The first wave of Game Pass titles for April has been announced with Superhot: Mind Control Delete is out now for cloud, console and PC players. Tomorrow sees the arrival of LEGO 2K Drive, Visual Concepts’ take on an open-world LEGO racing title.
15.03.2024 - 19:43 / polygon.com / Steven Spielberg
Masters of the Air tells the story of the Eighth Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, also known as the Bloody Hundredth, which used its fleet of B-17 heavy bombers to cut a swathe of destruction from the English Channel to Berlin during World War II. The nine-part Apple TV Plus miniseries, which airs its final episode Friday, is basically everything that baby Charlie — his nose pressed against the pages of obscure history books all throughout middle school — could’ve ever hoped for. But, now that it’s over, I think I’ve found a way to extend the experience just a little further thanks to B-17 Flying Fortress Leader, an excellent solitaire board game from Dan Verssen Games.
Scoff if you like, but solitaire board games are hot right now with a vocal minority making solo modes a highly desired bullet point on nearly every new crowdfunding campaign, regardless of platform. Dan Verssen Games has been in the solo business for years now, with games like Phantom Leader — Deluxe, which recreates some of the most interesting air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements of the Vietnam War. And what’s so interesting about each of its titles is how the company uses the same set of simple, easy-to-manufacture components — namely playing cards and small, square cardboard chits — to create incredibly different experiences.
A game of B-17 Flying Fortress Leader begins with its massive, 33-inch-wide game board that’s built to resemble the layout of the pre-flight briefings shown in Masters of the Air. That’s where you’ll place cards that represent the target for the day, any secondary targets that might be an option for your crews, and the current disposition of enemy airbases that you’ll need to be mindful of along the way. From there, it’s a pretty straightforward process to launch your bombers, take on enemy fighters, punch through the flak wall, and put your payload on the target — all with nothing more than a few cups filled with random counters and a single 10-sided die. The action is swift and decisive, making it feel equal parts roguelike and alternate history. It’s an excellent companion, in fact, to the eponymous history book by Donald L. Miller that the Steven Spielberg-produced series was based on.
You can run a mission of B-17 Flying Fortress Leader in about 30 minutes flat, but it’s the setup that really rewards your time at the table. Players must choose from one of 11 different campaigns, each with different objectives, limitations, and sets of targets. Then you build your bomber formation out of the game’s many historical bomber groups, personified by cards depicting the Bloody Hundredth, the Memphis Belle, and others. More skilled versions of those crews cost more points, but they can reward you with improved
The first wave of Game Pass titles for April has been announced with Superhot: Mind Control Delete is out now for cloud, console and PC players. Tomorrow sees the arrival of LEGO 2K Drive, Visual Concepts’ take on an open-world LEGO racing title.
Walmart is currently offering the classic Pandemic board game on clearance for only $16.63, a hefty 63% off the original $45 MSRP. Get free shipping for Walmart+ members or on orders $35 or more (otherwise you have to pay a $6.99 shipping fee). This is the lowest price we've seen for a long, long time.
Glass Cannon Unplugged have just launched their Kickstarter campaign funding Don’t Starve: The Board Game. We've seen plenty of the best board games come out in the past few years but Kickstarter-funded tabletop adaptations of video games are really having a moment right now. It was just last month that Glass Cannon Unplugged announced they were working on Dying Light: The Board Game, adding that to their expansive portfolio of board games like This War of Mine: The Board Game and Apex Legends: The Board Game (which we were very fond of when we previewed it). Gameplay wise, Don't Starve: The Board Game promises to be chock-full of "mechanics highlighting player choice, dynamic combat, and open-world exploration in night and day conditions". From the looks of the game’s box art and promotional materials, it also keeps that charming Tim Burton-esque art style that players have come to know and love. Turns out that expansions and add-ons are already on the cards too.
There are few individuals as mysterious as Helldivers 2's galactic game master Joel – the man pulling all the strings of the war, constantly working to evolve the third-person shooter's evolving narrative, as well as issuing Major Orders to us all.
New found footage horror movie Late Night with the Devil took in an eerily fitting total at the box office over the weekend – and it has us pretty spooked.
Shadows of the Damned, the unexpected collaboration between No More Heroes, Killer7 and Lollipop Chainsaw creator Goichi ‘Suda51’ Suda and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, will finally see a PC release with a new remake later this year - over a decade after it first hit consoles.
Some GTA 6 developers are passionately rejecting Rockstar's guidance that the push for workers to return to office will ultimately help make a better sequel.
The visuals of the games included in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 may be getting some much-needed improvements in the future, according to a new development update.
Now available at a discounted price is the much-loved independent video game Machinarium. There is a limited time offer where you can get this peculiar experience for just $1.99, which is a discount of more than 70 percent off the regular price which is $6.99.
Stealth platformer Ereban: Shadow Legacy recently resurfaced with a new trailer, with developer Baby Robot Games announcing that the game will be launching for PC in April. It was announced at the same time that the game would no longer be published by Raw Fury, while the status of its Game Pass launch was also unclear.
Would you like to take a trip back in time to when mammoths roamed the Earth and survival was an everyday job? Then you’d love Stone Age, the Digital Edition of the classic board game. You can now pre-register for Stone Age: Digital Edition on Android.
Cyberpunk 2077 players are on a roll lately when it comes to uncovering hard-to-spot Easter eggs, as a second cool discovery in a week has been made on the game's title screen, of all places.