by lunaknight
Notes to the reader:1. Base-game set.
I haven't played with an Abomination-level pledge set. This is just based on my plays with a standard store-bought copy.
2. Experienced gamer group.
My group is fairly experienced in terms of boardgames. Games like Eclipse, Caylus, Tigris & Euphrates, and Magic: the Gathering are staples at our table, so complexity isn't an issue. Elegance in execution is more of the critical factor (hence why stuff like Arkham doesn't hit the table too often - it's just got so many moving parts and systems with which none of them have reinforcing iconography or reminder text... that it's really easy to miss one critical track update and really screw up the experience; however, this is a totally separate discussion that warrants its own thread).
3. Theme-junkies.
That said, we as a group love theme. Great components, awesome artwork, and neat minis go a long way to sell an experience for us. It's not to say we don't appreciate the innate elegance of a pure Euro-style game like Power Grid or Caylus, but it's nice once in a while to be a total theme junkie and just enjoy a theme with all of its gloriously detailed bits and pieces.
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Prologue
There are plenty of rules overviews out there already, so I won't go over those. The rulebook is also available as a free download here from Guillotine Games as well.
All of that said, it's difficult for me to provide a "number" rating for my enjoyment of any game. It's a very arbitrary thing - maybe a half point deduction for some minor thing here, but overall positive experience there and in the end, the number is only really meaningful when taken into account with a large sampling of other ratings from the same reviewer. And even then - it just gives a picture of that reviewer's biases, preferences, and general trends.
So, instead of trying to assign a number to my enjoyment or distaste, I'll highlight some of the things that we enjoyed, and some of the pitfalls and disappointments we had.
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Stuff we Loved
1. Bits and bites, oh my.
I'm sure every reviewer has the same thing to say here - but it bears mentioning again. The game as a whole is one attractive collection of plastic and cardboard. There are two types of runner and walker zombies included. The stock on most of the paper bits is fairly thick and the artwork is glossy and a joy to look through.
Everything comes packaged in the boardgame shipping equivalent of a nuclear bunker. Never before have I seen such care to package everything so well. You may feel like you're paying a lot, but this is one of the few times that I've opened the box and felt it was completely worth it based on component quality alone.
2. It really IS L4D, the boardgame.
Let's get one thing clear. The thing you'll be doing most of in this game is killing zombies. Killing a lot of zombies. It's not about cowering in a corner - it's about finding new toys, leveling up, and mowing through hordes of the undead.
That said, Zombicide captures the arcade-y shoot-em-up mixed with small-scale tactics feel of the L4D videogame perfectly. If you're looking more for a survival-horror experience, this really isn't the correct choice for you. If you want to blast through zombies with friends, continue on.
It's not a strategic game. Your overall goals and paths to victory are always very clear, and there isn't much deviation from those paths in any given scenario in the rulebook's crop of scenarios. You won't have any far-reaching plans lasting for 6-7 turns. Instead, you'll normally be trying to optimize your small-scale tactics for the next round.
Should we pass the shotgun to Doug so he can take out the zombies in front of us first, and then pass the machetes to Wanda so she can skate in and clean up the rest? Maybe we should have Ned use his search action first because of the turn order, and then pass his newfound toys along to the team while Josh covers the rear? But wait - Ned needs the experience because Wanda will level up if she kills those zombies...
This type of decision is quite common in each round of Zombicide. Most of the time, you'll be trying to gain the best odds of clearing a path to your next destination with the most efficiency while trying to balance out the experience gains in the group.
It's fun stuff, and when you're forced to take big risks from time to time, they really feel great when they pay off. (Chainsaw roll of only 6's? The cheers are usually quite enthusiastic.)
3. It REALLY REALLY is L4D, the boardgame.
Left 4 Dead, at least for me, has always been more about the stories of catastrophic failures, and against-all-odds successes that emerge from the game than anything else. It's always been about those "once in a lifetime" moments that really make the experience great.
Zombicide does an amazing job of providing a framework where those stories emerge. Ned's heroic sacrifice with a chainsaw to hold off a huge mob of zombies so the others can frantically run for the exit? Totally possible. Wanda empties her entire clip into a single zombie, and fails to hit anything and dies pathetically much to the laughter of everyone at the table? Also within the realm of possibility.
4. The system is fairly simple to teach.
Having taught many, many games over the years, I've always appreciated games that are easy to teach to newbies. Zombicide has its quirks (see: ranged targeting orders sans scope and car driving), but for the most part I found it to be consistent and easy for a new player to grasp.
