Wha?!?!? Games of the Dead? That can only mean one thing, GEN CON is upon us again and the Zombieking is letting us know what is happening, right! Wrong (well kinda- Gen Con IS this week!). Truth is that this was a game I picked up during the last show and due to some incompetence and some Real life crap I didn’t get to it before now… but OH BOY am I glad I did!… First some technical stuff from the FIRESIDE GAMES WEBSITE!:
“Put your Zombie Apocalypse team to the test with this cooperative board game. Choose a Character and make your stand together in a remote Cabin, in the center of the board, against waves of the undead that close in from the edges of the board. Ranged weapons let you attack from a distance, but if the Zombies break through the walls, you will have to fight them hand-to-hand. Items scavenged from the Cabin can give you an advantage, but supplies are limited. If you can survive long enough, Survivors will bring the pieces of the radio needed to call for rescue. Once rescue arrives, it’s up to each Character to leave the Cabin and make it out alive!”
Yeah, yeah yeah… but let’s get to the good stuff- IS IT FUN?
The Basics- there are survivors (you) there are Zombies (yay) and there is some resources (not much) and components of a radio needed to get you through the onslaught… While I usually like games that kinda screw over your opponents, this is a co-op game that ACTUALLY conveys a sense of panic because the zombies aren’t lightweights and you can’t just mow em all down with a ‘Multi machine gun crossbow that homes in on dead brains’ (Game designer Justin De Witt- get on that as an expansion card…I want credit!) No, no… you have to work with what you got- some walls – a cabin, and some resouces- I could do a ‘wall of text, but the guys over at Boardgamegeek.com shot a video at eht 2013 Gencon with the Game designer Justin De Witt explaining it all right here:
Ok- so now that you got the overview, lemme tell you MY impressions:
THE GOOD-
– The fact that you have a character in the game gives you the feeling that you are more than just a token or pawn on a board- it’s nice to have those traits.
– The IF/THEN chart, More games need this great reference tool.
– The art and overall game design are great, Justin says ‘It’s like Castle Panic‘ but I disagree in the sense that it is a really different dynamic.
– The ‘Ohhhh Crap’ moments that happen to the players as the tension ratchets up and things start to go down. A very real ‘We’re gonna get screwed’ feeling comes over the table pretty often!
– The fact that 6 people can play without sacrificing any of the above elements. I hate when the more people you add to a game the less each player gets out of it. You don’t get gypped with Dead Panic.
– Did I mention that when your character dies …it becomes a zombie? Yeah… deal with it.
THE BAD-
– First time though the rules can be daunting, especially for less regular gamers.
– Movement and line of sight can be a bit tricky as well- just keep the rule book handy because you are gonna refer to it a lot at first
– The character stands kinda suck- easy to fix if you are even remotely handy with some tape though.
OVERALL FEELING AND TAG LINE:
I rarely see a fresh take on Zombie anything, so this was a real treat – My only regret is that I waited WAY to F’n long to play this game… don’t make that mistake, pick up Dead Panic as soon as you can… it’s
That’s it for me for a little while as I am heading to Gen Con to see what I can find for you guys in the Horror Gaming Genre! STAY TUNED!
I’m the Zombieking, and this topic is now DEAD to me…
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