Lizards! Review From: mlwilliams <mwilliams@signal.dera.gov.uk> Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000 In the spirit of the "It's about time thread" I hereby present my own view on the game Lizards! run by Madhouse. Lizards! Wot's that all about then? Lizards is a good game which I'm having great fun playing. I'll say this here at the beginning and again at the end just so you don't lose the the thread. A review should have a beginning a middle and an end, by use of the cunning strategy I've just outlined I shall ensure that Lizards! gets at least 2 out of 3 - which as we all know, ain't bad. Lizards (I'll drop that !) is a fairly simple game, which is no bad thing. After all simple rules can make for complex and involving games (Diplomacy anyone?). Lizards has a fairly limited set of rules but when with the added ingredient of 'other players' even a spell system comprising around ten spells can become a nightmare of possibilities. Having said that the rules are simple we should turn to the rule book to see how they're presented. Here we encounter a strange dichotomy between the way in which the rules are described and the way in which they are implemented. The rulebook is excellent - the descriptions are clear, the pictures funny. Obviously there can be only minimal realism in so basic a game but the rulebook explains these away in lizard terms which I found to be amusing and to give a good feel to the game. For example the way in which one unit completes its activities before the next one starts leads to a discussion of lizards' tendency to frantic bursts of activity followed by long periods of lolling idly in the mud. This very slick presentation should be set against the mechanics of writing orders which was intimidating enough to put one (admittedly stupid) member of our game off ever writing a turn and leads to typographical errors on both player and GM side which can result in frustrating failures. The spell system is simple but imaginative and quite well balanced. Certainly it allows for creative strategies that enable one to win over the more pedestrian players. In essense Lizards is 'just' another of those send out troops-and-capture-territory games, fortunately I love 'em. The rules are of course just an artificial framework that sits between you and your opponents but the whole swampy concept does lead to a good, if somewhat fetid, atmosphere with a disitinctly saurian flavour to the banter flying about on the turn message board. So, how do Madhouse run the game? Well the answer here is reminiscent of the rulebook answer. It's a curious mix of annoying or unlucky errors combined with top-notch and very professional service. In the game I'm in - now on turn 9 - at least 6 people have reported turns missing and several have dropped out because of this. Now there may well be an element of blaming Madhouse for their own mistakes here, I can only speak for myself and say that on the first turn I attacked another player my entire turn reply was sent to him along with his own! HOWEVER the matter was sorted out to my satisfaction. There has been at least one majorish bug (well it was major to me since it impacted on my game standing quite significantly) and it took quite a while to establish its bug-status and then set right, _but_ it was set right, nobody ever told me to sling my hook, they kept at it and now I'm a happy bunny. Turn around has been a bit erratic - this should be mitigated by Madhouse's concern that all the players be given the chance to get a turn in though. The last turn took 4 weeks instead of 2, but there were excuses that carried some weight (they were sorting out that bug). Having finally got the turn I find one key order that I spent a lot of time making sure I got right went wrong - it's possible it is my fault - either way it's Madhouse Lizards in microcosm, things go wrong, things get sorted, I'm sure that this too, like the other problems will be dealt with fairly and professionally. And so. It's back to the swamps for me, there are more dens to conquer, more monster infested lagoons to swim, more green lizards to set planting, more greys to set building, more red and yellow warriors to unleash against the hated SunSeekers, more Black Lizards to set chanting their arcane mysteries. Lizards is a good game which I'm having great fun playing. Mark -- Saturnalia http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/5676/sat.html I'm sorry, I can't argue unless you've paid. Referenced By Up