The thing I liked most about the game was the amount of time it took to play. Now, I know that might sound really weird, but bear with me a little bit while I explain! Most games of this type (civilization games) take hours heaped on-top tedious hours to play. This one on the other hand took about 2 hours to play with 5 people once we learned the basic rules. Not bad I say. Not only that but it should consistently be about that or less because there are a set number of turns. Actually, it seems to me that this whole game is centered around it being a shorter play. There are various mechanics in place that help facilitate this, such as only being able to take one of five actions in a round (there are 3-6 rounds in each era). Also what helps keep the time down, and allows for people to never be fully left behind, is that when a new era is reached, if you haven't progressed to the previous one, you will automatically be brought up to one behind the leader(s). This makes the game more competitive, and helps it to move along very quickly.

The biggest drawback of the game for me is that it does have a tendency to feel like a light version of a more immense game. To the majority of people that will be a plus to the game, but as for me, I actually love grueling, over-involved, epic games (Advanced Civilization, which is without doubt my favorite, takes a minimum of about 8 hours.). The problem I had with Tempus is that it had the elements of those huge epic games that I love without the near endless strategy possibilities. In other words; you don't have to think as hard in Tempus. Now, if someone else were writing this review they might say, "Thank goodness! Finally a civilization game that doesn't make my brain turn to mush and cause an allergic reaction to board-games in general". I can be on board with that as well, I understand that not everyone enjoys torturing themselves the way I do. So to all those folks who don't delight in having aneurisms each time they play a game, put my complaint with this game in with the compliments.

What's funny is that the thing I liked most about the game (the short time play) is only made possible by the one thing I felt was lacking (less strategy). How ironic. So where does that leave me and Tempus? It leaves me with another game I would gladly play again, because although it would be nice, I don't always have an entire day to devote to those epic games.

Reviewer: Anne
Review: Tempus is a fun and interesting civilization game with many factors to stay aware of throughout the game. During the first several eras, or rounds, of the game, I seemed to be losing quite badly; However, the beauty of Tempus is that it allows a player in my position to ultimately win the game.

Strategies can vary. A player may, shortsightedly, want to be the one who advances to the next era by the specific terrain types. Another player may spend the first few eras spreading their citizens across the island, building cities, and then finally concentrate on winning eras. The best strategy is to balance these goals, winning important eras that provide you with idea cards and victory points while populating the board with cities and citizens.

After the first game, I thought that the idea of battling in the game was forced; it seemed like the creator's afterthought because it didn't seem very neatly integrated into the gameplay. However, now I realize that I felt that way only because it was the first game and because none of the players really knew what was going on, we didn't really feel the need to venture another variable.

I first thought that because the terrain types key to advancing to the next era are fixed, this game's replay-ability would suffer. But on closer inspection, this actually makes the gameplay more interesting and would help to integrate the battles. After playing the game once, you realize the specific terrain types key to winning; if more than one person playing the game understands this from the outset those players will undoubtedly be battling it out for the remainder of the game not only to control those important terrain types, but to populate the map.

The more I think about this game, the more I want to play it again; it's a fun and slightly mind-boggling (if only at first) game sure to fill several hours of your life with a little bit of frustration (as can only be offered by a great game) and a lot of enjoyment.

Reviewer: Kay
Review: I heard Tempus was a civilization game that would take only 2 hours. So I was expecting something that makes the game more dynamic rather than building cities step by step. Yes, there were components that make Tempus exciting to play, but I still had to build cities and make them bigger and spread, all one by one. It's not a bad thing -- it's a civilization game -- to strategically grow on the board. I just wished that I could do something else than fighting against other people once I have a good population on the board. Or, maybe I think so because the fighting system of Tempus sounded very similar to the real world: It's easier to defend than to attack, and the attackers suffer a little when the attack fails, but the defenders lose everything if they lose. When I first played, I couldn't find a better reason to attack other people than to focus on my population to prosper in the first half of the game, and later in the game it was a little too late to attack good established settlements, discouraging me to initiate a major attack. Also, since I didn't find huge importance in battles, I didn't really utilize all these special cards, which I think would have made the game more dynamic, the way I originally expected.

The immediate reaction after the first game was that I had to play it again to have a better impression. It looks like to me that I was caught in the tedious routine that's often associated with a civilization game and I didn't fully appreciate the actual fun part of Tempus. In other words, Tempus is simple (takes 2 hours) and complex (you can do lots of things if you try) game for boardgamers.

Reviewer: Gary
Subject: Tempus - First play
Review: Well, I was anticipating the arrival of this game for months after I seen basically a final prototype of it at a game convention. A Civ game that plays in 2 hours, cool.

The five of us sat down and Gordon went through the rules. Everything really seemed pretty straightforward.

Unfortunately, for me, I didn't care for the game much. It seemed less like a civ game and it felt more like a war game. I understand why it was done, but it really didn't matter if you moved up on the progress track as it seemed like you could lag behind and snag up on the hill territory and still be pulled along the progress track. It really didn't seem like it mattered that much (IMO) to take advantage of what was earned if you were the one to progress.

Because of all of this, it just really fell flat (to use that cliche). It didn't feel like I was building a civilazion, but it didn't feel like much of a war game, either. I also *really* didn't like the terms used in the games...start a fight, make babies. In my eyes, it seemed to be too casual of terms used for parts of the game. I'm one for silly, but in a game that isn't really silly or casual, using casual terms really seemed out of place and didn't help my overall feelings for the game.

I do see the appeal of the game for others, but for me, it wouldn't get any table time.

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