xraine69
January 29th, 2011, 02:12 AM
There seems to be some interest on the site for GOSU, so I thought I would start a thread just for it.
For more info, visit the GOSU site (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu/).
My son and I played our first 2 games tonight and really enjoyed. The rulebook is written very well and the rules are simple. There is alot of depth to this game.
I'm not good with reviews and such, so I'll let you read a review from someone over at BGG.
Introduction
GOSU has exploded onto the international games arena with all the force of an irresponsible goblin and a fistful of dynamite. If you're a fan of interesting or premium card games, you have probably already heard about this game from the buzz. If you're at all connected to the games community you will have heard about it as a result of a certain Bruno Faidutti fellow (who apparently thinks he's something of a games aficionado... Not sure why) declaring it one of the best games he's ever played. Fortunately, I'm arrogant enough to think I can give you a better appraisal of the game than Mr Faidutti*, or reading this post would be a serious waste of your time...
GOSU is a non-collectible single-deck action card game, in which players build an 'army' (read: tableau, for you Race for the Galaxy fans) of funky, madcap goblin minions from five coloured factions, in an effort to win three rounds of combat by having the largest force. The game ships with 100 cards and a series of special tokens. It can seat 2-4 players and it has a very distinct manga-fusion illustration style. It can usually be played in under an hour.
The hook
This game has some appetising propositions for its potential gamer client. The artwork is eye popping - regardless of whether you like the style, there's no denying how high-impact the game looks. The gameplay is similarly direct and attractive: a simple card play ruleset, with game complexity driven by a vast array of special, card-specific powers and abilities, which can interact, chain, counter, amplify and confuse strategies within and across the player's armies.
It also involves goblins. Mad, sneaky, psionic, gigantic, immolating, time-traveling, mecha-suit-wearing, sniper-rifle-wielding, BAD ASS goblins.
I challenge you: if you're the type of person that's reading a game review on BGG, can you seriously read that last sentence and NOT want to know more about this game?
That's what I thought.
The line
Play follows a simple turn structure of ROUNDS which are broken down into TURNS. Players take Turns clockwise until all players pass, at which point the person with the largest army of goblins gets a Victory Point and a new Round begins (ties are broken by controlling a special ADVANTAGE TOKEN). Play continues like this until someone wins three victory points.
During a turn, players have two simple choices: play a card from your hand into your army, or use an ACTIVATION TOKEN. Activation tokens are a simple and effective mechanism (included in the box), which give each player two special tokens which can activate certain powers of their army. This is similar to 'tapping' a card in Magic. Once a player has used up both tokens, they won't get them back until the start of a new round (or unless they can get them back using sneaky goblininess).
Putting cards into play in your army is the bulk of the game and follows several unique mechanics. Goblins exist in five colours and three RANKS (which each have cool thematic names... which you will instantly disregard in favor of the more utilitarian monikers of 'Rank 1’, 'Rank 2’ and the dreaded 'Rank 3’). When placing goblins into your army, goblins must always be placed from left to right, with a maximum of five goblins in a row. There are a maximum of three rows, with placement restricted so that only Rank 1 goblins can be played on the bottom row, Rank 2 in the middle and Rank 3 in the top row. This leads to a maximum army size of 15 cards. Cards can't be placed in a higher row unless there is a card underneath them in the lower row (hence, two cards in the bottom row means only 2 cards can be placed in the middle row).
The tricky part of goblin placement is the colour restriction. When you place a card into play that matches the colour of an existing goblin in the lowest row of your army, you place the card for free. When it's a new colour, you can only place the goblin if it's a Rank 1, and you have to discard 2 cards as a cost. Thus, the composition of your weaker bottom row goblins ultimately dictates the composition of your army overall.
There is a further unique method of card placement called Mutation. Many of the Rank 1 goblins and some of the Rank 2 goblins have the ability to mutate into a new goblin of your choice from your hand, for a mutate cost. This interesting mechanic means that the composition of armies continues to change and adapt, even if the maximum size of 15 cards is reached. Furthermore (and importantly), Mutation can ignore the rules that restrict placement based on goblin colour.
