Starship Troopers in a box...this is how I tag this very, very fun game from CMON. Have not yet won, but it sure is fun trying, and so much of this game makes it so, namely adding the card you just bought directly to your hand, and the 'real team' effort it takes to get through this game, as you both pointed out. Nice to see Miami Dice again!
When you had announced you were doing a review for Xenoshyft I was hoping that it would be as a miami dice episode! Really thought the chemistry you both have would bring out why I love this game. So glad you guys did a review and even happier you both liked it too! It wasn't mentionned but I also think its great solo as well! I've played it with 3, 2, and many solo games and have had fun playing each time. Bought the 5-6 player expansion heard its terribly long but I might just organize a night to try it out. With of course Star Ship Troopers in the background.
Just got my copy. The only thing I don't like is the inside liner. It sucks putting the cards in the slots and trying to organize them. I am going to rip it out and make my own. A lot of good design ideas on BGG forums. Love the game play, reminds me of Starship Troopers and Aliens movies mixed together. Great review Tom and Sam, love the Miami Dice videos. You guys are fun to watch.
How does it compare to Shadowrun: Crossfire? What I liked about that game was exactely the helping players with their enemies out of my turn. The deckbuilding wasn't very strong, but the cooperative nature was. Anyone played both and might compare them?
Sarah Langer This might be a little late, but I think Xenoshyft works a lot better. I find the encounters in Shadowrun to be too variable in difficulty, and the game is strongly affected by luck of the draw. Xenoshyft, not as much so, and there are more opportunities for interaction. I sold Crossfire, but I will absolutely be keeping Xenoshyft.
TheGreatHamEl Thanks for your opinion. Only yesterday I saw it on a geeklist and decided "This goes in my wishlist". Now I just have to find a copy that does not cost 70 euros....
Sam Jackson Right on. I can't speak for the taste of everyone, of course, but Xenoshyft just felt a lot more fun. One thing I dislike about deck builders is when it relies entirely on a "flop" of random cards. In Xenoshyft, you always have the same troops on the table but the gear you boost them up with is random, which works well. Plus everyone starts with a very useful power that interacts with the team well. Shadowrun just has a flop of cards and no starting powers. Winning isn't entirely out of you hands in that game, but there have been a few times where it was obvious that we lost because of bad draws and won because of stupidly lucky draws. No bueno.
mjdarcy97 I own both and would say they are similar in the fact that they are both co-op and deck builders. Alien's has a more tense feel as the aliens get closer, and you have objectives to complete. Xenoshyft is more hectic as you're battling something every turn. I would say there is room for both in your collection. Just like you can enjoy Alien and Starship Trooper movies in a different way.
I would also suggest considering that LE:Alien adds in the optional rules of a possible traitor (thematic to the movie franchise) and a person who dies from a chestburster turning into an Alien.
SamTheWai So far I've only played this solo, but it is a LOT of fun. I don't know how it compares to the Legendary system, but here are some differences with the DC deck building game. (wall of test incoming) 1) That mechanic that Tom mentioned, where you are able to destroy lower-tier cards to get discounts on buying better ones, is really important and leads to a much more tuned deck than what you see in DC. 2) It is fully cooperative: there is no "we all won but I had the most victory points" and there is no take-that aspect at all. 3) From a replay value perspective, the fact that you randomize the nine types of equipment that will be available in your game from about a couple of dozen different types means that each session has a very different feel. I played one game with several medical-related pieces of equipment and things played out very differently from the other two sessions (one of which was weapon heavy and the other of which was pretty evenly balanced, gear-wise). 4) It is a lot harder than DC. In my three games so far I haven't won yet but I've come SO CLOSE! 5) Your assets have more attributes than in DC. In the latter your cards basically grant Power (i.e., currency) and VPs, plus special abilities that for the most part do funky things to Power and VPs. While there is a lot of interesting interplay between the DC cards, I find the unit and equipment abilities in this one to be a bit more interesting. 6) DC has a license to the DC universe, which is awesome. XenoShyft instantly feels familiar without being too derivative, but it is an original setting so your mileage may vary on that. 7) DC has a metric buttload of cards out there now. XenoShyft already has a couple of mini-expansions (each of which is a new NorTec division, with new equipment), but it will have to play catch-up to match the variety that DC has. 8) In terms of play-time, it's hard for me to judge because I've only played solo. I think XenoShyft's turns will take longer each, but there are only 9 rounds so the overall game might end up taking less time. 9) XenoShyft is much MUCH darker in tone than DC is. There's some disgusting and nasty stuff on a lot of these cards, and it might be too much for folks who get squicked by body horror. I enjoy playing the DC deck builder, but I'm not really interested in buying it. XenoShyft is a great addition to my collection though. Anyway, I hope that helps!
