Heat: Tunnel Vision - Discussion

0:09 Some viewers may find the following video disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. Hey everyone, welcome back to Board Games Unlock and today I'm doing a discussion over Heat Tunnel Vision, which is the newest expansion to Heat. Now, I very much love Heat, especially whenever it came out. It was a game that I demoed at Gen Con and I was like, I don't really know. and then bought it on a whim and it's been one of my favorite not really deck builder but racing games uh to date. And then they announced Heavy Rain and I was like, "Oh, sweet." You know, more tracks, more content. And then I was left with kind of like a sour taste in my mouth because of the way that Heavy Rain implemented new mechanics. And I was like, "Okay, it's still new content, like two new maps.

0:58 That's cool. Maybe uh it it's fine. It's whatever. And then tunnel vision was announced and I'm like, sweet. More more content to heat. And they did the same [ __ ] thing as they did with Heavy Rain where it's like you introduce this new these new systems for only one map without any way to implement that new those new systems on other maps like and with Heavy Rain it kind of m like it didn't really make any sense. other places rain. So, it would have been cool to put in those new like rain rules on other maps, which they just didn't give the ability to do. Um, and then with tunnel vision, they did the same thing. Only one map has the new tunnel rules. So, I don't understand why they're they're making these like thematic expansions but then halfassing it for two maps. So, the two the two maps is you have Spain and then the Netherlands I think is where they're at.

2:10 Um, uh, Spain, that's that's yeah, that's pretty much it. It's just like I it it's mindboggling as to who I I think whoever like the Asgar Harding Gr Yep. Sorry, not going to pronounce your name correctly. They struck gold with the base game and then just phoned it in. They're like, "We made a great game. These idiots are going to buy whatever we put out. Why put in 100% of the effort?" because Spain is the only one that utilizes the the new um the new rules and it's a really cool map. It is the longest map to that cuz I I checked it and unless I'm missing something. It is 109 spaces and you actually only go through one full lap. It's like 11 turns and then the tunnel rules uh are only on that. And then the Netherlands is just kind of a whatever map. There's nothing really special about it. Uh, it's actually really short. So, you're buying an expansion. Granted, it's not an expensive expansion, but you're really only getting half new content. Everything else is just kind of the same. Like, yes, there are more sponsors. Yes, there are more events and more uh gear cards that get thrown in. But the reason why racing games are like they either die or they thrive is the new maps. And it's

3:41 like why aren't they making it backwards compatible? The tunnel almost makes some sense thematically cuz it's like well not other maps have tunnels added to them. Sure. Okay. Yes. When you're going to race somewhere I imagine that you have to adjust based off the track that you're racing on. But isn't that what the gear cards are for? Wouldn't it be cool to have tunnels in Great Britain or those tunnel rules in in France? I guess not. I guess it's just it's too hard. And then they add in another car. It's purple, so it's actually it's my favorite. Um, so now you have filled out the the slots um to make it two, four, six to make it eight players.

4:29 And if you're playing the solo, which has one of the best bot systems in, you know, for a racing game, they still did not upgrade the goddamn cards. So, you can't even play a full eight player game solo. You either two hand two of them. You you two-hand the purple and the orange, which came from Heavy Rain. Um, and then now you can have a full eight player game, but you can't have a solo game with eight players. And then for some reason, these new maps have spots for 12, which again leads you to believe that they're going to release enough content to fill out the 12 slots, even though it doesn't really matter. Like, yeah, you can have 12 spots, but you if you're doing the tournament, you only get victory points up to sixth place. Um, actually, I think it's only sixth place for Is it that one or is it four? Yeah. Yeah. Up to sixth place, you get some semblance of points.

5:25 So, I mean 7 through 12 doesn't really matter, but why have the spots for it on all the maps when you don't even have the content for it? And I know they had some designer diary where they wanted to talk about um okay, we didn't want to have big expansions and make them expensive. We wanted to release affordable, smaller expansions, which is fine, but you've done two expansions now, The Heat, where Heavy Rain was only on one map and Tunnel Vision is only on one map. Why? Why? Just don't even add new [ __ ] like just make make the new maps and don't even have any special rules to them because you're clearly like just being lazy about it. Like I was annoyed when Heavy Rain did that cuz it's like oh hey it's called Heavy Rain. I would expect things about Rain to be thrown in and and then I was like okay well whatever. We'll see what Tunnel Vision does. The exact same thing. So, every expansion, which I'm gonna buy because I'm a piece of [ __ ] um they're just going to do that. Like, they're going to release probably two more expansions. or if they're only releasing one car uh per expansion, then if they're going to 12, that means there's four more expansions planned that's just going to have some thematic new system that's

