[Level 7 [Omega Protocol]]
je viens juste de découvrir la fiche pour ce jeu, donc je débarque complétement ! 
Ca vaut quoi en qualité de jeu et de matériel ? (c’est du top j’espère vu le prix… 
)
Que valait son prédecesseur (level 7 escape) ? (au niveau de l’intérêt du jeu ?)
Apparement ça vient de sortir en version anglaise, mais est-il éventurellement prévu une version française ?
L’ayant pogné je peux te répondre.
J’ai envie de faire les plus et les moins de ce jeu, ça sera plus facile et tu pourras te faire une idée.
Avant, il faut savoir que j’adore ce type de jeu (à la Space Hulk) et que je suis un gros fan d’X-Com…
LES MOINS !
Un gros foutage de gueule de la part de Privateer Press, en nous fournissant des figurines en plastique mou. Déformé à souhait il va falloir faire du Chaud/Froid en bassine pour remettre tout ça d’aplomb. Mais franchement là…pour une boite pouvant mettre la fessée à Games Workshop, les figurines (même si niveau sculpture ça va) bah ça plombe pas mal…
A peindre également (je l’ai fait façon Tontrek base/brossage à la barbare et déjà c’est plus sexy).
BON LES PLUS!
Le système de jeu est proche de celui de doom pour les dés avec un nombre d’icônes à obtenir.
Une gestion de l’adrénaline alimentant les actions de l’Overseer rappelant pas mal le plateau d’action du joueur démon à Claustro.
Une grosse rejouabilité! et ça c’est vraiment un gros plus, 9 scénars et jamais ça ne se ressemble, du coté des Marines ont s’équipe de “kit” selon sa classe pour se spécialiser. De son côté l’overseer fait des piles de “Room cards” (évènement quand un marine ouvre une salle) parmi un set pré-établi à la façon des Demeures de l’épouvante, qu’il place comme il l’entends, ainsi que des portes (bloquée/piégée, nécessitant un code…) également placé au choix et selon les disponibilité du scénario.
Rien a voir avec le premier LEVEL 7 (une bouse), Omega protocol à repris tout les bons trucs des autres bons jeux de ce type (Claustro/demeures pour le dashboard, Doom/descent pour le système de dé). Son seul gros point noir c’est ce plastique mou de merde, indigne pour un éditeur de ce type. Mais si on passe ce “détail”, le jeu est vraiment bien.
Et pour un fan d’X-com c’est le pied assuré.
Pas de VF , mais le bouquin est super clair avec pleins d’exemples, un peu de texte sur les cartes mais ça va.
merci pour ta réponse.
Et donc, pour comparer à space hulk (que j’adore), au niveau tension, action, rebondissements, fluidité => c’est idem ou c’est mieux 
En fait tu ressents plus le côté escouade, avec son chef et ses ordres, le big Guy, l’éclaireur etc… Et peut se jouer à plus de deux.
Doublon
Finalement, il les vaut ses 75€ ou pas ? …(hors mis le problème du plastique) est ce que le matos est costaud ? Est-ce que les figurines so nt bien sculptées ?
undead dit:Finalement, il les vaut ses 75€ ou pas ? ....(hors mis le problème du plastique) est ce que le matos est costaud ? Est-ce que les figurines so nt bien sculptées ?
Pour une idée du matos tu peux aller ici :
http://www.lesmaitresdujeu.fr/jeux-de-plateau-avec-figurines/item/174-open-the-box-omega-protocol.html
Les tuiles et token sont épais, les cartes “normales” mais pas toilées, niveaux matos ça va. Ah si pas de thermo, comme FFG.
Une belle review (bis) de BGG, que je copie ici :
"Level 7 [Omega Protocol] is a new game from Privateer Press and while it follows the look at feel of their other Level 7 [Escape] game, it is a completely different game.
Everything in the box
Level 7 [Omega Protocol] (referred to as OP from here on out) is an asymmetrical tactical strategy game, where one side of players (from one to five players) take the role of Commandos infiltrating a base that has been taken over by the Overseer (played by one player) and his hordes of Enemies (aka aliens). The board is built from modular tiles that layout squares for figures to move and attack on.
