The Thing: Infected at Outpost 31 is a good game. It really gets the feel of John Carpenter's movie a far as the characters, the props the look and layout of the outpost. That being said, the game has none of the suspense the movie has. But it can, with some house rules. The first game I played, we had 6 players. We played the game wrong had 3 infected. Even though we had too many infected, I was still able to pick all 3 infected. One I torched, 2 I got with the blood tests. Because the humans are able to talk about what cards are given to the captain with each mission, it's too easy to figure out the infected, unless the infected plays the game as a human totally straight. Because of that, the game is boring as it was too easy for the humans to beat the missions that it was a guarantee the game would get to the escape portion with no problem. During the game, the danger level didn't get past the third spot, so the danger never affected the missions. Far too easy for the humans. One friend, who was infected, played 2 sabotage cards we easily figured out he was infected. The other 2 I guessed because of the way they acted. Not the way they acted in the game, just the way they acted. After the game, I suggested that we not be allowed to say what cards you give to the captain. I suggested we say either we can help with the mission or we cannot help. One friend disagreed said it would be too easy for the infected to win the game by destroying 4 rooms or making 8 missions fail. I disagree. Due to the arguments of my one friend, we decided it was up to the captain as to whether the cards were told during their missions. This doesn't work because only an infected would want to not have the cards said. As I mentioned, in the first game the danger level only moved up to the third spot. In the second game, we played with 8 players. The danger level only moved up once. Once! There is no suspense when the captain looks at his cards says 34;No sabotage.34; because it's known the infected are playing the game as human, because they'll give themselves up otherwise. And once you're found out, you're left out for much of the game. I was infected in the second game. The first infected in fact. Every time I was chosen for a mission, it was with 3 or 4 player teams would have been too easy to figure out I was the infected if I sabotaged the mission. So, I played the game straight to the end. It was only when my friend accused me of being infected I gave up my 34;tell34; that he was adamant I was infected. So again, it had nothing to do with the game, but rather reading my face. So, basically, if you wanted, you could hand out the blood sample cards, accuse people of being infected, read their faces guess who's infected without having to bother with the nonsense of the missions. Give the guesser 2 blood tests, because you're guaranteed to still be in danger level 1 have 2 blood tests anyway. If the missions were exciting, I'd be all for it, but most of them aren't. It's just seeing who has the right cards, which with so many players, you're guaranteed to beat it. And so, my suggestion of not being allowed to tell what cards you're given is one of the ways to fix this game. Yes, it may be easier for the infected to cause trouble, but without this change, there is no trouble, no sense of danger, no chance for the infected to win, unless they get lucky get in on the escape. Without that chance of causing trouble, the game is monotonous is just a big guess at the end. Another way I thought of fixing the game is throwing in a random card during a mission. Just draw an extra card, without looking at it, mix it in with other cards then see what happens. That may seem unfair because then the mission may be too easily won (even more easily than they already are) so I suggested another way. If a mission parameter is to have a choice of number of players, for example 4-5 players, then the captain can only choose a 4 player team the 5th player would be a random card. This way, not every mission will have a random card drawn for it. Anyway, I do like the game, but feel it could be made into a great game with some kind of tweak to fix this major problem.
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!]