A Touch of Evil Review - with Fraser Mackenzie

[@MiniPainterGamerDadD20]

I played this game for the first time this week. The artwork was freaking amazing, gameplay was well done. The group I was with also had a great time.

[@zelurstak]

Mackenzie is an excellent addition to the Dice Tower crew, I loved this review. Hopefully we can see more from him in the future.

[@franklinpeter6067]

InstaBlaster

[@Phaelen2003]

One of my favorite games that I own. I simply love it. Flying Frog always does a great job producing high quality. Defintitely don't mistake cheesiness for lack of quality, these are some of the best produced games out there. I can't wait for Shadows of Brimstone.

[@shanethornsbery9484]

Hands down, my favorite board game. I love the theme and the artwork, and never knowing what you're going to run into when you go to any of the locations. And playing with all the expansions makes a whole country side for the players to explore.

[@willemverheij3412]

I'm planning to get this game sometimes, its currently pretty much the highest up my list of games to get. Might be something nice to put on the christmas list. Already have Fortune and Glory and love that game very much. I have a few questions though, to anyone who played it. -How much of an impact does each monster have on the game? -Is it known from the start what monster you are hunting? -The monster grows in power, how does that work? -Do the expansion packs solve the flaws mentioned in the review? -How does it play when all expansions are used?

[@jasonkelly1692]

+Willem Verheij -A LOT more than you'd think. Their special abilities can make or break the game depending on which heroes you have. -Yes, you decide the monster before you decide pretty much anything else. -As the game goes on, a lot more minions infest the gameboard. As well as this, a lot of cards have different effects depending on how close the shadow meter is to Darkness. The closer it is to Darkness, the worse the cards do for you. The closer it is, though, also means the cheaper the Lair cards are for you to start a showdown. -No, not really. It can actually lessen the thematic feel if you have the Coast expansion, as the Innsmouth-styled village has no place (from a theatrical view) right across from Shadowbrook. -Something Wicked doesn't alter the game enough to disjoint anything, but The Coast can lessen the experience with all its new rules if you haven't played and memorized it before(this can be easily solved by playing a few test rounds alone with the new Solo Rules before inviting other people). The Hero Packs are fantastic and go great alongside Something Wicked, though.

[@willemverheij3412]

***** Thanks for the reply, in the meanwhile I have the game + hero packs and something wicked, and I put the coast on this year's christmas list so that I'll have it all complete and can then reorganise the insides of the boxes. It certainly has been a lot of fun to play so far, showdowns can be a bit messy though with so many cards and stuff comeing into play.

[@jasonkelly1692]

Willem Verheij I recommend getting a few tackle boxes w/ dividers to store all the tokens in if you're playing with all the expansions. It makes setups A LOT easier.

[@willemverheij3412]

***** I think I saw a video somewhere about it yes. I'll look into it when I have it all complete.

[@SnakeSpawn]

I house-ruled this game so much that I eventually re-wrote the rule book (using tips from BoardGameGeek and TheZombieGame). It's now only co-op with less dice rolling and more strategy. With the mods, it's one of my favorite games.

[@zwara81]

are there somewhere more reviews of mr Mackenzie?

[@CounterCultureReviews]

There are more on the way, stay tuned!

[@zwara81]

well, then it good work for the first one. Did do podcast or oer videos befor? or Written reviews?

[@Malky24]

I may not have caught it in the video but he doesn't seem to mention that the villain becomes incrementally more powerful in co-operative play depending on how many players there are. There are also villains who are stronger than others.

[@apollonia6656]

How does it play as a solo is: playing as two players ? I have the game but I honestly remember if I played it or just opened the box and closed it again ! It is about eight plus years ago and I was told it was highly recommended. Thanks in advance.

