Not as good as Sequence
933479
I enjoy playing board games. No matter how full the family game chest gets, there is always room for another great board game. This isn't one, however.

CrossWays is in many ways similar to&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Sequence/dp/B00000IVAK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Sequence</a>. Both games include two decks of cards and tokens to place on the board. Both games involve luck, of course--what cards you are dealt--but Sequence requires more finesse and is more fun to play, especially as part of a team.

For starters, the CrossWays instructions leave a lot to be desired. Critically, they fail to adequately emphasize that gameplay requires the color matching of cards to squares: "You may discard a single card from your hand to place one of your unused markers on either matching square on the board." (As an aside, what's the point of the word 'unused' in that sentence? Stupid.) People may think the game is easier--at least, faster to finish--than it actually is.

I don't play card games very much, so perhaps this is just me, but I was unfamiliar with the term 'run'; as in: "You may discard a run of two or more suited sequential cards to remove markers equal to the quantity of cards played." (Again, see how wordy and inelegant the instructions are.) The instructions stop short of stating whether such a maneuver can result in a marker being removed from underneath an opponent's marker. Say, for example, you are yellow and discard a J-Q run of Hearts. You can remove two of your opponent's blue markers. But what if one of those blue markers is underneath one of your yellow markers? The images in the instructions only show a single marker being removed and the top marker from a stack being removed.

While the game is marketed for 2 to 4 players (or teams), certain tactical maneuvers seem best suited to games with three or more players. Blocking, for example. The instructions do not state whether there is a maximum limit to the number of markers which can be placed on any square. There is no text or image indicating whether three different colored markers may be stacked on a single square, for example. This could impact game strategy in preemptively blocking an opponent or perhaps even teaming up with an opponent to block another.

Speaking of teams, the instructions state that team members share cards: "For team play, each team of players chooses a set of 24 markers of one color, and is dealt 4 cards." So you and your teammate can argue about what to do while your opponents listen in on your plans. That's not great. In my opinion, team members should each be dealt their own cards and work together from opposite sides of the board.

Made in USA is always nice to see, but so (mostly) is Sequence. I also question whether Crossways' instructions truly originated in the USA. They are very poorly written.
2063079
I read this as the second part of the series, where Ravage was the first. Ravage was a better book, I found. Savage seems more derivative than the first one.
1575342
Not as good as previous novels.  Action sequences seemed disjointed.  Was expecting more from this author.  Hoping that the next book returns to the action sequences I enjoyed in the earlier books.
638391
Unfortunately this album was not as good as the XX's first album-- this one was so consistent in tone that I got rather bored. It worked as gentle background music, but couldn't really hold my attention so well if I tried specifically to just listen to it. The songwriting isn't as good either-- they've used repetition in ways that jar rather than emphasise (which they were amazing at in their first album-- repeating a line and giving it a different feeling every time they did so) and their lyrics are much simpler and more generic. Don't get me wrong; there are some good songs on here, but an album's greatest challenge is to keep the listener enthralled with one artist for the entire duration, and for more than one listen. This album just didn't really achieve that for me.
3793707
The first bioshock was a hard act to follow and this one didn't quite live up to it's predecessor. The story was quite similar to the original (with a differen villain) and the enviornment design lacked the interest of the original. Still it was a good game and worth if for no other reason than being able to see the amazing world of Rapture again.
238091
its a fine movie all and all but I just didn't like it as much as the other 2. The pacing is weird and the heart just isn't there.
4798094
Not as good as their first. With a talented trio of this kind I expected to hear music that didn't sound like it was "rushed" in production. Oblivion, Captain Love,and Hot Streak stand out on this effort while everything else seems to pale..and remember folks it's just my opinion. I've given this CD a good listen since receiving it and it just doesn't have the elements that made it's predecessor such a standout disc.
4115234
Not as good as the first one. Without spoiling anything I'll just say that it's a bit more "Hollywood," that it has less good of gameplay, and that they changed some weapons for the worse. The supernatural stuff is a bit too overt. What I mean by that is the original kind of has you hallucinate, whereas this one kind of shows you too much with too much context. Not shady memories and someone else's flashbacks but scenes that seem to try too hard. The beginning is solid though. The end falls apart like the last one did, more or less.
2463009
I really enjoyed Justin Cronin's book The Passage.  The Twelve may have been better if I had read the first one again before reading this one. It was a bit confusing and it kind of jumped around a lot. It didn't really feel like much happened in this book.
302481
Like the 2nd sequel you do more matching and searching then sleuthing. In this collection you can't opt out of the timed game option. And you have to find a Sherlock hat in order to unlock the bonus game. Everything else is much the same as in the 2nd version.  Still, if you like Sherlock Holmes you will like the stories. Another thing I hate about both game is the graphics are not high res sharp so some objects are very difficult to discern.
4852884
I loved the first two in the series and completed both and most of their challenges. This game just seems to lack the magic of the first two. Unfortunately I cannot say I recommend this game if you have played the first two. If you have not played them you may enjoy this game.
2343444
This BBC series was not as good as the previous two; Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts.  Photography was excellent some of the early men images were somewhat accurate but not as good as they could have been with more computer and digital enhancements.
1288555
I was a big fan of BioShock 1 and 2 and was hoping for this game to continue with the story of Rapture. I was severely disappointed when it didn't. It is not a bad game and has an interesting story-line itself, but I feel like it should have had a different name and tried to not replicate elements of the BioShock series. For example, instead of "Eve" there is "Salts" in this series yet their effect is basically the same-they give the player superpowers.

If I could go back in time and decide again on whether to purchase the game for $60, I would probably abstain.
4858405
I got hooked on the first otori series and expected the prequel to be just as rivetting. But it wasn't. The prose feels less lyrical, and the story less magical. It feels harder to get into the characters minds, harder to get into the story.
2530862
After Hot Springs I figured this would be the next in the series and would build on and further improve...but unfortunately it is lacking complexity. The later Bob Lee Swaggart books (Earl's son) are much better and more suspenseful. Havanna is not bad, but not my favorite.
1667683
Disappointing with so much computer graghics, which makes the action not as believable as the first three intallments. Storyline skipped to far into the future with the inclusion of humans to the fight. I beleive there are more UNDERWORLD stories that could have been told.
751578
Blake uses his past as an excuse to be a boot of the first order. Kara does a lot of protesting, but yields every time because Blake touches (gropes) her. For an FBI agent, she comes across as rather helpless. There's a lot less of a plot to the third book than there was to the first (Royce's story), which I liked much better. Was the author tired of the Walker brothers? Or was she just looking for a thin plot to string steamy sex scenes together? I generally like Lisa Renee Jones' books, but this one was disappointing.