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I remember a year or two back, Privateer Press was talking up their new setting, a paranoid near future sci-fi thing called "Level 7." Whatever happened to that? I thought it was very interesting-- it reminded me of Deus Ex-- but I haven't really heard anything about it since then, and when I searched for it most of the results on the first page were press releases or reactions to press releases. Did the game/setting ever come out? If so, is it any good?

It came out and no one was very impressed. In the board game world I think they general consensus was "there are better games".

They're doing an expansion, I think, but I think at this point it's more of a Matt Wilson vanity project than any resounding success.

Personally, I'm much more excited for the Warmahordes deck builder.

It came out a while ago and is on the PP website for purchase:

http://privateerpress.com/level7


As for reception, most people who played it seemed to think it was pretty fun but were a bit shocked that it is a pure boardgame with no miniatures, given that PP is known to be a miniatures company mainly...and ultimately I think that crippled its reception amongst wargamers (that and the fairly poor intro 'movie' for the game).

Apparently there is a new game coming out set in the same universe that will finally have models, so that may be much more interesting to folks like us.

If it had come out at about $30-$35 I think it would have been a bigger hit. It's just hard to justify $50 for a board game without mini's....

The game itself was fairly "meh", I didn't think it had very much replay value though. It was kinda the same thing everytime we played.

I had heard (from a couple of friends at PP) the new game apparently comes with a special forces team, a drone (?), a few aliens and some type of 4 legged alien mutant. The gameplay is about the same but probably with more expanded rules.

I got the game, and it's a lot of fun actually, if a bit over complicated in places, and provides plenty if high drama moments. I think some people who were expecting a new sci-fi wargame, machine with aliens sort of thing were quite disappointed that it was just a boardgame, but people should remember that PP has a catalogue of unrelated boardgames to it's name along with it's flagship tabletop games that take up the spotlight.

The new Level 7 game coming out (called Omega Protocol) is not an expansion of the first, but a completely new game, with very different mechanics, in the same setting (an area-51 style bunker with aliens). It has miniatures and seems much more like a spacehulk/mansions of madness/zombicide type tactical skirmish boardgame with minis. There's a video about it released a few months ago, in the same video they announced the new Warmahordes faction, And it looks pretty nice actually.

Level 7 - Omega Protacol preview can be seen here, from around 1m 30s.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wyL1ZsbXZK4&feature=plcp

I think it's kinda funny that you lumped Space Hulk, MoM, and Zombicide together, considering all of those games are pretty different from one another.

I think not having minis really hurt Sector 7.

And again, the general consensus seems to be not that the game is bad, but there are simply other, better games in the genre for you to play.

 cincydooley wrote:
I think it's kinda funny that you lumped Space Hulk, MoM, and Zombicide together, considering all of those games are pretty different from one another.

I think not having minis really hurt Sector 7.

And again, the general consensus seems to be not that the game is bad, but there are simply other, better games in the genre for you to play.

Yes, they were all different games, but they all have a similar form - you have characters that have abilities, you move them on grids, in a tactical Manner around a map, and a baddie who uses various enemies/abilities to stop you, so it's almost like a d&d game tactically, but within the scope of a boardgame. Compare that to the original Level 7, or games like Eldar Sign, or Munchkin, which are far more abstract in how they work, and less tactical/simulationist in nature. It's a broad category I'm talking about, but it is a thing.

From what I recall, Level 7 is far from done as there are expansions planned, tie-in fiction and a full blown movie, all of which stamped with his name stamped all over it.

 BrookM wrote:
From what I recall, Level 7 is far from done as there are expansions planned, tie-in fiction and a full blown movie, all of which stamped with his name stamped all over it.

Are they really still pursuing the movie? Zoinks.

Like I said, I don't have a ton of interest in the Level 7 universe unless they plan on fleshing it out in a miniatures game or something.

The Warmahordes games they're coming out with, however, I'm absolutely chomping at the bit for. Can't wait.

 BrookM wrote:
From what I recall, Level 7 is far from done as there are expansions planned, tie-in fiction and a full blown movie, all of which stamped with his name stamped all over it.

He is "trying" to garner interest in a movie, so far there is little interest as far as I was told by a PP staffer, just like the Monsterpocalypse movie is pretty much dead and buried.

It would be nice to see one though based on Level 7, but the "X-Files Aliens/Govt Conspiracy" themes aren't really the popular trend right now. Superheroes and futuristic "hard sci-fi" (like Elysium) seem to be the hot trend in Hollywood right now.

After Pacific Rim gets out and some of the other Anime related properties hit the theaters maybe Monsterpocalypse might stand a chance, but since there is a movie called Robopocalypse being made I think Hollywood might not want two different properties with similar names competing with each other. And Spielberg is a much bigger name than Wilson.

It's all one big bag of clichés, just look at the tie-in short he did. Not saying that a cliché is a bad thing, when done right it can be good, but this was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

Also, the superhero genre is reaching the end of its life span sooner or later now.

