Robotech: Crisis Point

Robotech: Crisis Point is the second game in the line, and its slightly larger 4x4 grid gives it room to solve several problems its predecessor could not. It is not about to redefine the quick two-player game, but it feels much more settled in its own skin—particularly if Robotech means more to you than lettering on a box.

The game centres on that 4x4 grid, with two sides meeting there through lightly asymmetric forces. The asymmetry adds personality without burying play beneath twitchy exceptions, which is a meaningful improvement before anything else has even happened.

Cards make one session feel usefully different from the next, and hidden objectives leave each player with a private agenda until it becomes visible. So the interaction is not merely the direct contest on the grid: you are trying to work out what the other person needs, while they are doing the same to you. For a quick post-work game, it does not pretend to offer more than it can deliver.

Against the giants of fast two-player gaming, it does not really hold the comparison. But if you have even a little fondness for Robotech and do not mind collecting small fillers, this is a quietly better entry in the series and well worth a look.