Customer Reviews

Zombies!!! 2nd Edition

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Zombies!!! is a game that puts style over substance. Luckily, the style is true to the genre of films it's based on. And what substance is there is quite good.

It's a very simple game. In fact, by your second or third turn (which should be about 5 minutes in), you'll have the rules down. You and the other players are stuck in a zombie infested town, searching for whatever supplies you can find until you can make it to the heliport and bid this unholy mess adieu. Players take turns laying down map tiles. This gives each game a unique quality, since the playing board will never be the same twice. There's various building for the players to explore, where they can find extra life and bullets. But, as the name so subtly suggests, there's zombies. A TON of zombies. At times, there will be so many that it seems overwhelming; just like the movies. Killing them is easy. Roll and 4, 5, or 6, and they're dead. Roll 1, 2, or 3, and you lose a life token (you start with 3 and can carry a maximum of 5). Or, if you roll low, you can spend bullet tokens. One token adds one to your die roll. Play continues until the heliport is placed and a player makes it to the center the heliport square.

This is also a mean, mean game. There's plenty of cards that you can play to annoy your opponents, all borrowing common elements from the horror genre (Your shoe's untied! You can't move this turn!). The rest of the cards will help you, although there seems to be too many that rely on being at the right place at the right time. For example, some cards will give you bonuses if you're in a certain building. If this building has already been raided, it's pointless to go back. Luckily, you're allowed to discard unwanted cards at the end of your turn. Still, it seems a waste.

I should talk somewhat about the components themselves. The cards are quite nice and feature some truly grotesque artwork (this game is not for people with a strong disliking for gory violence). The zombies are kinda cool and come in to poses (a male and a female zombie). The player pieces (called "shotgun guys" by the rules) aren't so good. Something tells me Zombies!!! didn't have too much of a budget, so it's forgivable. The map tiles are fine, and looks like the art might be computer generated.

Simply put, if you like zombie movies, and you like unwired games, you'll get plenty of enjoyment from Zombies!!! There's a huge amount of extra material out there (Dawn of the Dead fans will want to pick up Zombies 3: Mall Walkers). But you need to start here. RECOMMENDED.

Great game! Finally they something for a board game/horror freak like me. A bit of a learning curve, but a little patience and you'll have it down by the first couple of plays. Even got my fiancee to play and she had fun! It's kind of like a survival horror video game in a board game format.

Play consists of:

1. Placing a map tile down to expand the playing field and putting the number of zombies, bullets and lives indicated on that map tile.
2. Rolling for your turn (combatting any zombies on the way. 4, 5 or 6 you kill the zombie; 1,2 or 3 you have to sacrifice a life or use how ever many bullets it takes to make a high enough score to kill the zombie. If you die, you start over at the town square and lose half your killed zombies)
3. Rolling for how many zombies you can move (they are slow so they only move one space each. Rolling a 6 would allow you to move 6 zombies one space)
4. Playing an event card (events cards allow you to do evil things to your opponent or get ahead a little. Think if George Romero did the Community Chest and Chance cards in Monopoly).

The goal is to reach the helipad tile once it has been placed with your life intact OR having 25 defeated zombies in your collection. Pretty simple...AND FUN!

Caveat emptor: If you are playing with more than 2 people, invest in an additional bag of Zombies they fill up the board pretty quick.

I have been curiously addicted to this simple game since I bought the first edition used at a game auction a few years ago. I have since gone back to buy this Second edition new, and al lthe expansions plus multiple Zombies packs glowing and plain. This "Wide Screen" set is the first of the games that gets the ball rolling. I upgraded to it because it contains a larger, deeper box that can hold the tiles and cards from most of the expansions (not 4). Don't expect it to hold more than 200 Zombies with all those cards and tiles though!

With very simple and easy to learn rules, the only complaint I have heard from people that have played the game is that it can get a little long to play, and indeed it can. Minimum game length is from 60 to 90 minutes, unless you cheat the helicopter into the middle of the tiles. I have seen game sessions go 2-3 hours, and heard of even longer ones at my local game store.

