Anticipation

The Good
Those NES cartridges are really well-built. If you need an extra coaster or a stylish door-stop, then you'll be glad you bought this game. I still use mine to prop up an uneven keyboard.

The Bad
First off, you don't get to choose which icon represents you on the board. If you're the first player, you're forced to be a pair of pink high-heeled shoes. The other characters, in order, are as follows: a trumpet, a teddy bear, and an ice-cream cone. Maybe I'm being petty here, but I know I'm not the only one who has ever fought to have his favorite token in monopoly, and a board game where you don't even have a choice isn't very attractive. More importantly, the drawings are just plain terrible. Some of them, on the harder difficulty settings, don't even finish drawing before time runs out, leaving you to wonder just where the final lines would go. On the other extreme we find the 'ALPHABET' category which consists entirely of drawings of single letters in block format that are entirely too easy to guess. And sometimes you'll find drawings that don't seem to fit the category at all(case-in-point: you'll find drawings of an 'exclamation point' and 'question mark' in the 'OFFICE' category). These pictures look like they were drawn by a particularly deranged robot with an etch-a-sketch. That being said, the music is by far the worst part of this game. It's so repetitive that it makes techno seem creative, and so annoying that you'll want to turn the volume off well before the 5 minutes it takes to beat this game are over. If you don't, I assure you that it will stick in your head--like the way an ice-pick might stick in your head, not like a good synth-pop melody. My suggestion to you is to avoid this game like the plague. In fact, given the choice between a plague and this game, I'd recommend the former.

The Bottom Line
The only people that seem to enjoy this game are the people in the box-art photo, and I can only assume that's because they belong to some sort of 8-bit S&M subculture.

The Good
Anticipation is a game similar to Pictionary. It's simple, and it's fun to play with a bunch of people. There's a large variety in drawing types and they get harder as the game goes, making sure the game can't be won too quickly. Four people can play, using only two controllers, so you don't need a four-score. It's just good fun to play with friends.

The Bad
There aren't enough drawings. After a few games, whoever played those games will know all the low level drawings without any lines made. This makes it hard to play with people who have never played before. It's impossible for beginners to take on anyone who's played two or more games. Other than that the only problem I have is with the repetitive tune that is constantly played.

The Bottom Line
If you never play this game on without four people and only rarely, it's a video board game masterpiece. Most people play the games they own though so that really isn't much of a solution. It's not like the lack of drawings makes the game less fun when you're with someone who knows them though. The gameplay is really fun to play and an enjoyable experience when you play with a bunch of people. Overall, it's a worthwhile game.