Invasion From Outer Space: the Martian Game

Last Night On Earth mechanics more or less, the two games are "compatible".

BUT Martians vs Carnival folk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I the only one that thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea? It kills my interest stone dead.

Notahandle wrote:

Last Night On Earth mechanics more or less, the two games are "compatible".

BUT Martians vs Carnival folk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I the only one that thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea? It kills my interest stone dead.

I think an urban setting and characters (lawyers, secretaries, cabbies, etc) would have been better. I guess the costumes wouldn't be as cheesy as carnival folk though. I'm picturing a large-breasted woman dressed as a fortune-teller for the box cover.

Notahandle wrote:

Last Night On Earth mechanics more or less, the two games are "compatible".

BUT Martians vs Carnival folk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I the only one that thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea? It kills my interest stone dead.

If it's fun to play, I don't really care.

This is one of the stupidest fucking concepts I've ever heard in my life. I'm not a fan of 1950s-style martian invasion crap anyway, and the circus/big top motif is completely idiotic. I have zero interest in the game, the whole hardy-har B-movie schtick pretty much means nothing to me considering that I've actively watched B-movies for at almost all 33 years I've been alive, and I'd rather play Twilight Creations' upcoming Martian game over this game based on this idea alone.

The idea isn't fun to me at all, it's grating and seems like something a twelve year old who just saw KILLER KLOWNS would come up with.

It's likely that the carnival setting was chosen because that's what was available at Party City for Mr. Hill and co. to dress up their friends and family.

I _liked_ TOUCH OF EVIL. LAST NIGHT ON EARTH I can at least respect for its accessibility and appeal. But their one-trick pony model- and even their idiosyncractic brand identity- is wearing really thin with me. Particularly since this new game is pretty much saying "reskinned LNoE".

Oh, and let me go ahead and predict what the soundtrack will be like on this one- crap calliope music with *surprise* a Theremin!

Notahandle wrote:

Am I the only one that thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea? It kills my interest stone dead.

I was hoping for 50's movies type invasion stuff. Carnies? And just Carnies? Uhm, pass. Flying Frog did say that you'd be able to play this with LNOE characters, so that may save things... I'm going to wait for reviews though.

dclose wrote:

Flying Frog did say that you'd be able to play this with LNOE characters, so that may save things...

I agree. At first glance, the theme doesn't appeal to me either, but compatibility with LNoE does pique my interest somewhat. I'll just have to wait and see how well this "compatibility" is executed.

Am I the only person who became *more* interested when I heard that it'd be carnival folk? Sounds cool to me.

The thing that gets me down, though, is if it's too similar to Last Night on Earth, as it sounds like it might be. I would then have no interest in buying it, even though I love Last Night on Earth.

I love LNoE too and I'm thinking Invasion might make a good expansion to LNoE. That's maybe not what FF are intending, but it's how I'm looking at it.

I'm a Heroscape nut though, so mixing genres in a game just feels natural.

On second thought. If I want to play zombie vs alien battles, I'll just play Heroscape.

Death and Taxis wrote:

On second thought. If I want to play zombie vs alien battles, I'll just play Heroscape.

I admit that I haven't played any Flying Frog games, because the box covers are so cheesy, but I suspect that zombie versus alien battles aren't what they have in mind. Instead, they are probably allowing for the possibility of using the humans from LNOE in place of the carnies.

Yeah, see now my interest is fading....

Interesting concept, but the devil is always in the details.

But it would help if you could play the dancing bear that swats heads off the undead.

Michael Barnes wrote:
"But their one-trick pony model- and even their idiosyncractic brand identity- is wearing really thin with me. Particularly since this new game is pretty much saying "reskinned LNoE"."
I thought the brand identity worked well for LNOE, but less so for ATOE. And ATOE didn't seem sufficiently different to LNOE, which is why I passed on it. Since your view seems to be the flip side of mine, I'm wondering if you encountered ATOE before LNOE? Regarding "reskinned LNoE": yes, doing this a third time doesn't appear to be a good move, especially when the three LNOE expansions scheduled for this year could better have been released as one. It seems to be unconsciously mimicking the film industry's 'each sequel is worse than the previous one' approach, in that each LNOE expansion seems less value for money than the previous.

dclose wrote:
"Flying Frog did say that you'd be able to play this with LNOE characters, so that may save things... I'm going to wait for reviews though."
The compatibility would be considerably improved if:-
Mad Dog wrote: "I think an urban setting and characters (lawyers, secretaries, cabbies, etc) would have been better."
By the way Diane, how come it's "dclose" - did someone take the p?

dragonstout wrote:
"The thing that gets me down, though, is if it's too similar to Last Night on Earth, as it sounds like it might be. I would then have no interest in buying it, even though I love Last Night on Earth."
Exactly! I was really hoping for something on a grander scale.

Death and Taxis wrote:
"I'm a Heroscape nut though, so mixing genres in a game just feels natural."
So am I. But, perversely, I hate that aspect of it. (I'll mix two genres, maybe, but more than that reminds me too much of the awful D&D 'chuck in everything' approach.)

ATOE really is NOTHING like LNOE. Except for the same cheesy style artwork, they are nothing alike.

ATOE is like Talisman meets Arkham Horror.

LNOE is like ... I dunno ... something else ...more like Buffy I guess, but only kind of. Hmm what is a good comparison game?

Edit: Oh, if the Martian game is compatible with LNOE, I'm not sure I'll really want it. I don't want a new skin for the same game. I just want a new game. But yeah, I think a 60s styled Space Invasion game would've been better. With maybe black and white photos without the photoshop filters would fit better.