Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Cosmic Encounter

[quote name="NDD"][quote name="FABIO"]<b>Cosmic Encounters</b> The Mario Party of boardgames. On the surface, it's a fun party game with a ton (over 50) of wacky alien races, each of which with their own special power that lets them break one rule of the game. Basic gameplay is sort of like Diplomacy without borders (anyone can attack anywhere) with a slight random factor in direct combat (play the highest power card). Then the problems start shining through. Like Mario Party, there are so many random factors that pop up (with all the cards) that it pretty much becomes blind luck that determines who wins rather than skill or strategy. End games are usually extremely anti-climatic. More than one person can win as long as each of them meets the winning requirements on the same turn. Last turns usually look something like this Player 1: "Hey, if you could play this card, then we'd both end up winning" Player 2: "Okay" *plays card* Player 1: "We win!" Pretty lame conclusion for a one hour game. There's absoutely no incentive to selfishly horde the victory to yourself, so players just hasten the ending and EVERYBODY WINS! My suggestion for a more interesting cutthroat game (which always gets shotdown by the fools I played with) was for everyone to ante a couple bucks at the start. Winner takes the pot. Combined victories must split the pot evenly. More trickery, more backstabbing, more fun.[/quote] ....You're playing with boring people, which isn't the game's fault. When this gets brought out at my house, we all have to have special alien voices for our chosen race. Grudges develop quickly and alliances fluidly collapse as people stab each other in the back just to watch the wound steam. People make alliances just because they feel their alien races would have natural sympathies for each other and/or natural antipathies towards outsiders! When the Tripler came up last time we played, Bro played it like they were completely conscienceless ad men ("Yes it's TIME TIME TIME to experience SATISFACTION in military CONFLICT CONFLICT CONFLICT!) and he sent three ships and ONLY three ships as reinforcements. See? Fun. Games That Are All About Skill are MUCH LESS FUN to play in mixed company and while drinking - fuck that shit, I just want to dick around with friends. CE is just about the perfect game for smart and vicious people who don't take themselves very seriously. [/quote]