Awesome Level 9000—A Double-Take Review (Plus a Video!)

Welcome to Theology Of Games' very first Double-Take Video Review! We're still going to do the written review, but we're experimenting with some video reviews and previews. Yes, we know this video is raw—and we made lots of mistakes and have lots of things to learn. But we're going to get better! So check after the jump for the written and video review...

Awesome Level 9000 is an expansion for the hit "shufflebuilding" game Smash Up. You can read our review of that game right here.

The Components

4 new Factions: 20 cards in each Faction (Plants, Steampunk, Bears, and Ghosts)

VP tokens

8 New Base cards

16 original Base cards with updated graphics.

The Setup and Gameplay

This expansion doesn't really add any new mechanisms, so if you want to see how to play the game, just check the review of the original at the link above.

The Factions

Ghosts

These guys get stronger as your hand gets smaller. So there are a number of cards that allow you to discard cards or get rid of cards, and then others that give you VPs if your hand is small enough.

Bears

The Bears will just eat your face off. They're not complex, and there's not much nuance. There's just face-eating bears that will eat your face off and then poop out your face. Ewwww....

Plants

The plants want to overwhelm you—with both their numbers and their ability to stay out on the table. And the longer they're out there, the worse it is for their opponents. Better grab the weed killer...

Steampunk

The Steampunks are all about playing actions on bases and then triggering effects or talents that let you move your own minions to those bases with actions on them, or move your opponents' away from there. And they have that cool locomotive-helicopter thing!

The Verdict, and Recommendations

Jeremiah—If you love Smash Up!, you'll love this expansion; it's more of the same with enough twists and additions to tell that it wasn't just phoned in.

Firestone—It's a great expansion. It adds more of the stuff you want from the base game, and then throws in some cool extras—all for a low $20 price point!

Jeremiah—I'm so happy AEG added VP tokens, the pen and paper thing was reminiscent of playing 5 Crowns or Hearts or something. Even with my snazzy scorekeeper app it felt like I didn't have everything I needed in the box. It was an oversight in the base set, but they were awesome enough to correct it!

Firestone—Well, the lack of VPs in the base game felt like more than an oversight to me—there's no way VP trackers didn't come up in playtesting. So it just felt like they were being cheap at the expense of gameplay. But they included them here, and they're awesome. All is forgiven!

Another great and unexpected addition is the updated Bases! The font size is now larger, so it's easier to read from across the table. Both this and the VP chits are things AEG didn't have to do, but the fact that they did is really, really great. It shows a company willing to admit mistakes, listen to their customers, and go the extra mile to make it right. I love that.

Jeremiah—I'm a fan of all the new factions with maybe the exception of the Ghosts. Mechanically it's a very cool concept that ties into the theme very well!—It's the theme for me that doesn't jive; it's very non-threatening but. Meh...it's still Ghosts.

Firestone—I don't mind the Ghosts as much as Jeremiah. But maybe that's just because one of the factions in the base game is Zombies, and those are way creepier than the Ghosts.

I really like the Bear and Steampunk factions. The Plants are just okay to me because...well, they're plants. It's hard for me to get excited about plants.

Jeremiah—The plants I thought were cool, they remind me of Little Shop of Horrors, or even better that awesome BBC miniseries of Day of the Triffids! B-film making at its finest!

Firestone—My biggest problem with the base game is unchanged here, so it's still a problem: You spend a ton of time reading cards... I have to read my cards, and then when I get ready to play a card I need to read other cards on the table. And then when I play a card I need to read it aloud to the table. And then when it's the next person's turn, they go through the same thing. It's not at all a dealbreaker for me, and it hasn't kept me from playing the game with my 8-year-old. But it's probably the #1 thing that keeps it from getting played in my game group.

Jeremiah Final Verdict—I'm a big fan if the Smash Up franchise, the shuffle building technique is ingenious, and I learned and can teach the game in about 2 minutes! I love that AL9K offers more options and a little more depth, but doesn't make wholesale fundamental changes to the game, you can pick it up add it to your base set and know the different card abilities in about 30 seconds!

Firestone Final Verdict—This game has definitely grown on me. I thought it was fine when I played in my game group, but it's really shined for me as I've played with my oldest. This expansion is a great addition, and as I said before, it adds just what this game needed in an affordable package. And I agree with Jeremiah: no new major rules craziness means you just open the box and you're ready to seamlessly add to the base game and play! And play you should!

Sooo?

