Brass: Birmingham

About

"Brass: Birmingham" is a strategic economic board game set in the industrial revolution. Players compete as entrepreneurs, building and managing industries, railways, and canals to expand their businesses and earn victory points. The game features a unique hand-management mechanic and encourages strategic decision-making, with gameplay that is both challenging and rewarding.

Genres & Tags

Strategy

Play Modes

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 290 reviews

graphics16 positive mentions

stability25 negative mentions

The digital version is a faithful adaptation of the highly acclaimed board game, Brass: Birmingham, with beautiful graphics and intuitive gameplay.
It serves as an excellent tool for learning the game mechanics, making it easier for new players to understand the strategies involved.
The AI provides a decent challenge for solo play, allowing players to practice and refine their strategies before playing with others.

The online multiplayer experience is plagued with bugs, frequent disconnects, and long wait times between turns, making it nearly unplayable.
The AI is often criticized for being too easy, even on the hardest difficulty, which diminishes the challenge for experienced players.
The tutorial is inadequate, leaving new players confused and struggling to grasp the game's mechanics without prior knowledge of the board game.

stability
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
93%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous reports of freezes, glitches, and server issues that hinder online play. While some users have experienced improvements after updates, many still find the multiplayer experience to be unreliable and frustrating due to persistent bugs. Overall, the implementation is praised, but the game's early release status has left it plagued with technical problems that need addressing.
- “When the game is consistent, when it's not buggy, it's still a good implementation of one of the best board games around.”
- “Not buggy for me.”
- “Currently there are too many freezes and other problems to allow predictably good games against other humans on the internet.”
- “If you want to play against others though I can’t recommend it; online play remains buggy and prone to freezing years after the game came out.”
- “Constant server issues and glitches.”
gameplay
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The gameplay of the digital adaptation closely mirrors the engaging mechanics of the original board game, making it an excellent tool for both new players and veterans to familiarize themselves with strategies and rules. While the interface is smooth and intuitive, some users have noted issues with AI difficulty and occasional bugs, which may hinder the experience. Overall, it effectively streamlines gameplay, allowing players to focus on strategy rather than logistics, though improvements are still needed in certain areas.
- “As someone who enjoys the original, I was impressed by how smooth and intuitive the gameplay feels.”
- “The digital version makes learning the game mechanics much easier!”
- “Birmingham adds a few clever tweaks which add more variety to the proceedings, keeping the strategy fresh with variable set-up elements and alternative industries while maintaining the core mechanics of the original.”
- “The gameplay is terrible; every time each player needs to play, you need to leave the game and join again to force the game to advance to your turn.”
- “In terms of gameplay, this software has what you'd generally expect from the board game but with extremely limited settings for the user experience; the only settings available to adjust are sound.”
- “The AI gameplay is rubbish right now and is far from developed - far too easy (even on the expert level) and predictable - maybe it is good for beginners to learn the mechanics of the game.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
10%
10%
The graphics in the game are widely praised for their beautiful and well-crafted artwork, effectively bringing the industrial era theme to life. Players appreciate the strong visuals, smooth performance, and aesthetically pleasing design, although some note issues with usability and implementation. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's appeal, enhancing both the gameplay experience and replay value.
- “The graphics are well-crafted, bringing the industrial era theme to life beautifully.”
- “The presentation of the game is very good, the artwork is very nice and the theme really works.”
- “Cublo's implementation of Brass: Birmingham has a lot of positives going for it -- very strong visuals, good UI animations, and a solid 'feel'.”
- “Great game, pretty graphics, nice music, bad implementation, terrible usability.”
- “The graphics are adequate.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Players find the game to have high replayability due to its complexity, engaging gameplay, and beautiful artwork, which encourages multiple playthroughs. While it may take a few sessions to fully grasp the mechanics, the evolving nature of the game, especially with ongoing updates, enhances its replay value significantly. Overall, it is regarded as a great game that continues to improve, making it more enjoyable with each play.
- “Complex, entertaining, beautiful artwork; not difficult to pick up but takes a few plays to get a good handle on it and definitely has good replay value.”
- “Lots going on here, pretty swarthy commodity guidelines, but once you get them, this game has tons of replayability.”
- “Great game with high replay value.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The digital version is praised for its well-optimized layout for screens, offering smooth performance and impressive graphics. Overall, players find the gameplay experience to be efficiently optimized.
- “Having played the physical version several times, I can say that the digital layout is well optimized for screens.”
- “Runs smoothly, great graphics.”
- “Beyond that, here are my notes about gameplay optimization:”
- “The game suffers from severe performance issues, making it nearly unplayable on lower-end systems.”
- “I constantly experience frame drops and stuttering, which ruins the overall gaming experience.”
- “The optimization is so poor that even high-end hardware struggles to maintain a stable frame rate.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric quality, enhancing the overall experience. While some users appreciate the nice graphics and well-designed UI, there are mixed feelings about the game's implementation and usability.
- “The game is actually really close to the board game and the music is atmospheric!”
- “The graphics and music are nice, and the UI is well made and easy to understand.”
- “Great game, pretty graphics, nice music, bad implementation, terrible usability.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its strong thematic elements and immersive qualities, closely mirroring the board game experience. Additionally, the atmospheric music enhances the overall ambiance, contributing to a captivating environment.
- “Very thematic and atmospheric.”
- “The game is actually really close to the board game, and the music enhances the atmosphere!”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find that the grinding aspect of the game is exacerbated by longer playtimes in smaller groups due to tedious setup and operations. The use of a computer can alleviate some of this grind by automating calculations and visualizing options, enhancing the overall experience.
- “The three-player game took longer than the four-player game at the table, including the tedious setup of the player boards.”
- “Brass really benefits from having the computer perform tedious operations, such as counting money spent to determine the next turn order, or visualizing your network and building options.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the humor in the board game to stem from the potential for lengthy gameplay and amusing disagreements over rules and scoring, suggesting that these moments contribute to a fun and entertaining experience.
- “I am tempted to buy the board game, and I can imagine it takes far longer to play and involves some hilarious disputes over the rules and tallying up the scores.”
- “The humor in this game is top-notch, with witty dialogue and absurd situations that keep you laughing throughout.”
- “Every time I play, I find myself in fits of laughter thanks to the clever puns and unexpected twists in the storyline.”