60 Second Review of…

Laser Squad Nemesis

Mark's review: Frank O’Hara wrote a book of poetry called Lunch Poems – small, short, quirky, and if you managed to get through your required lit classes in college without reading The Day Lady Died, shame on your teachers. Laser Squad Nemesis is nothing like the poetry of Frank O’Hara, except that it too is small, short and quirky, and if you like turn-based games designed around small group tactics and haven’t tried this $15 game, shame on you too. Nemesis is a lunchtime game, a quick-playing email game that never threatens to devour an entire evening the way a game of X-COM might. It’s slick, smooth, streamlined, and also unfinished. The third race is missing and Codo Games is promising more and more features. It’s a crazy way to run a railroad the way Codo is making this game, but so far it works.

Tom's review: I was trying to think of some poetry I'd read in college that I could cite, but I couldn't think of anything, since I wasted my education on girls and beer. Which probably accounts for how Mark kicked my ass in this game. While I was chasing co-eds, he was reading poems about guys stumbling around buying boring books. I'm a wargamer, for Pete's sake, and he dinks around with online RPGs, so how do you explain him beating me in a tactical combat game like this? He probably thinks flanking has something to do with steak and overwatch is a character from a comic book. The beauty of Laser Squad Nemesis is that it works for both of us; it presents a tightly drawn and accessible set of rules for a sleek play-by-email system that highlights the thrill of no battle plan surviving contact with the enemy. Give your orders and watch them play out against the other player's orders in slices of real time a la Combat Mission. Mark's comment about the game being unfinished is absolute twaddle, since Laser Squad Nemesis is an ongoing work-in-progress by the guys who did X-Com. Their talent, experience, and confidence are evident here. Nemesis has advanced by leaps and bounds since it began and I have no doubt this already superlative little game will come a long way yet.