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- Verified Buyer
Do you like dinosaurs? Trick question, of course you do. Do you like Legendary: Encounters and wish it had more dinosaurs in it? Trick question etc. This game is mostly designed for someone who knows the basics of deckbuilders, so this review is going to mostly be for that group. Everyone else, just... Google up Dominion or Ascension or something and you'll be pretty much on the same page.This is a pretty damn solid deckbuilder. Most of the mechanics are very much reminiscent of the aforementioned Legendary: Encounters, with a few gimmicks of its own. It expands on the idea of every player having their own personal avatar with its own strengths by giving each playable theropod a nearly completely different starting deck with a few shared cards. This means playing each theropod requires a difference in strategy.The basics are all there, though. You have two resources: one to buy cards and one to hunt cards. Pretty standard, but the way the two actually work off of each other adds a lot to the theme. The bulk of purchasing power is actually in your ability to hunt, and such purchasing power is separate from your deck. This makes decks, by nature, much tighter and more focused without a need to do a lot of trimming. The danger of flopping a power card for your opponent is still there - especially when it comes to specific cards such as eggs - but it's less swing-heavy in general than its contemporaries.Where it fails the most is, sad enough, in one of its major thematic selling points: killing other players. The fantasy and thematic intention is that you would attack another player opportunistically and when their actual theropod is most vulnerable based on what cards you see they've played. There is counter play to this as well with the ability to set cards at the start of a turn for ambushes. In theory, this should make for a very tense game of predators hunting prey and also hunting each other for the rights to be at the top of the food chain. In practice, however, the skill-vs-reward of actually attacking another player is heavily skewed in favor of the defender to the point of rarely being worth the investment of a turn unless you're absolutely positive you can make an impact.This, combined with the fact that the end-game of a competitive game is actually pretty weak without house rules, does detract from what is otherwise an enjoyable experience for a single player. That being said, a few easy house rules can make the competitive game a lot more fun as well as add the potential for coop in the same manner as single player.Not that any of this matters. I hate to spoil it, but in the end, the dinosaurs go extinct anyway. That is actually quite literally how the game ends.The question is: will you go extinct at the top?This review is just a heads up that the small dinosaur statue may arrive broken. It has no cover protecting it from bouncing back and forth and it is a fragile little thing. Both its arms and legs broke off and while the legs would be easy to glue back on, the arms are very small and would be difficult. I may just leave it since he probably didn't need them anyway. The figure doesn't matter much anyway, since it's all about the cards and we can replace him with any other small dinosaur figure. This was a gift, so it was just disappointing to see something broken.Amazing game. Unlike many others, my mini didn't arrive broken, and it arrived right on schedule. The mechanics are great and though the rules are a bit confusing(I still cant figure out battle royale), once you get the hang of it it is really good. Especially the solo play, as i dont get much opportunity to play it with others, a game that I can play on my own is great. As a dinosaur enthusiast myself I find the art to be absolutly fantastic. Another amazing thing about the game is that the design, art and manufacturing was all done by the same person. I just wis Die-Hard games hadn't gone bankrupt, as i believe that makes the non stomping grounds expansions hard to get.I was looking for a game I could play solo, since I really enjoy board games, but I'm not always able to get my friends over for a game night. I picked this up and played through it by myself a few times and I was very pleased. The rules were a bit hard to understand at first, but a few play-throughs and I wasn't really looking at the rulebook anymore. I played it multiplayer a few times and I think I had more fun solo. The game is very aggresive, plus having other players being aggressive makes it hard to get anywhere. It seems so volatile. That being said, it was still very fun and I did win a couple times. The box comes with dividers to keep your different decks separate and makes cleaning up a cinch.A good game, but this game is arrived with a choc and the figurine was broken.The tail on the dinosaur was broken. And the game is a bit confusing.Great game. It is kinda like legendary except with dinosaurs. The art work is amazing and I highly recommend card sleeves to protect the cards.Very satisfied even csme early great fun game