I am an old school gamer and this length of game does not really bother me. After all, the point of playing a game is to spend time with your freinds...(and help zombies kill them if possible.) Still I often use the Helicopter tile in the midlde "cheat" for shorter games myself.

But fair warning if you are expecting a collectible card game style sit down for a game and get up 5 minutes later, it ain't gonna happen! This is NOT a Magic the Gathering! This is a tabletop game in the style of the old "Illuminati" card game only much simpler to play.

If you get bored of this starter game there are 8 expansios available for variety, all of which I own, and most of which I love. There is even a Humans!!! game where you get to play the zombies! Twilight Creations does a great job with these games, and I am a huge fan. Later this June (2009) they will be coming out with a Martians!!! 1950's sci-fi game and frankly I cannot wait.

Give this game a try.

A board game's first priority should be creating an atmosphere of fun and challenges. The fun and challenge factor are directly tied to the rule book of any given game. The rule book included with "Zombies!!!" is generic and unspecific on many issues that will be encountered during game-play. Players find themselves filling in the blanks and making up their own rules. This could be fun if it was actually part of the game and described as such in the marketing material. As it stands, it should be a complete game where the players can follow the rules and have a fun time with the game. Most turns are spent trying to figure out how to cope with a situation that was not covered in the manual. As far as game play goes, there is little to no strategy involved. Every zombie encounter is met with a 50% chance dice roll that decides the battles fate. There are only a few cards that can change the results and they are usually one time use, not applied to your character. For a $20-$30 game, the pieces are of "okay" quality. The game called "Munchkin Quest" ($35) is a much better deal in my opinion. I own both games and I am not affiliated with "Munchkin Quest" in any way. "Munchkin Quest" has a lot more (and higher quality) pieces, cards, game board pieces, and the game-play is a lot more fun. There is a still a large luck factor, but you fight monsters of different levels and you get all sort of cards that help you. Another huge problem with "Zombies!!!" is that there is no "Run Away" function in the game. Once you encounter a zombie, you must fight until one of you dies. Overall, the game is very poor. It's not fun, the quality of the game pieces are questionable, even at $20, and the rule book is simply not finished.

This game has lots of potential, but as many people suggest, you might need to add your own rules to make it fun. The basic gameplay is just ok. It feels very one dimensional on its own.

Basically, you place tiles, you place zombies, you try to survive and kill zombies, and you try to screw over your opponents.

PROS:
-Fun zombie theme
-satisfying to clear out a building of zombies by yourself
-game has tons of creative potential

CONS:
-It will feel dry unless you have the right group of people
-lacks depth for strategizing and interacting with other players
-sometimes you do not have enough zombie pieces if you have too many people playing!

Overall, I would recommend this to people who:
-love zombies
-like adventure board games
-are creative to invent new variants

Here is a variant I suggest (feel free to tweak it!):
COOP variant:
Most of the rules are the same except
-you must always move zombies that are closest to you
-all cards that have negative status effects happen immediately to you (toss out cards that would be neutral in this case, like "mind control" where you control your opponents' movements)
-when the helicopter pad tile is placed, all players must get to the center tile and cannot win until all players are there
-the whole team loses if any player dies twice

Feel free to add drinking into the mix for the 21+ crowd (e.g., a shot every time you die, a half shot everytime you lose an HP, double shots for entire team if you guys lose, etc.)

I got back into playing board games when a friend brought a Risk board to the local coffee shop (and, subsequently, Risk Godstorm, which is also a blast). I enjoy games that take a while to play, and we were looking for something new. Long story short, I purchased this, and most certainly don't regret it.

