beltmatt_USA

Ah yes. Zombies. Now there is a new theme for a game. Something never done before. Yawn right?

Well…this one is a little different. Let me start by saying this feels more like an arcade video game than it does a co-operative survival style board game.

Unfortunately I don’t work for iello so I didn’t have a say in the tagline. If I did write it I would want it to be something catchy like: ”Do you like co-operative Zombie games that are played to a 15 minute soundtrack with neat miniatures and items you can collect and can carry over into different scenarios similar to a video game even though set up is a pain in the butt and is different for each scenario and the stress of actually playing the game is so intense you feel as if you need a drink but you can’t because the game is played to a timer and if you are gone for you turn you will probably die and your team will have you carry you but you will end up losing because the zombie hoard will either catch you or time will run out? You do? Well, you would love this game!”

Setup:
It is a pain. Takes about 15 minutes…so it should be called Zombie 30. 15 minutes to set up, 15 minutes to play? Anyway you can play this with 2-4 people. If you play with 2 plays I recommend each player plays with 2 of the characters. There are pros-cons to each character but I’m not going to get into that, I’ll just say there is enough for replay (like multiple characters in a video game).

Story:
In Zombie 15 only people under 18 are alive, everyone else is a Zombie. You need to survive. You and your friends are trying your best to not die and you have an objective, normally you need to get somewhere before time runs out. You pick the scenario you want and set the game up using tiles, items and a lot of zombies. After it is set up it looks similar to how the game Zombies!!! ends, but I assure you it is different. Next you start the CD that goes for 15 minutes and the fun begins!

Gameplay:
1) You have 4 actions you may take. Those actions vary depending on if there are zombies in the area. If there are zombies in your are you cannot move and must fight them before moving/searching
a. Fight
b. Quick search (makes noise)
c. Careful search (silent!)
d. Move
e. Get up (if you start knocked down)
2) At the actions you may have to fend off Zombies if there are some in your area and you were unable or didn’t get the chance to kill them. This is dependent on your weapon. Each weapon has a number for how many zombies it can kill each use, how many it can fend off at the end of your turn, and how much noise it makes.
3) At the end of your turn you must notify the next player you are done. Normally by yelling “Next Turn!” or “Your Turn!” or “I’m done, just go! Quick!”

That’s it! Easy right? Just get from point A to point B.

If you survive you can carry items over to the next scenario, and that is what makes this game different. It is really fun. Easy to learn and reply seems to be there (I have not yet completed all 10 scenarios that it came with).

So that is my quick review of Zombie 15. Oh I forgot something. If you make noise you add a zombie to the hoard box. No big deal.

I hope this review was helpful… Oh one more thing. Every 45 seconds if you play on hard or 60 seconds on easy a zombie growls. After a growl you draw a Hoard Card and it could have a number on it. If there is a number place that many zombies in the street area of the player whose turn it is. If there isn’t a number and it says hoard, you dump the hoard box out onto the street oh whomever turn it is. So you might go from 0 zombies in an area to a dozen in just a minute.

Good luck!

October of 1985 Nintendo released its 8-bit console in America. This revolutionized what Americans thought about home video games. The graphics were stunning at the time and the games were of high quality for a home console. All released Nintendo games had Nintendo’s Seal of Quality. They went through a rigorous set of testing. This was not good for third-party developers and it took away any control they had making games, this was however (arguably) good for the consume as it only allowed for the best games to be available to the consumer.

Fast forward to today. The game Boss Monster looks like something Nintendo of America would have put its seal of quality on in 1987- except they didn’t. This game was not put through rigorous testing by 1987 Nintendo quality play testers before being released. But the game looks and feels nostalgic, doesn’t it? 8-bit art, and game play that was as simple as a d-pad and a/b button. The issue is that this is where it ends.

You get cards, you play cards, you lure heroes, you kill heroes. Not a whole lot of strategy. TIP: Play the card that will lure and kill the hero, it is normally obvious.

