The Bottom Line
Pros
- Clever graphics, zombie figurines and funny stock characters make this game immediately appealing.
- Between the ever-changing game board, scenarios and characters, it's endlessly re-playable.
- An endless stream of plot twists and strategic moves keeps things interesting.
- Plenty of zombie action.
Cons
- The idea of a soundtrack is brilliant, but this CD isn't particularly scary or atmospheric.
- So many pieces, so few places to put them. (You'll need a box of snack-size ziplock bags.)
Description
- A zombie board game for 2-6 players, ages 12 and up, from Flying Frog Productions.
- Players take on the roles of human heroes or marauding zombies, battling through the night in 1 of 5 possible game scenarios.
- This game boasts endless variety: the characters and board configuration change each round, and mid-game twists abound.
Guide Review - Best Dorm Board Games: Last Night on Earth
Looking for a good zombie board game for your college kid or 20something? Oh yes, those games exist. Zombie everything are the new hot genre - and Last Night on Earth is a particularly fun take on the battle between humans and flesh-eating undead hordes. This board game for 2-6 zombie fans pits human heroes against an army of rampaging undead in one of five different scenarios.
A big part of Last Night on Earth's charm begins with the clever graphics - little plastic figures scamper (or shamble, moaning) across a moonlit landscape, complete with blood-spattered hospital, grungy garage, old church, high school gym and other town buildings. It's a game with endless re-playability. Players pick a game scenario - kill 15 zombies by dawn, for example, or rescue 4 townspeople and keep them alive till sunrise - or make up their own. The game board layout changes each game, and characters - human heroes with an assortment of special strengths - also are drawn anew. Adding to the fun: hero and zombie cards, drawn throughout the game, add weapons, zombie infestations and other advantages and challenges to the mix. (Upping the entertainment factor: the game boards, pieces and cards are interchangeable with those of its sister game, Invasion from Outer Space, so martians and carnival scenes can join the action too.)
The game, designed by Jason Hill and produced by Flying Frog Productions, includes a CD, a soundtrack to get players in the mood. It's a fantastic idea, but the music isn't particularly scary or horror movie-ish. But that's a minor detail - more a matter of ooh, that would have made a great game spectacular.
In short, Last Night on Earth offers enough mid-game twists, strategic challenges and fast-paced fun to keep any group of zombie fans delighted. Whether they can keep the humans alive till dawn is another question.