[@princealarming85]

Last Night On Earth is one of my favorite games, and the artwork on the cards is one of my favorite elements about it. Too often I'll see games with art done by different artists that don't mesh together, or the artwork is off putting because none of the illustrations appeal to me. But using snapshots of real people and props, it makes the theme come alive like you're inside of a movie. That said, I feel the photos in LNOE set the bar a bit high for me with this approach, so when I got A Touch Of Evil, I felt the photos didn't bring the game to life as much as they do in LNOE. I also found that the character pawns, while beautifully done with excellent detail, are far more easy tell apart in LNOE on who is who than they are in ATOE where half of them can be mistaken for the wrong character. The board for ATOE is amazing looking like an old map and is probably my favorite component. Also the theme of this game is a wonderful breath of fresh air, whereas LNOE is competing alongside Dead of Winter, City of Horror, Zombicide, and other zombie games. Personally I don't really care for the soundtracks that come with these games, I feel as though the ambiance it's trying to create is a bit too lighthearted in trying to set the mood for games with themes as dark as these, however just the fact that it comes with music is truly amazing and kudos to everyone involved in giving each of these games its own soundtrack because although they didn't appeal to me personally, I'm sure it's a great bonus component to many others who also enjoy these games. Still need a few more play throughs of A Touch of Evil to get a better feel for this game and pull it out of the shadows of Last Night on Earth to see how it ranks in my opinion.

[@jasonkelly1692]

+princealarming85 If you like LNOE, you should try Invasion from Outer Space. IFOS is pretty similar to gameplay to LNOE but has much more of a b-movie feel (specifically Mars Attacks!) and a lot more humor in its cards.

[@bbblackwell]

Really superb review from start to finish. I still find myself on the fence about this game -- huge fan of the theme, and surprisingly I don't find the artwork to be prohibitively cheesy as I do with Incredible Expeditions -- but whether intended or not, the review definitely scared me off more than any headless rider ever could. I'm very selective and cannot abide dead weight in my collection. I'll have to do more research, but I certainly hope to see many more review from you; it was top-notch and I appreciate your giving careful attention to all facets of the game.

[@bbblackwell]

So after much research and contemplation, I opted to purchase this game just before Halloween. The short version: this has become one of my most treasured games and has earned a permanent place in my collection! I must take exception with your account of the "roll and move" mechanism, however, particularly in this kind of game. Thematically the roll represents the success of your travel efforts, which is an appropriate consideration. Any number of things could affect ones ability to quickly move from one location to another. Maybe you dropped your heirloom pocketwatch and spent 45 minutes searching through fallen leaves. Or, being new to Shadowbrook, perhaps you got turned around in the woods and had to backtrack. Not only do I think it works here -- adding choices, rather than taking them away (how do I best work with this unfortunate circumstance?) -- but I think free movement would be disaterous. Players would just zip around the board (particularly to the lair) and it would break down one aspect of the race element that is instrumental to the competitive game. Now if someone just doesn't like random mechanisms, then I would say they're barking up the wrong tree with American style games in general and should stick to Euros; but apart from that I dont see the movement rolls as a negative factor at all. Thank you again; your entertaining review was an important part of my decision-making process, and I would never have considered this fantastic game without an inside look from reviewers like you.

[@RafaelMaia]

That was a really good, refreshing take on reviews! Very engaging and informative. Thanks! Looking forward to the next ones! I had heard Touch of Evil also offers a Team Mode (which is something I'd really like to see more in games!). Thematically it might make more sense than the fully-competitive mode, while still offering some head-to-head race? Cheers!

[@CounterCultureReviews]

Thanks for watching! It does indeed include a team mode which I actually prefer to the vanilla competitive. As you say not many games support teams; AToE's flexibility in play style really is something to be commended. I regret cutting the section where I talk about team-play now but really the video was getting too long and I didn't want people to get bored! If I ever cover the expansions I will definitely mention it again.

[@LosthorizonPT]

Great Video Review. Have you played Fortune and Glory? Did you like it better then this one?

[@jonydude]

Love your work. Informative yet concise. Got any more videos? Of any kind?

[@Quincy_Morris]

Uh the corner locations all have different kinds of encounters and tend to have more risk/rewards. The game even tells you which locations tend to give which kinds of encounters.

