Ark Nova in about 3 minutes
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Ark Nova in about 3 minutes
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Designer,Mathias Wigge,
Artist,Steffen Bieker, Loïc Billiau, Dennis Lohausen, Christof Tisch
Publisher,Feuerland Spiele
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3 minute board games theme Music by Vic Granell
"Tech live" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Now, just to head off anyone who gets rarked up at someone not loving Ark Nova. Yes its a fine game, yes i enjoyed it. No i don't think every game needs new and novel mechancis to be interesting. But the core issue with Ark Nova for me is the gameplay loop was so familiar to me that by the end of the rules teach I already knew how to play to win, and have won every game i've played of it pretty comfortably. I felt like the discovery phase of the game was very short and I was straight into the mastery phase. Now, as i view games as puzzles that are there to challenge my noggin, Ark Nova just didn't do enough for me to find it engaging after 5 plays. Now, i've played hundreds of games of Terraforming Mars, so my experience base is probably very different to most. But these reviews are my opinion after all. Hope you find this comment helps explain my position.
This is one of those games, like Wonderland Wars that just becomes the "new hotness" and no one can dare have an opinion other than absolute joy or excitement over it.
Well, here i am saying "its ok" :)
The real review is always in the comments ;)
I felt exactly the same and described the game as a greatest hits compilation of Euros. Good, but not fulfilling like a new album. Part of the problem is that the game borrows so heavily from other recent successful games (the score track is taken directly from Raja’s of the Ganges) rather than being inspired by older mechanisms or something a bit more left of field. I agree that not every game can be innovative, but this feels like it’s inspirations were just too obvious, hence the feeling of having played it before.
J-The reason I subscribed to your channel/patreon is because of your idiosyncratic viewpoint and honesty. Keep it up!
Love this game! It’s what my wife and I play once a week. She wasn’t into board games until this
My wife played TM twice lifetime. We played Ark Nova 3 times in one week. The theme just makes the game so much more fun to play. TM is like doing homework, where AN is more like recess. In terms of depth I don't think they are too far apart. TM obviously has a huge deck of cards too and you are limited to what you draw as well. Also everyone with 100s of play of TM are going to feel like there's way more strategy because the game has been played more. Overtime we will see how close they get.
"Overtime we will see how close they get" Seems like a weird comment to make for someone who played one of the games only twice. It sounds like you've already decided.
for me, terraforming mars has the best theme ever :)
@@3MBGwhen did he say he only played it twice?
Play a ton of TM but after just a few games of Ark Nova, ark nova is my #1 game of all time. I’ve played it over a dozen times and I love it. Every game is so different. Everyone I’ve taught the game to loves it. I mainly play it at 2 players. Most games take about 2 hours
Thanks for the great review! I fell for the hype and bought this game. Haven't tabled it yet but am hoping it doesn't get stale too quickly for our group.
I really enjoy Ark Nova, I didn’t think I would but I think the mechanisms fit the theme and it is absolutely a mix tape but it hasn’t become stale for me yet. Every game has been different. I get that it won’t scratch everyone’s itch 🤓
I'm half disappointed you weren't as into this game as other reviewers, and half relieved. As my tastes do seem to coincide with yours more than a lot of other reviewers I'm disappointed in that this was one to look out for, however I'm relieved as my wallet will thank you :D
I'm relatively new to the hobby and I buy this game and I love it. Haven't playing original terraforming mars but I have Ares expedition, and I love that game, that's why I was excited about Ark Nova
I don't think your review or feelings about the game are misplaced. Anybody with as much depth as you have with TFM and have touched New Dawn will find familiar elements. Doesn't mean Ark isn't good. Like you said, it's a good mixtape. Probably one of the best ones in recent times. Not every top 100 is gonna wow us. I did get my copy two days ago and I am thrilled. I'm okay with the familiarity. Its theme is enough to keep it in my collection.
Agreed. And a small note, i worked for the NZ department of conservation so the zoo theme and the conservation part of that do speak to me. It's certainly not going immediately on the "fire into the sun and begone" pile. Who knows, it may grow on me. Or there might be an expansion that takes it in a novel direction.
@@3MBG gonna have to stop you there lol an expansion for an already really dense game with cards after cards... Does not need more cards! Haha that is my thought. I think if an expansion is to be added, let it not be MORE cards.
I was thinking something more like Terraforming Mars Prelude, which speeds the game up
@@3MBG Gold medal idea 👌 🏅
Ark Nova is poised to dethrone Teraforming Mars at my table for almost every person who has played it.
