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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Put Down That Vidiot Game Controller & Enjoy A Classic Board Game, February 16, 2009
First Off, kudos to Fantasy Flight for putting out a superior product; The playing cards are printed on the highest quality stock & the Alien plackards are very sturdy with terrific artwork that really sparks the imagination, but it's the game play of Cosmic Encounter that really shines. That's why the game has survived to be republished for the 5th time since it first debuted in 1977. The movie Star Wars first came out in that same year, and I like most people who saw the film was especially intrigued by all the weird aliens who populated the Cantina in that now famous scene. Who were they? What were their stories? The movie didn't satisfactorily answer those questions, but this game in it's own way attempts to. In C.E. each player takes on the role of one of 50 Alien personalities provided in the game; Each possessing their own unique powers & abilities. The first player to colonize 5 planets outside of his own system wins. C.E. is one of those games that's easy to learn, but difficult to master; For that reason, it has a wide appeal that will challenge a harder core gaming crowd, without scaring away the more casual gamers. It also does something that is rare among strategy games; The Ladies enjoy it as much as the guys. Men are attracted to the competition & the strategic decision making aspects of the game; The Gals like the social interactions and the emotions that they inspire. C.E. is a game that will bring families & friends together to play time & time again as no two games are ever exactly alike. There's plenty of room for Fantasy Flight to offer future expansions as the previous companies published over 100 aliens & numerous other aspects. So for the price you'd pay for another Console Video Game disk that let's face it; When you boil them all down, they just offer you another linear, scripted story experience, or a mindless shooting gallery that leaves you with blood shot eyes and a little closer to a Carpal Tunnel diagnosis. You can instead own a Great Classic Game that actually brings people together in an escape to an ever changing universe of fun & challenge that they'll never tire of visiting!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Re-imagined and better than ever, January 4, 2009
Cosmic Encounter was first created in by an obscure, small-run publisher. In 1977.
Fantasy Flight is the game's fourth publisher.
That alone should tell you how much this game rocks. Any other game would have died off by now.
Thankfully, Fantasy Flight Games has been buying up licenses to out-of-print classics and re-releasing them using their high production values.
The result is an immensely satisfying game that should bring a smile to hard-core Cosmic fans and newcomers alike.
The basic premise of Cosmic is that each player assumes the role of an alien civilization and tries to land their ships on five different planets belonging to other players.
The core mechanic of the game ([total ships on each side + a numeric card], highest total wins the encounter) is easy to understand, yet has endless possibilities for tactics, diplomacy, or out-and-out strangeness.
By far the two strongest aspects of this game's offense vs. defense encounter are these:
1) Allies: No matter whose turn it is, any player has the opportunity to be involved in the current encounter. None of this "is it my turn?" monotony of other games. You always have something to do. "Do I risk getting involved?" "Can I afford to help defend?"
The opportunities for diplomacy/negotiation are endless - and the ally rules ensure that nobody is a wall-flower.
2) Random destiny: In the vast majority of encounters - who attacks who is determined randomly. This does not adversely affect tactics and (more importantly) cuts down on hurt feelings. While there are plenty of ways to mess with other players, when you do get attacked - the game's mechanic is to blame.
Any true fan of this game loves the endless variety it offers - each player has an alien power that allows them to break the rules in a limited way. Different powers will collide in unique ways and since there are 50 different alien powers you are unlikely to see the same combinations twice.
Example 1: the normal rules say players start with four ships on each of their planets, but the alien called Macron has all of their ships count as 4 ships. so attacking a Macron planet, you find yourself facing the equivalent of 16 ships instead of 4. Advantage: Macron.
Example 2: the normal rules say that in an encounter, the side with the highest total (ships + encounter card) wins. The alien called Anti-Matter reverses this - and so when Anti-Matter is attacking or defending, the lowest total wins.
Combine those two examples and you have Anti-Matter attacking the Macrons with one ship while the Macrons are wishing their ships were like everyone else's.
And the craziness just goes on from there - that's barely a taste of the variety you will see when you play.
Component wise - FF has done us all a solid. Plastic flying saucer pieces that stack, quality cardboard pieces with gorgeous art, special cards with instructional text (helping new players and veterans alike).
Cosmic was always a game that begged to be supplemented and FF has provided a good jumping off point (50 aliens, instead of the 100+ that existed in earlier versions).
Expansions are undoubtedly in the works - and the components have been built to support this. The destiny cards have special graphics for Hazards (which are not in this game) - and the planet tokens have a different graphic on each side, something that will doubtless support some diabolical new rule whenever FF gets around to publishing expansion #1.
The sticker price is daunting - and I hope new players aren't put off by it too much. This is a game that is well made and a lot of fun - it's worth the money. Players who are afraid of lots of rules should not be afraid of Cosmic, but they should be aware that the rules as written will almost always mutate in bizarre (and entertaining) ways.
E.g. Players are allowed to "Cosmic Zap" or negate a player's power. In the example I gave earlier (Anti matter vs. Macron) the enterprising Macron player who finds themselves losing by ten or so will Cosmic Zap themselves (changing their ship total from 16 to 4) and allowing them to score less than Anti-Matter - and therefore win. The Anti-Matter player (if they were especially fiendish and had the card) would also zap their own power (making the lower total a losing total) and would win because their total was now higher than Macron's total!
Bizarre - but fun! When was the last time a boardgame surprised you?
Cosmic will show you something new in pretty much every session.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
CCG Asymmetry without all the messing about with cards, March 28, 2009
Cosmic Encounter has had and will continue to have a profound influence on boardgames because it is quite simply one of the best asymmetrical boardgames ever designed. This iteration returns the game to print with incredible production values, an extremely well seasoned rule-set and a surprisingly elegant addition with the technology cards. I am not a fan of many of Fantasy Flight's revisionist re-prints, but with the new Cosmic Encounter, they have outdone themselves.
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