fus

I’m not going to lie – I play Jungle Speed only at parties, especially when all the players are a bit “buzzed”. It’s perfect game for such occasions as it is simple, easy to explain, the pace if fast (so people don’t get bored) and it’s extremely funny. Game of course gets funnier with each drink as people start to confuse card symbols and are trying really hard to concentrate on cards.
But beware! People can sometimes get really excited during the game and frequent fights for wooden totem may lead to injuries;)

I’m not really into CCG or LCG. I don’t really like the idea of spending and spending and spending money to buy cards to be “better” player. But I do love everything that is somehow connected with cyberpunk theme. As there are very few board games (or RPG or even video games) set in cyberpunk-ish world, I decided to give Netrunner a try.

I don’t really care about card trading, deck buidling and playing tournaments. I am what you may call a “casual” card gamer. And I must say that Netrunner is perfect for me. It’s assymetrical so depending on which say you choose, you get totally different goals and mechanics. The core set includes 4 corp factions and 3 runners factions, which is enough to have at least a dozen of different gameplays. When you add the possibility of deckbuilding – changing cards, mixing factions – you get a game that has the highest repleyabillity I have ever seen in CCG or LCG. And it’s all there in the core set. If you want to continue your hobby and collect expansions – go ahead, but if you don’t feel like it – you can still enjoy game after game after game and never get bored.

What I really like about Netrunner is the way the game mechanics fit with all the “fluff”. It’s not like M:tG “OH BOY I CAST SUPER SPELL AND IT HAS THIS AWESOME EFFECT. IT DOESN’T REALLY MAKE SENSE BUT MAGIC DOESN’T HAVE TO MAKE SENSE”. In Netrunner, pretty much every card effect can be explained. When you do Stimhack you get hacking boost but – guess what? – steroids are bad for health and you get a brain damage after that. You want to weaken server’s firewall? You use a virus on a piece of ICE protecting it. The runner wasn’t careful enought and the corp traced him? Now he is tagged and can lose all of his precious resources (or can even get killed as corporation set fire to his apartment with Scorched Earth). To sum up – Netrunner designers did a great job putting fluff in nearly every game rule.

Last but not least – game looks simply beautiful. If you watch Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell over and over again, or can’t stop playing Deus Ex or System Shock – you will love Netrunner’s art and design.

Well, it does take a while to setup everything and even more to learn all the rules (and then be prepared for looking for them again and again during first couple of rules). Be sure to check latest FAQ and rules errata on ffg webpage.

But once you get “fluent” with all the rules – there is just so much into this game. Different scenarios with various (sometimes very complex and tricky) goals for each player. High replay value – each time you will try new strategies. The only drawback is the random factor during fights. Sometime you will rage hard when your meticulous plan will fail due to bad rolls.

But the game is fun. And beautiful too. Almost 140 figures on battlefield is quite a sight I tell you.

If you are a fan on Lovecraft’s “Cthulhu Mythos” – you simply HAVE to play. Lots of fun. Quite a challange too (win-lose ratio around 50:50).