I've defintely talked to folk who feel the same way. My crew who tested Great Western Trail were very high on Ark Nova over TM
Glad I was able to hold off on this one. It was really the theme that just didnt do it for me. Now i think I’ll go play some TM 😙
I like it a lot. The card play is definitely the stand out mechanism for me. It's just the soup of iconography that keeps me from playing it more often.
I feel like since we have not got the other games that have the mechanics you highlight, I could get this one?.. ..or not.
Another well crafted review J'
Yeah, i suspect if you havent played those games a lot this will feel super new and novel as they are great systems
I fell for the hype and got it, and enjoy it. I’ve played TM 200+ (mostly on the app) but never Civ. We house ruled to pick up more cards based on other reviews. 100% agree a prelude expansion would help, and I always like more cards!
A small but significant correction: the graduation cap is actually called your reputation in-game (weirdly) so every time knowledge is mentioned in the review, it's actually reputation that's being referred to
yeah, we called it knowledge because of the cap. Sometimes the official names just don't stick with things once they reach contact with me and my players.
@@3MBG I totally agree with that as a house rule! I played this for the first time last weekend and that was one of my notes. Since when does a 🎓 equate to reputation?
I think of it less as a houserule, and more just slang. Like calling the money in a sci-fi game "space bucks"
@@3MBG agreed
Great review Jarrod and I completely agree with your overall assessment. Thx!
Waiting for Ark Nova expedition Ares:p
You mean "Race for the Zoo" ;)
Been going back and forth on getting this one, but I think you saved me some regret with the "already played it" bit I love Terraforming Mars, I don't think I need something that similar to it.
For me it's much better than terraforming mars. It,s TM2.0 with extra game mechanics. Play it at least once whenever you can. TM moved out for this game.
This is still sitting on my Shelf of Opportunity. Have a handful of games much higher on my interest list to table first, before I crack this one open and try it out. Hopefully, I'll enjoy it. :)
I was chuffed when one of my better results playing the game was with building around Australian Reptiles. I'm not sure about the Polydomino side of the game. A card tableau would have been fine, I think. It essentially just uses that anyway. The planned expansion is Aquariums, hopefully with sharks.
Glad to see a fellow TM lover ping off Ark Nova. I haven't picked it up since I like TM's theme a lot better and haven't heard anything other than it being new that made it seem better than TM. Especially with the tile placement being on your own board instead of a community board, I definitely think I'll just stick with TM. This is exactly what I was looking for in a review of Ark Nova, thanks!
Nicely done, thanks.
Great I just bought this game today
Between this and the other reviews I've seen I'm pretty confidant I don't need both this and TM in my collection. I'd be happy if one of my friends got it it and suggested playing it though.
Great review, of my family who all love TM, our strongest player hated it, our middle son enjoyed, I love it and my wife felt too long too many decisions she could not weigh up or mitigate. So much to like and many things might annoy so your review is bang on imo! Thanks for balance...its the theme I love1
As a nearly pure Solo Gamer (I've only played TM and AN solo) I prefer AN from the solo side mainly because of it's theme and playtime. I like the gameplay of both, I think that TM Has a much better engine building aspect, while I like AN's Zoo tile aspect as well, I find the balance to be entertaining. In the end I can't really say one is better than for a specific reason they both feel different enough. I also find that AN is a bit quicker than TM which means I lean more towards AN once more as if I only have an hour to play, I would rather play AN twice, than TM maybe once. ALL THAT SAID. I need to give TM some more plays.
Neither of these games win over Fantastic Factories which is my favorite engine builder so far.
i dont think that this game is that complex! i teatch to some people that doesnt play boardgames that often and they learn it very well and clear
Theres like 300 unique cards each with special rules. Its certainly not a light weight game :)
@@3MBG most of them make similar things. I dont say that it is a Light game but for me it stays on The medium spot
I'm seeing a lot of comments from people saying they don't need both Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars in their collection, and while I understand that, I still think they're missing out. I was able to play Ark Nova with people who wouldn't give TM a second look based solely on theme; granted, those players didn't perform great, but they still had a good time and have since asked to play again. That is the power of a well-executed theme, which is something in my opinion TM lacks - I'm all for space, but I never once feel like I'm actually terraforming a planet, just moving cubes around and reading tons of text.
So, to those of you who feel like they don't need both, I say: at least play Ark Nova first, then decide.
(Also, it kind of saddens me that nobody's bringing up Civilization as a reason not to own this game, even though Ark Nova owes a lot more to that design than it does TM! Just a matter of popularity, I assume.)