[@LinkEX]

About the illustration (3:16 onward): I guess you rarely see this approach _(in fact, that's the first time for me)_ because it is very hard to get these photographs to look convincing. You need a _good_ photograph of a _good_ actor in a _good_ costume with _good_ accessories, edited with a _good_ background and _good_ after effects. These are a lot of factors, so if not everything fits together, it can easily look trashy. Then all you see when looking at those pictures is some guy in a custume. Since we're used to high standards in television, I can see why some people hate it because it has just that impression on them - an unconvincing act. But I think the guys behind this game actually did a good job with the card illustrations. I can't say the same about the box art unfortunately (0:14), which looks quite unprofessional, particularly regarding the rendering, lightning and the vampire's face. I would have _preferred_ if the illustrations went through an art filter to make them look like drawings, because it covers the photos with a layer of "fable-ness". So this would probably also have helped those that aren't convinced from this style to get immersed in the game.

[@RowantarotBlogspot]

Desperately seeking this game. Is it available anywhere in the UK?

[@jschoenzy9416]

I would offer to sell you my copy with both expansions but the shipping to the uk from Canada would be prohibitive.

[@jessehackey]

I really appreciated the immense amount of energy and passion that went into this review. You made it abundantly clear to the viewer whether or not this game is something they should be excited about or is not for their personal taste. I can't wait to see more of your work!

[@Quincy_Morris]

AToE is a masterpiece in thematic gaming. And I've never really played the competitive version. Rather easy to beat over time but there are plenty of official ways to up the difficulty.

[@wrath231]

Fortune and Glory had the same "roll and move" crap. Its a mixed bag.

[@luiscarlosqg]

This was an excellent review. Informative and interesting. Pros and cons were very well presented. You should make more reviews for the dice tower.

[@DarthMessias]

How comes that when I watched this guys reviews I feel like not wanting to play the game?!

[@PetrSvoren]

Great review, good luck in future reviews. Can you review Firefly, in costume?

[@Vjaazerd]

Finally someone made a nice review about this game. Great job!

[@jasontemple6140]

Good review. But it goes into huge negative detail about roll and move, without mentioning the rulebook offers an alternate fixed move mechanism, and of course there are about ten variants on bgg

[@BenSaidScott]

Great review Fraser, is this your first time? Really enjoyable. Sounds like a "better" version of Cluedo. Incredibly tempting. Any expansion recommendations?

[@CounterCultureReviews]

Thanks so much, this is my first video review so I'm glad you enjoyed it. In short the expansions really just add more content. The hero packs add (surprisingly) 4 more heroes and a villain each. The big box expansions each add a new board, locations and 4 more heroes and villains. The boards are modular so you can play with all three, it just depends on how big (and long) you want the game to be!

[@Quincy_Morris]

It's weird to weird three guns at once? Uh these are single shot guns. Wielding a bunch of guns was the name of the game back then

[@steveg7000]

Touch of Evil on the Dice Tower? It's the review I never thought would happen!

[@joaocamilo8106]

This is a brilliant... and I mean BRILLIANT review. Very insightful on the design aspects. Thank you!

[@Rik77]

Great review, I love the way you speak. You're very clear. Production is great. Perhaps the review might be slightly long overall, but that's a minor thing.

[@dboussios8694]

Excellent review! Wonderful addition to the network. Looking forward to more.

[@mstreed]

Fantastically done!! Big fan of your review style! Gives me all kinds of new ideas. Very engaging! Thanks for the fun!

[@ForsakenProductions]

Liking Mr MacKenzie's review. Nice to see a fellow Scot on the Dice Tower. :)

[@azraelswrd]

Great review on calling out the weaknesses in the game. I play with the core game and Coast expansion but I prefer cooperative mode and use house rules to address the weak areas: 1) movement [yep, I don't play roll/move either] 2) town elders 3) map exploration 4) increasing teamwork 5) investigation points.6) mystery phase co-op chart. My games focus more on the theme and roleplaying, which is something the game is lacking if played "as-is" due I think to this being a competitive game with a co-op mode tacked on. Oh, something not touched on -- the physical quality of the cards. They are too tacky and tend to stick. I recommend sleeves if you don't want to do pile shuffling. This is probably my 2nd favorite thematic co-op board game (behind Eldritch Horror).

