Puerto Rico

[PhoenixInferno]

Feh.  Why play a game with a victory scenario if you're not trying to win?  Well, it does have less randomness than Settlers.  I played Settlers on Xbox Live Arcade, and I swear the computer cheats by not rolling the #s I own.  But aside from that, I can't quite tell if I'll like it from "z0mgz, t3h ub@r"-type posts.  I'll have to find someone to show me how it goes to see what its like.

[Matchstickman]

But aside from that, I can't quite tell if I'll like it from "z0mgz, t3h ub@r"-type posts.

Until there's a reliable game reviewer (i.e. someone who reviews lots of games consistantly; like a film reviewer you don't necessarily agree with but know his likes/dislikes in relation to yours) try before you buy is pretty much the only way to go.

[Meg]

I've found that if I go to boardgamegeek there are so many reviews it's sort of like Amazon-- you get a really nice scope of all of the different perspectives on a game.  You can also read a bunch about games you know and find someone who has very similar taste and see what else they like. 

Even if there was a film-critic-esque review, I know I personally don't always agree with a lot of film critics.  Much more reliable to find someone with similar tastes and get recommendations from them. 

[Josh]

I believe that it is possible for me to tell you about a game in such a way that you can know whether or not you are interested.

The tricky part is figuring that out. 

[pfooti]

I don't know if a week or so counts as necromancy yet, but I wanted to weigh in a little.

I think Puerto Rico is one of the five best games I've played ever, and I've played a lot of games. It's also one of the hardest. If you're playing to win, you need to do a lot of "okay, if I do this, then he'll will do that, and then she'll do this, but if I do this other thing then..." thinking. There are a lot of hard games out there that are hard for a lot of reasons. Puerto Rico is hard because there are many strategies to victory and just as many ways to screw your opponents, and a good turn will do both.