MLEM Review: To Boldly Go Where No Cat Has Gone Before

[@andrewroy9528]

We need a top 10 push your luck games

[@benjaminspears8488]

I would assume that MLEM is also a play on LEM which is the Lunar Excursion Module- the spacecraft that allows astronauts to land on the moon.

[@ziomalZparafii]

By coincidence (?) Lem was also the most known Polish writer of science fiction and futurology. (Rebel is a Polish board game publisher). Everything seems connected ;-)

[@boardgamehubby]

Demoed this at Essen, and it was a blast. Huge hit with all 5 players at the table. Definitely with Mike on this one 👍

[@Phildiculous]

A demo won't give you an idea of how it really plays out. Its a lot of fun yes, but consistently jumping off early or mid makes you win. The points ramp up so slow. If you got a huge payout for pushing your luck then sure, but you don't. Not even a little.

[@boardgamehubby]

​@@PhildiculousTo be clear, it was a full game that we played down in Essen, and I own the game. I somewhat see your points, but I don't agree that you're not rewarded for pushing your luck. If you're the only one pushing for a far away planet or moon, that's majority just with 1 cat. Also, you need to push for it because of objectives or secret missions (if you play with those). Finally, if you play with the UFO expansion, you might have that to go for as well.

[@Phildiculous]

@@boardgamehubbyYeah, I get that there are reasons to go for those. With the exception of getting a free majority on the fourth or fifth planet though, nothing is worth it. What if the numbers happen that you skip over the spots to land on those? Then you get a moon worth one more point than someone else? I LOVE celestia and was so excited reading the rules to this game and the fact that the points go up at such a slow rate is confusing me. We played twice in a row and both times the guy who didn't push his luck at all and had like 4 cats on the first planet/first moons almost doubled anyone else's score... I like the idea enough that I might even house rule this one because I think it's such a good idea and the point values are the one big flop from making the game actually work.

[@jamesdollard484]

Is Mike back in Florida full time again or what? Great to see him back in a lot of recent videos! Yay

[@codainlaw]

Mike’s full time employee status hasn’t changed (from what I understand). He still travels to Homestead periodically to be in videos.

[@kevinbhieey9188]

Tom said he'd occasionally be flying Mike in so they could pre-record a bunch of reviews and Top Ten lists. Apparently this is one of those times.

[@gijoe250]

Just wanted to say my group loved this game! I think Mikes description matches the game the best. The cat powers was such a great part. Not to mention i loved the area control elements and trying to play off other cats powers. I also played Celeste before and i did not like that game at all. Just seemed too... Basic? For reference i love wonderland wars, lords of vegas, deep sea adventure. None of us felt this game was too long and we were all invested in ever turn

[@doggosplosion]

The only thing weirder than the final thoughts reviewer score differences, was the Rebel Studio's announcing of this game in the Dice Tower Summer Spectacular. What the....

[@RollAndRate]

Celestia has an expansion that adds a unique one-time use power for each player!

[@manuelkooijman5757]

Every game we reached the end at least once, and this is with various player counts. I fully agree with Mike. This is one I don’t regret picking up at Essen. And in regard length, I think it is not that long. Turns a quick and all of a sudden somebody could just be sitting with their last cat.

[@Phildiculous]

Try jumping off no later than the third planet for a whole game and see if anyone consistently pushing their luck beats you.

[@CasualSax]

​@@Phildiculous I did that and lost. The early/safe strategy works but its 60/40 at best.

[@Phildiculous]

@CasualSax did someone pushing their luck every round beat you? I didn't say you'd win, just that you'd beat people pushing their luck consistently

[@manuelkooijman5757]

@@Phildiculous, try mixing in the mini modules and all of a sudden it changes the game. And it is an easy gateway game for a fun evening. Not everything is about winning all the time.

[@thegamesninja3119]

It is the prequel to Apiary! After the cats killed off the humans and failed to leave earth orbit due to ships crashing, the bees took over. All this was initiated by the events of The Happening and the killer trees.

[@daem0nfaust]

Meanwhile, the apes are fiddling with abandoned human tech (After Us)

[@thegamesninja3119]

@daem0nfaust And other species are competing a Zoo pageant for the most popular animal with the last remaining human zookeeper (Zoo Vadis).

[@CresentSoul]

Oh wow! Yum yum!

[@ignaciomochi9151]

😢😮😅😮 10:40 😮 10:47

[@jamesbond1409]

"What!?!...No!"-Mark Wahlberg.

