tl;dr: Probably great for experienced players, but so far it's bitterly disappointing as a gift.

I bought a copy of Android: Netrunner a few years ago, and one of my friends gets a kick out of it. Seeing as how ANR is now apparently out of print, and NISEI is the heir-apparent, I figured I'd pick this up for him. I even made sure to get the "Complete Bundle" since we've never had enough cards to dabble with deckbuilding, and I figured he'd like that.

To be fair, the website clearly says you won't get a manual; I still wasn't prepared for how incredibly bare-bones this is.

Unfortunately, this isn't really a game that is in a format you can give to someone as a present. It's just a brick of 200+ cards. Want a manual? Download the ANR pdf or the NISEI first game walkthrough I guess. Want any of the myriad of tokens, credits, markers, or little cardboard trackers that come with the core game? You are out of luck. Tracker card so you can remember how many clicks deep you are on your turn? Nope. Box to put them in? I hope you like brown cardboard. Did it rain the day it was delivered? I hope you like wet, brown cardboard.

I guess I should have done more research before I bought this. But I am embarassed to give this as a gift, and while I've spent double what a copy of ANR cost me on Amazon.com, I still am nowhere near having what I need to play a game with my friend.