MJ Kuchenbrod

Giant overly stereotypical cartoon monsters on cardboard – check.
Crazy random powers through constantly rotating cards (with great artwork and one liners) – check
Fast pace game that can be played in a large group very quickly? – check
Guaranteed trash talking while Godzilla knocks out King Kong? – check

I game with the wife, some avid gamers, and some casual gamers. Every time I introduce this game, everyone loves it. It’s a constant pull out for everyone to play within my group, and always suggested to play if we have a few minutes. The production value is great. It’s wide open for more expansions with new monsters, possible new rules, and new cards for powers. This game plays great as a quick 2 player game, and just as well (if not better) with more players. If I had any criticism at all about this game, it would be that it’s easy to gang up on someone and “take them out”. Once you’re out early, it’s sitting until the end of the game (which could be 15 minutes later). Other than that, if you’re looking for a game that mixes dice rolling (Yahtzee style), magic the gather (the power cards), and some good luck mechanics, you should pick this one up immediately.

This game is going to depend on your audience. Put aside if anyone knows what Battlestar Galactica is (which if you don’t GO WATCH IT). If you take on this game for the co-op subversion elements, it holds up as a great mix of working together and always being suspicious of each other the entire game. Great tension.

So at this point you’re probably asking yourself why I rated this game low? This game is going to COMPLETELY depend on your gaming group. I game 9 times out of 10 with my wife, or 1 other person. Every now and then with a 3 – 4 player group. This game is 3+ player only. So I had a hard time getting a lot of games in a row to play. The games we DID play, the rules were very complicated for some casual gamers to grasp, and it’s easy to forget many of the rules the first few times you play the game. For that reason, I had low replay value with my group of gamers, and it was not easy for them to learn by any means. It’s sat on my shelf now longer than play time.

If you group with a bunch of gamers that is up for complexity, and are ready for a long game (first time took us 3 hours…other times at least 2 to play), then this might be the game for you. Otherwise I’d suggest to stay clear and look into simpler versions of this such as Werewolf.

A friend of mine has this game and the expansion. We’ve played a few 3 player games, as well as a four player of it. It’s a bit random, which is expected, but the few times we’ve played it passes the time very well. I’m not a personal fan of this game, so I have not picked it up personally, but I cannot say it’s not a “good” game. It’s good for a change of pace from other gaming that we enjoy. I think anyone who is into Co-Op games, and simple fighting mechanics, should at least check this game out to see if this is their cup of tea. I was told though that the expansion with the Wizard tower makes this exceedingly hard. One last thing of note, is if you have any gamers that are prone to “taking charge” to beware of this game. It’s very easy to micro manage each other to find the “best” solution.