Board game review of ChronoCops – Jules Verne’s parallel world paradox: different from what you’re used to?

The first two titles in the ChronoCops series were presented at SPIEL 2022. The third part was presented in 2023. From the outside, two changes are immediately noticeable: the style of the covers has changed and the games are no longer listed in the fun category of Pegasus, but are now family games. We plunged into the timelines and tested our suitability as ChronoCops once again.

Nothing changes in the starting position compared to its predecessors. Professor Knix has once again hatched a plan to take over the world. This time a laser, Atlantis and dinosaurs play a role.

We as ChronoCops now have the task of finding the correct timeline and stopping Professor Knix. Our prominent contact in this case is the author Jules Vernes, who will help us with a special item.

Familiar concept

Nothing has fundamentally changed in terms of game mechanics compared to its predecessors. We can travel to specific points in time in open timelines using the corresponding jump markers. Problems and puzzles await us there that need to be solved.

With the help of the decoder, many of the solutions can be checked and lead to new cards. Here the timeline card is placed on the outside and, depending on the puzzle type, either an object or one of the four answer cards is placed in the middle of the decoder. You can get tips using the back of the decoder. There is finally a detailed solution for this adventure online.

In addition to the decoder, there is now also the controller, which explains how it works during the adventure. Both elements are comparable in terms of handling.

As in its predecessors, there is always the risk that we will trigger a paradox. If we create one, we have to drop time balls. We can also buy items with coins. Both elements are only there to carry out a scoring at the end of the game. Even if you lost all the time balls and had to hand over more, the adventure simply continues.

Information about ChronoCops – Jules Verne's parallel world paradox

Number of people: 1-6 people Age: from 12 years Playing time: 120 to 180 minutes Difficulty: Family game Long-term motivation: one-time game Classification: “Point-and-click”, escape game Game idea: Matthias Prinz and Martin Kallenborn Illustrations: Folko Streese Publisher: Pegasus Spiele Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2023 Language: German Cost: 25 Euro

Conclusion

The Parallel world paradox deserves to be rated as the most difficult case in the series. But it's never unfair; everything is easily solvable if you get involved in the mood of the game. Some solutions are rather absurd, but they fit seamlessly into the humor of the adventure.

Due to the higher difficulty, the availability of a detailed solution is even more important. While this was missing in the first two adventures, it can now be accessed directly from the instructions using a QR code. If you open the information document on your PC, the internal link in the document also works and you can search precisely for information about individual cards.

There is nothing wrong with the material. Compared to other escape and puzzle games, the ChronoCops games are a little more expensive. At just under €25, despite being “Made in China”, it is around ten euros more than comparable products from other publishers, some of which have their products produced in Europe.

The story and humor are great again and exactly my taste. There is once again a lot of love in the details and the crazy ideas are also beautifully implemented graphically. Because two timelines work slightly differently than normal timelines, the adventure takes up a lot of space on the table. Things can get quite tight here.

But I don't understand why the cover has a new style. The style of the cards has not been changed. The two simply don't fit together and elements that can be found on both the cards and the cover are visually very different from one another. The cover suggests a more serious adventure compared to the old look, but you don't get that here.

Otherwise, the two points about time balls and timers from my first review combine into one Case of the ChronoCops here too. The time balls and now also the coins as a basis for scoring are simply not exciting and provide no incentive. In contrast, the fact that no timer creates artificial time pressure is still a good aspect.

I wouldn't play the game with six people. Due to the large amount of text, I would limit myself to three or four people. The playing time is appropriately given as two to three hours. It took us just over two hours in the test game.

The ChronoCops' latest adventure still feels fresh and fresh and brings just the right amount of humor to the escape and puzzle game genre. Even though it is the most difficult case, it runs very smoothly (also thanks to the hint document). So I can continue to recommend the ChronoCops series to everyone who likes puzzles and is not put off by the humor in such games and likes to play with absurd ideas.

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