Escape from The Aliens in Outer Space: Ultimate Edition

As a hidden role/deduction board-gamer enthusiast, this is a great game. Here are my thoughts:* THEME: Excellent. You really feel as though you are in a zone on a spaceship trying to either escape from aliens or that you are a flesh-eating alien hunting your human prey...all in the dark. Makes for very intense gaming, keeping you on the edge of your seat like a horror movie...just awesome.* BALANCE: Sometimes in two-sided games the sides are not balanced. Not so here. I feel there is a great balance between the aliens and the humans. The card selection sometimes favors the humans, sometimes not, sometimes the aliens, sometimes not. Additionally, in even-numbered games, there is an equal amount of aliens and humans (3 to 8 players). If there is an odd number, you have one more alien than humans. This makes for an even-tensioned game throughout.* REPLAYABILITY: Excellent. There are 8 "zones" that you can play in on the spaceship, which is chosen by the group before play begins. Some of the zones have an open floor plan, some are more linear, some are bigger, some are smaller, etc. The instruction manual includes a description of each zone and a suggested amount of players for each zone. NOTE: The instruction MANUAL incorrectly matched a couple of the zone names with the wrong picture of the zone (specifically, I'm guessing that the pictures for the Fermi and Galvani zones in the instructional booklet should be reversed). It appears that the dry-erase BOOKLET has the CORRECT name and picture combination. Also, my copy came with only 7 books (there should be 8)...so check to see that you received all 8 books. I contacted Osprey and they are sending me the additional book...very good and quick customer service from England.Another bit to add here: You can play a "basic" game or an "advanced" game. The basic game disregards (i) items that are found on the spaceship and (ii) disregards character abilities for both humans and aliens. Of course, you can "house rule" this game and play with items, but not character abilities, or character abilities and not items, for an "intermediate" game. This adds another whole couple of layers of re-playabiltiy. Since there are more characters than players, and since character roles are drawn randomly, this also adds more excitement to each game.* COMPONENT QUALITY: In this "ultimate" edition, you have a book that works with dry-erase markers...much better then the prior version that included paper versions of the zones. The cards are just "ok." This is the one item where I feel there should be better quality. I sleeved my cards with the GREEN Fantasy Flight card sleeves for additional protection. After doing so, all fits in the box still, but snugly. After I receive my 8th dry-erase booklet (see above), I may need more room to fit my sleeved cards, at which point I'll tear down the cardboard compartments. I suppose this could be another small gripe (for all board game publishers)...please make your game boxes/containers large enough to accommodate sleeved cards. I'd rather not tear out the box's innards, but I'll do it to fit my sleeved cards.* FUN FACTOR: Very high. In the beginning, no one knows who is who. For those of you that get jazzed about hidden roles, this creates so much fun and laughter...trying to guess who is who.While I would describe this game as "2-sided," it is not necessarily "2-teamed," particularly for the humans. Here is why: There are 4 escape pods in the zone you are playing. There are 5 "escape pod cards" that are shuffled and placed face down on the table. When a human lands on an escape pod, which are numbered 1-4, that human announces that he has landed on "pod #___," then he draws an escape pod card. Four of these cards are green (you escape in that pod)...one is red (the pod malfunctioned). If a pod is used, now the other remaining humans have one less pod to use to escape (tons of fun, particularly when you escape as the first human and then other humans are like "Dang, only 3 pods left where 1 could be damaged.") All of the humans don't need to escape for the other escaped humans to win.Escape pods are unusable when (i) a human uses one to escape or (ii) a human draws the one red escape pod card. As a human, you already feel a huge amount of tension as you try to escape the zone in the dark. However, this tension increases as escape pods become unusable. If you play with 2 or 3 people (this game plays 2 to 8), there is only one human. Therefore, once you escape as a human, it's game over. While this is still a huge amount of fun, I really like the "extra" tension that humans feel when there are 2 or more humans (need 4 to 8 players) and another human successfully escapes the zone, leaving less pods available. Tons of fun.Additionally, aliens can kill each other (usually by accident). Therefore, humans and aliens are "kind of" on the same team, but "kind of not." This is a very interesting dynamic.* CONS: I already alluded to them above, but here they are at quick glance: Would have liked better card quality and a larger box to more comfortably fit sleeved cards.This game is full of tension, full of fun, and full of laughs.All in all, this is great game of hidden deduction and role-playing with strong edge-of-your-seat tension throughout. I recommend for family and game groups, particularly if you like hidden role/deduction games.PS: As of this review, there is one 3-star review for a "dirty" instructional book and a scuffed box. I would not let this review dissuade you from buying this game. First, the scuffed up box sounds like a shipping problem, which would not relate to the publisher of the game if not purchased through Osprey, and even if it was, a scuffed up box should not be, in my opinion, related to the game itself. At least rate the game on Amazon with the "stars" and have a separate star rating in the body of the review if the shipping negatively impacts you. Second, I saw that Joseph from Osprey responded to this reviewer and said he would gladly ship out a new instructional booklet. I happened to notice that this is the same fellow that helped me and he did so within 12 hours of being emailed. I also don't feel that dirty instructions should be combined in the rating that includes a rating on the actual gameplay.P.S.S. Since I'm seeing an explosion of reviews wrought with a conflict of interest and bias: I paid full price for this product. This is a REAL review, not a "Vine" review and I was NOT given this product at a discount "in exchange for an honest review" (really wish Amazon would prohibit such reviews).

