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ClaireWhat’s on the game table? Well this week we thought we’d try the latest offering from Funko Games, Star Wars Rivals.
Now, for clarity I went into this prepared to be unimpressed. I have never liked Pop Vinyls, revolting bobble heads that seem utterly pointless to me, and I have found that the pricing of Funko items in general can be unreliable. However, on opening this pack I was honestly astounded. The $39 retail for the base set, including 4 starter models (Darth Vader vs Luke Skywalker straight up!) is seriously good value for a game that encourages number manipulation, hand management and a semi-complex turn routine that will have even bigger Jedi’s thinking about the strategy of their turn.
I will take a moment to highlight the models – ‘movers’ – used in this game. This is where this brand really shines, they’ve made small plastic models big business but the quality of both the molds and the painting of these figures is fantastic. They feel robust and while ‘cartoonified’ have stuck fairly true to the Clone Wars art of 2008.
Each sequence of the game itself the players choose one by one where to put each of their “movers” (model representations of their troops) ready for battle, and while not every location will be fought for, there is a drafting phase where cards can manipulate the play AFTER you’ve rolled for location.
What seemed at first like an over-simplified, over-skinned and underwhelming number battle game is actually quite a well thought out card duelling game. And while the turn itself is simple enough for 7+ the complexity the cards bring mean this game has been a lot more appealing to the parents playing along.