[@kane2239]

What houserules do you use for movement? I enjoy this game, but the roll and move is pretty frustrating :)

[@azraelswrd]

Daniel Nordin my house rule for movement: all heroes may move up to 3 spaces normally. Heroes may push to move up to 6 but risk taking a wound (the higher the movement increases the chances for a wound). Heroes may also choose to linger by moving 0-1 spaces. Linger combat check as normal. Items or allies that increase movement add their bonus without penalty to the base 3 movement. For example, Adrianna wants to move 4 spaces. That means she wants to move 1 extra space beyond her normal 3 so she would roll a D6. A "1" would give her a wound. If she wanted to move 6 spaces, a roll of 3 or less would get her a wound. My method still involves some luck but I have more control on how far I can go and am not breaking the game by moving farther than possible (and I'm still not rolling the dice any more than I would have normally).

[@EvanDuly]

Could you describe your house rules for points 2-6 in your original comment? I would love to know as this game looks great!

[@azraelswrd]

***** For town elders, I only give each one a secret (Coast rules tells me I'm supposed to give the Coast elders two secrets... nah!). I first separate good/neutral and evil secrets and then make one single deck of secrets with 2 evil and N - 1 (N = total number of elders) non-evil secrets all chosen at random. For example, I use 9 elders so that means I make a single deck from 8 good/neutral and 2 evil secrets (total 10 secrets). Pass a secret to each elder face down, then shuffle all the unused secrets together. In this way, there is AT LEAST one evil elder, possibly two. I created a set of quests (akin to mythos cards from Eldritch Horror) and one of those quests is to find out who the evil elder(s) is or are and stop them. Victory raises the morale of the town (shadow track back 1) and failure means they join the boss/shadow track advances 1 stage.

[@azraelswrd]

***** For map exploration, like town elders, I use quests that encourage players to go across the map to find items, allies, or confront minions. In my own playthroughs, nearly all games degenerated into the same formula of skill farm/investigation point farm/item farm and then boss annihilation. BORING! Sure, those things are important but I wanted to break up the gameplay and allow characters to use their specific talents beyond just smashing face. I also allowed players to deposit items back at the town hall instead of just discarding them, which encourages players to share and work together. This was just one way I enhanced teamwork. The other was to allow for players to work together by having them travel together. In this way, they can deal with problems (monsters or skill tests) with not just one player but multiples. However, the tradeoff to "sticking together" is that the heroes cover less ground and this could be bad especially with some of the quests that require players to spread out or work against a clock (the clock being the boss destroying the town, for example).

[@ghostlightx9005]

The art put me off a lot at first, as I simply dismissed this as a Weekend Murder/Mystery kind of game because of it.

[@fustercluck666]

A very illuminating and entertaining review! Thanks a lot!

[@mikeem09]

Outstanding review! Looking forward to seeing more from you.

[@soren123]

Reminds me of the SU:SD video reviews, which I love. Keep it up!

[@JBearwa]

Actually what he said was wrong. Each corner has a different type of reward. It says so in the instructions. I played it the corners are different. co-op which is fun as the villain is tougher

[@ronamiczor]

Great review, a lot of love put into this one.

[@EpicKing]

Nice Review! Very unique and you certainly touch on all of the aspects that I agree with .... I really believe you didn't even miss one thing! Well done!

[@DarkSlayer977]

The art style is pretty cool

[@1987MartinT]

I love the artwork in this game.

[@steveg7000]

Enjoyed the review. Excellent production values. Kinda too long though.

