A review based on 7 plays (4 losses, 0 successful aborts, and 3 wins), all 2-player.
Missed opportunities.
This is the phrase that comes to mind when I think of Shadowrun: Crossfire. Don’t misunderstand me – I think this is a solid game, one which my partner and I will play again many times. But it could so easily have been something more, a precious game worth dozens upon dozens of plays. Let me explain.
The idea of persistence, of game events whose effects last for multiple games, has long been a mainstay of video games and is one of the most exciting recent trends in the world of board games. Players become especially invested in games like Risk: Legacy and Pathfinder because their actions, as well as other events in the game world, have truly long-term consequences. Shadowrun: Crossfire is another entry into this genre, and it also happens to be a deck-builder in the vein of Dominion. Each player will build a persistent character who gains several experience points, called “karma,” for successfully completing missions and gains much less experience for successfully aborting a failed mission. These points may be spent on upgrades which give characters enduring special abilities, such as the ability to start missions with extra cards or health.
Game overview
Each player will build a starting character by combining a race (human, troll, orc, elf, or dwarf) and a class (mage, hacker, fighter, or support). The race determines your character’s starting health, money, and cards in hand, while each class has its own starting deck. In the core scenario of the game, “Crossfire,” these characters will face a series of enemies (“obstacles”) in three progressively more challenging stages. To defeat an enemy, you must play cards with symbols matching all types of damage (blue, red, green, black, or colorless, which can be matched by any color) listed on the enemy card. Most importantly, these levels of damage must be done in order, which gives the game a very puzzle-solving feel. Defeating an enemy yields money, which can be used to purchase much more powerful cards which go directly into your hand. 755
You win by defeating all enemies, lose if every runner is at certain levels of low health (“staggered” or “critical”), and successfully abort otherwise. But every round you will draw a dangerous new Crossfire event (though you get a reprieve of 1-2 rounds with fewer than 4 players), many of which become more powerful still if a certain number of Crossfire events have already occurred, so you must try to defeat enemies at a brisk pace.
Feel of the game
This game requires a great deal more focused thought than any other deck-builder I’ve played, including Dominion, Ascension, and Thunderstone. Solving the puzzle of exactly how and to whom to deal damage is challenging and, for me at least, very satisfying. You will frequently have to make tough and meaningful decisions, like whether to buy a decent card now or a terrific card later, or whether to completely kill a weaker enemy or partly damage a stronger enemy.
The Crossfire event deck is also a terrific idea, though I am not delighted with the execution. Since these events usually get much more powerful if a certain number of events have already occurred – in other words, if a certain number of turns have passed – the atmosphere becomes progressively more tense.
Most importantly, it is difficult to overstate the emotional attachment that comes with building a permanent character who grows stronger over the course of many missions. Time spent playing the game yields not only the hope of immediate victory in that mission, but also the promise of a long-term improvement in your character, the hope of nurturing your puny novice into a grizzled and powerful veteran. What a sparkling idea!
If only it were better executed.
Criticisms
I’ll start with a sin that Shadowrun Crossfire shares with many eurogames: the sin of purely nominal differences. The game includes four different roles, each with a different starting deck. But in practice, all of the starting decks are identical. For example, the fighter’s deck contains 4 cards which deal 1 black damage and 1 card each dealing red, green, and blue damage, while the mage gets 4 cards dealing 1 blue damage and 1 card each dealing red, green, and black damage. The starting cards have no further abilities, so the difference in starting decks is a difference in color only. How dull! The starting deck for each role should have included at least one asymmetric ability.
To be sure, the cards available for purchase differ greatly depending on role: the fighter cards deal moderate damage and distract enemies from attacking other players, the mage cards sporadically deal large bursts of damage, etc. That’s wonderful, but it does not excuse the starting symmetry in roles. 755