Boss Monster feels single player. Sometimes you play cards on other players, but it isn’t nearly as satisfying as other “back stabbing” dungeon crawlers. You can play a whole game with very little interaction between other players. “How many points to have for the thief? Oh 2, I have 3 so I get him.” That is it.

I know this isn’t a dungeon crawler, it is a dungeon maker. The roles are reversed as you are the Boss Monster building a dungeon to lure in heroes and kill them… I may sound like I am repeating myself, but this is what the game feels like. Play an NES game, don’t save, start over after completing level 1. That’s it.

I am giving this game a 6/10 because it is nostalgic and the idea of it is neat, but it doesn’t play very well. There is almost no thinking involved once you learn the rules. I have played this game with 4 players and we have had players stop playing part way through because of the lack of depth.

Sorry but, it takes more than theme for me to stay involved.

Of course it isn’t- this is a kids game, do you think I’m that dumb?

But seriously, it isn’t good for gamer adults.

My 6 year old son likes this game. My three year old son doesn’t. That means I get to play it. I am not good at this game. The game is a little slow paced for kids.

I enjoy playing games with my kids, but I don’t know if I really enjoy this game. This isn’t his first choice, he would rather play Forbidden Island, Dixit, or King of Tokyo, but this is a good game when you need a break from those. Also this one is alright to play with just 3 players, Dixit is a little more difficult unless you make up your own rules.

Overall the game is playable, and the art is neat. The components are cardboard and wimpy but that’s okay. Kids ruin things. Well, mine do.

I bought this game because everyone said “It is a must have”. You know what they didn’t tell me? There are about a dozen cards, some wood cubes, and it stores in a velvet pouch. My first thought was “Great. The guys will love this.”.

How do you get past a game when you go up to the games table and you are like “Guys, you need to play this” as you pull our this velvet pouch that says Love Letter and you try to explain the base line of the game “The Queen has been imprisoned and you are trying to date the princess but you need to woo her with love letters.”.

Reading the description the game sounds horrible. I don’t want to play a game with princesses. So I figured I would look at the other elements of the game.

Each card has an ability. The Priest can look at other people’s card. So it is a peeping priest? Great….. After reading this I was ready to give up.

So we did something we didn’t expect to do. We played this game.

The rules were very easy to understand, and game play went quick. For some reason everyone loved the game.

I have played this with 2, 3, and 4 players. It is by far best with 4, and almost unplayable with 2. With 2 players it goes a little too fast. There isn’t any real element of teaming up on someone.

The art in the game is pretty neat, and there are so few pieces it isn’t over whelming for new players.

Anyway man up and try Love Letter. You might just like it.

Object of the game is to get to 20 points. You can get points depending on the dice you roll. No, this is not a yahtzee rip off. Well…Not completely.

This game is a blast. I like to play it with my wife and two young boys (ages 6 and 3) and they completely get it.

My youngest likes to try to kill everyone, while my oldest like to collect the cards and hoard energy. Surprisingly both of these strategies will work.

Don’t let this fool you. This game is also fun with adults. Average game play for us is about 25 minutes. Explaining the rules only takes about 5 minutes, but some of the cards get confusing to new players.

This game is great. I would rate it 8/10 only because if you play with the same group (like many do) it gets predictable.

None of my friends are “gamers”. There is also no local game store in my area. I really like games, however, I never get the chance to play new ones without purchasing them. That being said, I research heavily before I spend any money. Boardgaming.com is the best place I have found to research. For a number of reasons.

Pros:
– The reviews are opinions by real people
– I am research oriented, I don’t care if someone’s review of a game has a misspelled word in it, I only care about the content and this site is perfect for researching new games (other ‘research sites’ allow users to tear people apart…not helpful)
– Earning exp is fun
– No adds
– No mailbox

Cons:
– I want a lot of games after playing on this site
– Would be nice if there was a “games on sale” type forum
– Needs more news (I haven’t seen anything on here about Pandemic edition 2 new rules, art, or expansion)

Summory
Just set Boardgaming.com as your start page. Come on, DO IT!