All of these mechanics are the simple and intuitive backdrop to the real meat of the game, which is the powers of the goblins themselves. All goblins of a certain rank contribute to the final battle score equally - no goblin of a certain rank is any better in the final battle than any other goblin at that rank. The differentiation is in a startling array of special abilities: abilities that can activate when coming into play, when being mutated, when being destroyed, when being activated (by a token), or even just 'active' all the time. The 'whoa' moment for a new GOSU player is the realisation that the majority of cards in the deck (about 75%) are UNIQUE.
Goblins are simple creatures. Their abilities will either help you (drawing cards, gaining the Advantage token, taking extra turns) or really **** off your opponents (making them discard cards, killing or trapping their goblins). The abilities can often be synergised between goblins already in play, leading to clever combo plays that will make any Magic player salivate. It is this interplay of special abilities that forms the bulk of the game experience.
The sinker
So what's wrong with this game that has been heralded as 'the next big card game'?
To be honest, not much.
The biggest barrier for this game is the bamboozling array of special abilities. New players are NOT going to be informed as to the contents of the deck, or even the general thematic focus of each goblin colour. This potentially leads to a slightly overwhelming introduction and a disadvantage to new players. Expect some analysis paralysis in early games.
The other problem with the game is also faced by Race for the Galaxy, and will probably be faced by any game attempting to use a single common deck - the luck element. The good news is that I honestly don't believe it's as big an issue for Gosu as it is in many other card games (At the risk of being targeted by the RftG mafia, I'm actually going to say it is less affected by luck than Race is!). This is because of the Mutation special ability; mutation cleverly allows (indeed, sometimes incentivises) a player to shift strategy and change the composition of their force mid-game. Thus, if the cards you want aren't coming, or if you've just been dealt a great hand you can't currently use, there is usually a way out of it.
Nevertheless, some players will find the inherent lack of control to be frustrating.
Recommendation: such players probably shouldn't be playing a game about psychotic goblins in the first place.
The catch
The art is incredible. Artwork isn't usually something you want to start with in a list of things that make a game great, but as a hardened and cynical CCG player, Gosu really is a joy to look at. You just need to check out the example artwork here at BGG to get a sense that this game is a bit special. I particularly love the amazing little gimmick whereby elements of most graphics have been partially overlaid outside of the card frame, giving the effect of the goblin jumping off the card.
The gameplay is tight - this game moves fast, flows well and rarely raises any issues with resolution, priority, timing, or any other of the many gremlins (o-ho-ho) that veteran card players will be accustomed to. There can be moments of analysis paralysis, but for the most part the game is quick paced with little downtime.
The integration of abilities is possibly executed in the best fashion I have ever seen in a stand-alone game. Yep. Big call. Seriously though, we've racked up a dozen games since cracking our box open (in 2, 3 and 4 player modes) and the game is ALWAYS a close-fought, nail-biter finish. I am at a bit of a loss as to how the game designers managed to construct such a complex array of potential combos and abilities and yet maintain consistent game balance. Yet that is exactly what has been done.
You are constantly going through a cycle of thinking out a three-card, multi-turn combo strategy, only to then get dealt a new card with new possibilities, only to then have a key asset blown to hell leaving you no choice but to scramble madly in a completely new direction, starting the cycle all over again. Your strategy is a balancing act between 'the ultimate combo' and 'whatever works'. And yet, it does work.
Whilst in play, the game feels like... well, it feels like 100 goblins being put through the 'Extra Smooth' setting on an industrial blender: noisy as hell and with a substantial amount of multi-coloured splatter. Yet the end result is as smooth and rich a goblin smoothy as you could ever expect to enjoy^...
Keep or throw back?
Gosu has been a smash success across multiple gaming groups. The veteran crowd and the casual gamer are both at home with Gosu. With stunning visuals, a great tongue-in-cheek flavour and incredible replayability, this really IS the next big card game. Also, in this time of credit crunches and Wall Street gremlins (o-ho-ho), a great looking, great playing game for under $40 is amazing. If you enjoy high-octane card gaming with a penchant for combo building and possess a healthy streak of goblin-fueled sadism, then this is a no-brainer. One of my favourite card games.
LINKS:
Rules: http://bit.ly/GosuUS (http://bit.ly/GosuUS)
FAQs (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-faq-us/)
2v2 rules (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-2v2-usfr/)
Tournament Rules (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-tournament-rules-usfr/)
For more info, visit the GOSU site (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu/).
