing and bubble - as if it was pulled off the hook and placed in the game box. Very nice if you want to just leave packaged as a collectible. My 7-year old opted not to.
THE GAME: Woof. Where do I start? We played for almost an hour and a half. The four of us narrowly missed being able to finish the game over and over again. We finally just stopped and put it away. I do not think we will ever play it again.
The two main problems with the game are this:
1.) it is slow and boring. the game design isn't very exciting, so your turn consists of SPINNING THE SPINNER to move, and then maybe 40% of the time, you land on an INCIDENT card, or you can battle the "mini-bosses", or you land on a space that makes you take or lose a FORCE card. (More on the Force cards later...) Since 60% of the board is just empty squares, you typically just SPIN, MOVE, and pass your turn. Boring.
2.) Balance is key in a game. And you could say that this game is so well balanced that it ruins itself and becomes no fun. 90 minutes, my family and played this game and got nowhere, then to the end, then the beginning, then the end, then nowhere, then the beginning... you get the point. It is because of the FORCE cards mentioned earlier. I won't go into game mechanics details but basically, FORCE is both your currency and your skill (or level) as a Jedi. Everything in the game (boss battles, INCIDENT cards, squares with directions on them) is designed to give you FORCE... or take it away. You need FORCE to fight VADER, but if you lose enough FORCE you go back to the beginning.
TLDR - The gameplay is an endless cycle of: SPIN, MOVE, GET FORCE, SPIN, LOSE FORCE, SPIN, MOVE.