Put It On the Table! You may not bring it out for the young kids because of the Ghosts and all the reading. But it's a fun, light game for gamers, great family game, and the learning curve is fast for casual players!

Thanks for reading! And now...feel free to watch! Here's the video review. Remember: First attempt! But feel free to offer constructive criticism...and subscribe to the YouTube channel! Thanks!

Oh, don't forget! You can get Awesome Level 9000 on Amazon here!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRAnTMZO7gg&w=560&h=315]

Hot Off the Press!

Just minutes ago Alderac Entertainment Group posted this picture of Paul Peterson's new Awesome Level 9ooo expansion for Smash Up. It's an ACTUAL box that is making its way to store for International TableTop day later this month! Follow all the linky text above to find our complete coverage! And enjoy oooing, and aaahing over the photo!

Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000 Release Date

Alderac Entertainment Group issued an update to their fans concerning the eagerly awaited release of Awesome Level 9000—the first expansion to last year's smash hit Smash Up! It looks like fans will just barely get their hands on the new cards by the end of this month, with a final and full release hitting in early April. From the Alderac FaceBook page -

We're giving mad props to Aldrac for actually keeping their fans posted with solid details about the release date for this title. Now we don't have to pester our local favorite game store with scads of phone calls asking if it's arrived yet.

We chatted with Smash Up designer Paul Peterson about AL9K, you can read that full interview here.

And as always you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for reading!

Awesome Level 9000! An interview with Smash Up Designer Paul Peterson

We here at TOG have certainly been anticipating the first expansion of Smash Up! (one of our top 10 games of 2012). And to say we’re more than a little excited about today’s interview would be completely accurate. Today we’re chatting with Paul Peterson, designer of Smash Up! and its first expansion Awesome Level 9000—and much, much more. Paul, we’re so glad you’ve given us some time in your busy schedule. Thanks for chatting with us today!

First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’ve been a professional game designer for almost 20 years (and an amateur before that.)  I started out at Wizards of the Coast working on Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, and pretty much every other CCG the company put out while I was there.

Since then I’ve worked on a truly staggering variety of game types from MMOs to games for girls to games for mobile devices to social games.

No matter what area I’m working in, though, my heart always goes back to board games.  I couldn’t be happier about the success that Smash Up is having.

Let’s go back to last year and the release of Smash Up. How did Smash Up come to be? And how did you land on the shuffle-building concept?

One of my favorite things about CCGs is building your deck from all of the cards available, but that can be a daunting task.  So I started thinking about ways to capture that same feeling of customizing your deck without getting overwhelmed.  Shuffle-building was what I came up with.  The theme of different factions working together was a natural fit, although the game itself was much different when I initially started designing it.

It was originally much closer to my CCG roots in games like Magic: the Gathering, and players putting minions in front of them and attacking each other.  The hook was that you could play one of your minions on top of another one to make a combo minion that was both a Ninja and a Robot, for example.  But it really wasn’t coming together very well so I kept changing it.

The game went through a couple of other incarnations, but it wasn’t until I decided to make the game revolve around fighting for control of bases that things really fell into place, and Smash Up as it is today took shape.  

Can you tell us the story of getting the game to market and your experience working with AEG?

Once I had the basic game done, I polished and playtested it a lot. I eventually had a version that I thought really showed the potential of the game, I decided to take it to the GAMA Trade Show and show it around to the all the game manufacturers.  The show takes place around March and that is when they are usually starting to think about what games they want to make in the next year, so there are a lot of meetings between the companies and designers with games to show.

I met with several companies there and showed them Smash Up (although at the time it was named “Pirate, Ninja, Zombie, Robot.”)  Everyone liked the idea of building decks by shuffling them together, but my meeting with AEG was different.  John Zinser instantly liked the game.  It seemed to strike a chord with him.  After the demo he wanted to play again immediately, and after that game he got very excited and started talking about all the things we could do with the game.  He started contacting his staff and setting up meetings with me to show them the game as well.  It was very gratifying to see .  I knew instantly that this was the company that I wanted to make this game and luckily it all came together.

AEG has been amazing to work with through the entire process.  They have a tremendous amount of respect for the designers they work with, and want us as involved as we’re willing to be.  I’ve had a lot of control over the vision of the game and input into areas that I might not have gotten with other companies. So, as the release of Awesome Level 9000 (which is probably my favorite expansion name ever) draws near, we’ve seen LOTS of search terms in our metrics regarding “When is the Smash Up expansion release date?” So can you tell us and the world: What is the Smash Up expansion release date?

