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This Week’s Explorable Games
This round of Explorable Favorites is from BoardGaming.com member ScottB. One game was selected from his Favorites shelf, the other from his wish list:
- Cosmic Encounter
Fantasy Flight Games | Published: 2008 - Infiltration
Fantasy Flight Games | Published: 2012
These games will be explorable until next Monday, May 5th.
After you’ve explored these games, let us know what you think about them in the comments below!
Neither really got me excited about buying them, but I would be willing to play them to have that change my mind.
I am really intrigued by infiltration, I think I had seen it before but thought it was a netrunner expansion. Now that I realize it is it’s own game I will have to give it a try.
Cosmic Encounter is a good game. It’s not one of my favorites but I’ll play it here and there.
I’ll have to give Infiltration a try.
I enjoy a good game of Cosmic Encounter, but have never even heard of Infiltration. This is why explorable games on this site are so great. This game deserves a closer look when I get the opportunity.
Cosmic Encounter is one of my earliest boardgame experiences from early 90s. Back then it was the Mayfair edition which still holds its own very well. I thought the Hasbro edition were missing something but was happy to see FFG take over next and it has not been dissapointing.
In case people were not aware the FFG version of Cosmic E spins on with an upcoming fifth expansion Cosmic Storm with some fan created aliens and resurrecting an old fave or two.
I gave Peter Olotka a Twitter Salute on Tabletop Day (He still gets great cosmic joy from playing with his grand daughters :)) and he whispered about one of the upcoming powers. Crazy stuff!
May the Game that Breaks Its Own Rules keep warping through time and space! 🙂
I’ve looked at both of these before, but never jumped into a game due to not having the right mix of fellow players. The game convention I help organize has a copy of Cosmic Encounters in the board game library, so I may have to squeeze in a play if time permits.
I had completely forgotten until writing up the review that Infiltration was a Donald X. Vaccarino game. It doesn’t feel anything like his more popular offerings. I enjoy seeing designers that try out lots of different things. It’s a fun little game that, like mentioned previously, can hit and miss with groups.
I haven’t played the FFG version of Cosmic Encounter yet, something I need to remedy at some point.
@Kaleb
I’m glad you liked Infiltration! I think both of these games are best with the right group. Both can be great… and both can fizzle with players who just don’t get it. In Cosmic Encounter, you need active players that enjoy negotiation. In Infiltration, you need players that enjoy chaos, think tactically, and don’t mind dying half the time. If you are shy in either of these games… you are probably not going to have fun… and would probably prefer a game like Agricola (which is totally cool – great game).
BTW Cosmic Encounter has been around since 1977 (FFG version is 2008)… so this is one incredible game that has stood the test of time. I think the two best things that year were Cosmic Encounter and Linda Carter’s golden lasso.
Infiltration was hit & miss with our group. I actually got it from Granny’s recommendation almost 2 years ago and I personally like it. 🙂 We had a player speed up the alarm and be the only one out which was great IMO, but also why the others didn’t enjoy it their first time.
These are both fun games that can make for an excellent night of scifi goodness. For some reason, I enjoy Cosmic Encounter best with Pop Rocks and Jolt Cola.
Played and enjoyed Cosmic Encounter, but never even heard of Infiltration before. I’m going to have to point it out to my friend, who owns and loves the original Android game.
Btw, Millhouse had perhaps one of the best comments in any review I’ve read: “PS. Check out the tips section for some rules to make improvements.”
How many times have you played a game that was good, but could be better? This is a great suggestion for every one of those games, or even great games that you’ve played many times already. A fresh perspective on an old game brings new life.
I’ve heard so much good about Cosmic Encounter. Meanwhile, I’ve heard Infiltration is a bit unbalanced and broken. Either way, I’ve been wanting to check out both, so this is as good an opportunity as ever!
Cosmic E is a fracas-inducing classic – hopefully it remains as never ending as a Moebius Tube 😉