As seen in most 1vMany games, the 1 ‘bad guy’ player has unlimited units he can use but tend to be rather fragile, and the ‘good guys’ are limited but much more resilient and powerful. The Commandos do their turns, spending Adrenaline tokens to perform actions. Then the Overseer does his turn, using the Adrenaline the Commandos used on their turn as his resource of actions. The more the Commandos do, the more the Overseer can do. As with other similar games, dice are rolled to attack enemy unit, units are moved space by space, every unit has different special abilities, etc.
I don’t want to spend too much time on this review about the mechanics of the game. Rather, I will show how OP compares to other, similar games. Most games like this are known as ‘dungeon crawls’. How does this compare to games like Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) or Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game? And why would I consider this clearly Sci-Fi game a dungeon crawler in the first place?
What makes it a ‘dungeon’ crawler?
Dungeon crawler games have to hit a certain niche for me. They have to have heroes that are, well, crawling through a dungeon. The heroes need to have a certain level of personalization. The dungeon being a place to explore, where the heroes don’t quite know what’s around the corner. Could be monsters, could be treasure, could be that princess they’re trying to find. And yes, monsters. A good dungeon crawl has monsters of all kinds, and grants a certain satisfaction in killing these monsters. We’re big damn heroes with big damn swords, let’s use them! The board has to be resuable, typically in a modular fashion, since us heroes like to go on many quests. Finally, there tends to be a fantasy theme, though that is not required (it just helps) so long as whatever theme is chosen the game fits that theme properly.
Level 7 [Omega Protocol] has a lot of recipe a good dungeon crawler needs:
- Heroes: Comes in the flavor of Commandos, each is distinct with their own special abilities. You have many options to customize these heroes too.
- Exploration: Every mission has ‘rooms’ that has a different stack of room cards. The Commandos never know what’s behind door #1 until they open it.
- Treasure: In OP, this comes in the flavor of Investigate cards. A random pile of minor boosts that help during the game.
- Reusable Board: The boards in OP are modular tiles that can be arranged into many different configurations.
- Monsters: Known as Enemies, basically aliens, and there are lots and lots to kill.
- Objectives: Every mission in the game has their own, unique objective that adds to the theme, as well as makes it more than just a skirmish game.
- Theme: While not a fantasy theme, the idea of modern day commandos fighting aliens that have overrun their own facility works very nicely with the mechanics of the game.
- Bling: I know this isn’t really a requirement, but to be a great dungeon crawl, you need great visuals to go along with it. This tends to be a combination of great artwork on the cardboard pieces combined with miniatures for all heroes/monsters.
How is it done ‘right’?
In addition to scratching that dungeon crawler itch, Level 7 [Omega Protocol] does a lot of things right, that many other dungeon crawls fail.
Exploration with no hidden information
Many dungeon crawlers give the experience of exploration through hidden information. For example, Descent: Journeys in the Dark hides everything on the map for only the Overlord to see until the Heroes open a room. This gives a sense of exploration when playing a quest/mission for the first time. The downside to this is replayability. All that sense of wonder and exploration dies if you know what the map is, have played it recently, etc. It also can lessen the advantage the enemy player can have.
In OP, after the map is laid out the Overseer has Room Cards that he puts in the different rooms. When a door is opened to a room, the cards are revealed and different things happen (traps, enemies spawned, objectives revealed, etc). What these room cards are, the Commandos have complete and full knowledge of. What they don’t know is which room cards went into which rooms. This is a nice way to A) have a sense of exploration (you don’t quite know what’s behind door number one) while B) not damaging the replayability.
Exploration with no random layouts
This is akin to the previous point, some games like Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game use a random “tile” layout to give the sense of exploration. In OP, everything is laid out ahead of time, and yet due to the options the Overseer has in setting up room cards, it feels like a fresh game every time.
Treasures to be found
Dungeon crawls need loot, and surprisingly OP has this mechanic. Just about every room in OP has a Search Token that a Commando can optionally search. The items that can be found are useful, though not as usual as their starting items. Since this loot is random and beneficial, it adds to the dungeon crawl feel.