There is no local game store near me, and none of my friends play games. Anything I learned about games I had to read here. That being said I was very excited about Dominion because of the rave reviews. Plus I’m a very light gamer and it looked like a game I could learn quickly.

This is my first deck building game. Deck building games are not about remodeling homes to accommodate decks. They are about gaining cards to add to your (you guessed it) deck. The better your deck, the more you can do. You can string actions together and buy multiple cards and mess with the people you are playing with and all sorts of other things worth writing a fragmented sentence about.

Dumbed Down How To…
You start with 10 cards, 7 coins and 3 victory points. You use your coins to buy additional cards such as Action, Victory Points, more Coins, or Curse Cards (don’t buy these dummy).
Dominion is as easy to learn as A, B, C, D. You first play your Action, next Buy, Clean-up, and finally Discard your hand. It is a simple concept once you start playing. The better cards you have, the better chance you have of “doubling up” or “chain actions”. One action card may lead to more cards, and more actions or more coins and buys to use on your turn. Once you build a solid deck, you start buying victory cards…but they will come up in your hand and they are useless during game play. You need to weigh all that in while playing.

The replay value on this game is very high because of the number of possibilities, and the option to purchase expansion packs.

Pros:
– Easy to Learn
– High replay value (even without the expansions)
– Game play is less than an hour, and the more you play the quicker the games could go (I have a short attention span)
– Set up becomes quick once you figure it out
– Lots and lots of cards (with pretty art work)
– The more you play, the better you get (just like violin… I can’t play violin)
– Lots of shuffling (Who doesn’t like shuffling?)
– Kingdom themes are also cool

Cons:
– Putting the game away isn’t very fun…so many cards
– Not a lot of interaction between players, almost feels like multi-player solitaire (This is the biggest downside)
– The cost of expansions, big turn off because I could buy a new game for the price of the expansion
– Lots of shuffling (My wife apparently doesn’t like shuffling.)

Summory
Overall I would say the game is worth it. GO BUY IT.

This game was introduced to me at a mandatory study group I went to when I was in the Navy. We took this game as serious as the Navy took studying.
The first time we played there was a larger group of about five, and only one of us has played before. That made it interesting. Luckily the one teaching us was better at teaching than we were at studying.
The game is really easy to learn, it would have been faster if we were able to watch a full game played first. The problems come when you start to argue over the rules. Arguing over the rules was always a big part of them game. Following the cards sometimes makes you break the rules. Example, there is a cheat card. To some players that mean you can discard other player’s cards, steal their loot, punch them in the face, or add items to your hand. I recommend you designate someone to be the final say on the cards before you start.
The cards are awesome and there is a TON of humor throughout the game. You start as a human with no class (if you are reading a Munchkin review, you are probably a human with no class). The game is full of pun, thankfully there is no laugh track.
This game got me interested in gaming as an adult. I love ever-changing gameplay and variety so this game wet my whistle (whatever that means). If you prefer activities that are unquestionable I recommend listening to music (don’t think there is a wrong way to listen to music….I’ll have to check the rules).

The first time I played this with a group of 5 I thought, what the heck did I buy this for? It was really a bad game. After we played we ate some food and couldn’t stop talking about it. We played it all wrong.
The issue we had was we were trying to play at a competitive level. This isn’t that type of game.
This game is to create conversation and tell stories.

I play with my 5 year old, and it really helps him get creative (Yes I know, the game is for 8 and up- but I assure you it is still fun). This game is about getting creative and using your imagination, once you learn that the game becomes pretty fun.