I def brought up civ a new dawn, even going so far as to make sure i reviewed it just before ark nova so i could link back to it :)
@@3MBG Yeah, of course you did, I meant people in the comments ;-)
how does it not feel like you are terraforming mars? The theme is executed with perfection. Maybe it doesn't fit your fantasy, but it is quite true to real life, or rather yet how it would be in real life.
For me this game is alot like Terraforming Mars, but better:
1. The cards and tiles feel more like they actually do something
2. A bit more player interaction (some cards hurt other players directly, but you can also take the goals and the cards that they want, making them not have it)
3. The action selection system makes every turn feel different than the last, and rewards players who like to plan ahead.
I can totally see where all the hype comes from
Not sure i can agree with much of that
1. The cards are virtually identical, and the tiles in TM are in a competitive placement environment. Not just on your own board.
2. TM has cards that directed attack each other, you can also take goals and awards, as well as tile placements away from your opponent. Also card drafting. And the attack cards in TM make sense too. Throwing an asteroid down is damaging stuff, as are employing hackers. Owning a snake in one zoo making another zoos build actions less effective is silly.
3. The action selection system is a highlight, which is why I like Civilization: A new dawn. But it fits in Ark Nova reasonably well.
also the break systen makes the game not boring for players who couldn't built an engine yet, unlike TM
Great review I wish the game had more interaction. I enjoy playing it but it's a very multiplayer solitaire with lots of luck of the draw.
The expansion readily does make this game better! Not sure if you’ve tried it yet...
Not yet, but living on an island 5 minutes drive from the ocean, i do like the theme of the expansion.
@@3MBG 🤣🤣
I have only played Terraforming Mars once, so the mechanics were not familiar to me. I really enjoy the way the actions are set up (this was new to me), but every time I play, about 2/3 of the way through, it falls flat. Too many cards, and what i have discovered is that if I play in the manner I enjoy--which is building up my zoo to make it as elaborate as possible--I actually lose. What I enjoy about the game and what I need to do to win are almost mutually exclusive.
In the end, I just don't love this game. If it were up to me alone , we'd sell it.
It weirds me out when games use photo clip art type images. Terraforming Mars was bad in this way too.
I get it though. All those unique cards is a lot of money to pay artists.
The plus tokens, which + the strength of your actions, are x-tokens and the game is oddly clear about this for some mystical reason 🙂
I frequently just call things by names of what the look like in the recaps rather than the official names as its easier. Like calling these pluses, or saying "money" instead of whatever the wacky currency in a game is. It also seems nonsensical for a token that adds a boost and looks like a plus not to be one :)
@@3MBG Oh yes. This was me making fun of game design.
Hated Terraforming Mars, loved Civ New Dawn kinda love Ark Nova the most TBH...wierd how that works...
I cant figure out how to buy the petting zoo ,the reptile house or bird avery. Do you use the build action and pay 2 per hex like normal buildings?
Yes, but you need the Build II card for them IIRC
I do wish it was shorter but it is a lot simpler than terraforming mars
How though? Way more rules in Ark Nova than TM.
@@3MBG surely if you can solve ark nova it’s simpler?
It depends what the word “complexity” means.
I can teach ark nova a lot easier than mars I find
Interesting. I think its much busier, but busy doesn't equate to more real choices.
@@3MBG I find people have a lot of trouble with the awards and tracks in mars but honestly it’s a small thing
I think mars is the better game but Ark nova makes me feel good about myself
This game has never appealed to me. But weirdly now it does because you compared it another game I haven’t played before 😂
Lol thats kinda weird :)
what does 'euro fans' mean please?
Check my video "Board game basics - the different types of board games" for the full answer, as that's not a quick explanation.
Yes I think the 'stale regurgitation' of others games is the major repeated criticism. Now there are few genuinely unique games out there, but this one feels like it borrows too obviously, especially from TM, with just the theme a potentially refreshingly original highlight. That said I'm a little less positive about the wider concept of zoos, and I suspect others are even more strongly against them.
Terraforming zoo
This is one of those games where I have to admit, I got Planet Zoo simulator instead. I am a terrible human being, but I think it’s a better implementation of the same concept, of equivalent complexity. And the art in this is really flat. I have to go out now and flog myself with birch twigs for being a heretic.
If it’s taking you longer than 90 minutes to play, you’re playing it wrong. It’s not supposed to be a long engine builder.
A 4 player game in 90 minutes is going pretty damned quickly. What exactly are you doing to make it go that fast as my group are not slow players at all and it takes us nearly double that.