oth the basic and advanced levels of The X-Files Collectible Card Game mix the tang and tar of the techno-sleuth series into the rules and flow of play. Although prior knowledge of the show is not necessary for play, fans will slip into the game's dynamic easily, like Eugene Tooms into an air duct. The premise -- each player uses FBI agents to investigate mysterious sites and use the unearthed clues to identify the X-File of an opponent.
The basic game -- Agent Cards are used to investigate Site Cards, and a successful investigation allows the investigator to ask questions about an opponent's X-File Card. All these cards have unique properties. Agents have varieties of skills (Agent Krycek +1 sciences, Agent Scully +3 sciences), each Site has skill prerequisites (Mt. Avalon, WA +4 sciences), and in true, Byzantine X-File fashion, each X-File has its own characteristics. Deductive reasoning reveals the identity of the opponent's X-File.
As might be expected of an X-Files game, determining the truth is not so easy as all that. An investigation can be aided by Equipment Cards or Witness Cards, which add to skills and/or negate other cards. Conversely, an investigation can be derailed by an opponent's use of Adversary Cards, subtracting skills and/or negating other cards. Event and Bluff Cards can also drive the action in similar style. As with many card games, play is structured by ordered phases, in which new cards are drawn, agents are equipped and deployed, sites are investigated, etc.
Professor Plum, in Area 51, with a pack of Morleys
The basic game is much like a complex game of Clue, in which the deductive reasoning is not very demanding and the game dynamic is more affected by the luck of the draw than strategy. However, X-Files fans or those new to card games will still find the basic game novel enough to yield a lot of enjoyment. Deploying Scully, Mulder and Skinner with a high resolution camera to the Chaco House in Arkansas? Cool? Yeah, like only totally.
The advanced game is more challenging and intriguing because players get to construct decks, thus favoring strategy over chance. Seasoned card gamers will be better satiated by these advanced rules, which are a bit complex. Plus there's combat. Plus there are special game effects. Plus there are even more detailed optional rules that multiply the strategy angles. The possibility of Scully shooting it out with the Jersey Devil? Cool? Only like, really.
Aside from the fact that the game meshes very well with so many aspects of the series, the cards themselves are a slick splicing of superior graphic design, smartly chosen photos and pertinent quotes from the series. All cards are marked with an X-File code to identify which episode is being featured, but there's no good way to decipher this code without referencing a card description list. Since only some cards are also printed with the episode titles in plain English, this obscure nomenclature is a bit unsatisfactory. Overall, The X-Files Collectible Card Game is a serious effort that doesn't just cash in on the cow.