My son and I played our first 2 games tonight and really enjoyed. The rulebook is written very well and the rules are simple. There is alot of depth to this game.
I'm not good with reviews and such, so I'll let you read a review from someone over at BGG.
Introduction
GOSU has exploded onto the international games arena with all the force of an irresponsible goblin and a fistful of dynamite. If you're a fan of interesting or premium card games, you have probably already heard about this game from the buzz. If you're at all connected to the games community you will have heard about it as a result of a certain Bruno Faidutti fellow (who apparently thinks he's something of a games aficionado... Not sure why) declaring it one of the best games he's ever played. Fortunately, I'm arrogant enough to think I can give you a better appraisal of the game than Mr Faidutti*, or reading this post would be a serious waste of your time...
GOSU is a non-collectible single-deck action card game, in which players build an 'army' (read: tableau, for you Race for the Galaxy fans) of funky, madcap goblin minions from five coloured factions, in an effort to win three rounds of combat by having the largest force. The game ships with 100 cards and a series of special tokens. It can seat 2-4 players and it has a very distinct manga-fusion illustration style. It can usually be played in under an hour.
The hook
This game has some appetising propositions for its potential gamer client. The artwork is eye popping - regardless of whether you like the style, there's no denying how high-impact the game looks. The gameplay is similarly direct and attractive: a simple card play ruleset, with game complexity driven by a vast array of special, card-specific powers and abilities, which can interact, chain, counter, amplify and confuse strategies within and across the player's armies.
It also involves goblins. Mad, sneaky, psionic, gigantic, immolating, time-traveling, mecha-suit-wearing, sniper-rifle-wielding, BAD ASS goblins.
I challenge you: if you're the type of person that's reading a game review on BGG, can you seriously read that last sentence and NOT want to know more about this game?
That's what I thought.
The line
Play follows a simple turn structure of ROUNDS which are broken down into TURNS. Players take Turns clockwise until all players pass, at which point the person with the largest army of goblins gets a Victory Point and a new Round begins (ties are broken by controlling a special ADVANTAGE TOKEN). Play continues like this until someone wins three victory points.
During a turn, players have two simple choices: play a card from your hand into your army, or use an ACTIVATION TOKEN. Activation tokens are a simple and effective mechanism (included in the box), which give each player two special tokens which can activate certain powers of their army. This is similar to 'tapping' a card in Magic. Once a player has used up both tokens, they won't get them back until the start of a new round (or unless they can get them back using sneaky goblininess).
Putting cards into play in your army is the bulk of the game and follows several unique mechanics. Goblins exist in five colours and three RANKS (which each have cool thematic names... which you will instantly disregard in favor of the more utilitarian monikers of 'Rank 1’, 'Rank 2’ and the dreaded 'Rank 3’). When placing goblins into your army, goblins must always be placed from left to right, with a maximum of five goblins in a row. There are a maximum of three rows, with placement restricted so that only Rank 1 goblins can be played on the bottom row, Rank 2 in the middle and Rank 3 in the top row. This leads to a maximum army size of 15 cards. Cards can't be placed in a higher row unless there is a card underneath them in the lower row (hence, two cards in the bottom row means only 2 cards can be placed in the middle row).
The tricky part of goblin placement is the colour restriction. When you place a card into play that matches the colour of an existing goblin in the lowest row of your army, you place the card for free. When it's a new colour, you can only place the goblin if it's a Rank 1, and you have to discard 2 cards as a cost. Thus, the composition of your weaker bottom row goblins ultimately dictates the composition of your army overall.
There is a further unique method of card placement called Mutation. Many of the Rank 1 goblins and some of the Rank 2 goblins have the ability to mutate into a new goblin of your choice from your hand, for a mutate cost. This interesting mechanic means that the composition of armies continues to change and adapt, even if the maximum size of 15 cards is reached. Furthermore (and importantly), Mutation can ignore the rules that restrict placement based on goblin colour.
