NEON GODS (2018)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-4	30-120 mins	Isaac Vega	Plaid Hat Games

In this 2-4 player, neon drenched, future set, area control game, players will expand their territory to sell ‘product’ while clashing with rival gangs and taking down those pesky cops.

Right out of the gate this game explodes with colour. It looks absolutely fantastic set up with the city board, the character cards, and the neon coloured minis.

You’ll play character cards to take actions and hire more characters to build a better gang.

Each gang will have their own starting base in opposite corners, and if you don’t want to spread out too far from there, that’s fine. But you won’t score much like that.

You see when you sell ‘product’, it’s worth more the further away from home you are. Cross the board and set up shop in someone elses territory and you’ll be raking in the Blurp (points).

But you’ll probably have to fight hard to keep it there.

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There are also cops to content with as well as setting up towers to assist in combat.

Combat itself is pretty quick and light. Play cards for dice in battle, add up extra points with nearby building and gang member modifiers, then roll them dice and hope for the best.

You don’t really lose much in combat as your minis will return to base. But that square is gone now and this is area control.

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Like most area control games, this one will lose a little something special when you go to lower player counts. As a head to head it’s not the best. Three is an improvement but can see two gang up on one (don’t play versus a couple as you’ll probably get taken to the cleaners like I did). Four is chaos, but in a good way, especially if everyone is spreading out and getting in each other’s way. It’s the best way to play this.

NEON GODS doesn’t take itself seriously with its crazy characters and excessive neon. It’s perfect for when you don’t want something heavy, but you do feel like something quicker than 20 minutes.