Co-op game recommendations
- Thread starter Merlin the Tuna
- Start date
Nytmare
David Jose
If the time limit of Arkham bugged you guys, Battlestar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot might not sit well with you either.
Between the two, I like Battlestar a lot more. I like that the traitor aspect is a greater focus of the game, but then I'm a diehard mafia fan. It also seems like a... I don't want to say easier game, but I never really feel as despairingly helpless in Battlestar, even when we're losing horribly. In Shadows, even when we're winning, I know that defeat is lurking right around the corner waiting to kick me in the jimmy.
Shadows is probably a faster game normally, especially if you don't include a traitor in the mix. Trying to pin down a possible traitor (or traitors for Battlestar) eats up a lot of time.
Lord of the Rings is a great cooperative game and relatively short if memory serves. There's nothing bad I can say about it.
Betrayal at House on the Hill is out of print, but if you can find a copy grab it. The game takes place over two acts. In the first act, you and the other players explore a haunted mansion, gathering equipment and dealing with strange haunted housey things. In the second act, someone is revealed to be a traitor and the game becomes one of 50 different stereotypical horror stories.
Cutthroat Caverns is a pretty quick, almost cooperative card game. Long story short, you're a bunch of adventurers killing monsters and taking their loot. You're competing with the other players for points, but at the same time, you need to keep everyone alive and in fighting condition because the strength of the monsters is based off the starting number of players.
Between the two, I like Battlestar a lot more. I like that the traitor aspect is a greater focus of the game, but then I'm a diehard mafia fan. It also seems like a... I don't want to say easier game, but I never really feel as despairingly helpless in Battlestar, even when we're losing horribly. In Shadows, even when we're winning, I know that defeat is lurking right around the corner waiting to kick me in the jimmy.
Shadows is probably a faster game normally, especially if you don't include a traitor in the mix. Trying to pin down a possible traitor (or traitors for Battlestar) eats up a lot of time.
Lord of the Rings is a great cooperative game and relatively short if memory serves. There's nothing bad I can say about it.
Betrayal at House on the Hill is out of print, but if you can find a copy grab it. The game takes place over two acts. In the first act, you and the other players explore a haunted mansion, gathering equipment and dealing with strange haunted housey things. In the second act, someone is revealed to be a traitor and the game becomes one of 50 different stereotypical horror stories.
Cutthroat Caverns is a pretty quick, almost cooperative card game. Long story short, you're a bunch of adventurers killing monsters and taking their loot. You're competing with the other players for points, but at the same time, you need to keep everyone alive and in fighting condition because the strength of the monsters is based off the starting number of players.
Merlin the Tuna
First Post
Thanks for all of the feedback, everyone!
Betrayal at House on the Hill sounds interesting. It looks like the printing coming this Fall is a new edition (not just a new printing), but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
Cuthroat Caverns sounds very similar to Munchkin. That's fine - Munchkin is a good enough game - but we've got a couple versions of it already.
Space Alert... Hm. I'm skeptical of the whole "audio CD-based game" genre. I guess I worry mostly about replayability, since it seems like you'd be doing the same stuff every game.
We had 6 or 7 when I brought it to the whole gaming group, but I'd played it with most of them in smaller groups at least once before. It does seem like it's moving a little more quickly each time, but I struggle to picture it ever not dominating an afternoon. (Well, unless the players get absolutely rocked in the first couple Mythos phases and lose disastrously). The most time-consuming part for us is actually the upkeep phase since everyone needs to work out what they're doing before they adjust sliders and whatnot, and I don't see that every getting reduced dramatically unless we just introduce a timer that says "We have 2 minutes to do upkeep, then we move."
Betrayal at House on the Hill sounds interesting. It looks like the printing coming this Fall is a new edition (not just a new printing), but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
Cuthroat Caverns sounds very similar to Munchkin. That's fine - Munchkin is a good enough game - but we've got a couple versions of it already.
Space Alert... Hm. I'm skeptical of the whole "audio CD-based game" genre. I guess I worry mostly about replayability, since it seems like you'd be doing the same stuff every game.
There's a random mission .wav generator back at the BGG website... It works pretty well to create new CD tracks. It has even got the same sounds as the original CD.
Moreover, the CD is there to give cues about which deck you pick cards (threats) from. The "card factor" makes each game different anyway.
I haven't even used a self made CD track yet...
My take...
PURE CO-OPERATIVE GAMES
Space Alert (20 minutes) is the pick of the pure co-operative games. Vlaada wanted to design a game which wasn't basically a solo game (as most pure co-op games boil down to), and succeeded brilliantly. The CD track provides the game timer and tracks when threats occur, but what they are and their speed is determined by cards and a variety of random threat tracks.
This game has a lot of replayability and is wonderfully fun. Highly recommended.
Pandemic (30 minutes) has great mechanics but suffers horribly from the "I'm a solo game" flaw. I personally find it a bit too easy to solve as well. Yes, we'll lose games, but that's due to horrible draws rather than bad play.
Lord of the Rings (1 hour) is a game I rather enjoy. It's moderately long (hour+), but is surprisingly replayable and doesn't suffer so much from the obvious strategy that leads to solo play in Pandemic.
