I've been playing this a bit; it's probably my favourite new release of the week so far (the Bastion update doesn't really count).
TBA is based on a physical boardgame that was released in 2009, and the style of gameplay could be described as Clue/Cluedo meets Guess Who? It's similar - but not identical - in theme and gameplay to Scotland Yard, Noir: Killer vs Inspector, Mr Jack, and other such games.
Despite a few grammar and layout errors in the help screens caused as a result of the game's translation from the original Chinese, the game itself is otherwise very polished and a lot of fun. It's definitely not optimal on iPhone/iPod, though, and requires a bit of zooming in if you want to see the details (for some reason the ability to use pinch-to-zoom is an actual in-game option which is turned off by default, which is just weird).
There are twelve human characters (and a roving cat), each with a specific ability they can use each turn, and ten different methods of murder, each of which has different conditions for use and can only be used once per game. The game takes place with 4-6 players (one murderer, and between 3-5 investigators), each of whom use the same pieces, although the murderer gets dealt two character cards at the beginning of the game and secretly chooses which one they will be. Although both sides move the same pieces around the castle, the murders "activate" from the room that the murderer's chosen character is located within.
The overall idea is for the murderer to move a variety of characters and cleverly use murder methods so that it never becomes obvious as to who their character is; for example, if you play a female character, only kill off other female characters and then use the "Lovesick" murder to kill a character of the opposite sex (male), it makes it far more likely that you'll be caught because all the surviving male characters can no longer be suspects.
On the other hand, the investigators keep track and cross-reference movements and murders, and try to move pieces to places that will inconvenience the murderer and potentially shine a spotlight on their strategy; however, the investigators can only tell what type of murder was committed (and by extension, the required conditions to perform that murder) if they move a piece to the same room as a corpse, or use a specific character's ability to detect this. Thus, if somebody doesn't check out a body until a turn or two has passed, the players may not remember where everybody was standing when the murder occurred, which makes it more difficult to pin down who could have committed it.
The game allows pass-and-play multiplayer and single-player versus AI, but at the moment only the investigator AI is functional, with the murderer AI noted in-game as "coming soon". This means that for now you have to play as the murderer and try to outwit the investigators, but the computer plays fair and only eliminates potential suspects based on logic, the special abilities used by the characters, and your own actions. If there is more than one suspect left at the end of the game after all investigations have been exhausted, the AI will accuse one but won't magically know who your character was, which is always nice to see.
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11-16-2012, 08:37 AM
Hybrid Mode
