Game: Ludo Mania
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/ Publisher: Baltoro Games
Price: €4,00 | $4.00 | £2.69
Age Rating: EU: 3+ | USA: E
Release Date: August 31st, 2018
I purchased this software myself and this review was originally posted over at my blog
While scrolling through the eShop discounts, I happened upon this rainy day classic. Myself and my wife both really enjoy board games regardless of our nonexistent collection so I decided to spend £2 on what would at least be an afternoon of entertainment.
Reviving A Classic
If you haven’t played Ludo – or like me it has been a long time – the rules are pretty straightforward. You aim to tour all 4 of your counters around the board and into your home base. During your counters journey, you’ll also be aiming to land on your opponents to send them back to the start, and in turn avoid being sent back too. There are several safe spaces that you cannot be preyed upon if landed on so there lies a deeper set of strategies you can discover to secure your victory.
The game is pretty straightforward, and comfortably walks you through the rules so you’ll be in good habits in no time at all. Playing against others is simple enough or you can face the CPU. Playing against my wife and the children was a fun, lighthearted way to spend an hour or so. But the CPU like any luck based game is often unrelenting and sometimes you can’t help but wonder if luck skews in its favour.
Play Your Own Way
As well as your basic Ludo rules, there are a few other variations on the formula included in the software to offer a fresh spin and keep you playing. You can also customise each games rules to devise your own preferred play style. We were in favour of using 2 die and awarding extra turns as often as possible to keep things moving.
Good, Simple Fun
There’s not much else to add, even at full price the game is cheaper than actual Ludo. It has a jolly soundtrack that plays in the background and you can even skip songs which is a funny little detail. Myself and my wife played quite a few matches ourselves and had a fun time competing. No doubt I will be keen to bring it out in future against friends and family.
One negative of note however, is that while you can sync in up to 4 controllers, there’s no way to allocate them to each player which means at any time an opponent can hack your turn, even by accident. But as long as each player is honest, it shouldn’t be a problem and means you can all play even with a single controller.
To quickly conclude; Good fun, and plenty to do within the charmingly brief package.
You must log in to post a comment.