Fireteam Zero
Published by Emergent Games
Designed by Mark Langlois and Christian Leonhard
For 1 to 4 players, aged 14 to adult
A few days ago, I wrote a review of Mansions of Madness. During that review, I mentioned how I have recently started to lose interest in games that confuse clutter with depth, or which mistake having lots going on with offering meaningful decisions. I'm talking about those games where fiddling around with tokens, and exceptions to the rules, gets in the way of actually playing and having fun. Where your immersion in the world is constantly impeded by ugly rules intrusions that jab you in the ribs and say, "It's only a game, Son."
Huge games with hundreds of cards and dozens of counters, and handfuls of miniatures, and a 32 page rules book, have started to feel like a chore. They often take a long time to set up; they take an age to teach; playing the game could take all evening; and at the end of it all, you are left to wonder if all of the bookkeeping and rules referencing really added up to an enjoyable experience. Did you feel like a bloodthirsty barbarian, or did you feel like the bloodthirsty barbarian's overworked accountant?
