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Brook City caused a bit of a stir on Facebook recently with it's Grand Theft Auto style artwork. Having had a look at the rule book it seems more 'Sleeping Dogs', as you and your friends take the roles of heroic cops trying to take down the criminal organisation known only as the 'Syndicate'.
Brook City
The art work shown off so far is pleasingly tongue in cheek. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that if you have watched any amount of 80's cop films you will recognise the archetypes and even some of the characters depicted. The board is a top down view of a city much like the early Grand Theft Auto games which appeared on the PlayStation, and has various simple rules for moving on foot and in vehicles.
Cops will resolve their turn and then activate the criminal's turn afterwards. For the cops it is important to solve smaller crimes as well as investigating the Syndicate. Thankfully they get to separate this into different turns for each type of investigation. During a cop's turn they work on gaining clues for the big investigation and dealing with smaller crimes. Then during the criminal's turn all unresolved crime cards activate, hence why you may want to deal with then as soon as possible.
You then have a case phase where you work together with the other cops on the big picture case. To be honest it's hard to see how well this all works as I'm going from the current build of the rule book. However, it all sounds like it should work well, providing the challenge is judged right. Without the specific cards and events in my hand it's hard to tell.
What's in the Box?
There is quite a lot inside the core Brook City box for you to get your teeth into. Included in the core box, which is what you'll get if you pledge at the 'Rookie Tier' is:
- 51 Miniatures - That's six cops, three suspects, 36 crew members, four B.C.P.D Cruiser vehicles, one Yoloanda boat and one Suddz Skimmer boat.
- One game board - A top down view of Brook City.
- 150 Cop Cards - Split into six decks.
- Six custom dice.
- 66 Criminal Cards - Split into three decks.
- 63 Case Cards - Split into three decks.
- 40 Lead Cards
- 18 Vehicle Cards
- Four Turn Cards
- Tokens
- Rule Book.
In the next pledge tier, known as the 'Officer Tier' you'll receive even more miniatures and cards, as well as the Keys to the Kingdom Expansion which features the Ying Hua and Ah Long characters from the Street Masters co-operative fighting game.
Brook Him!
There is a lot of promise here. Great art, interesting co-operative gameplay, and a surprisingly underused theme. Though detective games seem to have become popular recently, but cop games do seem under represented. The out of print Police Precinct is held in high regard by many, here's hoping Brook City can be as solid as its art.
Brook City went live on Kickstarter yesterday (May 1) and has already raised just under £30,000. The target for this project is £44,070 and there are 27 days remaining on the project.