The game feels like a boardgame adaptation of a late-90s, early-00s sci-fi show. Its themes have not only been utterly exploited, but also parodied to death by now. It's simply not what today's crowd finds appealing, save some minority still obsessing over X-Files.

The dismal short film didn't help things either. It was an earnest effort at making a horror short, but it ultimately came across as unintentionally hilarious, though not silly enough to reach the fun level of The Room or Birdemic. It was plain incompetent. No idea what was running through Wilson's head while he was directing it.

But the game's biggest failing to my mind is that it's simply too expensive for what you get. Period. It's also a perfect game to include miniatures, but for some inexplicable reason it doesn't, not even as optional purchase. Considering it's manufactured by one of the biggest names in the miniatures business, it's quite baffling.

From what I've been told, cardstock is muy muy expensive.

But you got me thinking though, Level 7 the Movie starring Tommy Wiseau.. Oh yes, me gusta!

 prplehippo wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
From what I recall, Level 7 is far from done as there are expansions planned, tie-in fiction and a full blown movie, all of which stamped with his name stamped all over it.

He is "trying" to garner interest in a movie, so far there is little interest as far as I was told by a PP staffer, just like the Monsterpocalypse movie is pretty much dead and buried.

It would be nice to see one though based on Level 7, but the "X-Files Aliens/Govt Conspiracy" themes aren't really the popular trend right now. Superheroes and futuristic "hard sci-fi" (like Elysium) seem to be the hot trend in Hollywood right now.

After Pacific Rim gets out and some of the other Anime related properties hit the theaters maybe Monsterpocalypse might stand a chance, but since there is a movie called Robopocalypse being made I think Hollywood might not want two different properties with similar names competing with each other. And Spielberg is a much bigger name than Wilson.

But wouldn't PP have to give a gak about the Monsterpocalypse property for that to have any weight?

I mean, haven't they effectively dumped it?

If somebody in Hollywood did have some interest in Monsterpocalypse, there's a good chance that part of the contract or whatever is that PP holds off on making any further expansions and such for the game until such time as a possible movie is released.

I've never been terribly interested in any of PP's non-Iron Kingdoms games, and I feel like they're better off just doing Warmachine, Hordes, and the IKRPG.

 darefsky wrote:
If it had come out at about $30-$35 I think it would have been a bigger hit. It's just hard to justify $50 for a board game without mini's....

Actually, board games start around $40 to $50 dollars these days. With minis, you're looking at $70 to $100, easily. Heck, Catan costs $42, and it's one of the smallest popular boardgames at the moment. If you look at other tile laying games similar to Level 7: Escape, you've got Gears of War (FFG, minis, $70), Zombicide (CMON, minis, $90) or Escape! (Queen Games, meeples, $50), making Level 7: Escape tied for the cheapest of them.

From what I've seen, Level 7: Escape has done pretty well thus far. The first expansion comes out in June, and the base game is currently getting a 5.77 on BGG (which, incidentally, means it's widely considered a good game), with a rank in the mid 2000s (again, great, and slightly under Gorkamorka). There's even a second game in the setting coming out soon, which looks rather interesting (playing the clean-up crew rather than escaping prisoners).

 Mr. Grey wrote:
If somebody in Hollywood did have some interest in Monsterpocalypse, there's a good chance that part of the contract or whatever is that PP holds off on making any further expansions and such for the game until such time as a possible movie is released.

I've never been terribly interested in any of PP's non-Iron Kingdoms games, and I feel like they're better off just doing Warmachine, Hordes, and the IKRPG.

I just heard yesterday that Monsterpocalypse is getting some kind of re-release, but I couldn't find out when it's happening. Most likely around the release of Pacific Rim so they can hop on it's media train.

For some reason PP also bought a 3D scanner and has production scanning all the old models, maybe so they can be remade digitally(?) out of a better material than soft plastic?

 prplehippo wrote:
For some reason PP also bought a 3D scanner and has production scanning all the old models, maybe so they can be remade digitally(?) out of a better material than soft plastic?

Source?

 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:

 prplehippo wrote:
For some reason PP also bought a 3D scanner and has production scanning all the old models, maybe so they can be remade digitally(?) out of a better material than soft plastic?

Source?

Some friends who work at PP, but I don't know how it is they know or how accurate it is. Kinda hope so, I like MonPoc.

 Laughing Man wrote:

 darefsky wrote:
If it had come out at about $30-$35 I think it would have been a bigger hit. It's just hard to justify $50 for a board game without mini's....

Actually, board games start around $40 to $50 dollars these days. With minis, you're looking at $70 to $100, easily. Heck, Catan costs $42, and it's one of the smallest popular boardgames at the moment...

+1
Minis are my first gaming priority, but I like a good non-miniature boardgame too. Looking at the MSRP of some of my favorites (most of which are common/popular) most are more than $50 bucks, and that's before expansions.