Red November is a light, co-op strategy game with a few really cool features. RN features a different sort of turn order mechanic in which players pay time (turns) in attempts to successfully fix part of the decrepit sub. More time paid increases their likelihood of success. So you can do a half-assed job of a lot of things, or do one thing really well. It's a cool idea (although it would be more interesting if there were more options than just success of failure).
The theme of the game is fun, and doesn't feel excessively heavy. The gameplay time is fairly short (30-45 minutes). When your gnome dies it doesn't feel like a huge deal since you can still advise others on how they ought to take their turn. And there is even an option to just abandon your friends on the ship and quit playing (If you do the game flips from co-op to competitive, and you win if they all perish. Also, you can go get a Coke and say demoralizing things while they struggle.)
This game that somehow misses the mark on really fun gameplay. Possibly because there are too many bits and pieces, or maybe because everything is so small--neither the small cardboard item tokens nor the board are quite big enough--I felt highly focused and yet still a little overwhelmed playing RN. There could be half as many items, they ought to be printed on cards instead of being .5 x .5 inch squares, and the dice-rolling could be echewed entirely by printing dice-numbers on the disaster cards you draw each turn. I often found myself looking the bits-and-pieces up on the cheat-sheet a lot and not making much eye contact with other players. For a game that is supposed to be cooperative, this strikes me as a drawback. I hear there is an edition with a larger board. I'd recommend it if you can find it.
All in all the game has a really interesting idea, and it's fun for a few plays. It isn't going to be your next group favorite, but it's so close that it might be worth it to hack a little, make-up/fill in some rules, and present your friends with a v2.0 ("Red December"?).
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