SamTheWai VERY Different. I honestly wouldn't even compare them... If you have played Dominion it is a lot closer to that, then mixes in an almost Magic The Gathering combat system.
The blue coins are good for showing who used their special ability. The red coins are useless, it's far better to use dice. This game has replaced Legendary Encounters Alien ... for now.
Isn't it sort of solo already? You just have a base with 15 points and one set of soldiers. If you want more players you just give yourself more cards and lay them face out for what you want to do.
+Michael Cross Agree, the person running the game had played it once, the other three of us were new. Tons of downtime, took almost five hours. Easy to win, I think a better suggestion would be to have two players playing at a time, and then the other two players can react to them and try and help. Just too darn long.
I was disappointed in the quality of components. The tokens are low quality. I would have preferred cardboard tokens to those. Also the board each player uses was really low quality. Should have been thicker.
Love the game, but the insert is horrible. Especially if you got any of the kickstarter rewards, the mat doesn't fit. if you wanted to sleeve, the cards don't fit with all the other expansions.
Just a note: The picture shown when displaying the statistics at 1:20 is for X-Wing Armada, not Xenoshyft.
Starship Troopers in a box...this is how I tag this very, very fun game from CMON. Have not yet won, but it sure is fun trying, and so much of this game makes it so, namely adding the card you just bought directly to your hand, and the 'real team' effort it takes to get through this game, as you both pointed out. Nice to see Miami Dice again!
When you had announced you were doing a review for Xenoshyft I was hoping that it would be as a miami dice episode! Really thought the chemistry you both have would bring out why I love this game. So glad you guys did a review and even happier you both liked it too!
It wasn't mentionned but I also think its great solo as well! I've played it with 3, 2, and many solo games and have had fun playing each time. Bought the 5-6 player expansion heard its terribly long but I might just organize a night to try it out. With of course Star Ship Troopers in the background.
The foils heroes and prototype cards from the Kickstarter really add a extra layer of fun to it. Awesome game!
Xenoshyft.... That is such a COOL NAME!!!!!
Just got my copy. The only thing I don't like is the inside liner. It sucks putting the cards in the slots and trying to organize them. I am going to rip it out and make my own. A lot of good design ideas on BGG forums. Love the game play, reminds me of Starship Troopers and Aliens movies mixed together. Great review Tom and Sam, love the Miami Dice videos. You guys are fun to watch.
The "Or not" joke has begun to rival zombie games is frequency of occurrence! :)
How does it compare to Shadowrun: Crossfire? What I liked about that game was exactely the helping players with their enemies out of my turn. The deckbuilding wasn't very strong, but the cooperative nature was. Anyone played both and might compare them?
Sarah Langer I was thinking the same thing
Sarah Langer This might be a little late, but I think Xenoshyft works a lot better. I find the encounters in Shadowrun to be too variable in difficulty, and the game is strongly affected by luck of the draw. Xenoshyft, not as much so, and there are more opportunities for interaction. I sold Crossfire, but I will absolutely be keeping Xenoshyft.
TheGreatHamEl Thanks for your opinion. Only yesterday I saw it on a geeklist and decided "This goes in my wishlist". Now I just have to find a copy that does not cost 70 euros....
+TheGreatHamEl helped me too, i am deciding between the two for a new co-op deck builder with my wife
Sam Jackson Right on. I can't speak for the taste of everyone, of course, but Xenoshyft just felt a lot more fun. One thing I dislike about deck builders is when it relies entirely on a "flop" of random cards. In Xenoshyft, you always have the same troops on the table but the gear you boost them up with is random, which works well. Plus everyone starts with a very useful power that interacts with the team well. Shadowrun just has a flop of cards and no starting powers. Winning isn't entirely out of you hands in that game, but there have been a few times where it was obvious that we lost because of bad draws and won because of stupidly lucky draws. No bueno.