6:57 just that's on half half the content. Uh so really, you're you're overpaying for [ __ ] is really what it feels like. Um anyway, rant out of the way. What does tunnel vision add onto the uh onto the Spain map? Well, it adds, as you imagine, tunnels. And the tunnels are sections of the map that you, if you're in them, at the end of your turn, you are not allowed to discard cards. That's it. That's that's all it does. like you just can't. You have to stick with the hand you got until you get out. And uh there are five sections on the map. One, two, three, four, five.

7:47 Yeah, five sections on the map where that would come in. And don't get me wrong, I like the map. I think it is. I mean, it's super long. There's a ton of turns. Like, it's insane uh to race against. Um, but it's just really that's it. You just can't discard cards. Okay. Very rare. I mean, most of the time you might have heat and stress in your hand anyway that you can't discard. So, it's like kind of like that. Oh no, I'm in a tunnel. I can't get rid of my zero or my one that I happen to have. All right. I don't know. Like the map itself I like racing on. I think the tunnel rules are really really lame. Um and then they add in the chevrons which uh makes the legends if you're playing against um uh not chevrons they are called chicanees. No no chevrons.

8:50 Um yeah chevrons which now allow legends to move past more corners. Uh that actually became a little bit more apparent in in the Netherlands map actually uh because there can be like one or two chevrons above a space and in the uh Spain map um they can only ever go past one corner. In the Netherlands map they can go past uh two in a few sections. So um that kind of came up. And then it has these chicanees. Um, which I cannot remember if I think I cannot remember if that was in heavy rain or not, but uh that actually only matters if you do road conditions or weather uh where there are certain sections of the map that are like affected. So like um if it's like uh road conditions that increase the the speed value for example, it'll affect one full turn instead of one specific section. Um so if but if you don't use those modules then you just treat them like regular corners. Uh and then they added this new system for gear cards called draft. It's It's basically a catch-up symbol that allows you to uh like draft up to directly behind someone. So, in the examples that they give here, it shows like uh oh, I played, you know, this 13

10:23 value card, but because of my draft that let me go up one more, and then my slipstream going up two more, that got me three 13 um 14 15 16 more spaces. So, it it's a way for you to potentially position yourself a little bit better. So, that's a new symbol that they added. Um, other than that, yeah, like it's it's not an I mean, I think it's readily available. I know when Heat first came out, it was impossible to get. Heavy Rain, I think, was a little bit easier. I see I putting myself to sleep just talking about it. Um, but now the box is full. Now every like like these two expansions have filled out the box.

11:10 So I I don't know if they keep releasing expansions like this. Um then I just hope they're done at this point because it's getting really annoying. I hate hate how these legend cards are aren't updated. And this entire rant that I'm doing could be completely moot if they release content and once they are done they do like a big update pack uh where these new these cards include every color. Like I get it. It would it would be stupid for them to release these small expansions and then come with a new pack every single time. that would be I like but that's also assuming that someone's going to buy every single expansion pack. Um but it's like okay they don't want to like make new ones and then put in orange and then they release tunnel vision and then now you have to throw the orange ones away because you have to throw in the ones that include purple.

12:08 Um yeah, it would make sense if they're like final expansion to heat, you know, whatever however many it is. Maybe they do two more and add in two more cars each time. Um, so that it fills out the 12 and then with that final one, they have the legends cards that include every color. So you can do a full race of 12 people, which would be which would be awesome. I would you resend my complaints if that was the case. And then maybe with that final pack where they pot hopefully do an updated legends deck, they include ways for you to throw in tunnels to all the previous maps. throw in ways to throw in the the rain to all the previous maps and whatever expansions they do in the future, you have backwards compatibility to where yes, you have Spain with your tunnels on it, but they could also have rain on it.

