A simple board game that keeps you guessing!Hey guys, it's razor-987 here and I am off with another review today of a game you've probably never heard of, let alone played. It's called Anticipation and it was released for the NES in 1988. I played this game with a friend once on NES Box because it caught our attention, so I figured I would share it on vizzed! The object of the game is pretty simple and all you have to do is guess the object or item being drawn based on the categories presented. Without further a do, lets get on to the review!?
Gameplay
Before I review anything about this game, I'm just going to go through the gameplay of this game and it is rather simple, believe it or not. If you are familiar with the game Pictionary, it's a lot like that – you have to pick a game piece from the four that you are able to choose from – a pair of high heeled shoes, a horn, an ice cream cone, and a teddy bear. After you pick your piece, the amount of spaces you move on the board is determined by the number rolled by the dice which will count down as the picture starts to form. Once you correctly guess what is being drawn, then you will move on to the next level. There are 3 levels in total. The first player to complete all 3 levels is the winner. It's really simple and there isn't very much to it. There are certain categories in the game that are determined by the color of the space that your piece will land on, like science, food, or things in the office, to name a few of the categories. If you think you can guess the picture being drawn before it's finished, you click and type it in and if you get it wrong, then the other player or the computer gets a shot to guess it. Basically you will both get a shot to guess what it is and if you get it wrong, your opponent goes and if they get it wrong, then the drawing will finish itself and then reveal what it was supposed to be. You will keep doing this until one of you wins all 3 levels. Simple enough right? Now onto the review....
Graphics: 5
The graphics are extremely simple, there isn't much to them at all and they are all drawn on a board either by dots that are joined together by lines, or for the harder difficulty, there are no dots and you just have to wait for the lines to form a picture and then take a guess. Some of the pictures will take more time to guess what is being drawn and sometimes you have to wait until the last possible second to finally take a crack at it. Hence the name Anticipation, because you must try to figure out the picture before the other player. So there isn't really all that much to the graphics, some of the pictures barely resemble what is supposed to be drawn, and some of them you can tell right away from the start. There were more than a few instances where my friend and I just paused and said "Huh, that's a stretch." So I scored it a simple 5 because the graphics aren't really vibrant, complex or eye catching, but they work well enough for the oremise of the game.
Sound: 4
As far as sound goes, there isn't really that much to it either, there is just a little bit of cheesy music that plays while your piece moves on the board and also when the drawing starts and finishes if you don't get it right. It isn't really catchy, but it is rather repetitive and it never really changes throughout the game. So because of that, I scored the sound a 4. Sure, it could definitely have better sound and music, but the primary focus is on guessing the image being drawn, so I can forgive it for that. Plus, I can imagine it would be very distracting if this game had catchy Sonic or Mega Man kind of music, so maybe boring or cheesely is the better approach for this kind of game.
Addictiveness: 3
Considering the types of games that are out today and also the amount of plays this game probably gets, I don't really think it's all that addicting. can imagine it probably would've been more popular back in the late 80's and 90's when this game was released, but comparing it to today's standards I don't think this game is anywhere near as popular as games like minecraft, Mario, Sonic and all the Modern Warfare and Black Ops games of today, so this game stands very little chance of being addicting by today's standards. Because of that I scored it a 3, but you may score it lower. It all depends on what your type of games are. If guessing or puzzle games are your thing, then you might like this more, so the score is variable depending on what you like. I scored it a 3 mainly because I played it 1 or 2 times with a friend and it was alright, but after a while, it gets boring since a lot of the pictures are the same, and I just wanted to play something else, so it may be a one time thing for you once the novelty wears off.
Story: N/A
As you can probably figure out, there is absolutely no story to this game whatsoever – you're playing a board game and trying to guess what the pictures being drawn are. It's a lot like Pictionary, but there is no plot or storyline to it at all, which is why I simply can't really give it a rating in this category.
Depth: 4
This game offers just enough for it to be fun one or two times around, maybe more, but then after a while it kind of drags on and you get used to the same categories and the same pictures being drawn over and over again. It just got old for me after a few plays with my friend. There are only 3 levels on the easy and medium difficulty settings in this game while there are 4 for the hard and very hard settings, the only major difference with the harder settings is that after the 3rd level onward, there are grey panels on the board which will cause you to fall through, back to the previous level. So it is all up to the luck of the dice which will determine if you land on one or not. Overall, this game is pretty simple and the amount of stuff it offers is rather straightforward and basically stays the same all the way through with a few minor changes in the difficulty, I would say it offers just enough to be entertaining for a few games before it starts to get dull, but that's just me, everyone's different. You may find it more challenging and it might offer more for you, but based on what I think of the game, I gave it a 2 for depth, but again, it may vary depending on what you think of the game and how much it offers.
Difficulty: 5
In some parts of the game, especially after the first level which has dots that really help you figure out the drawing well in advance, it gets more challenging because you have to wait for the lines to form a drawing and it can take almost all the time to be able to make an accurate guess. At certain times in the game, the difficulty may vary from really easy to more difficult, because as you go on, the drawings are a bit more complicated (because they can sometimes be the most random, obscure objects) and they also might not really resemble the item being drawn either. So because of this I decided to keep the difficulty a neutral score of 5 because some may find it a lot harder than others, while some might find it incredibly easy, which depends on your guessing skills. I found it to be all over the place in general, so I think a score that falls somewhere in the middle is appropriate.
Overall: 6.6
All in all, this is a simple, basic game that is probably meant to be played only a few times before it starts to get boring. It is pretty nerve-wracking trying to guess what the drawing might be, though. I can't tell you how many times my friend and I mistook the drawings for something completely different. Would I recommend that you play this game? Probably not, but if board games or guessing games that relate to this sort of thing are right up your alley, then by all means, go ahead and give this game a try. If not, don't feel to bad, because you really aren't missing out on much. If you do decide to play this game, all I can say is don't be surprised if you're way off on some of the images. There were quite a few that left me scratching my head, thinking "Yeah, maybe if you squint, I guess this is what a calculator looks like." I've only ever played this game with a friend and not the computer, so if you have a friend that's willing to play a few games with you, I think it will be a lot more fun than playing alone with the computer.
So what did you think of my review? Please feel free to comment or provide constructive feedback so that I can sharpen my reviewing skills and continue to improve. I hope you enjoyed my review of this simple game! Thank you for reading!
Graphics
5 Sound
4 Addictive
3 Depth
4 Difficulty
5
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