Customizable Heroes
The Commandos in OP is their flavor of ‘Heroes’, and they did these characters right. When starting a game, a player picks a Commando and then puts up to 6 points worth if Kits on him. There are plenty to choose from, some specific for that Commando and some from a general, common collection of Kits. Most of these kits grant special abilities (like free movement, cheaper attacks, more dice, etc) and some are items (weapons or health packs). All of them give a nice feel of personalization to the Commando.
In addition to the Kits, every Commando has their own set of Stance cards. These cards indicate how the Commando is behaving that turn. They set the amount of Adrenaline a Commando can use (his action point pool), give a special ability, and they also set the Movement and Defense values. That last is a wonderful mechanic adding to the flare and flavor of the dungeon crawl experience. Is your hero crawling? He has better aim but crappy melee defense. Is he running? Great speed but low Adrenaline.
Movement
Most dungeon crawls have movement on a grid of sort, and OP is no exception. However, on a square grid, if you are allowed to move diagonally, moving to any place on the board becomes pretty easy. But limiting to orthogonal movement would feel too limiting. OP decided to allow some diagonal movement, specifically one diagonal movement per turn. At first, this may sound restrictive, but after playing, it works out rather well. You have to consider your movement plans carefully and adds to weight of the tactical choices you make.
Monsters (and Monster Spawning)
Like any good dungeon crawl, OP has monsters and plenty of them. Nothing too special about monsters that you haven’t seen in other dungeon crawls, but what is really nice about OP are the spawning mechanics. Monsters can come off board, similar to Space Hulk (third edition) or Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)'s reinforcements. They can also come from Vents on the board. But you don’t have to worry about covering ‘Line of Sight’ like you do in Doom: The Boardgame. There’s no, “SURPRISE! Here’s a Fear Hunter right on your ass!” The Commandos know exactly where the monsters come from. They also have a good chance of predicting when.
Monsters come onto the table either when a Room is explored (usually a good chance on of those Room cards is a spawn card), or at the start of the Overseer’s turn. But rather than having just a set number of monsters he can spawn per turn (like Space Hulk or Descent 2nd Ed), or having random cards that let him spawn monsters (like in Doom or Descent 1st Ed), he has a Dashboard. This dashboard allows the Overseer to spend Adrenaline to spawn monsters. The next turn, the dashboard is refreshed, with some of the adrenaline removed. Until all the adrenaline is removed, the Overseer cannot use that specific dashboard ability.
Think of this as a multi-turn-tapping mechanic. The ability to spawn can take multiple turns before it can be used again. In addition to that, using Adrenaline to spawn monsters mean less Adrenaline the Overseer has to use on other abilities and to activate his monsters. It’s a very nice balancing mechanic, and it also does the monster spawning right. The commandos don’t feel like they just get a monster every turn. The overseer has tactical choices to make (do I spawn more, or should I save adrenaline for that Cave-In?).
Traps
Every good dungeon crawl needs Traps, and OP has them in three flavors:
- Doors: Some of the doors you open can be trapped. From short circuited to jammed.
- Room Cards: Room cards can be traps as well, such as the deadly Corrosive Gas.
- Overseer Dashboard abilities: Somewhat similar to Overlord Cards in Descent, the Overseer has Dashboard abilities that can interrupt a Commando’s turn and spring a trap (like a Cave-In where the ceiling starts to collapse).
How it’s done right though is in the gameplay mechanics. With Doors and Rooms, for the most part the Commandos already know that trap XYZ is in the game, they just don’t know where. It’s not a random draw per turn that suddenly there might be some tripwire, it’s a calculated placement from the Overseer. The Dashboard is the same way, with one additional balancing factor: any Dashboard ability drains the Overseer’s pool of Adrenaline. If he uses that Cave-In trap (which costs 10 Adrenaline), then he probably won’t be spawning that turn.