13:01 They could also have whatever they're trying to throw in. But it's just these two expansions just really I think take the wind out of your sales whenever Heat base game was so good. Like these two expansions, yeah, they have new maps and they are good maps to throw in, but if someone's like, "Oh, should I get heat in the expansions?" I'd say no. I'd say get heat because the way that they're running these expansions just almost feels like a cash grab. Um, it's not needed. They clearly aren't supporting it with certain with certain aspects. I I mean, I thought that they had I I they struck gold or struck oil, whatever, with with the with the base game. It was like lightning in the bottle. There's so much content. Like these, well, these are all the sponsor cards for a module that came in the base game. Like, so there's that. And then this is all the gear cards. Like, there's a ton of uh of content that the the gear work uh uh garage module is amazing. And then you have your uh events that you throw in if you're running certain years. So like 19, it goes 1961 to 62,

14:33 63, 64, and then now 65. Um, and then they haven't really done anything with with the weather or or um they haven't added any new tokens. So I don't know. I I don't know. Like the the maps, at least the the Spain map itself is really good. Um the Netherlands map is fine. I mean, I think it has the largest straightaway. Uh in the in the game, but it doesn't have anything new to it. Um, and the tunnel rules are fine at best. I mean, I I don't really care for them, but it's there.

15:24 It's I mean, it's not overbearing to learn it. It's just, hey, if you're in the if you're in the dark spots, you can't discard at the end of your turn. Okay. Anyway, now let's play heat. Um, so yeah, like also unless you're playing the garage module and upgrading like actually, you know, upgrading your starting deck with new cards, uh, the chicane uh, rule where the legends can go past multiple corners. Uh, you're not going to beat them. At least I'm not. the you basically have to upgrade your deck cuz the the base deck is just not going to do it when they can just zip around corners and you're you know overheating your engine just by going past one. Uh not that that's a bad thing, that's just the way especially Spain is.

16:12 Um, yeah. So, I don't know. Like, it's if you got the whatever 30 bucks, it's it's worth getting, I guess. Just know that they did the same [ __ ] for uh for for television that they did for Heavy Rain. And I just I really really hope that when all is said and done, they they find some way to make the new systems backwards compatible to all the other maps. So you have cuz that would that would make the game damn, you know, it it it would make it perfect. You know, you can have a full 12 race and completely modulize every single map. That would be amazing.

16:59 But that remains to be seen. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm going to give Tunnel Vision a six. I think it's slightly above average. I think it's a I think it's a an okay expansion that if you just love Heat, and I love Heat. But if you're if you're just one of those people that, you know, Days of Wonder can do no wrong, then yeah, you're going to love it. Although from what I'm seeing, like people aren't happy with the way they're doing their expansions, so I don't I don't get it. Um, but I'll still keep keep giving them my money cuz I'm an idiot. Uh, basically because I'm hoping that they're going to do do it right by the end of it. And you got to just unfortunately stay up on it to make sure that they do that. Uh, so yeah, television is a six for me. I don't remember what I gave. Heavy rain. I can double check that right now.

18:02 Heavy rain. Heat. Heavy rain. Seven. I gave it a seven. So, um, which I mean, since it's pretty much the exact same expansion, I would say uh, you know, this should be a seven. But I'm getting pissed. I'm getting pissed that they've done the exact same thing twice in a row. and the score is going to keep going low if the third expansion is like this where it's another set of two maps with one of them that that's the stupid thing. It would be different if it was both maps. If both maps had the tunnels in it that would that that would at least justify it being called tunnel vision if heavy rain had both maps with rain on it. So yeah, I mean, next one I'm aiming for a five and then a four, then three, then a two, and then hey, maybe that final one will bump it all the way back up. Who [ __ ] knows? We will see. But base game of Heat still phenomenal.

19:01 Um, like still a nine nine out of 10, 10 out of 10 game. It's It's amazing. Um, but that's it everyone. That's my thoughts on Tunnel Vision. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below. But other than that, like, comment, share, and subscribe, and have a wonderful little tone of day is this for you. Hey everyone, thank you for watching, and I really hope that you enjoyed the video. If you would like to see more of my content, go ahead and click that subscribe button and the bell to be notified whenever I upload any new content. If you feel like supporting the channel, you can go ahead and click that Patreon link to be taken to my Patreon, and any help is truly appreciated. Other than that, stick around for any any other runthroughs or reviews or cool top 10s or whatever I feel like putting on. Other than that, like, comment, share, and subscribe. And have a wonderful whatever time of day it is for you.