[@play-it-or-not]

Bought it last weekend and played it already 3 times, it is a blast! Once we threw in all the modules we were able to make it to the deep space. It is really fun to play. With 3 players it took us 45min, not too long at all. We never finished by crushing 11 times. Don’t listen to Tom, at least try it before judging.

[@CasualSax]

Agreed, played it with four without any modules and we made it to deep space. Our group understood how to maximize rolls immediately but it's not simple. I wonder if that's why people are struggling? Our game ended with all cats on planets. That said we played a rule wrong - we weren't counting roll failures as crashes when a cat parachuted. I enjoy Celestia but setting up the tiles and card piles is a detractor. Combined with explaining the special cards and how captaining/jumping works its too much for how light it is. MLEM has more strategy, sets up easier and is easier to explain. For me MLEM replaces Celestia and the debate then is whether you want to play it or the much lighter Cloud 9. I do agree MLEM is too long. Would have rather have nine cats and you lose one every round to either crashing or placement.

[@PastorRosemaryPeek]

Melm is an onomatopoea. When a cat leaves its tongue sticking out, it's called a Blep

[@jameskirk4692]

Thanks for the review! I enjoy that Mike is here.

[@IndianaGeologist]

Great review folks! Loved the discussion

[@nataliaweronikapetersson3425]

MLEM is also a reference to Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw LEM. One of the asteroids even bears his name. Makes sense if the game is a Polish production. Maybe Tom would appreciate the writer more than the game :D I know that Brandon Sanderson is a fan of Lem's stories so worth checking out, Tom.

[@steveg9939]

Interested. Might be a try it before buying it kind of game. The track reminds me of First Rat which I like more than this one at first glance.

[@Designsy-wl9nr]

I see what happened here. The cat got Tom's score! ;)

[@fyrnice25]

Tom, seriously needs to revisit this game. This fits a spot in a gamer’s collection even wanting to keep people engaged and simple rules… excellent production. C’mon a 5? No that bad s game for so many reasons. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@sambordon9009]

Have you played with the variants?

[@GrimDarkDude]

Would love a top 10 push your luck now 🍀

[@Ad3tr]

This seemed like the most contentious review I’ve seen between the hosts. But yeah, played celestial today and probably like it better than I would this.

[@Dantigua]

You're wrong about the planet scoring. The points go to majority control, not necessarily the first to claim. If there's a tie then you go by turn order. I played this recently whilst being demoed at a small expo. It was very quick and the decision making time was minimal. Instant purchase for us.

[@thedicetower]

Sure, but in reality, it's the first to claim 99% of the time.

[@Wylie288]

@@thedicetower Not even remotely true. The +/- cat specifically counters this.

[@CmotDribbler]

I want it just for the art :p

[@bruceschwering5919]

Agree more with Tom on this one. Never going to seek this game out. It’s fine.

[@adib.7545]

I was thinking of getting Celestia and I heard this was a better version. I would love to try this game but I have to agree with Tom, the cover also creeps me out 😅

[@valzalel5203]

In space, nobody can hear Tom mlem...

[@bestatstartrek2179]

Good thing the dice tower still has Mike and Bryan.

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

Doesn’t Joey like cats? I think this was in his anticipated games list? Well at least I remember he talked about it somewhere. The cat theme sells it for me. I just wish it was a bit smaller footprint.

[@danielengel4593]

Wow Tom really did not like this game, you can see the anger all the way through. This is the most enjoyable DT review in a long time.

[@Senyaotl]

Reminds me a lot of Celestia

[@HarryBuddhaPalm]

I don't always agree with Tom, but he is spot on with this one. There is almost no incentive to try and get to the top because the points aren't worth the risk and it's almost impossible to get up there anyway. I've never seen anyone do it. It's too random to make any kind of real risk assessment, as well. I've seen the ship blow up with four dice before. There's no way you can plan for that.

[@jwspiker]

Celestia is never in stock

[@seraphiccandy21]

I'm with Tom on this one. Demo'd it and it was a whole lot of meh. But then, I feel the same about Celestia...

[@GunslingerSNP]

Can Mike put the link to his felines vs primates fight club channel please?

[@bp9762]

I'm with Tom on this one.

[@RolandIronfist13]

I'm with Tom here, Celestia is more interesting and ramps up more. Even Diamant or Incan Gold seem more interesting. That playmat is so unnecessarily large.

[@TabletopToolbox]

I've never heard of Celestia, but I'm surprised that Dr. Knizia would copy so much of an existing game...

