A new card game (to me) that captures the feel of a video game - Anima

While there are a few board games out that are based on video games there are also those that feel like you are playing a video game.

We have Gears of War, Bioshock Infinite and the upcoming XCom and Witcher, which in some ways capture those games they are based on, we also have games that feel like a video game. Be it either their theme or even their mechanics.

My inspiration for this is due to playing a very JRPG game called Anima the Card Game, my hopefully soon arrival of the Video Game High School board game and the fantastic beat-em style game system Battlecon (another backed KickStarter project I should have before Christmas).

I'll talk about Anima a bit as it's not a new game, in fact the card game originally came out in 2006 with a revised edition a few years later and two follow up standalone add-ons.

The game has you leading a party of very familiar JRPG job types to various towns, caves and other locations (or Areas) while battling monsters, other parties and gaining loot (Advantage).

The game has some interesting ideas, like completing missions before taking on the final (unknown) mission. At this point all players who have done a mission can also attempt the final mission. This leads to fighting amongst the parties, but be warned if the mission isn't completed quickly it could be game over for everyone.

I would not call this a co-op game though as everyone is still very much in it for themselves, but you can trade amongst players which keeps the player interaction going while you build up your party.

Each player has two missions that they keep secret and these will often need a specific area for you to explore before completing. You can have twice as many active areas as players and once per turn you can seek new horizons and open up a new location, discarding an old one if you already have the maximum.

You then have a party of adventurers, up to four, and a handful of advantages that help you during the different phases of the game.

Though the game generates the areas and encounters randomly you can choose to only go to the easier level 1 areas before moving to the tougher level 2 and 3 ones.

Each party will have a combined strength and speed total. These are used to determine your combat total along with a dice roll (while someone else rolls for the monsters) and your speed determines your initiative (who goes first each turn).

Overall the game does feel like a JRPG with a touch of MMO elements which is enhanced by the amazing art of Wen-M.

If you feel like something different to play on a Saturday night and this sounds like your bowl of miso then I highly recommend picking it up. The first set can be bought for just under £12 which is a bargain.

I enjoy playing board games as a substitute for video games (couch co-op being a rarity), so this is a great addition to my collection that I only really grabbed for the artwork.

Now I'm looking forward to other video game feeling board games to play with friends, and possibly use it as a way to introduce them to games they wouldn't have played before.