Enemy Player has meaningful choices
Perhaps not a qualifying factor of a dungeon crawl, but this is one area that OP did right. The Overseer player has many choices with limited resources, and so has to plan his turn carefully. In other dungeon crawls, the enemy player tends to be able to do anything and everything that’s laid out in front of him. In Doom/Descent, every monster is activated every turn, and usually there’s one spawn every turn (or one reinforcement for 2nd Ed). In Space Hulk, every Genestealer can be activated and a number of blips always come on the board. Not so with Omega Protocol.
The Overseer has a limited pool of Adrenaline to use for all of his different actions, from traps to spawning to activating enemies to extra attacks to dodging, etc. And this pool is dependent on the Commandos previous turn. If they did a lot, the Overseer has more adrenaline to use. If they did little, the overseer will only have a small amount of adrenaline (he gains a minimum per turn, which is 2x Number of Commandos). And the Overseer can only stockpile 10 Adrenaline, so he can’t just save it up for a massive attack late in the game (looking at you Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) Overlords who sit on their cards in the first Encounter, waiting to unleash in the 2nd Encounter).
All in all, the Adrenaline system is a highly innovative way of handling action points for both sides, and it plays very, very well.
Modular Map
Most dungeon crawls have modular map pieces, allowing for many different configurations of the game board. Each mission/quest reuses different pieces to make a new map. OP does this rather well. As can be seen in the image here, the there are rooms and corridors, and both can have walls to allow say a 4x4 room to have an s-like curve in it. The art is well done too, adding to the atmosphere of the game.
Feel and Atmosphere
Omega Protocol excels at the atmosphere of the game. Some dungeon crawl mechanics detract from the feel of a game, for example Descent’s spawning mechanism gives an artificial ‘gamey’ feel when heroes position themselves to cover LOS and prevent spawning. Just about everything in OP lends to the atmosphere the game is striving for (commandos vs aliens).
Ameritrash Bling
The bling in this game is fantastic. The maps look great, real good detail going in to all the tiles. They’re all double sides, and many are the same piece just with a trap exposed (one of the Room cards can flip a tile to the trapped side, exposing electrical wire hazards, rubble hazards, etc). The miniature sculpts are great as well, the alien details popping, the commandos rather distinct (unlike the sameness you might see in say Gears of War: The Board Game COGs). The only problem this game has is the quality of plastic used in their miniatures. It’s too soft, bendy and warping seems to happen on all. But the sculpts themselves are top notch.
Compare to other crawlers
So, how does Level 7 [Omega Protocol] compare to other dungeon crawls?
Descent: Journeys in the Dark: A beast of a game, Descent 1st Edition does a lot of things right in the dungeon crawl category. It has personalized heroes, lots of monsters, modular boards, great exploration, awesome treasure. It does however have its fair share of ‘warts’: hidden information, awkward spawning rules, power creep on heroes, swing of balance between player sides early and late in game, limited amount of tactics for the Overlord. OP does everything Descent does right (with perhaps the exception of treasures, Descent’s treasures are much better than OP’s Investigation cards), and then does everything Descent does wrong right. It’s goes so far to fix Descent’s warts, I’m tempted to try a total conversion of the mechanics.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a good margin
Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game: All of the D&D Adventure System games, they aren’t terrible dungeon crawlers especially for co-op games, but they have their problems. Ravenloft suffers from uncontrollable health attrition, frustrating to the point that my friends won’t play it. Ashardalon is rather bland in the list of the three, a more-of-the-same. Drizzt is the best of the three, but some feel it’s too easy. For dungeon crawlers, it has the typical staples, but has the problems randomly laid out dungeons and co-op AI. OP overcomes both these with their non-hidden maps and player enemy. The D&D games do get the theme of their worlds correct, but I feel OP is a more satisfying experience. There are a lot more tactical choices to make (D&D is a bit shallow here), and overall a better game.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a good margin
Super Dungeon Explore: It’s hard for me to take this game seriously. I dunno, maybe it’s just too cute, but visuals aside, the game itself is rather shallow in its gameplay. There isn’t much on the exploration side, but there is descent enough monster killing. It’s reminiscent of Gauntlet, the video game. Run through a dungeon, kill monsters, kill the spawning totems, find a big bad boss and kill it. OP destroys SDE in just about every category of dungeon crawl. Better maps and exploration, better hero customization, better monsters, better tactical choices, better strategic choices, etc. I suppose SDE has co-op going for it, while OP requires at least 2 players, but even then SDE is just such a different experience, OP is so much more satisfying when it comes to the dungeon crawl experience.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a large margin
