Raptor review

Game Review - Raptor

Mechanics: cards with special abilities, action points (variable card powers, action points)

Game difficulty: Easy

Game duration: 30 min

Number of players: 2

Language: The game can be played without language knowledge

Being a new parent and nursing an infant at the same time, I really appreciate the fast and nimble two-player games that are easy to learn, quick to play, and at the same time, the game has a lot of interesting choices. A review of one of these games - "Raptor".

Subject matter

This is beautiful! Raptor is a game where one player represents the evil scientists who are trying to kidnap a mother dinosaur from her babies, while the other player takes on the role of the mother dinosaur and tries to protect the babies. What is the best way to do this? By eating as many scientists as possible, of course. Everyone I've played with is always a dinosaur fan.

The game is super themed, no two thoughts about it, the theme is fresh, interesting and represents the game mechanics very well. Scientist gameplay and special abilities are completely different from dinosaur mom. Fans of “Sea Age Park” will enjoy this game very much.

Components

The game box has an unusually good set. Basically, Raptor is a game where each player has only 9 cards and both share a board. However, the game box contains plastic dinosaur and scientist figures, each of which is different, and additionally comes cardboard rock fields that make the playing field three-dimensional. Everything is very stylishly designed and the cartoon art fits the overall feel of the game very well. In addition, I would like to note that the game has very good reference sheets, on which all the rules and explanations for each card are clearly laid out. They are of course in English (and French), but there is no text on the cards, and the game is simple enough to remember the meaning of the cards and the possible actions.

Mechanics

The game is completely asymmetric - scientists and dinosaurs have completely different abilities and the goal of the game.

What do scientists do?

The scientists have the objective to put three baby dinosaurs to sleep and capture them, if this is done they win the game. The other, less likely, but possible, is to fire 5 tranquilizer shells at the dinosaur mom and put her to sleep.

There are a lot of scientists on the playing field, they are located along the entire perimeter, but the weak point is the slow mobility and incomprehensible pacifism of the scientists, because one scientist cannot perform two aggressive actions in one turn (putting to sleep and capturing a baby).

What do dinosaurs do?

The goal of the dinosaurs is to eat all the scientists on the playing field. The alternate way to win is for the three babies to escape from the playing field to live on and eat the scientists when they grow up.

There is only one dinosaur mom, but she is super mobile and can quickly run across the entire field, disappear into the bushes and appear on the other side, but with each tranquilizer projectile it becomes more and more difficult for her to move.

The game itself is driven by extremely elegant card mechanics. Each player has three cards in their hand, one of which is played. The two cards played are compared, and the player who played the lower card can perform its special ability, while the player with the higher card can take a set number of actions equal to the difference between the two cards. All previously played cards are visible, so players can count and predict what numbers the opponent has left. Of course, there is also a card that causes all played cards to be brought back into the hand.

Overall, the game is very tactical and dynamic, players are engaged practically all the time. The steps are lightning fast and the game runs very smoothly, you can easily play it in 20 minutes. But that doesn't detract from the interesting choices, as the playing field is constantly changing, scientists can try to influence it by using flamethrowers or chasing mom. And you can never really predict whether a card's special ability or action points will work.

My only criticism of the mechanics is that on rare occasions a player who has broken out can trap the other in a situation where the only thing they can do is delay an imminent loss, but this can only happen on rare occasions.

Multiplayer

This is a short, simple two-player game, but it has quite a lot of variety. The multiplayer is aided by the asymmetric player roles, and the various victory scenarios and field layouts help keep the game fresh. I think that after some time the game will exhaust itself, but it will be after dozens of games, so I think that the multiplayer is quite high.

Rating

I remember that as a child I often used to play with dinosaur figurines. At that time, there were no such games available that could supplement this gameplay with various interesting tactical actions. Now I can only wait to play the game with my son. It says on the box that it is intended for ages 10 and up, but I think it can be taught to a six-year-old. But for now, I can say that Raptor joins the great two-player games like Patchwork or Jaipur that can be played quickly. Raptor stands out for its very well-integrated theme and dynamic, tactical gameplay. Rating 8 out of 10.

You can buy the game in Brain Games stores on the 1st floor of Rīga Plaza or K. Barona Street 55, or in the online store: Raptor

Board Game Geek rating: 7.4

Author: Kristaps Auzāns

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