Dread Vector
2018
Complexity: 1
You may recall during my review of Revenge of the Turkeys I suggested that I found myself curious if the publisher’s other holiday-themed games were of… let’s just say “similar quality.” So now I find myself looking at Mission: Cupid’s Wings, a Valentine’s Day themed game, where players play as cupids trying to help another cupid named Dreamer who needs to make two creatures fall in love while also being distracted by their own amorous ambitions.
Character Creation: 1/5
Like Revenge of the Turkeys, characters are created by rolling a character type and skill; however, this time the skills actually have a function. I mean presumably they were supposed to have a function in Revenge of the Turkeys, but they just forgot to actually say how they functioned. Additionally all players roll off to determine which of them will assume the role of Dreamy. This is the part I really do not care for, since Dreamy’s inability to focus on his mission is an obstacle the players are supposed to be dealing with, having one of the players playing Dreamy seems like it could introduce unnecessary conflict between players. Overall, it still feels very much like “roll two dice, that’s your character” and only one of them seems to matter, and even those seem so random and varied that they probably won’t matter.
Mechanics: 2/5
The mechanics are the same as in Revenge of the Turkeys, as this is just a reskin. All tasks require rolling a die, with success on an even result. However this time skills allow you to reroll a failed check, although the available skills—e.g. singing, archery, candy-making—makes that not incredibly likely to come up. That is the entirety of the rules, there’s nothing new here, but what’s important is that because this game isn’t combat focused that means that the rules that were missing previously just aren't required.
Writing: 1/3 [−]
The writing is a little better, but not much. The issue here is that while the rules are better explained, the game gives you a very specific mission and fails to really explain how anything relating to that works. Like they choose to focus on giving you random tables to come up with a “wacky” set of potential lovers, without explaining how cupids actually manipulate them to fall in love. Like literally the only guidance given on that issue is “Afflicted by whatever means the party chooses, they will then fall in love.”
Presentation: 2/5
The layout is basically the same as in Revenge of the Turkeys, two uneven columns, but with if anything, even worse spacing. I appreciate that they tried to do something a little different, but that doesn’t change that they still did it incredibly poorly.
Final Remarks
Overall, Mission: Cupid’s Wings is a game that definitely met my expectations. Of course, my expectations were that it was going to be a hastily thrown-together and lazily made game that did little to nothing to address the issues with the one that preceded it. Will I learn my lesson? Or will I continue reviewing this series of holiday-themed RPGs? Stay tuned o find out!
Base Points: 5
Character Creation: 1/5, Mechanics: 2/5, Presentation: 2/5
Adjustments: −1
Setting: N/A, Writing: −1, Content: N/A
Overall Score: 27% (4/15 Points)
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