This week, we invite you to carry out the investigation thanks to a meaning that is not often highlighted in board games. It is this originality that seduced us in Tracks.
Fresh out of police academy, your first assignment takes you to Siren Bay. More precisely at the SBAB, the “Siren Bay Audio Brigade”, a new section just created by direct order of the new mayor. In parallel with its video surveillance system which crisscrosses the whole city.
Tracks is therefore a game of investigation, cooperative… but different from what you know.
We start by unfolding the large map of the city, with its streets, its notable buildings (school, church, stadium, etc.), its tram stops, etc. Then, we read the briefing of the card of the chosen case, among the fifteen proposed in the box. The first four serve as a tutorial, with basic situations, then the difficulty increases as the investigations diversify.
In any case, each investigation consists of listening to an audio track, from a telephone left on most of the time, from a snitch, from a recording, etc. This listening is done using an application, to download for free on your phone or tablet. We listen to the soundtrack for the first time in its entirety, then we can listen to specific passages again at will.
In the very first investigation, a writer is kidnapped in the middle of the street, in broad daylight, while he was on the phone. He had the presence of mind to leave his laptop on, we relive his kidnapping through it. The goal is to determine where it is sequestered in order to send our colleagues in the field there.
As you listen, you try to recognize particular sounds to find your bearings on the plan. Children’s cries? It must be school. Or the park. Noises of work, the bells of a church, an ambulance… gradually, we retrace the route of the kidnappers.
Sometimes, criminals want to remain discreet, stop at traffic lights, turn on their indicators. It’s easier for us to follow them. Other times, they charge at full speed, making it difficult for us.
Fortunately, there is also the possibility of using the city’s video surveillance. We can thus look at the map corresponding to such and such a camera. But, the SBAB system being outdated, you can only watch four of them at a time. We may see there, at the corner of a street, the amateur group whose music we heard, or the dog we heard barking. This makes it possible to locate oneself more precisely than using the more “global” sounds of the city.
When you think you have traced all the leads, you indicate through the application the place to send the intervention brigade to. We can try again if we are wrong, and we are even entitled to three clues if we are really stuck.
Why play Tracks ?
You know it, we love mystery games at Numerama. But, Tracks stands out thanks to its originality: the almost exclusive use of players’ hearing to apprehend criminals. There is hardly thatEchoes to venture into this field. To put it simply, it’s MicroMacroin which we would use our ears instead of our eyes.
But, the idea, as original as it is, can only work if the technique follows. On this point, it is faultless. Whether it’s the application, the voice of the actors, or the work of the sound engineer, everything is done to make the game smooth and enjoyable. There is only the limitation on the four simultaneous cameras which is a bit painful, especially since this constraint does not bring much in terms of gaming experience.
Also note that the sounds are accentuated enough to be satisfied with the speakers of your device, the use of headphones being unnecessary. Fortunately, moreover, because even if the game can be played alone, it is much more interesting with several people. Each person does not hear the same sounds, does not interpret them in the same way. It is then much more pleasant to confront his points of view with his comrades than to try to solve the investigation alone. But, like all investigation games, we still advise you to play it in a small committee, ideally two or three, four at most.
If you like mystery games, if you like MicroMacro et Echoesif you like the series Callsit is very likely that you like Tracks. The game comes into its own after the first four somewhat redundant cases. The technical quality of the whole and the originality of the idea contribute to creating a gameplay addictive, with short but intense parts. And, icing on the cake, by dint of observing in detail the map of the city and the images of the cameras, we learn to recognize the places, to find our bearings… a welcome help as we advance in the surveys.
- Tracks it’s a game by Juan Rodriguez and Christian Rubiella
- Illustrated by Pierre Lechevalier
- Published by Kyf Edition
- For 1 to 6 players from 12 years old
- For games of about 25 minutes
- Priced at €31.50 at Philibert
The verdict
We liked
- Originality!
- The technique, irreproachable
- Short but engaging surveys
We liked less
- The somewhat painful limitation on surveillance cameras
- The four initiation surveys, a little redundant
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