The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I'm going to be reeeeeeally controversial about this, so prepare yourself. Ready? Okay, here goes: I think that Extreme Vengeance, with a bit more background and a good Director, could be a better game than Feng Shui or Hong Kong Action Theater. Now remember, I said "could be." There is a catch (well, a couple of them, actually!)

As it is, the game is a good "beer+pretzels+pizza" type of game. (At $10 American, you can afford to pig out on snacks!) Basically, you're an Action Hero. You use your Repertoire (cute little schticks that cinema types do), Guts (to push yourself and others to do those outrageous Action Hero things), and Coincidence (to have the script help you out of an ugly jam) to thwart the bad guys, do ultra-cool stunts, and gain that all important Popularity. Popularity, in this game, is like experience points: the more you earn, the more neat things you can get away with, the cooler you look.

But be warned: step on other character's chances to shine in the spotlight, act like a wussy, deliberately screw up the plot, don't act melodramatic enough, do boring (if sensible) things to "win," or any other action movie no-no, and your Popularity could plummet, making you weaker than you were when you started! All it takes is one film to go from God/Goddess of Celluloid (ie. Harrison Ford) to Obscure Lead (ie. Terry Bolea, aka Hulk Hogan) !

The versatility of the Repertoires, the looseness and breathtaking simplicity of the rules, and the author's familiarity with the genre make Extreme Vengeance versatile enough to latch on almost any other genre of movie (excepting romance and art-house cinema) to the action genre with ease and quickness. If the game-makers were willing to expand a little on the game, adding maybe a few more Descriptorsand Designators, or going into more detail about how players could get creative and customize their Repertoires, it could easily rival Feng Shui as THE action movie game!

Oh yeah, the art's below average, but for a $10 core rule book, with even cheaper supplements in the works, I don't feel like hammering them too bad. I would hammer them more on spelling and layout errors (which they have in surplus), but this ain't no game about Shakespeer, yo! Besides, they got attitude, and that makes up for a lot! (Or so I'm told.)

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Extreme Vengeance
Author: Tony Lee Category: game Company/Publisher: Archangel Entertainment Capsule Review by Carl L. Congdon on 08/16/97. Genre tags: none	I'm going to be reeeeeeally controversial about this, so prepare yourself. Ready? Okay, here goes: I think that Extreme Vengeance, with a bit more background and a good Director, could be a better game than Feng Shui or Hong Kong Action Theater. Now remember, I said "could be." There is a catch (well, a couple of them, actually!) As it is, the game is a good "beer+pretzels+pizza" type of game. (At $10 American, you can afford to pig out on snacks!) Basically, you're an Action Hero. You use your Repertoire (cute little schticks that cinema types do), Guts (to push yourself and others to do those outrageous Action Hero things), and Coincidence (to have the script help you out of an ugly jam) to thwart the bad guys, do ultra-cool stunts, and gain that all important Popularity. Popularity, in this game, is like experience points: the more you earn, the more neat things you can get away with, the cooler you look. But be warned: step on other character's chances to shine in the spotlight, act like a wussy, deliberately screw up the plot, don't act melodramatic enough, do boring (if sensible) things to "win," or any other action movie no-no, and your Popularity could plummet, making you weaker than you were when you started! All it takes is one film to go from God/Goddess of Celluloid (ie. Harrison Ford) to Obscure Lead (ie. Terry Bolea, aka Hulk Hogan) ! The versatility of the Repertoires, the looseness and breathtaking simplicity of the rules, and the author's familiarity with the genre make Extreme Vengeance versatile enough to latch on almost any other genre of movie (excepting romance and art-house cinema) to the action genre with ease and quickness. If the game-makers were willing to expand a little on the game, adding maybe a few more Descriptorsand Designators, or going into more detail about how players could get creative and customize their Repertoires, it could easily rival Feng Shui as THE action movie game! Oh yeah, the art's below average, but for a $10 core rule book, with even cheaper supplements in the works, I don't feel like hammering them too bad. I would hammer them more on spelling and layout errors (which they have in surplus), but this ain't no game about Shakespeer, yo! Besides, they got attitude, and that makes up for a lot! (Or so I'm told.) Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)