Great review. I agree with some of what you said about it at 3p and 4p but do still enjoy it at those counts. If you do come up with some house rules, please be sure to post them on BGG in the Variants forum for us to see what you came up with.
This was an excellent review. I've had no idea about the game, but you made a superb overview of the game and it's roots. Your flow of speech, voice and audio are great to listen to. Subbed!
Cool review, especially the ending ("that's it"). Nevertheless, I think you should give Bios: Origins another chance, because it's very, very good. It's my personal favourite in the series. Also, ideal for 2 people. And I say that as a fan of Origins HWBH.
It's something I'd try again if my group really wanted to play it (and had a copy) but at the moment I don't see myself digging into it. I do enjoy HWBH as a multi-handed solo game though.
@@PhasingPlayer HWBH solo multihand is fantastic indeed. At first I sold Bios Origins after a couple of tries, it didn't really work for me - then a few months later I gave it another try (seller's remorse, the usual) and as much as HWBH didn't work with 2 people, this one really did! You don't even need a larger group.
"This isn't a butterfly" :D Good review! Good assessments of the mechanisms. You confirm some of my expectations. I'm eager to play it now, jumping at Butterfly level of course ... tho probably 4-hand solo :O
Good review! I recently got Bios: Genesis and Bios: Origins in addition to used copies of Greenland and Neanderthal. I've only learned Genesis so far of the bunch and while it's definitely a wacky game, I really have enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the others as I agree that nobody is making games like Phil Eklund, despite his controversial footnotes and opinions.
Mess or Bless is a great name for a review series. Think I agree. It's cool, but I don't think it is great. There might be a bigger discussion to be had for Mesofauna vs Megafauna. Mesofauna is so much smoother to play and just throw on the table because the event system is so much smoother, but at the other hand the event system in Megafauna is kind of what gave it more flavor and context. I am not keen on the event scoring also, but out games have always come down to just pieces on the map, cause that scores so much. I dislike it more for sheer board position. If a continental shift comes up, and they end up on an island they could just win the game of off that. I love the art in this. Bugs just work so well in this. You can make so many great look bugs, and most look like they would work.
The island thing is something we saw a few times too, but found that it pushed more for making flying bugs and/or getting white cubes so you could glide over to other islands to compete more often than not. Certainly though sometimes that isn't an option. And yes, in Megafauna the portraits often looked like weird worm animals. In Meso that feels a) less frequent, but also b) worms make more sense here.
Great review, after a few 2p games and a 3p, I found that 3p pacing was off, to the point where it felt a little arbitrary. The events needed to be a little more spaced out I think, or maybe a little more agency could be given on each player's turn.
I think my favorite is Bios Megafauna 1e, then American Megafauna (though I need to play this one more), then Mesofauna, then Genesis, then Megafauna 2e.
@@PhasingPlayer have you played Oceans (Northstar)? I recently played it and was shocked with how good the play and use of topic was. The production, art, mechanisms etc are all quite evocative. May have semi-replaced Phil’s animal games for me which I wasn’t expecting at all.
@@PhasingPlayer BiosM1e is my favorite of the Bios lot as well. It seems to hit the sweet spot for me in terms of wild-ride-yet-still-a-game and for some reason the rules don’t seem as dense to me.
I have! I've played Civ, Ad. Civ, and Western Empires. I enjoy them all but need to play more to really get a good idea of the differences between them. I probably enjoyed Western Empires the most on first play, though.
Spent most of the review showing us your mustache instead of the game. Please show more of the components as you talk next time. The B roll is the A roll in these reviews.
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Great review. I agree with some of what you said about it at 3p and 4p but do still enjoy it at those counts. If you do come up with some house rules, please be sure to post them on BGG in the Variants forum for us to see what you came up with.
If I get around to codifying any I'll be sure to.
This was an excellent review. I've had no idea about the game, but you made a superb overview of the game and it's roots. Your flow of speech, voice and audio are great to listen to. Subbed!
Cool review, especially the ending ("that's it"). Nevertheless, I think you should give Bios: Origins another chance, because it's very, very good. It's my personal favourite in the series. Also, ideal for 2 people. And I say that as a fan of Origins HWBH.
It's something I'd try again if my group really wanted to play it (and had a copy) but at the moment I don't see myself digging into it. I do enjoy HWBH as a multi-handed solo game though.
@@PhasingPlayer HWBH solo multihand is fantastic indeed. At first I sold Bios Origins after a couple of tries, it didn't really work for me - then a few months later I gave it another try (seller's remorse, the usual) and as much as HWBH didn't work with 2 people, this one really did! You don't even need a larger group.
Oof. Seems like that scoring event throws the 3-4 player count outta whack. Seems killer at 2 - stoked to hear your thoughts Scott!
"This isn't a butterfly" :D
Good review! Good assessments of the mechanisms. You confirm some of my expectations. I'm eager to play it now, jumping at Butterfly level of course ... tho probably 4-hand solo :O
Good review! I recently got Bios: Genesis and Bios: Origins in addition to used copies of Greenland and Neanderthal. I've only learned Genesis so far of the bunch and while it's definitely a wacky game, I really have enjoyed it.
I'm looking forward to the others as I agree that nobody is making games like Phil Eklund, despite his controversial footnotes and opinions.
Mess or Bless is a great name for a review series.
Think I agree. It's cool, but I don't think it is great. There might be a bigger discussion to be had for Mesofauna vs Megafauna. Mesofauna is so much smoother to play and just throw on the table because the event system is so much smoother, but at the other hand the event system in Megafauna is kind of what gave it more flavor and context.
I am not keen on the event scoring also, but out games have always come down to just pieces on the map, cause that scores so much. I dislike it more for sheer board position. If a continental shift comes up, and they end up on an island they could just win the game of off that.
I love the art in this. Bugs just work so well in this. You can make so many great look bugs, and most look like they would work.
The island thing is something we saw a few times too, but found that it pushed more for making flying bugs and/or getting white cubes so you could glide over to other islands to compete more often than not. Certainly though sometimes that isn't an option.
And yes, in Megafauna the portraits often looked like weird worm animals. In Meso that feels a) less frequent, but also b) worms make more sense here.
Great review, after a few 2p games and a 3p, I found that 3p pacing was off, to the point where it felt a little arbitrary. The events needed to be a little more spaced out I think, or maybe a little more agency could be given on each player's turn.
THE question: how would your rank American Megafauna, Bios Megafauna (2011), Bios Megafauna 2e, Bios Mesofauna, Bios Genesis?
I think my favorite is Bios Megafauna 1e, then American Megafauna (though I need to play this one more), then Mesofauna, then Genesis, then Megafauna 2e.
@@PhasingPlayer have you played Oceans (Northstar)? I recently played it and was shocked with how good the play and use of topic was. The production, art, mechanisms etc are all quite evocative. May have semi-replaced Phil’s animal games for me which I wasn’t expecting at all.
@@PhasingPlayer BiosM1e is my favorite of the Bios lot as well. It seems to hit the sweet spot for me in terms of wild-ride-yet-still-a-game and for some reason the rules don’t seem as dense to me.
Have you ever by chance played Avalon Hill’s Advanced Civilization?
I have! I've played Civ, Ad. Civ, and Western Empires. I enjoy them all but need to play more to really get a good idea of the differences between them. I probably enjoyed Western Empires the most on first play, though.
@@PhasingPlayer ok thanks!
Spent most of the review showing us your mustache instead of the game. Please show more of the components as you talk next time. The B roll is the A roll in these reviews.