Labyrinth Reviews

[h3]Underwhelming version of a European board game classic[/h3] Ravensburger's Das Verrückte Labyrinth [i](also known as The A-maze-ing Labyrinth in its earlier English-language printings, and simply Labyrinth these days)[/i] rightfully counts among the undisputed classics of European board game industry. Personally, I can't think of anyone this side of the Atlantic who's not played it at least once. While there have already been attempts to make a video game out of the mind-boggling board game classic [i](the currently out-of-print 2001 version stands out)[/i], Ravensburger's current crop of their games' digital versions wouldn't have been complete without a version of Labyrinth - and here's where the problems start. As is common with all current Ravensburger games, there's no online multiplayer [i](a dreadful faux pas in case of any digital board game)[/i]. The question is, why would anyone bother with a local multiplayer digital board game, when one can get a proper board game out? Another strange decision is the choice of Labyrinth versions presented in the game. While it is incredibly nice to see the long out-of-print Das Labyrinth der Meister included, I find it a very questionable decision to include such variations as Labyrinth Germany, Labyrinth Japan, or Labyrinth Ocean [i](for crying out loud!)[/i], instead of including Labyrinth 3D or the ability to change to another version of the classic Labyrinth board other than the dumbed down 2021 design [i](that doesn't have the iconic troll or sorceress)[/i]. [b]Pros:[/b] * Inclusion of the out-of-print Das Labyrinth der Meister. [b]Cons:[/b] * No online multiplayer; * Surprising choices of additional Labyrinth versions included; * No ability to change the design of the classic Labyrinth board to those of earlier editions. [b]Recommendation:[/b] Better get your copy of Das Verrückte Labyrinth out and play solo.

[h1]50/100[/h1] [h2]Really bad digital port of an absolute boardgame classic[/h2] [list] [*]The game itself is still almost as fun as it used to be back in the day. [*]But everything is painstakingly slow. There is always one click or one animation too many. [*]No fast mode for experts to skip or speed up useless animations. [*]No beginner's mode either where beginners could test what shifting a row or column would look like. [*]No windowed mode, only Fullscreen. [*]Music and sounds are either on or off, no slider bars. [*]ALT+TAB away and the music keeps playing... [*]No language option. Seems to be mandatorily in the OS language. [*]Except for Master Labyrinth, the several variants of the game are only skins, nothing more. And not even minimum effort skins. [*]Labyrinth 3D, which would be another gameplay mode instead of just a skin, is not included. [*]Remote-Playing vs. my friend didn't work as it should. She, as the host, was the only one could actually do anything, my keyboard, mouse and controller did nothing. I had to tell her which moves I want to make. [/list] So pretty much exactly the type of low quality design I have come to expect from Markt & Technik products. Maybe there are so many superfluous animations to extend the gametime that nobody is able to request a refund anymore after playing 2 games? Ravensburger, please look for someone else to digitalize your boardgames. This is not it. Any halfway committed solo-developer could do better than this.