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition): Second edition is such a different game that it really deserves its own category. On the surface it seems like it should be a shoe-in for great dungeon crawl, it has modular maps, lots of monsters, non-hidden information, customizable heroes, tons and tons of Ameritrash glitter! But it suffers from a lot of problems that make it less a dungeon crawl and more an adventure game. There’s no real treasure to find, the reinforcement system has no intelligence behind it and just seems to pummel heroes, no incentive to kill monsters, tends to be more of a race game than a dungeon crawl, Overlord has few real tactical decisions, absolutely zero sense of exploration. Everything Descent 2nd Ed does wrong, OP does right. Great exploration, many tactical choices on both sides, intelligent reinforcements, story and monster killing. Perhaps it’s because this game should be a better dungeon crawl that I feel OP does such a better job at satisfying that itch.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a landslide
HeroQuest: Heroquest (and Advanced Heroquest, hell even Warhammer Quest should be lumped into this category) is a classic dungeon crawl. One of the first, if you discount Dungeon!, and it has a lot of great elements a good dungeon crawl needs: exploration, treasure chests, monsters, good boardgame bling (miniatures and even doors and treasure chests), good narratives, fun 1vMany game play. It’s a good game, with one major flaw: it’s long out of print. Difficult to come by, and thus more difficult to actually play. In fact, it’s been so long since I’ve played, if I played it again, I may have a different opinion of the game now. OP is brand new, so I expect gamers will have many years to come enjoying this game. Now, that’s not to say we won’t have some surprise Heroquest Kickstarter appear out of nowhere, but until we do, I have to give this to OP by default.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by default
Space Hulk (third edition): Arguably the Granddaddy of Dungeon Crawls, Space Hulk was my all time favorite board game during the 80s, 90s and 2000s. There have been some games that come close, but so few capture that raw sense of Man vs Aliens. I love Space Hulk, but now there’s Level 7 [Omega Protocol]! It almost feels like where Space Hulk ends, OP picks up. It adds 4 more ‘good side’ players. It adds a lot more options for the evil side to do. But is it better? It’s so hard to say, because Space Hulk is that good. I have to be honest here and say OP is a better game, but only by a little bit. Space Hulk has a great feel with how tense it is that OP has to a lesser degree, even though OP has many more options and can be a more fulfilling game to play.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a hair.
Doom: The Boardgame: If Space Hulk is the granddaddy of the dungeon crawl, then Doom is the granddaddy of the modern day dungeon crawl. Doom has a special place in my heart. It came out during a dearth of good ‘cool’ boardgames, and it reminded me so much of Space Hulk that I had to buy it. I love Doom, the feel it has, the frantic, desperate pacing, but it does have some issues. The Invader player is pretty mindless, just throw everything at the marines and you will win if the dice favor you. It also is limited to just 4 players. The spawning mechanics feel a little stale as well, and lead to awkward Marine placement (just to cover spawn), which breaks from the immersive factor of the game. OP is probably the closest to Doom than any other dungeon crawl out there, and I think it plays better. The options the Commandos have, the options the Overseer has, the missions are well done, etc.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a little.
Gears of War: The Board Game: A fantastic game in its own right, Gears of War does something well many other games have a hard time tackling: Enemy AI. This allows for a nice variety of difficult to predict gameplay from the enemy in a co-op game that is rarely seen. Because of how Gears plays, many lump it in the ‘dungeon crawl’ category, and I make no exception. Compared with other co-op games in this category (mainly Dungeon Run, Mice and Mystics and the D&D games), I feel this is the best one. But how does it compare to OP? This is a very hard choice, and I think I’m going to give it to OP just due to the number of additional options the ‘heroes’ have. There’s not a whole lot of customization going on with the COGs in GoW, while the Commandos have a whole bunch of customizing options. Even if you play with the exact same commando, you can gear him out with completely different Kits to the point it feels like a different commando. Both fantastic games, but OP wins here.
