Mission: Recollection 2
As our readers may remember, I have decided to revisit my games collection and try to play not just my latest acquisitions or games I'm most addicted to, but also games that haven't seen the table in a while. I started out with Ghost Stories, which turned out a success: I really enjoyed playing it despite the crushing difficulty and eventually managed to win.
The game I chose to play next (unfortunately) wasn't one of the oldies. It was my easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy choice for whenever I'm not in the mood to play anything big or relatively complex. I'm talking about
2. Finished!
Who would have guessed that this unassuming card game would become one of my all-time favourite games. Certainly not me. I honestly didn't expect to like it so much! I had in fact avoided purchasing it for quite some time because I thought the memory element didn't suit me. And it's true that my memory is extremely poor, almost destitute. And yet, I still manage to win in Finished! now and then, which means that yes, a good memory helps, but there is more to the game than that.
What I enjoy the most is (obviously) the card abilities that let you manipulate the deck. A simple arrangement of numbers in ascending order becomes a challenging and, for me, fun exercise. With regard to artwork it's nothing special, but I find the female protagonist as sweet as the candies she consumes along with the coffee. Had this been a numbers-only card game à la The Mind, it wouldn't leave the same impression. The anonymous woman is someone you can sympathize with whether you've ever been tasked with a boring job or not. During gameplay, however, the only thing you will be looking at is the ability boxes on the cards, and the candies you have left.
No matter how many times I've played this game (many times by now), it always provides a good riddle to solve. When I play carelessly I'm sure to lose, but being focused doesn't guarantee a win either. The cards allow you to send some of them to the future, retrieve others from the past, reveal more cards than the standard three in each round, and generally manipulate the deck as much as possible.
I can imagine why other gamers may find it boring but it is perfect for me. If I have tempted you to try it, let me add a word of warning: this is a small game but it's not a filler. It can take a good 45 minutes to finish your coffee supply, so expect it to fill the largest part of your evening.
That was all from last week, let's see if I can bring a less easy and lazy choice to the table next time...