Micro Macro: Crime City – Full House Review

This article originally appeared in issue 62 of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.

The second entry in the Spiel des Jahres 2020 winning Micro Macro series (for we assume there will be more) is very much more of the same. We have a new bit city map, and a ton of new case cards. With that comes the same problems that we had in the original game – it’s really quite a lot of squinting.

Players are once again looking to answer questions using their map-reading and scanning abilities, and then a little bit of lateral-logic on top. At its best, being the sleuth who spots that the victim was left handed, so there’s no chance it’s suicide with the gun in her right hand, feels pretty smart. At its worst, you can wear a group of players out quite easily as they stare really hard at a map looking for a ‘car with two stripes on it’ and so on.

This stark visual flare and huge amount of stuff going on in the city itself are part of the appeal – but is also simply hard to look at for too long. There’s a universal good will for this game, it’s something people want to leave out for a long weekend (they say) but in reality, they can get burned out after a handful of cases. The new cases are as good and as entertaining as the first game, but do suffer from presenting the same loop, even in the longer and more complex cases.

Full House brings us more of what we thought we wanted. The buffet continues, but be prepared to just have a nibble at it over an afternoon, as you’ll feel worse for wear if you try and pig out.

Christopher John Eggett

Designer: Johannes Sich

Publisher: Pegasus Spiele

Time: 15-45

Players: 1-4

Ages: 10+

Price: £25

Sometimes we may include links to online retailers, from which we might receive a commission if you make a purchase. Affiliate links do not influence editorial coverage and will only be used when covering relevant products