iOS Universal, Android •
It’s a pretty big week on the App Store for board game designer Tim Fowers. Earlier this week his fantastic word game, Paperback, was updated with online multiplayer and, today, a brand new board game arrived for iOS Universal and Android. That board game is Burgle Bros., a cooperative (or solo) game in which you’re attempting an Oceans Eleven style heist.
Players can build a team of up to four criminals looking to crack and rob safes and then escape to a waiting helicopter on the roof of a 2-3 story building. Of course, guards roam the halls and there are alarms and a bevy of other hazards your daring crew will need to avoid in order to get out with the goods. Each character has stealth points which evaporate if you’re spotted by a guard and if any character gets to zero stealth and is seen by the law, it’s game over for the whole team.
The app does a great job of creating a heist movie atmosphere, with great artwork and music that is actually good enough that I kept it playing throughout the game–something I usually don’t do. The rules can seem a bit convoluted at first, but the game does offer a tutorial and help text, which eventually got me up to speed. There was also a bit of trial and error on my part in spots where the tutorial didn’t quite give me a full picture.
I’m sure you’re all wondering about multiplayer. Well, there isn’t any. Not online, at least. You could easily play a pass-and-play game, but otherwise it’s a solo affair which seems to be the norm for most digital cooperative titles. That said, Paperback was in the same boat until earlier this week, so who knows? I’ll be talking with Tim Fowers at Gen Con next week, so I’ll see what I can gather about multiplayer options in the future.
Burgle Bros. is a game that I kind of ignored when it was released in tabletop form. I had seen it played at Gen Con by people with a huge wooden tower which seemed a bit over-the-top, so I just didn’t look into it. Since playing the app for the last week or so, I’ve ended up purchasing both the cardboard version as well as a hand-made wood tower for the game. The tower totally isn’t needed, but it sure is cool. What I’m trying to say is that Burgle Bros. is a pretty great cooperative game, and one that I’m pretty happy to have on my iPad. It’s available now for both iOS and Android and will run you $5
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