First, the bad: The rules are poorly written, and the stock event cards and overall gameplay tend to make winning more a game of luck than skill when playing with smart players. With all the cards designed to hinder your opponents, it's amazing anybody ever wins. Reaching weapons is almost a futile endeavor, and no one has ever been able to win via the "kill 25 zombies" rule in the games I've played. Also, lose the dice that comes with it and get some real dice. Beyond that, inevitably, one person in the game always gets bored and either quits or does whatever they can to end the game quickly.

Now, the good, and how to counteract the bad.

The tile based system is fantastic, and the art is beautiful. I love the noir style. The game itself plays out fairly tense and exciting if you're paranoid enough and watch your opponents. If you like zombie materials, you'll love this game. There were so many aspects I thought would be counter-intuitive (people place tokens and zombies where they want? Trust me, it works out PERFECTLY) that ended up making gameplay a lot more amusing. The weapons, when you do attain them, are balanced and useful. Plus, the game allows you to be creative; you can focus on getting weapons and killing zombies (supposedly, but it's hard to do with all the anti-opponent event cards), or you can make a mad dash for the helipad when it pops up, trying to keep your opponents stuck back in the beginning. Just note that they'll be doing the same to you.

As far as handling the bad, AT LEAST pick up the 3.5 expansion for this, and build a new event deck with less anti-opponent cards. This will allow the gameplay to be much less frustrating, and can even speed up the game if that's your goal. Also, only put one of the seriously powerful cards ("We're screwed" and "Alternative Food Source" come to mind here) in the deck, rather than having both in. If you can, pick up the 2nd expansion, as well; it offers a second exit, more tiles, and more event cards allowing for an even better deck.

The "skin" of a board game usually isn't terribly important. Carcassonne isn't about medieval France, it's about strategic tile placement. Monopoly isn't about becoming incredibly rich, it's about being miserable for 3 hours. If you're used to ignoring the skin and focusing on the gameplay - and you don't really care about Zombies!!!'s skin - then you can safely skip this.

PROBLEMS:
The art works well to create a mood, and is well drawn, but it leads to a bit of a problem. The important areas on the map cards are gray building and gray streets, and the unimportant areas are... gray buildings and gray parking lots. It's rather hard to see.

The figurines are fine, but the heart and bullet tokens are a) the same size (smaller than your thumbnail), and b) only printed on one side.

The game moves too slowly and several things seem poorly thought-out. Plenty of weapons become completely useless as the building becomes too far away from you.

FIXES:
Before you punch out the tokens, take a black magic marker and color the back of the bullets, then take a red one and color the back of the hearts. It'll save you a lot of grief. If you're willing to undergo more extreme defacement, you might want to try outlining the buildings on the map cards, since the faint white outlines that are already printed on are hardly any help.

Add one to your movement roll (move 2-7 spaces) and add one to the zombies roll (move 2-7 zombies). Stick the helipad in the dead center of the deck, not the bottom half.

VERDICT:
Not at all the worst game you can get! And if you like the whole zombie-chic, then it's definitely worth checking out. With a little tweaks it can be a lot more fun than it already is. If you're looking more for a board game and less for zombie paraphernalia, though, I'd give this one a pass.

Zombies!!! is that rare game that actually lives up to the hype. Before I purchased this game, I did quite a bit of reading about it and finally decided to buy a set. I wasn't disappointed. Zombies!!! is a fast-paced board game that is easy to set up and play (you can play it out of the box with just a couple minutes of prep), but the gameplay itself can become very absorbing - you'll be amazed at just how much fun you'll have.

Here's the concept: like any zombie movie, your city is filled with the walking undead. You and a few other people have survived, and you have two objectives: either make it to the Helipad and safety, or try and destroy 25 zombies. However, there can be only one survivor, and you and the other players have to resort to treachery in order to win.

This game comes with map tiles, 100 zombies, 6 human figures, 2 six-sided dice, a deck of Event cards, a rulebook, and a host of ammunition and life tokens.

