I’ll post a review after I play it.
I was sold on it after reading a review from my local game store owner’s Facebook page, excerpt follows:
ZOMBICIDE MINI-REVIEW: Ok, I finally broke down and took a copy of Zombicide home to see if it really is better than Last Night on Earth. I will say from the get-go that I did not expect it to be better. After reading the rules I was unconvinced. After my son Andy and I played the tutorial scenario I was unconvinced and sorta regretting getting the game.
BUT!! After playing the first scenario my eyes were opened!! WOW! Zombicide is the new King of the Zombie Games.Here’s why: The rules for both ZC and LNOE are similar in complexity. They both have high production value with nice interchangeable boards and beautiful miniatures (although ZC definitely has nicer minis). And both games are excellent at telling a story in a game format. The big difference is that in LNOE the zombies are always controlled by one of the players, so there is always a sense that there is an intelligence running the zombies. Not so in Zombicide, where the zombies are run completely by a mindless mechanic that always works against the players. The best example of this is that when zombies have a choice of which path to take to get closer to the heroes, they split up into even groups. If there are an odd number of zombies to split up, then you ADD a zombie to make the groups even – EVEN IF THE GROUP IS ONLY ONE ZOMBIE! So, if the players aren’t careful, that one zombie in the room over there could split into two zombies, and then 3-4 zombies. And if you run out of zombie models, that’s extra-bad because now the zombies start getting multiple activations each turn (REALLY BAD for the heroes).
There’s a lot of controversy about this rule on the net, but I actually like it because it captures the mindless and merciless feel that a hero would face with an endless mob of hungry, heartless zombies. There’s no talking to them, or taking advantage of their intelligence. They are just a relentless mass that keeps getting bigger and bigger, and they want to eat you. If you’re very careful and make no mistakes, you’ll probably be ok. But one mistake and yer a gonner. I had a much stronger sense of dread with Zombicide than I ever had with LNOE.
Is this a RPG like D&D?
If it’s like Last Night On Earth, it’s like a board game where strategy is king and role-playing is optional.
But “optional” like “chocolate syrup” is optional if you’re having a bowl of ice cream.
It’s a board game, ja. I haven’t played “Last Night On Earth”, is it good?
Victor (the guy at Game Empire) said that his former favorite game was LNOE.
I found this today:
http://castlesandcooks.com/2012/11/05/custom-gaming-batman-zombicide/
“Level 1: Utility Belt, No Guns
This is a two part ability. The utility belt is Batman’s classic costume element that contains everything he needs for every situation. So the Utility Belt ability allows Batman to use any item he’s carrying as if it were in his hands. It’s simple, it’s flavorful and evokes the classic Batman is always prepared trope.
But in Zombicide, that could mean Batman could run around with a sniper rifle, a sawed off shotgun and two uzis… and that doesn’t feel like Batman for me. So the second ability is simple, no guns. If Batman would equip a gun, he doesn’t. He won’t even carry guns – so if Batman finds a gun while searching, he just leaves it. That also means he won’t even pass it along to another survivor because he’s the goddamn Batman.”
Last Night on Earth is good for my group because it handles six players (four humans, two zombies) but it’s best, if you ask me, with five (four humans, one zombies) but it works very well with three or four.
I’d say that it’s a good game to have in the rotation but I wouldn’t want to play it every week.
I have heard quite a bit about Zombicide. I think one cool thing about this game is that it was started on Kick Starter, and completed in a good amount of time.
I think of the splitting of the zombie more like there are alway more than one in the room and the new pops out of the shrubbery. How many times have you seen this happen in a zombie movie?
To me the questionable mechanic is that the difficulty goes up the moment one player gains a level, and this can happen multiple times so one player could be at the highest level and the other at the lowest, so the game is playing at that highest level. I realise this mechanic is in place to help make the player play together to win and not have one hog all the zombies, butit feel like a contrivance.
Actually, the leveling up (in which only one member can jack up the threat level of the zombies because their new ability/level triggers a higher spawn level) is quick clever and also balances out the game; it forces the players to consider how they should proceed as a team. Also without it, the game would turn into a one-note zombie shooting spree which would be much less interesting—there is lots of zombie killing to be sure, but the question of whether or not to go into the next color level is agonizingly in a fun way, because it forces the players to make certain tactical decisions like occasionally hiding/avoiding, or to break into buildings early on and search because the player levels affect zombie spawning inside the buildings as well.