First Impressions of Perfect Crime

I do like a good heist movie! Especially the ones with a cunningly elaborate plan to evade security, grab the money, and get out with their cover intact. Perfect Crime lets you put together the perfect bank robbery… unless you’re like me and then, well…

It was the perfect plan. We would all run in through the back door, set off all the cameras but hopefully avoid or incapacitate the guards, then break into the vault. Meanwhile Jim (I can’t remember who I was playing with, it was Essen, and a demo, so I’ll refer to him as Jim) would stand at the back door with his mini gun to take out any and all cops who foolishly showed up. Terminator 2 style. What could go wrong!?

Well it turned out no one actually had any effective way of incapacitating the walking battle tanks this bank called guards so we were quickly and all too embarrassingly put down in short order. Perfect Crime is not easy!

Perfect Crime Board
Prototype components

One player controls the bank and all its systems. Everyone else is the crew hitting the bank. The set up is simple and self-balancing. The robbers can take up to a week preparing by buying equipment and scoping out the bank. But for every ‘day’ you spend preparing, the bank gets to spend resources upgrading security, thickening the doors and the muscle mass of their guard until by the week’s end the place looks more like a military base than a bank but you’ll still be going in!

There is a ridiculous variety of cards for the robbers to collect. Everything from cans of spray paint to black out cameras and lock picking kits, to mini guns, explosives and driving cards through walls! Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the cards was a kitchen sink. All of these fit into different possible approaches and the key is to decide on your ideal load out. Meanwhile the bank does its best to get in your way.

And oh boy! Can it be a tough game for the robbers! But what do you expect!? This is a bank! It’s supposed to be hard and that was precisely what the designers had in mind. That way, if you do pull off that Perfect Crime, you can feel really good about yourselves.

This first impressions article is based on a demo at Essen Spiel 2016. Read more of my experiences here!

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