Sometimes you just want to scream in space. Unfortunately, in space, no one can hear you scream. Fortunately, the board game ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo, by Ravensburger can be played in the atmosphere of your living room. Have you always wanted to step in the shoes of Ellen Ripley, the bad guy from James Bond: Live and Let Die, or other main roles of this enigmatic ensemble of characters? Does the famous Xenomorph give you the creeps? Does aiming a flamethrower at this alien gives you the hots? Or do you just love games where you are a space trucker (and not a Galaxy Trucker)? Then this is the board game for you!
In Alien, each player chooses the role of one of the crew members of the space freighter Nostromo. Each character has their own special abilities. The game takes place entirely on board this ship. In different rooms, secret tokens are placed (showing the Xenomorph or hissing Jonesy, Ripley’s cat) and supplies and materials are scattered around. The aim of the game is to go to war against the Xenomorph by completing x number of missions, depending on the number of players. Many of the missions are of the pick-up-and-deliver kind: Players have to fabricate or pick up items and bring them to specific areas in the ship. True space truckers. Depending on which room on the ship you enter and which “end-of-turn” events take place, the Xenomorph strikes. Does the crew manage to complete all missions before the Xenomorph has attacked the crew too many times? If so, the crew will survive the Nostromo and stay alive for another cargo mission. Does the murderous alien strike too many times and reach the end of its meter? Then you end up as a nest for alien eggs. That will get your tummy tingling, won’t it?
The wonderful thing about ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo is that the game blends the ALIEN theme perfectly with challenging and appropriate gameplay. Like previous hits from Ravensburger such as JAWS and Jurassic Park, the game really plays similar the film. The atmosphere is oppressive, as the alien could be waiting for you behind every corner. In a blood-curdling race against time, you must work together with your fellow players to escape. The characters have matching skills and the board game also really looks like the spaces as depicted in the film. The weapons in this game that you can create also are taken straight out of the film and have logical functions that so fit the theme and gameplay. For this game (more so than Ravensburger’s other movie board games), if you’ve seen the film(s), the game feels even cooler.
Although I’d rather get rid of the the stowaway Xenomorph, I happily return to the Nostromo for a fun, exciting and challenging cooperative board game. Game over, man? Didn’t think so!
