I thank Merle Rasmussen for giving us Top Secret way back when. He provided my friends and me with countless hours of pleasure, escape, and happiness.
I am also grateful that Rasmussen stuck with the game and provided many excellent Top Secret additions in Dragon Magazine.
This incarnation of the game is a sad, chaotic mess. The mechanics are not just clunky, but archaic compared to other games. The editing is inconsistent.
The spirit of adventure, fun, and 'gee whiz' which made us want to play the original Top Secret over and over, seems missing here.
There's just not anything in the new edition which makes my friends and me want to play the game.
I'm glad I bought it, to see and compare, and to support Rasmussen. But if I saw this game in a store, and had a chance to look through it, I definitely would not buy it.
Top Secret / New World Order neither breathes life into an old gem, nor gives us anything new worth digging in to.
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