Hasbro Family Game Night Review Amendment: Sorry! 4

“Sorry!” is one of two board games that I actually cherish from my childhood (the other was “Mousetrap,” even though mine was always missing just one piece), mostly because I can remember playing it forever. My memories of the game predate the arrival of an NES in my household, therein ruining the any ability I had to enjoy simplistic board games. Sorry! was, and still is, a very basic game where all you needed to be able to do is count to twelve, and you could very easily begin your first lesson in organized schadenfreude. Hopefully your memories of this board game are as fond as mine, but if they aren’t EA and Hasbro are giving you a second chance to enjoy the game courtesy of the “Hasbro’s Family Game Night” on Xbox Live.

Since “Sorry!” is essentially an expansion pack, and an entirely separate purchase, for “Family Game Night” I’m going to treat it the same way I did of the other games that have already been released for the package. First, I will review the game on its own merits, and then take another look at how it fits into the grand scheme of the “F.G.N.” package.

“Sorry!”
Original: The original version of “Sorry!” that’s included in the download for the “Family Game Night” package is pretty much just as you remember it - pawns leave their starting base, make their way around the board, and try and get safely home while avoiding “attacks” from the other players that force them to start their journey over. The only really big difference between this game, and the others that are part of “Game Night” is that if you’re playing a single player game, you’ll be set up against three non-human opponents, which has to be because “Sorry!” is best played with more pawns on the board. It’s because of this, that the XBLA version of the game is actually superior to the real life version, since you can always three virtual friends (either A.I. controlled, or via Xbox Live) available to play 24 hours a day. The controls aren’t as intuative as they should be, and take a little getting used to, between jumping between cards, and pawns, but it isn’t something that can’t be overcome with a few trips around the board.

“Family Game Night” Version: The “Family Game Night” tweaked version of “Sorry!” offers an additional mode called “Bonus Cards.” Essentially, this mode adds in a handful of extra cards, on top of the numeric and “Sorry!” cards, that allow the players more free reign on the board. For example, there is a “Side Swipe” card that allows a player to send all the opposing pawns on one side of the board back home. Also, the “Wipeout” card will send each player’s furthest pawn back to their starting point. There’s also a “Trade” card that lets you steal one of someone else’s cards, instead of having to drawn from the deck. All of these additional cards create a more competitive game, which, for a game called “Sorry!” makes it even more fun.