If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute, didn’t this come out years ago?” you would be correct. But given the pandemic and the fact we never actually reviewed it, now seems like the perfect time to draw some attention to Days of Wonder’s digital version of the renowned board game, Ticket to Ride.
While the original is an amazing board game, this port doesn’t really do anything we haven’t already seen. Yes, now you can play the game digitally, but if you were hoping for other goodies past that, you’ll have to keep looking. The base version of the title includes the classic, original version, where you spread trains throughout the United States and some of Canada, but it also includes the French map, which is an unexpected bonus. Both offer pretty different experiences and are both worth the time. We found ourselves most enthused playing either solo against the AI or using PlayLink functionality with friends. The solo mode is especially interesting because the AI plays and approaches the game differently to what we’re used to seeing when playing the game in person, which definitely increases replayability. The AI is content to sit back and hoard cards early, which feels like a new experience.
The Playlink version of the game, however, is rather rough, with locks and freezes on players’ phones being commonplace. And it’s probably easier to just break out the physical version if you’ve got it. Should you still want to take things online, there is still a multiplayer community. There were at least a couple hundred players each time we checked, which is pretty good all things considered.
The biggest problem ultimately is that if you don’t like the standard rules or play differently in person, then that’s too bad. Some custom options would have been a welcome addition and allowed even more fun to be squeezed out of the game. But if you’re looking for a quick, get-in, get-out play session of a great board game in digital form, you could do worse than Ticket to Ride.
Comments 9
What do you do in the game? What is this game about? Where is the review? All I know now is that it came out already and the AI plays different than a human. And its a board game. Is it similar to Catan? Chutes and Ladders with cards? Do I take turns forming colorful lines until my opponent blocks my progress like Pente? Do I ride a bus or a train or something? Is it a game for small childeren or adults? Who knows? Anybody played this know what kind of game this is?
@Powerpellet Pente actually kinda works as a comparison. The mini-review format doesn't leave much space to actually explain the game though, you're right!
You have a hand of colored cards, those colors correlate to the routes on a map. And when you get enough of one color to fill one individual line you place your train cars on the map, thereby "claiming" the line. You have "line" cards where you try to connect specific cities for bonus points (and you lose points if you fail to do so), and you get fixed amounts of points for each line you connect, with different points per how many train cars each line takes. Play continues until a player gets down to their last cars to put on the map (you get 45), and then each player gets 1 final turn before tallying points.
Love the Atlus Shrugged reference, Graham. Takes me back to my days as a kind of douchey right-wing teenager.
Anyway, like most board games, it's most fun to play IRL with a group of people. With that said, the game is a reasonably fun timewaster on mobile devices. I don't know that I'd want to sit in front of a TV to play it, though.
@gbanas92
Cool thank you. I might get it. It could be fun I guess.
@Powerpellet If you've never played it before, I'd definitely recommend the normal board game first, but in lieu of that, this is a decent substitute. I personally really love the game, I'd go so far as to call my favorite board game even, so I can't recommend it enough!
@Ralizah Even with just this version, I've had multiple instances of intending to play just one game, to instead play three or four. It's not quite the same as the board game proper, but in smaller bite-sized portions I definitely still found it fun!
@gbanas92 Considering the physical board game still regularly retails for over $40 (so many little wooden trains), it strikes me as kinda weird to recommend starting with that - a big part of the appeal of the software version is not having to cough up the dough for physical (at least, I assume this person's much cheaper)!
Can vouch for the game being a good time if you've got people to play with, though. It's easy and fairly intuitive to grasp the gameplay, and there's always a strategy each player can pursue that feels productive, whether they're a beginner or a pro.
@Fath That...you know that's a good point haha. It's easy to forget that the boardgame's not exactly cheap (I bought one with a dinged up box for hella cheap haha). I was thinking almost entirely from a fun / first impression angle. The local multiplayer is done through Playlink, and it doesn't work very well lol.
This is a tough sell - I own the physical game so it is interesting, but if you haven't played it before, I wouldn't recommend starting here. My kids would hurt me if I tried to get them to play this on PS.
For reference, I have "Life", the board game, on PS4; great in concept, I love that "we" don't have to set up or break down a board and cards, but no one ever wants to play it when it comes up as an option. Conclusion, be careful with board games on screens - somethings play better in real life.
Maybe you love the game and can't get folks to play, okay, buy it and make friends online. Maybe you are playing with someone online in quarantine, but what are the odds they have a PS4 too?
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