[@CounterCultureReviews]

Thanks for watching and for the feedback Steve! I agree with you, in fact I had to cut a lot to get it down to that. There was a surprising amount to cover in this game. I am working on tightening up subsequent reviews so stay tuned!

[@steveg7000]

Fraser Mackenzie It's obvious you know what you're doing with a camera in terms of setting up shots and cutting them together in ways that maintain viewer interest. It must take quite a lot of time to complete a video review like this.

[@steveg7000]

***** It's nice that you enjoyed it, and I agree it was incisive, but Fraser probably knows as well as I do that 17 minutes is longer than most folks are willing to spend on a review pretty much anything. He can get in under ten minutes and still be that incisive.

[@steveg7000]

Well, enjoy the chip on your shoulder.

[@steveg7000]

Justin, the wording of your initial responses came across as excessively contrarian, to the point that it came across as spoiling for an argument rather than a discussion. Your screed here does not dispel the impression that you have a bellicose streak within your personality. I opted to "deal with it" by informing you that you come across as having a chip on your shoulder. You may cope with this through self-examination or further snark.

[@sebastianricks9459]

What a lovely review. Thank you Fraser!

[@scottder]

Excellent review! This was I was looking at getting but the things you mentioned have given me pause, and I for one like the cheesy artwork.

[@DieterDietz1]

A nice review. I have and enjoy the game in spite of it's fault's although I play mostly solitaire. The length was fine in my opinion.

[@megalo3]

Great review! Can't wait for more.

[@stephencapenos9893]

Enjoyed the review but to be an individual I am down the middle on the art work. Dont love it or hate it.

[@wrath231]

The artwork is damn hilarious. What a hoot.

[@Lugo428]

is it my imagination, or does this game seem similar to Arkham Horror?

[@crimson49er]

fantastic review Fraser!

[@IF040020]

Love the art and the game.

[@jonathanhowe42]

It's probably not my style of game, but great job. Does remind me a bit of the SUSD people, but it's nice to have a family-friendly edition on here now. Keep up the good work!

[@godlaydying]

This sounds a lot like Talisman.

[@JeffMcLeod]

Great review!

[@mislavgabrijelmiksa6926]

very good review

[@williammcguinness795]

Wait... this NOT a co=op game...theme fail.

[@Dougmysticeye]

It is both. I prefer the CO-op game personally. It is awesome.

[@JasonCookingham]

When I bought this game, I thought it was going to be a nice stepping stone towards Arkham Horror. I found it to be a poor step up from Talisman.

[@BradfordStokes]

Wow somebody doesn't know how to use the word snobby correctly and must get easily offended if you don't agree with them 100%.

[@BradfordStokes]

+Jerry Morton dismissing a game because of a game mechanic isn't being a game snob. It's stating that you don't like roll and move games just like many don't like deck builders. Calling some one a snob because of it, is being an elitist moron.

[@BradfordStokes]

+Jerry Morton also a snob is someone who holds themselves out as an expert and makes condescending remarks. It is not someone being critical or someone making a statement of dislike.

[@BradfordStokes]

+Jerry Morton so under your criteria any critic is a snob. If someone as you put it "dismisses" a game due to not like a mechanic then they are again a snob. So I will presume if someone doesn't like the game due to theme, components or design they must be snobs too. Sounds like to me you think no one should ever dismiss anything on the premise that they dislike a part of it even if it is a major part. That's is ridiculous. Also, I'm a lawyer, I can argue all day especially when someone immediately results to name calling when someone is just voicing an opinion.

[@BradfordStokes]

+Jerry Morton wow, you really don't get it nor see it. Wow.

[@ericfitch9181]

I thought I was watching a shut up and sit down review

[@dustycheney4669]

Mind boggled

[@BradfordStokes]

They lost me when I saw it was a roll and move game

[@EclecticCamel]

Bradford Stokes That's such a snobby thing to say. This is actually a pretty good game.

[@spiderfingers86]

Arkham Horror is better, but I love Fortune and Glory over Eldritch Horror

[@gabrielmiller8461]

Horrible art does not fit a horror game.