Arkham Horror (2-3 hours with 4 players. Might be shorter, might be longer) is big, sprawling and, for inexperienced players, will take entirely too long. I've had a lot of fun this as a solo game, but I think it handles up to 4 players very well (5-8 might require you to set up for a whole evening). What AH does well is provide theme and variety. There is a certain amount of strategy that can become utterly derailed by bad luck.
TRAITOR CO-OP GAMES
Battlestar Galactica (3 hours with 6 players) is the best I've played. It has good mechanics to begin with, but its the confusion over which players are Cylons that really makes the game work. You know how many Cylons there'll be, but there might not be any until halfway through the game!
Shadows over Camelot (1 hour) is nice - I've had some good games - but the traitor element really doesn't work as it should. While in BSG, Cylons are more effective unrevealed but can still have fun when revealed, the traitor in Shadows is utterly boring once revealed.
Betrayal at the House on the Hill (30 mins-1 hour) is awesome fun, but very, very random. Some games will come down to the wire, others peter out into dullness. It's very clever - and I'd definitely look out for the reprint - but be aware that not every game will work.
Cheers!
PURE CO-OPERATIVE GAMES
Space Alert (20 minutes) is the pick of the pure co-operative games. Vlaada wanted to design a game which wasn't basically a solo game (as most pure co-op games boil down to), and succeeded brilliantly. The CD track provides the game timer and tracks when threats occur, but what they are and their speed is determined by cards and a variety of random threat tracks.
This game has a lot of replayability and is wonderfully fun. Highly recommended.
Pandemic (30 minutes) has great mechanics but suffers horribly from the "I'm a solo game" flaw. I personally find it a bit too easy to solve as well. Yes, we'll lose games, but that's due to horrible draws rather than bad play.
Lord of the Rings (1 hour) is a game I rather enjoy. It's moderately long (hour+), but is surprisingly replayable and doesn't suffer so much from the obvious strategy that leads to solo play in Pandemic.
Arkham Horror (2-3 hours with 4 players. Might be shorter, might be longer) is big, sprawling and, for inexperienced players, will take entirely too long. I've had a lot of fun this as a solo game, but I think it handles up to 4 players very well (5-8 might require you to set up for a whole evening). What AH does well is provide theme and variety. There is a certain amount of strategy that can become utterly derailed by bad luck.
TRAITOR CO-OP GAMES
Battlestar Galactica (3 hours with 6 players) is the best I've played. It has good mechanics to begin with, but its the confusion over which players are Cylons that really makes the game work. You know how many Cylons there'll be, but there might not be any until halfway through the game!
Shadows over Camelot (1 hour) is nice - I've had some good games - but the traitor element really doesn't work as it should. While in BSG, Cylons are more effective unrevealed but can still have fun when revealed, the traitor in Shadows is utterly boring once revealed.
Betrayal at the House on the Hill (30 mins-1 hour) is awesome fun, but very, very random. Some games will come down to the wire, others peter out into dullness. It's very clever - and I'd definitely look out for the reprint - but be aware that not every game will work.
Cheers!
Verdande
First Post
I'd like to recommend Descent: Journey into the Dark. It's mostly cooperative, for everybody but the Overlord. It can last a fair minute, especially your first couple of plays, but it's a real treat to play a board-game RPG lite for an hour or so with your buddies.
It's literally a beer and pretzels game; although I don't much like the salty snacks, I often (read: always) have a brew or two when I'm Overlording. It can be played super-competitively, but that can ruin the fun if you're not careful. It's ok to be a horrendous douche when Overlording, but absolutely smashing the Heroes isn't much fun for you or for them.
It's literally a beer and pretzels game; although I don't much like the salty snacks, I often (read: always) have a brew or two when I'm Overlording. It can be played super-competitively, but that can ruin the fun if you're not careful. It's ok to be a horrendous douche when Overlording, but absolutely smashing the Heroes isn't much fun for you or for them.
Nytmare
David Jose
I bought Descent pre 4E thinking that it would become our standard game on D&D nights when we were down too many players. What I found is that the amount of time I needed to put into it to make it happily playable was equivalent to prepping for an actual RPG, which is what playing it left us really wanting.
The hundred dollar price tag really makes me wish that it wasn't sitting, collecting 4 years of dust on a shelf.
The hundred dollar price tag really makes me wish that it wasn't sitting, collecting 4 years of dust on a shelf.
Hadrian the Builder
First Post
It's worth noting that there is an expansion for pandemic that will let you play with more than 4 players. We've played it and it's one of my groups favorite board games
Holy Bovine
First Post
I agree with you - the base game of Descent is not terribly great and can take an awfully long time to finish. It sat on my shelf for 2 years until someone told me about Road to Legend. RtL adds a 'campaign' style to the base game, shortens dungeon levels by about 50% play time (ie a dungeon level is finished in about an hour instead of 2-3) and gives you the ability to 'save' the campaign even in the middle of a dungeon (all dungeons have 3 levels drawn randomly from a deck of cards). The smaller levels makes for quick set up and it became a staple for part of my group for the last 2 years. If you really want to get some use out of that $100 paperweight you have now grab Road to Legend.
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