I have to write a more
glowing commentary on
Shadowfist. I must admit, I've seen relatively few of the movies of the
Hong Kong action genre on which the game is based. However, this game is the most fun I've ever had with a card game, and I've played
Magic,
Jyhad (now
Vampire: The Eternal Struggle),
Heresy (another really good dead CCG), and a few others. There are two things which distinguish this game:
subject matter and
play mechanics, which work well together to create an excellent overall
flavor.
In the subject matter category, I just need to point out that things can get even weirder than
SabreCat described. Sure, it's
a war throughout time fought over control of points with massive
feng shui in order to control all of
history, but that's not THAT strange on its own. Things get sort of bizarre when you take the
Ascended, former animals in human shape who are secretly conspiring with
the military-industrial complex to rule the world, ally them with the
Four Monarchs of the
Netherworld, and pit the alliance against the
Architects of the Flesh, technological magicians from a future
fascist state who went back in time to harvest demons, and then brought them forward in time so that they could mutate them and cybernetically enhance them into
abominations--a rather unpleasant fighting force. If you have more players, you might find the
Shaolin of the
Guiding Hand dropping by to kick some ass (their
chi is strong). Add to that the crazy items (SabreCat mentioned the
Really Big Gun, which I think is dwarfed in sheer coolness by the
Bag Full of Guns or the
Probability Manipulator) and wonderfully
chaotic events (
Who's the Big Man Now? and
Tick...Tick...Tick... come to mind), and you've got some serious coolness going on. All of this is just magnified by frequently hilarious
flavor text on the cards (for example, "You have the subtle powers of chi manipulation. I have an entire battalion of slavering, bioengineered ogres, howling for blood. Wonder which of us is going to win, hmmm?" on
Abominable Wave, or, "Grenades are much more effective in the movies than in real life. This ain't real life," on
Grenade Launcher, or even, "Don't ask us; even we don't know," on
Mysterious Stranger).
The
play mechanics work very well with the
theme. Just as the ideas behind the game are completely over-the-top, involving more bizarre premises than you can shake a stick at, so too is the play. The game is littered with crazily
overpowered cards, such that the
balance of power can change radically in a moment. So many of the events allow players to keep their power hidden until things look as though one of their opponents is about to win, that
one never knows what will happen, because the game is pretty good at filling up each person's hand every round. This is very different from many games, and it can cause people to be a little
paranoid, but it's an absolute blast if you're in
the right mood.
Not
a game for everyone or all times, by any means, but if you aren't looking for finely-tuned
play balance, but are instead interested in doing
lots of cool, fun stuff, it's a
fabulous choice.
UPDATE:
I wanted to add a link to
mcguffins: the big fat lie--it starts out with a pretty good description of what is at stake if you lose the game. :-)