The iconography on weapons is a great example of how to design a card. After you've explained one weapon, the rest just automatically make sense.
This allows the game to get up and running ASAP which is a huge bonus. Eclipse, another favourite of our group was much more involved to teach (which is nothing against it, it's a great game), but it took a while for everyone to really grasp the game fully. This is even worse when you need to teach the game to new players in later sessions - suddenly everyone needs to sit through the same rules exposition again, which really limits the desire to bring the game out if any newbies are present. Zombicide is great in this regard (probably a quick 5 minute explanation + specifics as they arise will do for the average newbie), although it _is_ a cooperative game so it has that going for it.
5. The game runs itself well.
We play a fair number of cooperative games at our table. LotR:LCG, Pandemic, Arkham Horror, Mansions of Madness, and even some traitor-cooperatives like Battlestar Galactica - all of these have been at the table multiple times. Some have gone over better than others, but the ones that see more action are the ones that run elegantly.
Let's take for example (rather unfair, but still) Pandemic and Arkham Horror. Both have a board that plays against you, and both have "do bad stuff, then do good stuff" phases for each player turn. Pandemic is almost entirely built into the board and cards - it's hard to accidentally forget any of the updates to the tracks, or to play the cards incorrectly because the rules are all reinforced through the iconography and text on the cards. Arkham is a completely different beast. It has several tracks that need to be checked and updated and while this allows for an experience that has a huge variety - many of these steps are easy to misplay or forget because the vast majority of the rules are not on the cards or board in any way. Monster surges? Check the manual for how many to draw. Limits in the outskirts? In an average Arkham turn, you'll need to update the Ancient One's track, maybe the terror level track, count the number of monsters in the outskirts, move half a dozen monsters and check all of their symbols, roll upkeeps on salaries and blessings, remember the movement orders for Arkham locations vs. other worldly adventures, move sliders on characters and that's not even counting any of the expansion boards or ongoing effects. I enjoy what Arkham tries to do - a big, and epic Lovecraft-themed experience - but the sheer number of moving parts means that it doesn't hit the table too often.
So, where does Zombicide land? It runs itself very, very well indeed. The zombies follow fairly intuitive rules for movement and even simpler rules for attacking. The only hiccup here is the rule governing splitting, but this is fairly clear after a few turns.
Elegance and smoothness of play are highly underrated these days in Ameritrash games, but Zombicide definitely gets most of this right.
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The negatives...
To be perfectly honest, there wasn't much in here not to love. However, there are some reasons to at least proceed with some caution if this game is on a buylist for you.
1. You want a Euro game.
Perhaps obvious, but if you like your ducks in a row and you don't like a lot of random chance, and you want perfectly interlocking mechanics, then please, play Caylus. We have a hardcore Euro-gamer in our group who absolutely detests random luck and while he wasn't fond of the dice-fest combat, he still enjoyed the narrative the game produced. But all the same, don't fool yourself into thinking this is by any means a Euro game in any sense, because it isn't.
2. You can't relax and play for fun.
Horrible die rolls and terrible draws are completely within the realm of possibility. If you (or one of your gaming group friends) can't stand losing to random chance, then this may leave a sour taste in your mouth. There is a lot of random chance in this game and you are certainly nowhere near guaranteed to win even if you make the best tactical decisions every turn.
As mentioned before, I enjoy this game for the stories and narrative it provides, and not the win or the loss. The journey's the fun part for me in this one.
3. Player elimination.
It is possible, due to poor rolling and draws, that a player will be eliminated early. It sucks. It's fairly uncommon, but it is possible.
4. It is a cooperative game.
All of the player information and available plays are completely visible to everyone playing, thus it is possible an alpha-player could take over the game. This will vary by game group and I leave it to reader discretion to determine how detrimental this is for their own situation.
Also, there is no "winning more" than anyone else - everyone wins, or everyone loses as a group. If you want an adversarial zombie game instead, I suggest checking out City of Horror.
5. You have to like the theme.
If you detest zombies or zombie-themed stuff, then you're not going to like this game. It's not a deep game with layers of strategy to appreciate - it's candy. It's a ton of fun, but only if you enjoy this sort of thing.
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That about wraps it up.
I hope I've given you enough of an insight into the experience of actually playing the game so you can evaluate for yourself if this is worth the purchase.
Thanks for reading!