This is great hidden Movement game!Having played several other hidden movement games (specter Ops, Fury of Drac, Scotland Yard) this game solves the biggest problem all those had, who gets to be the hidden person, because everyone is moving in secret! The game play is very simple so even our lighter gamers picked it up quickly and enjoyed it but there is still a lot of challenge and strategy in what you do so the “hardcore” players enjoy it. They have added several good mechanics in the job classes for each race and the random noise cards/Items that give the game some extra fun. The other big bonus of this game is that it plays up to 8 people. I can say that it scales very well between 5 or 8 people.The quality of the materials is also great, the dry erase maps clean off well and the pens still work after a dozen plays. The card stock is typical of games nowadays so if you know you are going to play a lot it would not hurt to get some card sleeves.They offer several Maps to play and some can be a lot more challenging but gives good variety for tons of repeat plays. The game time can vary based on play style and number of players but so far we have not had a game last an hour.Overall a great great game! Works for a large range of players, easy to pick up, and fun to play. This game is a go to pick on game nights for us now.If I had to put one thing negative on here it would be that it is a coop game so it is a shared victory most the time, but we house rule in the alien with the most kills wins and a tie is broken by a death match between the aliens.

If you love strategy and games that take some thought, you will love this game! It doesn’t take that long to learn and it is extremely fun. Whether playing as a human or alien, it can be very nerve wracking and a real thrill! I would definitely recommend this game to any strategy lovers. The only thing I would say is that the dry erase markers they send do not last very long, they’re cheap. I went and bought a box of 8 ultra fine tip dry erase markers and those are absolutely perfect for this game!

The game is an excellent way to test your wits against other players. The strategy elements of the game are superb and enough to keep you guessing. The game is fun for competitive and non competitive players alike, however some of the maps are impossible to win as the human team if there are more than 2 players. Other than that, there is great balance between RNG and strategy. Being able to lie quickly and persuasively is a must for this game to be played at its most optimal level.This game has a secured position in my weekly game nights with family.

How do I explain all of the ways that I love this game? First off, the quality is wonderful. Not the dry erasers but those never are. The cards however are phenomenal. They’re thick and soft and I want to hold them forever.The gameplay itself can be truly kick ass. It’s like Battleship if it were a group game. And mostly silent... but that’s not my point! My point is that the gameplay is wonderful. As long as you’re playing with the right people. This is a cat and mouse game. If you’re playing with someone that can’t bluff or just isn’t intuitive/strategic it doesn’t go over super well. Admittedly, I’m not the best at strategy games but I quickly figured my way past that. And if I can, so can you. So please, buy this amazing game! You will not regret it. Ever.