GamesReviews written by Matt Thrower
I played this with six players, which doesn't really showcase the game well, I think. I can imagine it'd be an acceptable Euro with 3 or 4. It's dry and a bit "heads-down" and the theme is utterly ridiculous (yes, I'll just store this building plus walls here in my shed until I need it). But on the other hand there's enough variation and randomness to keep you on your toes, and there's a lot of factors to balance off some pretty intuitive rules.
Pretty pointless game of trying to build numbers on your side of three bases, while your opponent does the same. Feels a lot like Battle Line/Schotten Totten but with special powers instead of card sets. Play Battle Line instead.
There's a lot - a hell of a lot - of min/maxing in this game. No hidden information (other than the cards of the other players) means you're constantly trying to add up various potential combinations to spot the best. It's the same problem as power grid, only with less interaction and interest. The plays I racked up on this were mainly solo, and I did enjoy the puzzle element of "solving" it to make a full run of seven campaign games. But once solved it ceased to have much interest. So the rating is a balance of what I'd give solo (6) and what I'd give multi-player (4).
Although well rounded and interesting in terms of mechanics and theme, the game play too often falls flat, especially in the early part of the game. There's too much time conquering neutral territories at the start, the large attacker advantage removes much of the tension from combat and there's basically not much point in keeping tabs on the game when it's not your turn. Which is a shame because in other respects this is a clever, well-balanced game which will tax many different gaming skills.
Alarm bells have to start ringing when I can walk up to a table with 4 experienced players, learn the game, and beat them on my first play. But it's engaging enough and the card-drafting mechanic is addictive and under-utilised generally. It gives one a deliciously warm glow inside to remove a card from the deck that you know the player next in line wants desperately before passing on the deck
I was amazed by how some simple rules tweaks and a clever map layout was able to transform a game based heavily on Twilight Struggle in to something which looks similar but requires quite different strategy. I have a feeling that the random mechanics used in scoring here make the game a little on the chancy side, and the theme is overall less appealing than TS (even if it actually suits the base mechanics better) but otherwise this is shaping up to be a great alternative to TS fans who are growing jaded after repeat plays of the original.
Some solid strategic decisions, especially around creative ordering of card play to maximise benefits. The cube-drawing mechanics is a really nice way of getting some random elements into the game while allowing players some strategic input into tilting the odds. However, and slightly bizarrely for such a relatively simple game, there's a bit too much pointless fluff (endorsements, advertising and other mechanics don't do an awful lot). It also lacks a little in the tension department - it's there at the end, but not through the rest of the game. The fact that most cards just shuffle cubes around makes them hard to differentiate and thus makes it more difficult to relate the game to its historical roots.
A fun family-friendly co-op game with exactly the right level of hokey theme, and details that will please old movie fans.
A uniquely open take on the traditional board RPG, crammed with prompts for your imagination, but it's a little long and fiddly.