Winner: Level 7 [Omega Protocol] by a tiny margin
Best of the Best
Is Level 7 [Omega Protocol] the best of the best in the dungeon crawler category? As much as I love some of the games listed above, I have to admit I cannot think of a game that is better at tactical gameplay and exploration than OP. Perhaps the only real flaw this game has is that it’s technically not set in a ‘dungeon’. It really is a great game, and I would love to see these mechanics applied to a fantasy setting.
Am I being a ‘fanboy’ who is hypnotized by all the new glitter from an excellent Ameritrash game? Maybe. I’ll have to reread this review after a few months to see if the game holds up after many hours of play. I have a feeling it will, and right now, I’m already looking forward to an expansion.
Conclusion
Wow, I didn’t think this review was going to grow into such a huge article! Guess I have a lot to say on OP, and I didn’t really review the game so much as compare it to dungeon crawls
Level 7 [Omega Protocol] is not only a fantastic game, but it goes a long way to making a very good (if not the best) ‘dungeon crawler’ on the market today. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes moving figures on a board, exploring unknown regions, killing monsters, and plenty of tactical choices on both sides.
-shnar
P.S. I did not compare the game to all dungeon crawls out there because either A) I do not own it, B) I own it but haven’t played it, or C) I haven’t heard of it yet. Please add your own impressions compared to your favorite dungeon crawls.
Here’s a few that come to mind:
- Myth
- Mice and Mystics
- Dungeon Twister
- Claustrophobia
- Hybrid "
Le jeu me tente bien, mais j’ai une petite question, est ce que les scénarios sont complètement déconnectés les uns les autres ou est ce que les personnages progressent?
Je réponds (1 mois après, mais parce que je viens seulement de récupérer un exemplaire) : les scenarios ont clairement été fait pour être joué indépendamment. Il reste qu’il semble plus intéressant de les faire dans l’ordre (progression dans certains mecanismes).
Toutefois, des règles de campagne ont été introduites. Deux modes : normal et contre la montre. Dans les deux cas, progression très limitée (en gros, on garde les objets trouvés, et dans le mode normal on peut changer quelques skills entre les missions, et dans le deuxième, le groupe reçoit un point de skill à attribuer à un seul héros).
Et en ce qui me concerne, je n’ai pas à me plaindre de mes figurines, pas tant que ça tordues, mais bon, je suis pas figuriniste du tout! (moi vous savez, tant que ça tient debout…)
Les mécanismes de jeu sont très prometteurs, et j’ai hâte d’essayer la bête!
Merci pour la réponse, je n’arrive pas à en trouver un ex en france et ma boutique habituelle qui arrive bien à se fournir en vo d’habitude n’arrive pas à l’obtenir de ses distributeurs.
Partie découverte.
’ toc toc il y a quelqu’un ?'
Le napalm c’est bon c’est chaud mais ça vous colle à la peau…
Un jeu riche.
deux points négatifs: le plastoc mou comme c’est pas permis.
beaucoup, beaucoup,beaucoup d’informations à ne pas oublier en cours de partie ( tel gars te donne tel bonus, tel autre t’octroie aussi un avantage sur ce coup là parce que bla bla, et ton matos faut pas oublier qu’il augmente ta machin… Et attend t’es à fond en Adré va falloir faire gaffe et t’occuper plutôt de truc etc etc…)
Sans oublier qu’en cours de jeu à chaque objectif atteint, les caractéristiques ( des méchants surtout) peuvent changer.
Outch.
Pas facile facile au départ mais avec deux trois aides de jeu/mémoire ça roule.
et quand ça roule, quel pied.
oméga protocol level 7 est une petite bombe ludique.
amis dungeoncrawlerophiles si vous pouvez le chopper n’hésitez pas, vous ne serez pas déçu. ( mais après trois quatre cachetons d’aspirine) 
K