I was so impressed with this game. The right level of strategy and complexity but not overloaded to the point of slowing the game down.

Game play still flows nicely with an occasional glance back at a rule now and then. The artwork is top-notch. Very engrossing story, I really felt connected to this while playing. Although I usually get pummeled. My only problem with this game is I cant find enough people to play....

I think my favorite non-collectable card game to date.

If you like to read, and you REALLY like space battling, such as Twilight Imperium, then MAYBE get this. If you have TE or Starcraft Board game, or the likes? Don't bother getting this download. Save your money.

Be warned: the manual is not easy to read; you will have to sit down and concentrate on it. The layout of the manual is terrible, compared to the cards, which are OK at best. The manual is not a big manual, but it is not inspired nor does it have a nice layout. I was not really happy after I bought this game.

It's a shame, because the Icon showing the game on the website makes the game look 10x better than what you actually get. It made me not want to play the game, so I don't really even know if it is a good one to play ... I like things to look nice, because it makes you believe you are playing a good game, even if you are not. This includes the rulebook; I judge everything when I buy RPGs. This is important to consider, because if you get past the look of the materials, this may be a good game to play.

Dying Lights is a pretty interesting game. I like the non-Collectable aspect, but still customizable. You do need a big area to play the game. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I love the theme and the multiple win conditions. I love the combat and how it works. It really seems to move easily for me. I like how you make fleets and you just can't throw any ship into the fleet. You have to "link" the cards together.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The quality of the cards is a bit poor. Plus, printing them is a pain. Since there is a lot of black on each card, it is an ink hog. I tried just printing black and white, but that was worse.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Lets see, while printing this one out, I found major problem #1: 0.5" margins. It's obviously laid out for professional printing, not POD/Home printing, where our printers have no-print zones.

Major Problem #2: Expletive usage. Not "Ghetto Street Jive" level, but clearly enough to offend. Not something I would let my daughter read. Not heavy, but present, and mostly grammatically appropriate... or at least as GA as can be said for the F-word. Really, I'd say not worse than prime time TV except for specific word choices.

The rules are clear, easy reading. But check the demo BEFORE you buy; this isn't your ordinary RPG.

1st is scale: you don't play a character, you play a ship's whole crew, and may possibly wind up with subordinate ships (hirelings, if you will) in addition to the rest of the party, each of whom also controls a ship and its crew. To recap: Number of ships equals number of non-gamemaster ships.

2nd is mechanics: The mechanics use D12's; 1 per player, maybe some more dice of other sides as damage markers only. A number of CCG-ish elements, too. See the demo.

3rd is "PC Heroicness": PC's and "Mooks" (NPC's) are clearly handled with different levels of detail... PC's Low by RPG standards, and mooks at nearly no info.... HP and attributes. Very clearly cinematic.

This is, however, an innovative approach to the genre of Spaceship Crews in a cinematic light. Simple rules, a decent amount of background, and a variety of resources.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Innovative concept, blends elements of boardgaming, CCG's, and Roleplay into a narrativistic RPG.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Lack of whitespace on page borders; margins narrower than my printer's minimum.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

On the plus side, Star Thugs uses a pretty simple engine. On the minus side, it's more a tactical game than a roleplaying game. Because each player controls an entire ship and crew, it feels rather like the unackwowledged love-child of Ars Magica and Hol, with Magic: The Gathering acting as godmother.

On the practical side, there are random character generation table for quirks and background that could actually be useful for a GM designing NPCs on the fly. The mission generation tables could be useful for similar reasons.

Star Thugs is probably going to be of interest mostly for the humour value of the writing style, and for the ideas it can generate. As for playing it the way it was intended, I regret to say that someone else will have to try that and report.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: (1) Funny read; (2) simple system.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: (1) Abysmal art, including the title block; it would be better not to have any graphics. (2) More tactical than I really enjoy.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

You get a comprehensive ruleset that allows for different game styles including campaigns and battles. There is the opportunity for customisation and larger multiplayer games.

Eveything is covered in detail, from setting up and choosing forces to individual battles and using the cards.

It includes rule clarifications and what I consider a bonus - Battle tactics for the new player, to help them have a good experience the first time they do battle.

There is only one set of battlegroup cards to represent the ships in your fleet. A bit more variety based on factions would make the play area look more varied however using the same cards enables your opponents to recognise your forces easily without you having to explain what every card is.

The Battle mechanics are easy and intuitive. They rely on tactics and good card use rather than blind luck. The Combat cards add variety and tactics. You will find a lot of the old staples (defensive screens, assaults etc.)available by effective use of these cards.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: A really intricate, well supported and thought out background. If it is not original it is definately not common. It helps to set the atmosphere and backs up the reasoning behind some of the game mechanics.

There is a wide variety of cards that are very colorful and pleasing to the eye. The overall effect is very professional with the graphics accurately portraying what the card is used for.

The factions are varied and cover a wide variety of classes, from evil villians to misunderstood "bad guys", Faithful protectors to the agressive underdog. The concepts and strategies used are excellent.

There are multiple ways to achieve victory, meaning you have to follow your opponents every move, an attribute of usually much more complex game systems. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There are no instructions on the number of cards you need to print to play a game. You can filter through the rules and work it out but it would be nice to have something included at least in the Quick start rules. The compression used for the card graphics makes some of the text very hard to read. A bit of guesswork may be required for a few. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>