Review of Zeta-Gear: Z-G Interaction Figures

Zeta Gear is an interactive action figure game for 2-4 players. It is produced by the newly established company Atomoton. Founded by Vampire: The Masquerade creator Mark Rein*Hagen, Atomoton is a definite departure from the gothic world of darkness. Zeta-Gear is a science-fiction/anime wham bam! fest of action.

The key components of the game are a deck of 10 cards, and a brightly colored action figure, these come together in one blister pack, called the Starter. One card in the deck represents your Hero, the other nine cards represent the gear and equipment he totes in with him to battle. The Action Figure in turn, is actually equipped with the gear represented on the cards.

The cards are well produced, and made of thick card stock. They have the same quality as a collectible game card. Maybe slightly better. The cards are used to enable play, judge range, resolve combat, and most gear cards have special abilities the piece of equipment can perform. While they add detail to the game, the figures are where the game really comes to life.

Each Starter figure is about 4 inches tall. The starter pack comes with an Ulster (the core figure, upon which you place all your gear) and an armory of weapons and armor.

Currently You can purchase three different types:

• The Vanguard Trooper: A red figure that comes with armor (including boots), a ranged weapon, a sword and a buckler.
• The Cestus Merc: A blue figure that comes with a loading grapple, a magnetic shield, a huge beam cannon, and a light combat shotgun. Not to mention armor and boots.
• The Armada Ensign: A green figure that includes a flight pack (with folding wing action), a claw melee weapon, a laser rifle, and a recoilless wrist cannon. This figure also comes with the armor and boots as well.

The figures are styled in an anime presentation. Each one looks like it came out of a japanese cartoon, ready to do robotic battle with one of its adversaries.

Each figure has 14 points of articulation. 14 points of articulation is an unheard of amount in most commercial toys. This figure is capable of doing yoga if you want it to. It can be posed in any number of ways during play. Advanced rules for Zeta-Gear actually include rules for posing the figure. However I'm only going to touch on the basic gameplay.

The game itself is played with the figures, using the cards to resolve actions like movement and combat. You select cards to get an impulse number, which is basically your initiative. The person with the highest impulse gets to place their figure first, the next and so on. Once the area of play is established (and trust me, you can use a whole room as the play field) you begin play.

Play is quick, and furious. Combat is resolved by using an attack card from your hand. You match the colored triangles on the end of your attack card with the triangles on the end of a card chosen from your opponents "target deck". Target cards are played faced down and spun to ensure randomness. Once spun you flip the target card face up to see how many matches (0 to 3) the colored fringes make. The target card represents the gear you attack,and the potential damage an opponent might take. The number of matches indicate the amount of damage you do to your opponent. If you manage to "slag" an opponents gear (minimum 2 matches), the card for that gear is removed from play and placed in a slag heap. The accompanying accessory is then removed from the figure, and play continues.

The game is a weird combination of Gundam meets strip poker. With slagged gear being removed from the Ulster until your left nearly defenseless. However the mechanic works well. The winner is the person who can slag the other players Ulster (The core figure that all the action gear snaps on to) first, or reduce their deck to less than three cards.

There is a lot of possible variation. You can customize the gear on your figure (for instance, arming it John Woo style with twin chain guns, and a rocket pack) with gear from other figures. Add the fact that each card has some sort of special ability, and the game can get very strategic.

PROS: The figures look cool, the premise is pretty neat, and its quick. You can play a game in ten minutes. The mix and match factor with the equipment also adds a bit of charm to it. The resolution of movement and action is simple, once you figure it out.

CONS: The instructions for the game require a lot of guess work, and are kind of confusing, even for an adult. The advanced games are even more complicated. There is a campaign book coming out that will probably clarify the rules It is supposed to add character creation, campaigns, and equipping your Ulster.

Overall Zeta-Gear is a fairly cool game. Despite my problems with the rules being initially confusing, I find it a lot of fun. With the addition of accessory packs and more figures coming out in the future, the game has a lot of potential.

At $14.95 a figure you're paying about the same for a CCG starter and a couple of boosters. Instead you get a sweet action figure, some cards, and you are ready to play with someone else right out of the box. They will of course, need their own Zeta-Gear figure to play.