[@TheEpinema]

I wouldn't say he copied it, but there's some overlap in terms of rolling dice and 'should I stay or should I go? (da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!)'. Celestia is more about reading people and taking that into consideration, also the powers are in some of the reward cards, not the people (although one time special use powers are in the first small expansion). Highly recommend looking at if you're looking at a game like this 🙂

[@dougmahnke7538]

By that logic, you could say both games copied Sid Sackson's Can't Stop.

[@Wylie288]

The entire concept of pushing your luck and getting more points by deciding to stop was NOT even remotely created by Celstia.

[@rodrigocorrea4791]

It's written Celestia all over it: A ship, check. Tripulants, check. A Captain, check. Dice for movement, check. Possibility to land on a closer planet to gain less point, or a further one to get more, check. Powers that bend standard rules, check. Decision to land or continue on the ship, check. This is definitely Celestia reprint with some new rules, like Celestia version 1.5. Same as Via Magic to Rise of Augustus or Marco Polo to Marco Polo 2 or Caylus to Caylus 1303...

[@Ludwison]

MIKEEEE ❤

[@randomjunk1977]

Mittens Launches Everyone Milky Way-ward

[@Oaklestat]

Space bees and cats in the same month!!

[@MichaelJones-yp8gj]

I bet Mike does have Dr. Knizia on speed dial

[@Keyh]

When it was being explained I basically said "Ok, Celestia but worse."

[@Wylie288]

Its a lot better actually

[@arnold2011]

Mike!

[@SpencerMcKelvey-r8c]

Tod Squares

[@toddkauk6099]

Celestial is a 4/10 for me.

[@toddkauk6099]

Great game, a true gem. 10/10

[@missiemel01]

Tom is sooo wrong on this

[@eliseh.2152]

I agree completely with Tom on this one, demoed it at Essen, it was boring, not any interesting choices. A disappointment unfortunately :(

[@cisy]

I think I rather play First in Flight over this. It looks way too simple.

[@Squatch_needs_no_heroes]

Laser Cats the board game.

[@tawiiams]

Tom phoned it in on the overview. Between this one and the First in Flight review, I think there might be too many games on their plate. Still a fan. Hope you get a chance to enjoy some of the new games.

[@thedicetower]

I always try to cut the overview as short as possible, because it's not a "learn to play". My apologies if you thinik I was phoning it in.

[@tawiiams]

​@@thedicetowerI guess I was just left wondering what happens when the captain leaves the ship. Sorry about the negative comment. As an online public figure you probably deal with a lot of bs. I appreciate what you do and love your channel.

[@thedicetower]

@@tawiiams When the captain leaves the ship, the next crewmate becomes the new captain. No worries! I try to be as succinct as I can.

[@tawiiams]

@@thedicetower Thank you.

[@Mark-OutWest]

You've lost me at 3:00. How are you even moving? This makes no sense.

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

Yeah i think he botched the teach on that part. I don't think he fully explained how the movement works with the die values

[@brunokowal]

I agree that mathematically is something wrong with this game. It's not worth to get end of the board.

[@grog3514]

Interesting how two reviews are so unfamiliar with such a popular game in celestia. Mike should know there is a small expansion that gives everyone unique powers and allows for other players to choose to help the captain. It's just better in every way. Faster, more interactive, more fun, better components, better theme, handles more players. Why was this made?

[@nihlify]

If you think people should know all the expansions for a game you're delusional

[@xGarrettThiefx]

Yet more fluffy animals ... what is going on in this industry ?

[@RetroMaticGamer]

This just looks like Cloud 9 with dice and less thought to it. Meh.

[@RollAndRate]

Cloud 9 is the same game as Celestia that they mentioned in the video!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

First Rat, Apiary, Mlem. It's enough already.

[@aarondowning5791]

No it isn't. More critters, less humans.

[@nihlify]

No it's not. Get over yourself

[@nedeljkodukic7279]

Tom doesn't know what he's talking about.

[@inwyrdn3691]

"Hey guys, let's make a midweight push your luck game about astronauts exploring the universe with an area control aspect!" "That sounds super fun. Let's do it!" "Plus we can put super creepy semi-realistic cats in it after mass genocide of the entire human race!" "...maybe a but off topic but, ummm...anyone need therapy?"

[@JimmyWorld]

Wrong again Tom :)

[@bestatstartrek2179]

A 5 really. This game is really fun. Definitely not worthy of a low 5

[@blind_surgeon]

This may be a hot take, but I am getting tired of the cutesy "for everyone" sort of games. It seems that the Ameritrash of the 2010's has really slowed down these days.