Tom, did they fix those overpowered grenades Rodney was using?
+1 on the question of how does this compare to Legendary Encounters Alien
mjdarcy97 I own both and would say they are similar in the fact that they are both co-op and deck builders. Alien's has a more tense feel as the aliens get closer, and you have objectives to complete. Xenoshyft is more hectic as you're battling something every turn.
I would say there is room for both in your collection. Just like you can enjoy Alien and Starship Trooper movies in a different way.
I would also suggest considering that LE:Alien adds in the optional rules of a possible traitor (thematic to the movie franchise) and a person who dies from a chestburster turning into an Alien.
I backed this game at KS, and got everything, except 5-6 player expansion. This game rocks! I have already played about 20 times and won 5!
How does it compare to Legendary Encounters Alien?
SamTheWai So far I've only played this solo, but it is a LOT of fun. I don't know how it compares to the Legendary system, but here are some differences with the DC deck building game. (wall of test incoming)
1) That mechanic that Tom mentioned, where you are able to destroy lower-tier cards to get discounts on buying better ones, is really important and leads to a much more tuned deck than what you see in DC.
2) It is fully cooperative: there is no "we all won but I had the most victory points" and there is no take-that aspect at all.
3) From a replay value perspective, the fact that you randomize the nine types of equipment that will be available in your game from about a couple of dozen different types means that each session has a very different feel. I played one game with several medical-related pieces of equipment and things played out very differently from the other two sessions (one of which was weapon heavy and the other of which was pretty evenly balanced, gear-wise).
4) It is a lot harder than DC. In my three games so far I haven't won yet but I've come SO CLOSE!
5) Your assets have more attributes than in DC. In the latter your cards basically grant Power (i.e., currency) and VPs, plus special abilities that for the most part do funky things to Power and VPs. While there is a lot of interesting interplay between the DC cards, I find the unit and equipment abilities in this one to be a bit more interesting.
6) DC has a license to the DC universe, which is awesome. XenoShyft instantly feels familiar without being too derivative, but it is an original setting so your mileage may vary on that.
7) DC has a metric buttload of cards out there now. XenoShyft already has a couple of mini-expansions (each of which is a new NorTec division, with new equipment), but it will have to play catch-up to match the variety that DC has.
8) In terms of play-time, it's hard for me to judge because I've only played solo. I think XenoShyft's turns will take longer each, but there are only 9 rounds so the overall game might end up taking less time.
9) XenoShyft is much MUCH darker in tone than DC is. There's some disgusting and nasty stuff on a lot of these cards, and it might be too much for folks who get squicked by body horror.
I enjoy playing the DC deck builder, but I'm not really interested in buying it. XenoShyft is a great addition to my collection though. Anyway, I hope that helps!
SamTheWai VERY Different. I honestly wouldn't even compare them... If you have played Dominion it is a lot closer to that, then mixes in an almost Magic The Gathering combat system.
You should do a live play of Xenoshyft again Tom.
The blue coins are good for showing who used their special ability. The red coins are useless, it's far better to use dice. This game has replaced Legendary Encounters Alien ... for now.
How well does it play solo?
Isn't it sort of solo already? You just have a base with 15 points and one set of soldiers. If you want more players you just give yourself more cards and lay them face out for what you want to do.
This game is super easy with 4 players but it takes forever.
+Michael Cross
Agree, the person running the game had played it once, the other three of us were new. Tons of downtime, took almost five hours. Easy to win, I think a better suggestion would be to have two players playing at a time, and then the other two players can react to them and try and help. Just too darn long.
With 4+ players, the game has too much downtime. Also, the game is broken with Kickstarter survivors. It becomes way too easy with them.
daekwankim Then don't use kickstarter shit and keep in mind that not all games are made for 5 or more players.
I just play it, and its not that hard. I mean, is hard, but is fair.
Mmmm... Wall of meat.
I was disappointed in the quality of components. The tokens are low quality. I would have preferred cardboard tokens to those. Also the board each player uses was really low quality. Should have been thicker.
Love the game, but the insert is horrible. Especially if you got any of the kickstarter rewards, the mat doesn't fit. if you wanted to sleeve, the cards don't fit with all the other expansions.
Zee knows shit ?
Played this game three times. Won every time. How is this game hard?