Last Night On Earth - The Zombie Game Review

Well, I've been playing LNOE for over a year now with a pretty large variety of individuals. Since my very first play, I have gained a lot of respect for the overall game and the method it plays. Here is some thoughts upon that:

Gameplay - I'll only touch briefly on the fundamental game concepts here. Some players play as zombies, other people as heroes on a board made of randomly chosen L squares around the center board. This means that the layout from the town is just a little different during each game. Also, the game comes with several different scenarios that outline the victory conditions for each side. This helps make it so the online game is a quite different each time. Usually the hero gamers are trying to accomplish a specific objective (leaving town, preserving townsfolk, etc.) and the zombie player(s) are trying to stop them. There is conflict (melee as well as ranged), but absolutely no player is ever eliminated from the game (though his unique hero might be).

Components - The game comes with several boards and a lot of minis (14 zombies and one for each leading man). It also has a lot of punch-out chits for various things. The components are very well made and durable (mine still look great after a 12 months). The minis are well detailed, though they aren't painted. The cards have an interesting art style depending on actual pictures. I believe they do a fantastic job capturing the b-movie style of the game.

Style - As mentioned, this can be a b-movie kind of game. The credit cards and quotes lend themselves to being both horror and comedy. In short, it's a online game that doesn't consider itself too seriously, and I like this. For the most part, I do believe that the gameplay seems consistent with the actual theme. There are some exceptions, but not many things will pull you out of the experience.

Fun - Okay. As far as I'm concerned this is the one that truly matters. Is the overall game fun, and the reason why? Firstly, this is really a game that is about theme and turmoil. That may turn some people off, but that's some of what I like most about it. The first time I played LNOE I literally 'Die Zombie Die' scenario since the instructions recommend. My buddies and I had to consult the directions pretty often because situations will show up that reqiure a few specificity. The situation for this perform was just for the heroes to beat a certain quantity of zombies before period ran out. To tell the truth, our initial response was absolutely 'meh.' 'Die Zombie Die' felt slow, unthematic, and predictable. To be truthful, we didn't play again. But i quickly got a duplicate of the game for Christmas from my wife, so of course we'd to give this another shot.

It became pretty obvious that the first time people played LNOE, they often weren't too excited. For the first-time player, the game often feels lopsided in balance as well as somewhat predictable (especially if you apply the DZD scenario). Exactly what became clear, however, is that when people gave the game a second chance it got much more interesting. The more you play the overall game, the more you begin to see the deeper level associated with strategy than you first suspected. The games get more interesting, and they get closer.

At the start, myself and the other players felt sure the game had been misblanaced towards the actual zombie player. It always felt like that person won. Over time, however, we started to get better and the win ratio started to balance itself away (it stands now at right about 50/50 since we started keeping an actual record).

Overall, I think LNOE is a game title that should be played at least a couple of that time period to really judge. The more acquainted with the game your players are, the more likely you'll have a detailed, suspensful game. You'll certainly still have the lopsided victory or even two (luck demands it), but it'll even out with time.

Luck - I've heard the complaint several times that luck performs a bigger role than skill in LNOE. That may be a valid statement. A bad roll on a panic attack or movement may absolutely lose the overall game for a team. For me, that contributes to the doubt and suspense of the game. Sure, this frustrates me once the dice don't appear to go my method, but I may live with that. If you choose games with little or no chance element, this probably isn't the game for you.

Expansions - This review is just for the base game, and so i won't touch a lot on individual expansions. I felt, however, that I ought to at least point out it. As you can observe on the main BGG page, LNOE has quite a few available expansions. While you might be interested in some more than others (or even none at all), it's a nice perk because they can really then add variety to the overall game. On top of that, there are a number of scenarios also on the LNOE web site for free. We myself have Growing Hunger and Survival. I like how much variety that provides me with, so that we are able to play several games of LNOE inside a sitting and not really feel like we have plaed the same game over and also over.

To sum upward, I think LNOE is a very enjoyable, very thematic game. This sees a lot of play with my group, and I'm really glad We gave it a second chance.