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Game Type: Board Game
Publisher: Journeyman Press
Game Design by Todd Brietenstein,
Art by Dave Aikins
Medium: Boxed Game
Price: $19.95
Jackson leaned up against the door as he fed shells into the empty chamber of the Mossberg shotgun. Outside he could hear the quiet shuffle of his pursuers. Janet sat huddled in the corner, her dress ripped to shreds and moaned to herself. The door bucked as the first of the zombies slammed into it. Jackson turned and pumped shot after shot into the shattered wood. Janet's scream pierced the night as the first wave of shambling dead entered the building. Jackson grabbed Janet by the collar of her ruined dress, "Sorry Janet, it's either you or me."
Fleeing down the street, Jackson heard Janet's final curse as it was abruptly cut off. Now if he could just make it to the heliport…Who doesn't like a bag-of-zombies? That's one of the many things you get in this Journeyman Press game by George Vasilakos (creator of "All Flesh Must Be Eaten"). "Zombies!!!" is a game for 2 to 6 players that challenges you to escape an ever growing army of undead while using your friends as human shields. Players take turns drawing cards and placing the tiles that create a doomed city as they fight their way through streets choked with zombies and try to reach the only exit a heliport on the edge of town.
Upon opening the box I was impressed by the quality of the components stuffed into the small space. The box contains: 30 map tiles, 50 event cards, 6 humans, life and ammunition tokens, and 100 zombies.
The map tiles represent the streets of the city. Each one has 1 to 4 exits and some contain special buildings (such as the hospital, police station, or a sporting goods store). The players lay the tiles out one at a time creating a maze that forms the play field. A certain number of zombies are placed on each tile and players must navigate through the city, fighting off the hordes and making their way toward their final destination the Heliport. Alternately, you may win by defeating 25 zombies. The event cards contain a variety of actions and weapons that either help the holder or confound his friends. Cards like "Hey look! A shotgun!" give the player combat bonuses while cards like "Slight miscalculation" can spell doom for unprepared opposing players. There are 100 plastic zombies (in a single pose) and 6 player tokens (also in a single pose but in various colors). The figures are a bit flimsy but the plastic is sturdy. You shouldn't have any problems with broken pieces. Lastly the game contains a couple of 6 siders and a fist full of life and ammunition tokens.
Game play is simple and direct. Place a tile, draw action cards, roll for movement, roll for combat, then move some zombies around (out of your way or into your opponent's way). Combat consists of a single six sider. A 4+ defeats a zombie. Failure costs you a life token. You may modify the roll with bullets. If you run out of life tokens, you die and respawn in the town square.
It takes about an hour for two players and closer to two for the full compliment of six. We managed to run out of zombies during play even with the huge amount that ships with the game and had to resort to raiding the player's kill pool. The players seemed to enjoy the game immensely and even had my 18-month-old running around shouting "ZOMMIE!" by the end of the session (No! That's enough now, play with the zombies you have!). If I had a complaint, it would be that the tiles are a bit thin and tend to shift around while playing. Playing on a non-slip surface should solve this issue. The surface should also be large; it is very easy to run out of room while playing.
The artwork is fantastic. Jonathan Queen, the lead artist, managed to capture the "B Movie" feel almost perfectly. The card and box art are amusing and well executed.
Will I play this game a lot? No. But it's great if you're just looking for a couple of hours of distraction with some buddies around a well executed beer and pretzels game. The game play will quickly become repetitious but that's the point… Would I recommend this game? Who doesn't love a bag-of-zombies? Ratings (of 5)
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