All of these mechanics are the simple and intuitive backdrop to the real meat of the game, which is the powers of the goblins themselves. All goblins of a certain rank contribute to the final battle score equally - no goblin of a certain rank is any better in the final battle than any other goblin at that rank. The differentiation is in a startling array of special abilities: abilities that can activate when coming into play, when being mutated, when being destroyed, when being activated (by a token), or even just 'active' all the time. The 'whoa' moment for a new GOSU player is the realisation that the majority of cards in the deck (about 75%) are UNIQUE.
Goblins are simple creatures. Their abilities will either help you (drawing cards, gaining the Advantage token, taking extra turns) or really **** off your opponents (making them discard cards, killing or trapping their goblins). The abilities can often be synergised between goblins already in play, leading to clever combo plays that will make any Magic player salivate. It is this interplay of special abilities that forms the bulk of the game experience.
The sinker
So what's wrong with this game that has been heralded as 'the next big card game'?
To be honest, not much.
The biggest barrier for this game is the bamboozling array of special abilities. New players are NOT going to be informed as to the contents of the deck, or even the general thematic focus of each goblin colour. This potentially leads to a slightly overwhelming introduction and a disadvantage to new players. Expect some analysis paralysis in early games.
The other problem with the game is also faced by Race for the Galaxy, and will probably be faced by any game attempting to use a single common deck - the luck element. The good news is that I honestly don't believe it's as big an issue for Gosu as it is in many other card games (At the risk of being targeted by the RftG mafia, I'm actually going to say it is less affected by luck than Race is!). This is because of the Mutation special ability; mutation cleverly allows (indeed, sometimes incentivises) a player to shift strategy and change the composition of their force mid-game. Thus, if the cards you want aren't coming, or if you've just been dealt a great hand you can't currently use, there is usually a way out of it.
Nevertheless, some players will find the inherent lack of control to be frustrating.
Recommendation: such players probably shouldn't be playing a game about psychotic goblins in the first place.
The catch
The art is incredible. Artwork isn't usually something you want to start with in a list of things that make a game great, but as a hardened and cynical CCG player, Gosu really is a joy to look at. You just need to check out the example artwork here at BGG to get a sense that this game is a bit special. I particularly love the amazing little gimmick whereby elements of most graphics have been partially overlaid outside of the card frame, giving the effect of the goblin jumping off the card.
The gameplay is tight - this game moves fast, flows well and rarely raises any issues with resolution, priority, timing, or any other of the many gremlins (o-ho-ho) that veteran card players will be accustomed to. There can be moments of analysis paralysis, but for the most part the game is quick paced with little downtime.
The integration of abilities is possibly executed in the best fashion I have ever seen in a stand-alone game. Yep. Big call. Seriously though, we've racked up a dozen games since cracking our box open (in 2, 3 and 4 player modes) and the game is ALWAYS a close-fought, nail-biter finish. I am at a bit of a loss as to how the game designers managed to construct such a complex array of potential combos and abilities and yet maintain consistent game balance. Yet that is exactly what has been done.
You are constantly going through a cycle of thinking out a three-card, multi-turn combo strategy, only to then get dealt a new card with new possibilities, only to then have a key asset blown to hell leaving you no choice but to scramble madly in a completely new direction, starting the cycle all over again. Your strategy is a balancing act between 'the ultimate combo' and 'whatever works'. And yet, it does work.
Whilst in play, the game feels like... well, it feels like 100 goblins being put through the 'Extra Smooth' setting on an industrial blender: noisy as hell and with a substantial amount of multi-coloured splatter. Yet the end result is as smooth and rich a goblin smoothy as you could ever expect to enjoy^...
Keep or throw back?
Gosu has been a smash success across multiple gaming groups. The veteran crowd and the casual gamer are both at home with Gosu. With stunning visuals, a great tongue-in-cheek flavour and incredible replayability, this really IS the next big card game. Also, in this time of credit crunches and Wall Street gremlins (o-ho-ho), a great looking, great playing game for under $40 is amazing. If you enjoy high-octane card gaming with a penchant for combo building and possess a healthy streak of goblin-fueled sadism, then this is a no-brainer. One of my favourite card games.
LINKS:
Rules: http://bit.ly/GosuUS (http://bit.ly/GosuUS)
FAQs (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-faq-us/)
2v2 rules (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-2v2-usfr/)
Tournament Rules (http://www.moonstergames.com/gosu-tournament-rules-usfr/)