Sunday, June 25, 2017

Welcome to the Jungle!

This week I tried out Zombie Island from The Flux Capacity.  My wife and I have taken turns playing the survivors and the zombie master.  The game has been reviewed on Board Game Geek, where is gets a 5.6 out of 10.  I'll try and give a complete review as well.
Cover of the rules, showing components
First, unboxing shows pretty good production values, I was impressed with the weight of the box and the tiles that make up the bulk of the components.  Both are of a good quality cardstock.  I was also impressed that they added a few tiles for future expansion.  That was a nice surprise.
Everything out of the box
There are not many miniatures, and they are a bit disappointing.  While they are made of decent quality plastic, they are very sloppy casts or prints.  It's too bad, they could have been a good feature for the game.
Mold lines and spatter!  Too bad
 I tried to show the best figs I could find, they are all about the same quality.  Very sloppy looking, but they are a hard plastic.  I may still paint them up, if I feel ambitious. 
Miniatures on a game tile
The game premise is pretty straightforward.  The 'explorers' move through the jungle, looking to discover 26 tiles.  Four of the tiles have zombie spawn points, marked with a 'Z'.  Humans can move an unlimited distance, where the zombies can only move 3 spaces, and can only enter one new tile per move.  All movement is straight line only (think the queen from chess).
Game underway
Once a survivor reveals all the tiles, they are trying to get back to the beach.  Meanwhile, the zombie master is slowly losing control of their minions, so the explorer can simply outlast the zombies.
Run through the jungle
The explorer gets up to 4 'machete tiles' to modify the board as they move.  These allow for movement through areas that are impassable.  It also allows for the game to change each time.  They can also be used for an escape from a bad situation...
Boxed in!
Zombie chow
Game play is pretty fast.  While the explorer has a machete, if a zombie makes contact, that's it.  No combat at all.  Playing as a match, with players trading sides has been fun.  There are a couple of scenarios, but they are all basically the same, with up to 3 explorers on the board at the same time.
The grey explorer makes a run
Zombies hot in pursuit!
Making a loop!
While the game is fun and quick, it is pretty limited.  I would have hoped for some additional missions, with alternate tile usage perhaps.  Overall I would say it's a fun quick game, but not one to replace something like Zombicide.  It reminds me of Twilight Creations Zombies!!! game, without the randomness of the various cards.
Great tag line!

I would recommend this game for a quick pick up game or if you want to have a zombie themed game with people who find Zombicide too daunting.  It really plays pretty fast so it's not a huge investment from that standpoint.  I wish the miniatures had been a bit better, but overall the components were good quality.

I'd score it about 6/10, we have been having fun this week with it.

12 comments:

  1. That tag line is brilliant! A nice idea, perhaps worth developing yourself?

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    1. As far as games go, it has been a fun diversion.

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  2. My first thought was the same as Michael's, maybe you can alter the rules to fit your view of what it should be

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    1. It works for a smaller diversion. I do wish the minis were a little better, but it does work okay. I'd like some more scenarios, I may try to come up with some.

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  3. So, you ended up with pretty much the same review score as BGG :-) . As you say, it sounds like a useful lightweight diversion, but isn't going to challenge one of the more popular games of the genre.

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    1. Yeah, it's not too bad. A great quick zombie themed quick game.

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  4. Great review thanks, and it certainly does look like a fun "beer & pretzels" game, with a 'zombie fix' with none-too-serious players.
    Bags of potential for some house rules too :-)

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    1. Yeah, it has potential and is fun and works well for a quick zombie game. I'd like to see some other scenarios, that would make it last longer.

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  5. Interesting looking game, with some novel mechanics, but not one I'll be rushing out for.
    I'm gussing though that the same mechanics couldbeused with tiles and figures from the game "Zombiesss".

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    1. Yeah, no need to go seek this out. A fun small game, no need to avoid it, but not really breaking any new ground.

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  6. Sounds cool. Perhaps replace the models with your own.

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    1. Yeah, some better figs would be nice. I based my score on the usefulness of the components for other zombie games...

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