by mjacobsca
alenen wrote:
I often wonder why there are so few negative reviews of games on BGG.. now I understand why.
Agricolytes indeed...
Agricolytes indeed...
I think it is because it takes a lot of time and energy to write a good review, and people are more likely to put in the hour or two it takes if they are enthusiastic about a game. You will rarely see me spend any time on a game I don't like. I cut my losses and run if I don't like something and move on to something I like better. I've written a couple of negative reviews, but only do so if I find something flawed in the game that I can justify as something other than pure preference. With that said, I find little in this review other than pure personal preference. He does not like the theme. He thinks the rules are too hard. He doesn't find motivation to build a farm and fill it with animals. He certainly is allowed to have those opinions, but as a review I find those kinds of statements to be inflammatory and more deserving of being a Genral post and not a review, so I can see why people have jumped all over him. Folks on BGG are pretty demanding when it comes to reviews and session reports, less so for other posts. You should have seen the sh*t storm I unleashed when I wrote a less than stellar review of Settlers of Catan. Yikes!
Personally, I like Agricola. I like building my farm and watching it grow, and like the sense of accomplishment when my farm is complete. I think the game is tense, full of tactical blocking, and has many clever elements. I don't love the volumes of occupation and improvement cards, but that's just my opinion. :)