by Incredibul
When King of Tokyo got Actually, it's Power Up Expansion, I decided to get King of Tokyo as well.I got King of New York two years before and it fell flat with every group I played, and I myself was not statisfied with it. But from the Reviews, I actually thought King of Tokyo would fix all the Problems King of New York has. While King of New York was considered an upgrade from the designer himself and a lot of people, it feels like the predecessor.
Player elimination
Now, King of Tokyo and King of New York both still have Player Elimination. It is a risky move from a game Designer for a game that goes longer than 20 Minutes. Sometimes, in King of Tokyo, there is that awkward moment where the person whose monster got eliminated first waits for just that bit to long and the other players try to rush the game. Thankfully, that doesn't happen very often and is fine (since the Player Elimination does put some extra excitement into the game). Unfortunately, the extra 5-10 Minutes King of New York takes almost guarantee that you come into that unconfortable area.
Explaining the game
It takes 5 minutes to explain King of Tokyo and the Person learning it will have the rules down. Explaining King of New York actually doesn't take a lot longer (let's say: 10 minutes), but there are so many special cases with the added die faces that it takes some playing to wrap you head around it and make strategic decisions. The worst offenders are the two cards, Superstar and Statue of Liberty. Explaining those is a pain, especially the later one.
Interaction
For some reason, King of New York doesn't feel like the brawler it is supposed to be. It's not monsters vs. monsters any more. In theory, changing the bland numbers on the King of Tokyo Dice for added theme should do the opposite, but in reality, it is exactly the part of the theme that distracts from the interactive nature. King of Tokyo feels like a big brawl, King of New York doesn't really feel like that. Too many distracting mechanics with victory points as the main way to win. Victory points in my view were always just a timing mechanism to bring the game to an end.
Place in the collection
Now, my game group mostly loves King of Tokyo but goes a bit "meh" in King of New York. Reason is not that King of New York is to complex for them: My regular gaming groups favourite games are Terra Mystica and Imperial Assault, both of which are not exactly simple. King of Tokyo somehow sustains interest where a lot of other simple games didn't. It's the appetizer to the big menu, or the dessert after torturing your brain cells with that big strategic game. King of New York not so much.
If I play games with non-geek-gamer friends (I say non-geek-gamer because those are gamers, too, but for those, Games like Terra Mystica feel like doing your taxes), King of New York also falls flat. It takes a bit too long to explain, it is a push your luck game that tries to be something more. Unfortunately, if I explain Terra Mystica to a non-geek-gamer friend, they are constantly thinking "oh my god", but when they play, they think "hey that's not so complicated". That is because there is an engine behind that game, and even if some details in the rules got lost on you, you do remember they where there and that you might need it just now. King of New York doesn't have this. You have to remember, and you might lose because you play your first time, somehow forgot that the military will actually shot everything if someone throws three skulls, and that there was actually a 50% chance you won't make it to the next turn because there is just a single Jeep in your burrow.
If you have King of Tokyo, should you buy King of New York?
While I would still say King of New York + King of New York Power Up is a great expansion for King of Tokyo. Because you get more monsters. But only in that combination because you get all those sweet evolution powers for KOTY. If you love King of Tokyo, you can't go wrong with King of New York and King of New York Power Up, even if you - like me - think King of Tokyo is the better game. With the new version of King of Tokyo, it is actually the only way to play with Evolution Cards.
If you have King of New York, should you buy King of Tokyo?
Of course. It is the streamlined, modern version that got rid of a lot of unnecessary extra rules to have that juicy, fast paced experience without sacrificing much depth.
But I think King of New York is the better game!
Feel free to explain! Actually, I bought King of New York instead of King of Tokyo because I read "King of New York is the better game" in a lot of discussions and even podcasts. And I wrote this review because I wanted to give people who are on the fence between the one or the other another view. In the end, I am fine that I bought King of New York because of those general consensus on boardgamegeek, since King of Tokyo got a new Edition, but I'd say to anyone who is undecided to get King of Tokyo first. I am a big fan of Richard Garfield (after all, King of Tokyo is one of my favourite games and Android Netrunner is another one of my favourite games), but I think with King of New York, he overengineered an already great game.