Yuu Yuu Jinsei (Victory Life)

~ YUU YUU JINSEI ~

Hudson Soft / Takara

HuCard

1988

The Life board game seemed pretty neat to me back when I was really young. I couldn't have cared less how the game is played and what it's all about; but I did know that it involves moving neat little cars down a road, and that was cool enough for me. I was an easily amused little goofball.

Now I'm a much bigger goofball, and as the whole "little cars" thing doesn't carry quite as much weight as it once did, I had to acquaint myself with the "technicalities" of the Life experience to get into this PC Engine take on it. The auto element is still present, of course, and you get to choose a driver from a set of ten rather doofy-looking folks.

But then it's time to set off and make a (mostly randomly determined) living for yourself. As you make your way around the board, you'll experience myriad normal-life events, the particulars of which are determined by the paths you take and spots you land on. Find work, get married, have a kid, crash your car, watch your house burn down, meet an alien... you know, all the usual stuff.

Of course, the whole point is to make as much money as you can...

...so that you end up living a more luxurious life than your opponents.

Personally, I dug the game a lot more when all I knew about it was the car stuff. There's very little thought or effort involved; so much of it boils down to pure luck. And the animated bits just aren't amusing enough to inject the goings-on with the charisma they need to remain entertaining.