Apocalypse Frenzy

Game: Apocalypse Frenzy
Manufacturer: Laurens Bliek
Year: 2016

Personal History:
So Apocalypse Frenzy is another game that I've been given the opportunity to review prior to its official Kickstarter release.

Condition:
I believe I was probably the second person to play this copy, and everything was in great complete shape. As is always the case with pre-production review samples it's very possible that things such as artwork and layout could be different in the final product, although I believe that this is pretty close to final.

Gameplay:
Each player chooses one of the four characters and takes it's character card. Each player also randomly takes an alignment card and keeps it a secret from the other players. Players are dealt a hand of seven cards, with the remaining cards divided into two draw decks.

The alignment card labels the player as either a "Protector" or a "Destroyer". The "Destroyer" players are intent on Destroying the world, while the Protectors must stop any of the world-ending scenarios from occurring. Each character card lists three objectives; one if the player is a Protector, one if he's a Destroyer, and then a "Side Mission" that is for either alignment.

The Protector objective for every character is the same, which it to make one of the two draw decks run out of cards. If this happens the game ends, and all characters with the Protector alignment score thirty points.

The Destroyer and Side Mission objectives are where a majority of the differences in the characters lie. The Destroyer objectives for the "Catnian Commander" and "Cyclops Interstellar Designer" are somewhat similar in that they involve collecting and playing a certain group of cards.

The "Prophet" character has a special prophecy card that he must play on another player during the game. His Destroyer objective is to play his prophecy card on a player who then goes on to win the game by bringing about his Destroyer win condition. The Shapeshifter wins his Destroyer objective by playing any eight cards, but is hampered in doing this because any card he plays must fit a series of qualifications.

On a turn each player has a series of actions he can take. Actions may only be taken once per turn, but can be completed in any order. One his turn a player may play a card from his hand or discard a card from his hand. Players may only play cards which show a symbol matching his own or no symbol at all, unless he has a card which changes this basic rule. The Shapeshifter character, for example, does not have a symbol so cannot on his own play anything but the grey generic cards. He does, however, have a special ability which allows him to play cards which are required by his Side Mission, or have been played before by another player.

The player may Trade a card with either deck by placing his card on the bottom and taking the top card. He may also trade a card with an opponent. During trade negotiations the players may be as discreet as they'd like about what cards they have, and may also lie about the identity of a card to make a deal. Players may also use abilities from their cards if available this turn.

Most cards which are played in front of a character carry a point value which varies depending on the alignment of the player at the end of the game. When any player completes his main objective the game ends and all players add up the points they've gotten through completed objectives or played cards. The player with the highest total value is the winner.

So How Is It?:
Apocalypse Frenzy is a weird little card game. Visually it relies on the same sort of cartoon drawings and thematic zaniness that games like Munchkin and Killer Bunnies use. I like the drawings on the cards. I think they're all well done and create a definite flavor to the game which ties in nicely with the odd and offbeat things going on within the cards. I think where the art fails the game is on the box where the artwork has been superimposed over what looks like a computer generated space image. The CG image is very out of place, and the character illustrations are the same as used on the cards, making them look small and unimpressive. Ultimately the cover of a game should both inform and attract, and this image doesn't quite do either.

The gameplay is fairly unique. Each player has very different win conditions when playing as a Destroyer, and it took us a few minutes to wrap our heads around exactly how to go about accomplishing them. For the Cat and the Cyclops it's basically just hoping to collect the right cards and then playing them, and this is for both the main and side objectives. It became clear that trying to trade cards with your opponents is very necessary when trying to complete these objectives, and so making deals was a regular feature. The instructions don't give many specifics about what can and can't be said between people conducting a trade other than to say that neither party needs to be truthful about what they're giving up, so it's possible that the trading scene in any particular game could get pretty nasty. For our game we sort of unanimously decided not to tell eachother exactly what card we'd be giving, but to hint that something "Might be really useful to you", or "this is a card you need", that sort of thing.

The missions for the Prophet and the Shapeshifter are very different, and drastically change the way each is played. The Shapeshifter's destroyer mission is to play eight cards in front of it, and it's secondary objective is to play a specific assortment of six cards. This is made somewhat difficult because the shapeshifter, unlike all other characters, does not have a card type of its own. As I mentioned above its power allows it to play cards that have been played by another player before, or which help to complete its side mission, so long as those cards are of only one color (there are some two-color cards that belong to two characters). This prevents the shapeshifter character from playing cards as easily as the others, particularly early in the game when relatively few cards of any type have been played yet.

The Prophet character is given a special "Prophesy" card at the beginning of the game. His destroyer mission is to give the prophesy card to a destroyer player and then make sure they complete their mission, and somewhat similarly his side mission is to make sure a destroyer character is holding the prophesy card at the end of the game. With really no special powers of his own and mission objectives that rely heavily on the success of another player the prophet must act almost as an assistant to the destroyer player he chooses, hoping to obtain the cards the other player needs to win so that he can trade them to that player.

While I appreciate the uniqueness of the characters I can't help but feel as though any player who chooses the Shapeshifter or Prophet is immediately at a disadvantage. Admittedly I've not played enough games to see if it pans out that way in the long run, however the Shapeshifter is so hobbled early on with what it can play that it seems hard to come back from the point deficit, and the prophet can only "win" if another player "wins" first, making it the only character when it wins as destroyer that doesn't necessarily get a point advantage since the other person who completed his or her mission gets the same points.

So did we enjoy the game? I'd say by the end of it we mostly did. There was definitely a mad scramble for specific cards and a lot of dealing going on as we approached the finish and it's nice to have a high level of interaction like that in a card game. Now that we all have a better idea of the type of cards that are in the deck and better understand the flow of the game we'd all probably approach it differently.

I guess to me it felt like a game of Munchkin but with a specific goal instead of just a level cap, and with a lot more limitation to what cards you can use. I think the trading mechanism here is a nice element which definitely adds a lot more interaction between players than one typically finds in Munchkin. At the same time I feel like the game's theme doesn't really fit what's going on all the time. Saving the world by depleting a deck doesn't make a lot of sense to me for example. It doesn't feel so much like a game about the Apocalypse as it does a game about different kinds of goofy space invaders.

Final Verdict:
"Apocalypse Frenzy" is definitely worth a play, and might be a better Munchkin-like alternative to Munchkin for those who wants something slightly less luck driven, less aggressive, and a little more purposeful. For my part, while I might be convinced to play it again so that I can try out the other characters, I don't think this game will be replacing any of the other similar games I have already. It scores an "Average" 3/5.

Apocalypse Frenzy will be hitting Kickstarter on October 28th,