Zombies!!! 3: Mall Walkers Review by zombiemonkey
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Zombies!!! 3: Mall Walkers is the second expansion for the hugely (some might say inexplicably) popular Zombies!!! board game. The game can be played alone or as an expansion to the town in the main game (also in conjunction with the military base expansion from Zombies!!! 2 if you have both an enormous table and many hours available to play!). As has come to be expected both from Twilight Creations in general and the Zombies!!! series of games, the visual design is superb and in keeping with the B-Movie flavour of the game. The shopping mall is reasonably well designed and has a couple of extra rules added - mainly the addition of air ducts to allow travel between tiles, as well as an escalator that leads up to the next level of shops and the helipad. Otherwise, it's business as usual for the multi-coloured shotgun guys and the rotting plastic zombies.
Running around the shopping mall a la Dawn of the Dead is great fun at first, although Zombies!!! 3 is plagued with the same problems that are associated with the series so far. One such problem is that the cards are far too building specific and rely on a card and a player being in a certain place in order for them to be useful, and most of the time it just isn't worth going all the way back to one tile to use a particular card. Also, the out-of-the-box rules, as laid down in the main game, really need tweaking - it's no fun when your guy is killed and then stuck back at the front door, only to keep rolling a one for movement. Another problem (not specific to this expansion) is that the beginning of the game still feels aimless (this is rectified when the helipad is drawn, as everyone has a clear objective and route to the finish).
It does still feel far too light for its length – the Zombies!!! rules seems far more suited to a quick ‘shoot zombies and escape’ formula lasting no more than half an hour - but even when using the expansion alone it can still feel painfully drawn out, with little player interaction, few choices for players to make and just not enough to do.
One thing that is noticeable (possibly due to the atmosphere laid down by Dawn of the Dead - the inspiration for this expansion) is that it never really feels like you are being overwhelmed by an enormous horde of zombies - and I think this is due to the fact that you will be attacked one at a time at all times, and there are hardly ever moments where you will be surrounded by more than a handful of zombies. Again, this is more of a complaint of the game as a whole than this expansion, but it is something that became very apparent when using the shopping mall interior. Lastly, there just didn't seem to be enough game in the box to justify the price - only an extra deck of cards and the shopping mall tiles are included, with no extra zombies or tokens. Even though Zombies!!! 2 only came with six enhanced zombies, at least extra, differently coloured health tokens were also included. The box of Zombies!!! 3 seems incredibly empty by comparison.
Due to the smaller number of cards when using this set, gameplay is much faster than when playing the original though, and results in a far more manageable playing time. It's more fun to blast zombies in the mall environment rather than the characterless town, and the race to the helipad is pretty intense and exciting as usual. The air ducts are a very neat addition but are unfortunately hampered by confusingly worded rules once again. There are a few neat visual cues to Dawn of the Dead (the mall looks strikingly like Romero's nightmarish shopper's hell) and the event cards are superbly illustrated.
Zombies!!! 3 will please die hard fans of the original game and Romero's classic nihilistic consumerism satire – but I would warn those of you who are still unsure about Zombies!!! to stay away - this expansion does nothing that will change your mind about the series if you aren't already a convert.
