The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Ever want to smash down a skyscraper with your bare hands, scoop all those noisy residents into your slavering maw, then go thump another 100-foot-tall.. erm... bloke in a rubber suit? Yes? You need treatment, you do...

Alternatively, if you're looking for a giant monster smash-up game, this, fairly blatantly, given the title, is it. I found this in my local shop, in a big, bright box, and bought it immediately. Now it's a regular 'fill-in' game for our RPG club, for when we don't all turn up, or we just want a change.

So, what do you get? The aforementioned solid cardboard box has in it plastic boxes to contain all the cards (I'm sure it says how many somewhere, but it must be a couple of hundred), counter sheets for the human defence forces (poor things), various fire, pollution & radiation markers, and... some little rubber monsters :) All very simply, but effectively, colourfully and clearly produced & presented.

How do you play? Well, the terrain cards are laid out in a grid, probably 5x5 or bigger. These include residential, industrial, millitary, etc. areas, with structure, population & energy levels marked on where appropriate. Then each player gets 7 random cards from each of 4 types:

Bio-Cards (what the monster looks like),Physical Modifier cards (mutated or special bits), Power Cards (special stuff, like breath weapons or lasers), Powersource cards (what gives the monster strength, like radiation or chemicals, usually only used to fuel the Power cards)

Players then keep 10 total, and make a monster out of it.

So, good old Big G might have:

Bio-Cards: Allosaur, Ape, Whale (Gojira is a name derived from Gorilla-Whale, in homage to King Kong): Phys Mods: Dorsal Plates, Huge Tail: Powers: Breath weapon: Powersources: a couple of Radiation cards, a couple of Gaia cards

Put the monsters on the map, then 'tap' a card with the appropriate ability (move, attack, etc) when it's your turn. You can attack buildings, population (100 poor victims per point damage), or other monsters. If attacked, you have to 'tap' as many cards as the damage, or else one with armour (the Triceratops gets Armour 4) up to that value. So, no dice. You regenerate ('untap') one card per turn, or more if you're on a powersource of your chosen type (Big G can sit on a nuclear power station and heal up, for instance).

So, barring defence forces, Event cards, attack types, powering up, space, etc... that's it. What's so good about it? it's got everything you need, what more recommendation do you need? OK, it's not perfect, it's just black printed on various coloured card, we still occasionally miss out or get mixed up about sequences (11 lines of text for the sequence, we still get mixed up...) and there's a massive number of cards to shuffle, but we don't care.

Oh, and there's two add-ons, Destroy Tokyo Tower, a less than spectacular book of scenarios with some extra cards, and the Super Giant Monster Showdown Cybernetic Attachments Expansion Set (fitting the title on the box deserves an award...), another full box with lots more cards for the Mechagojira fans amongst us. A bit more complex using cybernetics, unfortunately, but the extra terrain & non-cybernetic cards are worth it.

See the lot at www.cybergecko.com

Super Giant Monster Showdown
Super Giant Monster Showdown Playtest Review by Wulf Corbett on 11/05/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Simple, complete, fun. The easy way to trash whole cities. Product: Super Giant Monster Showdown Author: Alex Strang Category: Card Game Company/Publisher: Cybergecko Line: SGMS Cost: $25 Page count: n/a Year published: 1999? ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Wulf Corbett on 11/05/01 Genre tags: Science Fiction Anime Diceless Other	Ever want to smash down a skyscraper with your bare hands, scoop all those noisy residents into your slavering maw, then go thump another 100-foot-tall.. erm... bloke in a rubber suit? Yes? You need treatment, you do... Alternatively, if you're looking for a giant monster smash-up game, this, fairly blatantly, given the title, is it. I found this in my local shop, in a big, bright box, and bought it immediately. Now it's a regular 'fill-in' game for our RPG club, for when we don't all turn up, or we just want a change. So, what do you get? The aforementioned solid cardboard box has in it plastic boxes to contain all the cards (I'm sure it says how many somewhere, but it must be a couple of hundred), counter sheets for the human defence forces (poor things), various fire, pollution & radiation markers, and... some little rubber monsters :) All very simply, but effectively, colourfully and clearly produced & presented. How do you play? Well, the terrain cards are laid out in a grid, probably 5x5 or bigger. These include residential, industrial, millitary, etc. areas, with structure, population & energy levels marked on where appropriate. Then each player gets 7 random cards from each of 4 types: Bio-Cards (what the monster looks like),Physical Modifier cards (mutated or special bits), Power Cards (special stuff, like breath weapons or lasers), Powersource cards (what gives the monster strength, like radiation or chemicals, usually only used to fuel the Power cards) Players then keep 10 total, and make a monster out of it. So, good old Big G might have: Bio-Cards: Allosaur, Ape, Whale (Gojira is a name derived from Gorilla-Whale, in homage to King Kong): Phys Mods: Dorsal Plates, Huge Tail: Powers: Breath weapon: Powersources: a couple of Radiation cards, a couple of Gaia cards Put the monsters on the map, then 'tap' a card with the appropriate ability (move, attack, etc) when it's your turn. You can attack buildings, population (100 poor victims per point damage), or other monsters. If attacked, you have to 'tap' as many cards as the damage, or else one with armour (the Triceratops gets Armour 4) up to that value. So, no dice. You regenerate ('untap') one card per turn, or more if you're on a powersource of your chosen type (Big G can sit on a nuclear power station and heal up, for instance). So, barring defence forces, Event cards, attack types, powering up, space, etc... that's it. What's so good about it? it's got everything you need, what more recommendation do you need? OK, it's not perfect, it's just black printed on various coloured card, we still occasionally miss out or get mixed up about sequences (11 lines of text for the sequence, we still get mixed up...) and there's a massive number of cards to shuffle, but we don't care. Oh, and there's two add-ons, Destroy Tokyo Tower, a less than spectacular book of scenarios with some extra cards, and the Super Giant Monster Showdown Cybernetic Attachments Expansion Set (fitting the title on the box deserves an award...), another full box with lots more cards for the Mechagojira fans amongst us. A bit more complex using cybernetics, unfortunately, but the extra terrain & non-cybernetic cards are worth it. See the lot at www.cybergecko.com