This game art is awesome, and the rules are simple enough that you can include children (for entertainment purposes at least).
Playing this with my son is great, he can take a card and give it a back story. That is the point of this game.
When my 5 year old started to play he would describe the card exactly, such as “Two Knights fighting on a chess board floor”…there are not a lot of cards that depict that. Now he might take that same card and say “This is necessary for the kingdoms!” It opens up a lot more possibilities.

A house rule I have to play with an adult and child:
Shuffle the cards and flip the top one and tell a story. Flip the next card and continue the story, and keep going. The game isn’t meant to be played like that, but it is still fun.

Pros:
1 – Rules are easy to following
2 – Game play is typically around 30 minutes
3 – Art work is pretty sweet
4 – Builds creativity
5 – The more you play the more you will enjoy it and the better you will be at it
6 – Easy to teach
7 – The cards are over sized so it makes your hands feel small, I recommend wearing an oversized hat as well while playing
8 – No reading involved so children and older people that have problems reading cards can play
9 – I have yet to see any arguing from the players take place in this game (even if my dad really hard to spin us up)
10 – The game is not very competitive

Cons:
1 – First time playing I found to be pointless, I didn’t understand the concept of a “story telling” game
2 – This game is not very fun with fewer than 4 people; it says can play with 3 but that becomes lame very quick
3 – The more expansions added, the better the game is, this is a con because they are not cheap and I am not rich
4 – The point system is difficult to keep track of if you have 5-6 players (Dixit Odyssey fixed this with the new “voting” system)
5 – The game is not very competitive
6- If you play it with your dad he may act like an idiot in attempts to frustrate other players

Each game play will take 10-40 minutes. That is great because I have a hard time concentrating long enough to even write this review. You will lose, but if you feel bad losing why are you playing games to begin with? All you need to do is create 4 cures to win. Easy right?

Once you find a system that works for your team you will progressively get better. Just find a system and go with it. I am huge on rules when I play games I try to follow them exact and Pandemic has very clear rules so there isn’t a whole lot of room for arguing about them (unlike many other ‘strategy’ games). I have found that if you play your own role and don’t worry about other players the game is more enjoyable. It also helps to name the diseases even though it isn’t in the rule book.

I hope to get the expansion some day. I also hope I never get a cat. If given the choice between playing Pandemic and owning a cat I would always choose playing Pandemic unless, of course, I was fooled into owning the cat- like by an evil cat gifting villain.

PROs:
1 – game play is 10-50 minutes
2 – clear rules/objective
3 – nice game board and cards
4 – the game is co-op so you probably won’t leave hating your friends, unless you already hate your friends because they didn’t buy you this for Christmas and should have or some other extreme backstory
5 – very high replay value, you can easily adjust the difficulty with the epidemic cards
6 – game does not require a litter box unlike owning a cat
7 – there is only one Canadian city in the game so the ‘sorry jokes’ your dumb friends will make once Toronto creates an outbreak will be short lived

CONs:
1 – can be frustrating when you lose multiple games in a row while learning
2 – set up can take a while when you are still learning
3 – you will want the expansion once you win a few in a row and you may become cocky because you have a solid plan for when the end of world plagues are coming (as long as there are 4 or less diseases and 6 or less epidemics) but the expansion cost money and you call ZMan games giving them a sob story about how you could save the world if you had the nice petri dishes to hold your game pieces with extra role cards and learn how to counteract bio terrorist if only you had the expansion but because you are too cheap the spend the $26ish off Amazon to buy it yourself and you think that for some reason ZMan games should give it to you but they keep transferring you to customer service and by the time you talk to Vicki you want to hang up and go play the game without the expansion since you have been talking about it so long and replaying the conversation you were going to have with Mr. ZMan and he would same-day deliver the game with a pizza and mt. Dew but of course you aren’t clever enough to go through with it so your friends will tease you and you get stuck being a researcher and you really wanted to play as the medic but you act like you don’t care but deep down in your big-boy diary you write about it but it is coded and you hope no-one figures out the code because there isn’t a Pandemic expansion to teach you about technological disasters.