Away From Keyboard - Viewpoint Revisioned
Feature
We take a look at the new card game developed by 93 Made Games
Gaming as a family
Although my main passion is PC gaming, I dabble in the old-fashioned tabletop gaming from time to time. With friends, I am partial to a game of Magic: The Gathering, something that offers a bit of strategy. But with a younger family, I don’t get the chance to hang out with friends as much as I used to, and often play games at home with my kids. Of course, the detailed nature of Magic: The Gathering means that I don’t often play with them, and card games often come down to games such as Exploding Kittens, Old Maid or even Snap. And as an adult, these can come quite boring after a while (although Exploding Kittens does offer more enjoyment than the others).
This is where Viewpoint Revisioned excels. It has the simplicity of traditional games such as Old Maid, but with a strategy component akin to a Magic: The Gathering…albeit on a smaller scale. Viewpoint Revisioned developed by 93 Made Games has players competing to be the first to collect 100 points in their Field of View (which is similar to the Magic: The Gathering battlefield), with players taking turns drawing and playing their cards.
Scoring and winning
Playable with up to six players, gamers are dealt five cards each from the seventy-card deck. Each card has a point value assigned (between -15 and 20), but more importantly, each card also has an Action allocated to it. These Actions work in a similar way to Magic: The Gathering keywords, but are at a simpler level, giving younger gamers the chance to play and be competitive against wiser heads. Each turn has players drawing a card and then selecting a card from their hand and placing it in the Field of View, with the card point value adding or subtracting from the player’s score.
Actions
But as mentioned, the cards also have an Action allocated to them, and players must perform these actions during their turn. Actions can include drawing another card, requiring another player to discard a card, destroying an opponent’s card that they have displayed in their Field of View, swapping a Field of View card with another player, or stealing an opponents card. These are pretty straightforward and will have players trying to gain an advantage over their foes.
And then there is one other Action card that has added importance. The deck includes some Reveal cards…which often have two actions assigned to them, allowing the player to decide which of the two actions will benefit them most. The Actions in these Reveal cards can have players Drawing another card or taking another turn (drawing and playing). But the secondary action can be a game changer, as it can Cancel an opponent’s card and this can be played at any time, similarly to an Instant in Magic: The Gathering.
Some of higher point cards have Actions with lesser importance, whilst some lower scoring cards have Actions that could make or break a game for a player. And with the ability to steal, swap or require opponents to discard their cards, there are multiple tactics that can be played in a match. Do you allow an opponent to build up their Field of View score so that you can come in and swoop in on their high value cards at the last moment, or do you keep their Field of View to a minimum through the whole game? The cards drawn will often decide a player’s course of action, with some luck involved, especially when there are more than two players. And if players already have an Eye vs Eye (an upcoming episode) deck, these can be shuffled together to create a giant draw pile and will allow for extra strategies to be incorporated.
Simple and fun
Viewpoint Revisioned is a wonderfully simple take on the Magic: The Gathering formula, allowing players of most ages (the developers recommend ages 7+) to play with some level of skill right from the outset. Of course, after a few games, strategies can be formed, despite a hint of luck involved in drawing the cards that benefit players at certain stages of the game. Games are relatively short meaning that it is something one parent and kids can play whilst waiting for their partner to finish getting dressed for a night at a fancy restaurant – as opposed to the usual trip to McDonalds. The cards themselves feature some wonderful cartoon artwork with adorable characters that will appeal to younger gamers, whilst also being somewhat educational in teaching them to add numbers.
If like me, you love playing Magic: The Gathering but have children (or even friends) that don’t want to learn the intricacies of the game, then Viewpoint Revisioned is a perfect introduction to competitive games of that ilk. Although when playing as a family, it can be tough to decide which child you are going to destroy with your next card.
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