It is printed and on its way. You should see it on store shelves at the end of March or early April at the latest.  I can't wait! We know the expansion will feature 4 new factions and some new bases; does it add any other rules, or changes to the game itself?

Each of the four new factions adds new mechanics and strategies to the game, but they all do so within the same rule set as the base game. We wanted to expand the universe a bit before we started changing all of the rules on the players. The second expansion, though...

What is your favorite faction in the Smash Up world?

That’s a tough one.  I am very partial to the Plants in the expansion, but overall I think the Zombies are my favorite.  They have so many interesting cards like Tenacious Z and Mall Crawl. Here’s a suggestion for a future faction: Bloggers!—the pen is mightier than the sword! (That’s a freebie...) Anyway...your design credits include games such as Guillotine, The Harry Potter CCG, and others; are there any games you’ve designed in the past that you would love to reboot or do a new edition of?

That is a great question because James Ernest and I just did exactly that for Unexploded Cow.  We originally designed the game in 2001 for his company, Cheapass Games.  When he decided to relaunch Cheapass Games this year he choose Unexploded Cow to be the flagship game for the company, so we pulled the game out and took a hard look at it.  We’ve both gained a lot of experience in the last 12 years and we found some areas of the game that we thought could use a little “sprucing up.” So we tweaked a bunch of the cards and changed the way the city deck worked and I think the game plays much better now, even though I loved the way it played back in 2001.

As for my other games, there is one small change I’d LOVE to make to Guillotine.  There is a card in the game called Callous Guards.  Currently it lasts until the person who played it wants it to end.  This was a huge mistake.  If I could go back, I’d make it last one turn.  I urge everyone to take my advice and play it as such. Looking at the inside tray of the core set of Smash Up, it’s apparent that the game was designed to be expanded. How soon can players expect yet another expansion?

Well, we aren't ready to announce a title or anything, but I can say that we are planning on having another expansion out for Gen Con this year.  We are just wrapping up the play testing on it and players are in for a few surprises. What are you top 5 games, and what do you love about those games?

At the moment my favorite games are:

Lords of Waterdeep - I’ve been a big fan of worker placement games since the first time I played Agricola, and I think that this is the best of them.  It plays fast, but the mechanics are elegant and all work very well together.

Magic: the Gathering - I don’t really have the time to keep up with the current deck technology in the ever changing world of professional play (which was a big inspiration for making Smash Up,) but I’m always willing to break out some preconstructed decks or do a draft or even a league.

Dominon - There have been many deckbuilding games that have added to the genre since Dominion came out, but this is still the best overall.  Some of the expansions are hit or miss, but overall the game still shines and continues to innovate.

Robo-Rally - Brain bending, robot destroying, factory racing fun.  Plus people do little dances in their seats to try to figure out what the program they are making will do.

Cosmic Encounter - I am talking here about the original version of the game.  The last several editions are just fine, but it’s the original version of the game that really taught me about how crazy a game can be and still be fun.

Are there any other non-Smash Up games on the horizon you can tell us about?

Well, a lot of my design efforts have been spent on Smash Up and Awesome Level 9000.  I have managed to squeeze in a few other projects:

As mentioned above, James Ernest and I reworked Unexploded Cow which should be available right about the time that your readers see this.

My friend Mike Selinker designed the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game for Paizo, and asked me to come do some design and development on it.  It is a huge project and we just finished the playtesting for that.  It should be out later this year.

I do have a couple of games in the works at a few companies, but they are all in early stages and won’t be announced or on shelves any time soon.

And, of course, I’ll be at the GAMA Trade Show this year with a couple of new board game designs that I’m pretty excited about. I hope you like rolling dice... Now it’s time for our 1-Word Answers section! (Short phrases are also allowed.)

Favorite burger topping?

Jalapenos

Favorite Hitchcock movie?

Psycho

Favorite board game designer who’s not you...?

A tie between James Ernest and Richard Garfield.

Favorite ship in the Star Wars universe?

Slave 1

Favorite Doctor? (And I don’t mean your urologist...)

Tom Baker

Thanks so much for taking some time to chat with us! We are looking forward to Awesome Level 9000 and more!

You can follow Paul on Twitter right here! And you can follow us on Twitter right here! And like us on FaceBook over here! And you can find out more about Awesome Level 9000 on the AEG website right here!

As always thanks for reading!