by NephAF
Both my brother-in-law and my uncle picked this game up last week so I probably have ten or so games under my belt already. The game really didn't bring much new to the genre but what they did do they did well. If you are a DC fan then this is an easy purchase for you and will see a lot of enjoyable table time. If you don't have any attachment to the IP then there are other options out there that you may enjoy more.
Here is a quick rundown of my Pros/Cons
The Pros
If you have played other deck-builders before then you may enjoy this one for a few reasons.
- First off the license is a big pull, who doesn’t want to play as Superman beating the tar out of Lex Luthor?
- The artwork on the cards is top notch, I was really impressed with the job that was done and how the game looks.
- Mechanically the attack/defense mechanic is fresh and pretty fun. Many of the regular villains that you can add to your deck will attack other players as well so they will have to decide between defending those or saving their cards in case the super-villain is defeated and attacks them.
The Cons
Having played a fair number of deck building games including Ascension, which this game seems to take most of its mechanics from, there are actually quite a few things that I think the game needs to improve on.
- The first and most obvious thing is the opening deck of ten cards. The basic super power “kick” which is always available for purchase to all players has a cost of 3 power. However if a player is unlucky and draws all three weaknesses in one of their two opening hands, then they have one turn where they cannot purchase anything unless they get lucky and a two cost card pops up in the line-up. The two cost cards are pretty infrequent so a lot of times a player can do nothing on one of their first two turns.
- Secondly there are 5 Location cards in the game which stay in front of a player and allow them to draw cards when they play a certain card type. These cards are extremely powerful and since they are so rare if one player gets one early on in the game it gives them a massive advantage. There is also no way for the other players to destroy or discard these cards from the other players area.
- Thematically I don’t like the single resource system and the fact that defeated villains go into your deck to help you. I would have much preferred the Ascension style two resource system where defeated villains are simply worth points. That is a minor quibble but one that just always strikes me as odd.
- Although it is advertised as a five player game it really functions best with three. With four and five players the later game will get into situations where multiple bosses will be killed in consecutive turns exposing certain players to two or three attacks before they get their next turn. Since defense cards are fairly uncommon this will usually leave them without a hand left to play and mean they lose a turn. Then the process can repeat and some of the players don’t even have a chance.
- Lastly the specific heroes are extremely imbalanced. Some of them are really strong, others are mediocre and some are downright terrible. This means that if you pull a weak hero you are already at a huge disadvantage to start the game.
All in all this is a good gateway game, it is easy, fast, and can be fun. This can get some less experienced gamers on the path to the next level. For more veteran gamers there is not a lot of strategy going on, and a good filler game to give your noggin a break between more intense games.
Enjoy the Journey,
Neph
(If you liked this review come by and check out some of my others at The Gaming Haven)