USD ($)
EUR (€)
For those of us who grew up watching fast cars in Grand Prix and playing card games on rainy Sunday afternoons, the idea of Heat was always going to translate extremely well. And it has, at least in the games I have played since picking up my copy of the base game at UK Games Expo last year.
My partner and I have introduced this to both gamers and non gamers, including an eventful first trial of the title with my partner’s parents which resulted in our closest game ever with almost a three way tie!
So when both the Heavy Rain and Tunnel Vision expansions became available I decided to take the plunge. What’s in the box?
The biggest difference maker in both packages is the added tracks, with each expansion adding 2 new tracks and a couple of new features on these courses to add a new twist without truly changing the game.
This time around the additions include chicanes and tunnels.
- Chicanes I will be honest didn’t really feel to me like it needed to be a “feature”, several corners highlighted in a different colour in close proximity to each other and relatively slow speed. I like it on the courses, it looks great, but I didn’t need a new rule section to tell me what is visually quite simple to grasp once you know the game.
- Tunnels, the namesake of the expansion, did however need explaining, although I am in two minds how much it affects me personally as a player, but I can see it would affect others. Tunnels take away your ability to discard cards out of your hand between turns, meaning if you would like to work through your deck at the same rate, you may need to speed up a couple of gears and play those cards instead. I have tended not to lean into discarding in my games on any course so far, so I haven’t yet really felt the disadvantage, but that may be more on my playstyle.
Secondly each box contains an additional player kit, meaning that with both expansions you can take this game up to a full grid of 8 players. Whilst I haven’t tried 8 yet, I do know that the base game excels at 6, so this really should be a more the merrier situation!
Finally there is additional event cards and upgrades for use in the championship mode. This is a game mode I really want to recommend as I haven’t seen many of the people in my experience dive into enough.
Heat comes in two flavours: a base game of a single race which can be a fun 45 minutes to 1 hour addition to any game night, or a multi race championship which includes card drafting of sponsors, upgrades, weather conditions, race conditions which can absorb an entire afternoon. Maybe it is my preference for those multi-hour games in my collection, but the championship mode adds something to the deck building portion of heat, extra decisions for the players to make, which can and will be the small margins which win or lose you the race. If you have played Heat before and understand the base game, I challenge you to dive into the championships and see what you have been missing with all of those other cards from the box. Tunnel Vision adds front wing options and a handful of race events, which are good but they aren’t game changing by any means.
Overall Tunnel Vision is a steady upgrade to a game I am torn as to whether I would be happy with should a mammoth expansion ever came, but I am always excited by new content for. The foundations of this game are solid, its definitely found its popularity, and whilst more tracks adds welcome variety, I personally long for the designers and fans of the game to go wild and create even more varied and demanding courses rather than play it safe.
Tell us your thoughts on Tunnel Vision by heading over to our Instagram!
Share