Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Sirlin Games Week - Day 3 - Flash Duel

Designed by David Sirlin
Published by Sirlin Games
1 to 5 Players
5 to 10 minutes
Hand Management, Player Abilities, Bluffing
(8/10 Stars)

Flash Duel is a great little game that offers many variants. As the name suggests, Flash Duel is a quick game that allows you to play multiple games in one sitting. It provides some great bluffing opportunities and the gameplay is simple. It really makes for a great light filler type game.


Players move along a little board back and forth trying to gain the upper hand by playing just the right combination of cards to perform an attack that can't be blocked or retreated from. These one hit rounds provide for quick play - it is suggested to play best 3 out of 5 - and trust me, I think you definitely will want to for sure! I really enjoy the fact that there are different modes, from the full game (which includes character abilities) to a simpler version (played without abilities) and even a 2, 3, or 4 against 1 mode (and in that mode the 1 player is a crazy powerful dragon...yeah, pretty awesome). There is even a solo version provided (I wish they would have provided a reference card for the solo version to include in the travel deck box). And for the raid on Deathstrike Dragon mode, there is even a traitor variant you can play too where one of the team members is secretly trying to help the dragon player.

Everything you really need for the full version...Travel Size! Awesome!
Not only does this little game offer many different possibilities with game modes, but the game has 3 special action cards for the 20 different Fantasy Strike universe characters. And on top of that, the game has a very compact travel version that allows you to play the full game with any different player combinations pretty much anywhere. I think the "punch" that Flash Duel gives for its size is very impressive. I honestly haven't played the raid on Deathstrike Dragon version very often, so I will have to say that a normal full game 2 player game is my favorite way to play this game. I think mixing up the character abilities is fun and provides so much replayability. The solo version is ok, but I think there are just too many other solo games (such as Friday) that I would choose to play over this one solo.

One of the powerful Deathstrike Dragon ability cards.
I LOVE this ability!
The game is a solid, quick game, that provides a lot of bang for its buck. The quality of components are great and I really love the travel version a lot. 20 different characters to choose from and mixing and matching their abilities will provide you with great enjoyment. While I love the versatility of the game, it just doesn't get up to the level of Yomi or Puzzle Strike in my opinion and that is How Lou Sees It! (Check out the more detailed video review below!)


I was given a copy of Flash Duel (Second Edition) by Sirlin Games for the purpose of this review.

No comments:

Post a Comment