Summary
Presentation: The usual guts, gore and dark humour are apparent in the illustrations, and the mall looks quite bit like its inspiration. 8.5/10
Clarity of Rules: Despite the very few additions to the rules, they’re once again confusingly explained when the concepts are actually very simple. It’s getting increasingly tiresome pointing this out, but hopefully at some point Twilight Creations will take notice – even fans of the game complain about this! 3.4/10
Game Length: Even when used as a standalone game this can drag on for far longer than is necessary. Tweaks are available online but players shouldn’t have to track down variants to make a game fun! 4.3/10
Value: The emptiest Zombies!!! expansion yet. Nothing more than two decks of cards – extra event cards and the mall itself. Very poor value for money. 2.1/10
Overall: Another expansion that is strictly for fans only – those hoping to improve their experience of the main game will be massively disappointed with Zombies!!! 3. More fun than the main game if used alone, but as you can probably tell, i'm just damning it with faint praise. 4.9/10 (not an average)
Zombies!!! 3: Mall Walkers is the second expansion for the hugely (some might say inexplicably) popular Zombies!!! board game. The game can be played alone or as an expansion to the town in the main game (also in conjunction with the military base expansion from Zombies!!! 2 if you have both an enormous table and many hours available to play!). As has come to be expected both from Twilight Creations in general and the Zombies!!! series of games, the visual design is superb and in keeping with the B-Movie flavour of the game. The shopping mall is reasonably well designed and has a couple of extra rules added - mainly the addition of air ducts to allow travel between tiles, as well as an escalator that leads up to the next level of shops and the helipad. Otherwise, it's business as usual for the multi-coloured shotgun guys and the rotting plastic zombies.Running around the shopping mall a la Dawn of the Dead is great fun at first, although Zombies!!! 3 is plagued with the same problems that are associated with the series so far. One such problem is that the cards are far too building specific and rely on a card and a player being in a certain place in order for them to be useful, and most of the time it just isn't worth going all the way back to one tile to use a particular card. Also, the out-of-the-box rules, as laid down in the main game, really need tweaking - it's no fun when your guy is killed and then stuck back at the front door, only to keep rolling a one for movement. Another problem (not specific to this expansion) is that the beginning of the game still feels aimless (this is rectified when the helipad is drawn, as everyone has a clear objective and route to the finish).
It does still feel far too light for its length – the Zombies!!! rules seems far more suited to a quick ‘shoot zombies and escape’ formula lasting no more than half an hour - but even when using the expansion alone it can still feel painfully drawn out, with little player interaction, few choices for players to make and just not enough to do.
One thing that is noticeable (possibly due to the atmosphere laid down by Dawn of the Dead - the inspiration for this expansion) is that it never really feels like you are being overwhelmed by an enormous horde of zombies - and I think this is due to the fact that you will be attacked one at a time at all times, and there are hardly ever moments where you will be surrounded by more than a handful of zombies. Again, this is more of a complaint of the game as a whole than this expansion, but it is something that became very apparent when using the shopping mall interior. Lastly, there just didn't seem to be enough game in the box to justify the price - only an extra deck of cards and the shopping mall tiles are included, with no extra zombies or tokens. Even though Zombies!!! 2 only came with six enhanced zombies, at least extra, differently coloured health tokens were also included. The box of Zombies!!! 3 seems incredibly empty by comparison.
Due to the smaller number of cards when using this set, gameplay is much faster than when playing the original though, and results in a far more manageable playing time. It's more fun to blast zombies in the mall environment rather than the characterless town, and the race to the helipad is pretty intense and exciting as usual. The air ducts are a very neat addition but are unfortunately hampered by confusingly worded rules once again. There are a few neat visual cues to Dawn of the Dead (the mall looks strikingly like Romero's nightmarish shopper's hell) and the event cards are superbly illustrated.
Zombies!!! 3 will please die hard fans of the original game and Romero's classic nihilistic consumerism satire – but I would warn those of you who are still unsure about Zombies!!! to stay away - this expansion does nothing that will change your mind about the series if you aren't already a convert.
Summary
Presentation: The usual guts, gore and dark humour are apparent in the illustrations, and the mall looks quite bit like its inspiration. 8.5/10
Clarity of Rules: Despite the very few additions to the rules, they’re once again confusingly explained when the concepts are actually very simple. It’s getting increasingly tiresome pointing this out, but hopefully at some point Twilight Creations will take notice – even fans of the game complain about this! 3.4/10
Game Length: Even when used as a standalone game this can drag on for far longer than is necessary. Tweaks are available online but players shouldn’t have to track down variants to make a game fun! 4.3/10
Value: The emptiest Zombies!!! expansion yet. Nothing more than two decks of cards – extra event cards and the mall itself. Very poor value for money. 2.1/10
Overall: Another expansion that is strictly for fans only – those hoping to improve their experience of the main game will be massively disappointed with Zombies!!! 3. More fun than the main game if used alone, but as you can probably tell, i'm just damning it with faint praise. 4.9/10 (not an average)
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