Zombies!!! doesn't have a set board; instead, this set comes with a number of sturdy map tiles that are placed on each player's turn, creating a board that changes each time you play. Once placed, each tile is then set up with a set number of zombies and (if it is a "building" tile) additional life and ammunition tokens which are spent when you roll the dice to kill zombies if your die rolls aren't good enough (when you land on a square occupied by a zombie, you have to roll a 4, 5 or 6 to destroy them). If you lose all of your life tokens, you have to start over at the City Square tile.

What really makes this game great, however, are the Event cards - these can be anything from a Chainsaw that grants you additional attack abilities, to situational cards that can either help you or drive your opponent(s) absolutely insane. While there is a tactical quality to the game as it is, the Event cards lend it that extra level of unpredictability. This is truly a game where your fortunes can turn on a dime; I had a game where one of my opponents was absolutely sure he was going to win (and told us so) - he had a plan all worked out. But a couple of well-placed Event cards brought his strategy down around his ears and he lost to the very player he was planning to demolish. Even if you start out slow or just can't seem to get an edge over other players, you're literally just one die roll or card draw away from potential victory. This game can get super competitive but, most of all, super fun.

The game comes in a sturdy box that is suitable for storing all of the pieces and cards, and even has room for extra zombies and expansions (though not too many). I highly recommend immediately adding an extra Zombies!!! Bag o' Zombies, as well as the Zombies!!! 3.5: Not Dead Yet expansion; the bag of zombies will come in handy while playing, because it is possible to run out, which is never good. Zombies 3.5 is an all-Event card expansion that has some amazingly fun and unpredictable cards and will without a doubt add a great dimension to your game. Neither of these extra items is too pricey and both are of good quality.

I recommend Zombies!!! for anyone who is 1) A fan of zombie movies, the Resident Evil video games, etc. 2) A board game nut 3) A gamer of any stripe. One of the great features of this game is that, not only are there a large number of official expansions available (sewers, a mall, a mountain setting, an abandoned army base, etc.) but people also customize the rules to suit their own play styles. There are endless possibilities for this game, and it excites the imagination. I hope you have fun!

I recently purchased this game, after reading reviews about it and all i can say im glad i purchased this game! Its really fun and very easy to learn. Included in the box you get 50 Regular Zombies, and 50 Female Zombies, map tile cards, and event cards, heart tokens and bullet tokens. The game is simple and straight forward. Collect 25 zombies by killing them, or escape to the helipad. Easier said than done, you and your friends are trying to achieve the same goals and game play is constantly shifting with zombies being moved by opponent players trying to block and hinder your progress to your goals. gameplay is pretty fast, as players take turns.

Every game is different as you lay down different map tiles each turn. Zombies can literally take over the entire gameplay, which leads to crazy situations where your trapped and you can either fight or die. Some game sessions can last 3 hours or more!

The Game is excellent, quick, easy to learn and the best part is that there are over 8 expansions to add more cards, map tiles and even more different zombies such as zombie dogs! Its a great Game!

I picked this up as a change of pace for our regular game nights. The groups would lean towards 2/3 geek, 1/3 non-geeks, so sometimes the non-geeks would require a little convincing to join in a zombie game.

Ironically, most of the games I played were won by the people who weren't sure they wanted to play to begin with.

I was going to give it a 4 instead of 5 star review, but ultimately our 1 issue isn't necessarily any fault of the game. After playing it a few times, there's a few "Screw you" cards we didn't care for.

In a more cut-throat group, maybe you wouldn't care if on your final run through the end of the game you found yourself losing your turn, your weapon, and surrounded by a horde of zombies that come about of nowhere. In our group, we're not so bloodthirsty and really wanted the fun to outweigh the winning aspect, so we ended up removing about 1/3 of the cards from the deck. There were still plenty of cards to play with and we personally found it improved our enjoyment. But that was a strictly personal adjustment to an already great game.

Also, you will probably run out of zombies - we did almost every time we played the game. I need to get a bag o' zombies to supplement this!