Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Original and Alliance versions

Resident Evil has always been one of my favorite video games to play.  Now it has finally been released in card game format!  The creators at Bandai have taken advantage of the new deck building trend to market their zombie slaying game.  Late last year they released the original game and have finally released the anticipated second release Resident Evil the Deck Building Game: Alliance (I will now refer to the two as the original game and the alliance game).

What is a deck building game?

A deck building game is very different than a card collecting game or even a living card game (examples being Magic the Gathering or Warhammer Invasion).  The main difference is that each player typically starts the game with the same small deck (usually about 10-12 cards) of preset cards.  Each turn a player will draw his/her hand from his own deck and then use that hand to complete tasks for that turn.  Usually the most common task is to beef up their deck by purchasing cards from a "store" of some kind.  In resident evil there are at least 18 piles of different purchasable cards to select from each game.  Cards in your hand that have a gold value on them may be added up to buy one card per turn.  Upon purchasing a card it is put into your discard pile. Upon drawing the last card from your deck and needing to draw yet another card the player reshuffles his own discard pile to form his deck/draw pile yet again, enabling you to be able to use your newly purchased cards. 

What makes it different than the other deck building games?

The main difference is very obvious, the ridiculously cool Resident Evil theme!  The other main difference is that Resident Evil the Deck Building Game has multiple game modes.  The story mode has you working individually to eliminate the threats in the mansion and ultimately defeating a boss to end the game.  Mercenary mode allows you to form teams (either every man for himself, 2 vs.2, or 1 vs. 3) and fight against a time limit to destroy the threats in the mansion.  Versus mode introduces the unique opportunity to directly fight against the other characters.  Alliance introduces the partner mode which can be used with any of the above mentioned game modes.  Each player now controls a main character and a partner to dish out more damage and have more abilities!  By far this is the best way to play and you may never want to play without partner mode again.

Does the game follow the video games or movies?

The card game mainly appears to follow the video games.  The more games you have played in the series, the more you should recognize.  For example, Leon is one of the characters that was seen in the video game Resident Evil 4.  As far as the movies are concerned, you will only recognize certain things that overlapped from the video games to the movies.  Carlos Olivera is introduced in the alliance game as a character and was also a character in the Apocalypse and Extinction movies.

So what's in the box?  What's in the box?!?

I have scanned the images of all of the cards in each of the games.  Some of the cards only have one copy of each in the box (such as characters and special weapons) while many have duplicates (such as actions, ammunition and basic weapons).  Background colors will be used to show which cards are available in each set.  Red will represent the original game while blue will represent the alliance game.  If the background is striped it means that the cards are in both games.
(To better view text simply click on an image to enlarge it to full-screen).

Original Game Characters

Original Characters with Promo Versions

Alliance Characters that were also in the original game.  They have new images and new abilities.

New Alliance Characters

Original Action Cards

More Original Action Cards

Alliance Action Cards

More Alliance Action Cards

Token cards in both games

Ammunition Cards from both games

Events: An Alliance only Feature

Items: can't live without them

Basic Weapons

Shotguns and Automatics

Elite Pistols and Long-range Rifles

Other Miscellaneous Weaponry

Upcoming Amazingly Cool Games!!

We just thought we would share a little of our excitement about some of the "soon to be released" boardgames.  Now we must admit that these will be a little biased towards the types of games that we enjoy.


Plants vs. Zombies: The Board Game

The video game spread across the world like.... well like a zombie outbreak.  Even many of Caitlin's second grade students have it for XBox or PC.  We both love the PC version as well even though the very thought of plants fighting zombies seems a bit ridiculous.  Anyways, Zombies are invading your house!  So of course you don't happen to own any guns (being the non-violent, kind person that you are) so you must make do with what you do have, PLANTS!!  Plant various types of plants, each with their own special abilities/functions and stop the zombies from attacking your house!


Nightfall

Deck-building card games have been the hottest thing out there since Dominion series got the ball rolling.  AEG is soon to release (I hope in April) the "first" deck-building game that is designed for players to directly attack each other!  Take on the role of vampires, werewolves, or ghouls and be the last one standing.  In addition to the unique direct attack feature, chain attacks will even further the player interaction in this much anticipated card game.  (For those who don't know deck-building games are not like Magic the Gathering.  Everyone starts with the same amount and types of cards and throughout the game will "purchase" and add to their deck to make it stronger.  You don't go buy packs of cards and put together decks before the game, you do it during the game.)



Mansions of Madness

Fantasy Flight Games is releasing its next big boy game.  It is set in the same world as the Arkham Horror games.  Players will venture into the mansion and follow clues to embark on a dangerous mission to discover the sources of evil within and destroy it!.... or maybe even just escape with their lives.  This should be fun to play (if you can afford its hefty price) with several unique scenarios (each with a different mansion map setup) making it a very re-playable game.

Catacombs

So this one is going to be a hoot.... yes a HOOT.  If you have ever experienced Dungeonquest, this is similarly themed, but in a cooperative twist.  Heroes team up to defeat the Catacombs Lord, who is played by one of the players (the Overseer).  Now here is the best part... fighting.  You don't roll dice, you don't just draw cards, and you don't do rock paper scissors.  Fighting is done by flicking discs at each other.  If you hit the enemy disc, you cause it damage.... if not..... uh oh it won't be pleasant for you.  Having played a lighthearted dungeon game like Dungeonquest and loved it (along with most everyone else who has been taught it) I am sure this one will cause lots of laughs for all ages and types of players.  It seems also to be a great way to get players who "just aren't into those games" to actually play dungeon exploring type games.


A NOTE ON BUYING GAMES!
Buying boardgames from Walmart and Target.... well these types don't exist there (except maybe the Plants vs. Zombies game).  Do NOT purchase from the comic stores that carry games, they charge retail prices.  For those of you in Utah County we have Boardgame Revolution that sells them for 25-30% off retail (they also do online orders).  Never pay retail price for a game!