Today we picked up Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. With Amy and Matthew in San Francisco at a swim meet, Nathaniel and I ventured out to Target. I had intended on buying the Gargoyles board game, but we were both intrigued by another take on the Alien mythos, especially since this one gets right back to the roots of this franchise.
More akin to Forbidden Island and games of that ilk than skirmish games like AVP, this Alien game features virtually no combat. Instead, you move around iconic locations from the Nostromo, gathering resources, accomplishing objectives, and working toward an escape plan, all the while doing your best to avoid the xenomorph. Sometimes you know where it is and can plan accordingly, while other times you only think you know where it is and then it appears exactly where you don't want it to!
On our first try, Nathaniel was Dallas and I was Parker. We had some bad luck on card draws and only managed to win on the last-possible turn when I remembered that Parker had an item that could clear the xenomorph out of our escape path. The second time, I tried Dallas and Nathaniel opted for Lambert, whose ability to see the next encounter card (essentially, the next action taken by the alien) proved to be incredibly useful.
Here's a pic of the game board from early in our second adventure.
And now here's a shot of the game's final turn, when Dallas obliterated the xenomorph with an incinerator unit.
We won that second game handily. When Matthew and Amy get back, we'll try a four-player game. I'm sure Lambert will be among the character choices, and I'd be surprised if Nathaniel didn't want to use her again. And what about Ripley? In our opinion, she's actually the least effective character in the game!
