Personnaly I thought the previous one whit the warp and just the title was better. BUT this one does give you a better preview of the art of the componants.
Hmmmmmm... I don't think the wife and relatives will be suckered into playing this one.
Don't judge a game by its cover!
One shouldn't judge by that alone, but the truth is that it's a big factor in people's decisions, especially newbies, which is why so much effort is put into covers.
I think it was a mistake for them to place one alien's picture so prominently on the cover. (Yes, there are two, but it's the Parasite's picture.) That slants the impression of the game in just one direction, and will appeal to some people, and turn off others. What they should have done is have a montage of a variety of alien's art, reflecting the diversity of both the aliens and the moods of the game. We could have had menacing, friendly, cute, gruesome, mysterious, silly, and exciting aliens, which as a whole would give a much better feel for the game.
Ugh... I don't like this cover at all, and now it's the representative art for the game entry. Why specific aliens when the game features fifty (and more with the expansions?) Oh well.
Visual hierarchy is important. There's no impact if you show a ton of species with the same prominence. Having a detail of a couple, with a collection faded in the background is a great way to go (what they are doing). Though the faded ones should show what was missing about the variety of types (cute, mysterious, etc. instead of all just hard core sci-fi looking ones).
However, I will side with the old cover. I have no problem looking past the cover. Bring on the ugly bitter looking man in front of a mid-evil building. But the cover will influence what games I buy. Why? Because a great game I can't talk others into playing just takes up space. I want games with family (meaning more than the boys in mine) / wife / gf appeal. The new cover makes it a much harder sell to get them to spend time with it.
Yes, I have games without the family / significant other appeal. But Cosmic Encounter is largely about negotiation, so potentially one they would like if they gave it a chance. Many of the other geek focused games would not be enjoyable to them if they gave them a chance. That's why old cover wins for me. But honestly, it'd be nice if they could get the corrections to the cards. To all the cards, if bothering with changing any of the printing. Blows my mind.
I love this game, but prefer the simplicity of the previous box cover art. This rendition of one race misses the mark for me.
Coming from a tropical island...this reminds me of the Hermit Crabs we use to race. I would probably take this alien card and try to race it against other Hermit Crabs just to see how it fares!
I love this game, but prefer the simplicity of the previous box cover art. This rendition of one race misses the mark for me.
Coming from a tropical island...this reminds me of the Hermit Crabs we use to race. I would probably take this alien card and try to race it against other Hermit Crabs just to see how it fares!
Hey! Then I would get two games in one!
Hermit crab racing!? Fun; sounds like a great idea for a boardgame!
The Crab-guy stands out on the box, but there are other races represented there too. I think it gives one a better feel for the game inside - The cover represents the book
I love this cover. It's so much more exciting than just some title cover. It would make me much more interested in checking the game out if I didn't already know about it.
