Last Night on Earth

Great fun and a great game system! There are very few things (if any) that are not covered in the rulebook as the rules are very simple and straightforward. Heroes or zombies can "always" or "never" do a particular action, so it leaves little to interpretation or arguing once you have read the rules (very important!). And the cards are clearly worded as well.
The map variations, cards and differing hero abilities make for a different game experience even if you play the same scenario each time (the game comes with five scenarios and there are currently two scenarios available on the website in PDF form).
So if you love or even just like zombie flicks, this game is for you! The material is high quality (art and photos) and the soundtrack adds a great final touch.
Cheers,
John

I love this game, it is very atmospheric, and reflects the zombie horror movie themes brilliantly, while still being a fun game to play. I came to it having been disappointed with Zombies!!! This plays completely differently. The zombies are really dangerous and the heroes will want to run from them unless they are tooled up with weapons.

There can be one or two zombie players, and up to four heroes players. Its a co-operative game, zombies vs the heroes. There are various scenarios, that can be played which reflect aspects of zombie horror movies. Like find the keys and gasoline for a truck so the heroes can escape town, or burn the spawning pits to stop the zombies coming, etc. Each scenario has a limited turn count, so it won't drag on indefinitely (a common problem with Zombies!!!), so a game usually takes a few hours at most, while learning, probably less time once you get the hang of it.

These multiple scenarios combined with multiple possible board layouts and mixture of different heroes and two random draw decks (hero and zombie) means lots of replay without it feeling the same.

Main drawback is if the heroes don't well work together then it can seem a little one-sided and the random hero and zombie deck can make things difficult if the card you need don't come up, while the other players cards do come up.

Last Night on Earth
A challenger for the Zombies!!! crown has finally emerged and it looks like LNOE is reaching up a desiccated hand to take the top spot. Set in the sleepy, rural town of Woodinvale, the dead have risen and the town residents must get themselves tooled up and band together to fight the undead horde.
At least one player gets control of the zombies, whilst the rest control the pitifully small band of townsfolk. The Heroes range from the Lovely Jenny the farm girl, Becky the nurse, Sally the school girl.. Ahhh you got me that’s all the crumpet, the rest are a pretty rugged bunch of dudes including: the Local Jock, Sheriff, High School Drop Out and Spooky Priest. After the characters are assigned, the board is set up. The town square is the only permanent feature. The game comes with six L-shaped boards, only four of which can surround the town Square, adding a bit of randomness to the map.
Far from being a random monster bash, the game comes with five varied scenarios, where the Heroes have to complete the tasks by the allotted time or become one with the rampaging hordes of maggoty fiends. The truck Scenario has the Heroes hunting for Gas and Keys to escape the town, Die! Zombies Die! Requires them to dismember 15 Zombies before dawn, without loosing two heroes, The Manor is a basic defend the building for 15 turns.
Movement for the Heroes is by Die roll, though they can choose to stay put and draw a card from their present location. Zombies stumble ‘George Romero’ style at a groaning one space a turn. This may not sound like much, but characters in a building or the centre of the map, can quickly find their escape routes blocked off.
Combat is what makes the game. It is elegantly resolved with the zombie rolling one die and the heroes rolling two, Zombies win on ties. But these zombies don’t die easy. Sure, you can win combat, but this only fends them off for a turn, the only way to stop them permanently is to roll a double-hard to do without any weapons. Baseball bats, Chainsaws and Farm Tools can up the Hero’s dice count making a kill more likely, also event cards give them more bonuses, but the Zombies get these too! Taking them out at a distance is the only way to stay safe, but guns are few and far between and quickly run out of ammo. Plus if a Hero succumbs to their wounds their mutilated corpse gets to rise and join the Zombies, as a powerful Hero Zombie,
To get cards Heroes must be in a building and skip their move to draw. The locations on the board also let the Heroes fish for cards form the discard pile depending on where they are. The Hospital for instance lets them search for First Aid, while the Sheriffs Office lets them get a Revolver from the discards.
The game is realised in almost movie quality, with photo art and character cards, it also comes with a sound track to set the mood. The production values are very high and card stock, boards and counters are very hardy. Photos on the cards are filled with cute models, but the gore itself is 12A rather than full on Zombies!! carnage. The 14 Zombie figures come in three varied moulds and the eight heroes are individually rendered in plastic, to a high standard.
The game doesn’t take itself too seriously and is just genuinely a good fun blast whether you win or loose. Play time doesn’t really go past an hour due to the specific scenario goals and the ‘Dead By Dawn’ 20 turn sun track, that counts down the game. Scenario balance does vary though, if you find the right Items you need fast enough ‘The Truck’ can more or less be completed in three turns, whereas ‘Defending The Manor’ can be nigh impossible unless you can get tooled up with some shooters pretty fast. Overall this is gaming goodness at its B-Movie best and I recommend it to any Horror fan with all my torn-out, blood-dripping, still-beating heart.

More involved than other zombie games I could mention “Last Night on Earth” perhaps takes the crown for top zombie game on the market at present.

New publisher ‘Flying Frog Productions’ has really gone to town on their first and what I’m sure will be the flagship game for some time. Packed with beautifully sculpted miniatures, lovely, sturdy components, and amazing photographic artwork the game certainly looks really impressive. However it also delivers elsewhere.

Perhaps the main draw of the game is its (successful) attempt to put you in your very own zombie B-movie. All the game’s mechanics, rules and artwork are designed to create a sense of narrative that utilises staples from zombie films whilst not detracting from the gameplay. The rules themselves have some role-playing hallmarks, but are simple and based on keywords, with cards altering rules of anything with a matching keyword. Match the words, apply the new rules. Dead (hah ha) simple.

The addition of a soundtrack for the game is further proof that Flying Frog really enjoy their subject matter and have made every effort to present something new and wonderful to horror fans. The best part is they’ve succeeded.