As I have titled the topic, this is a rant for the most part. I did one before about Kickstarter and like that one, I will say if you don't want to read a rant, move on. However, this is less a rant/complaint and rather a blog about advocacy for the sake of Greater than Game's Sentinels of the Multiverse and its world as a game that is not only better than Upper Deck's Legendary, but also Cryptozoic's DC Deck Building Game. I will also argue for the world that SotM has as a legitimate world that makes sense not only gameplay wise, but comics-wise. So again, if you want to skip this blog, I will not have my feelings hurt.
Sentinels of the Multiverse or SotM is a card management game with a comic book theme. You play as one of ten different heroes (or if you have backed the kickstarters or ordered the expansions, 20) who fight any one of 4 (16) different villains in 4 (10) environments. The art style is like that of a comic book with different cards depicting different actions from an overarching story. While not the best art on the market, the game plays phenomenally with 1-5 players where a minimum of 3 heroes total is recommended. Thus if 1 person wished to play a game on their own, they would have to manage 3, a two-player game consists of each player with a hero, and for 3-5, one hero each.
Despite not having a big-name story writer or artist attached to the game, SotM has many things going for it that other comic-book themed games do not. First, let's talk about the world. Now when you think of comic books, two names pop into your head immediately I'm sure, Detective Comics (DC) and Marvel. Both of these companies have developed great franchises and built their houses on the backs of individual heroes and teams. What Greater than Games (GtG) has done, is not licensed heroes from these or other comic book houses, but have come up with their own heroes, villains, and environments to create a new world. That isn't to say that they haven't taken liberties to adapt biographies and modus operandi's for their heroes that are similar to famous heroes from each house (The Wraith = Batman, Legacy = Superman/Supergirl/Captain America, Haka = Hulk, etc), but the way these heroes are presented really puts each house's representative game, Legendary and DC Card Game, to shame.
Why are they put to shame you may ask? Let's take a look at Legendary and the DC Card Game. Note that these are my opinions, but I think they are valid points. First of all, despite both games being based on established franchises, neither game feels like you are playing the individual heroes represented. Legendary, if one is being honest, is more of a S.H.I.E.L.D. simulator where villains are wreaking havoc in New York and S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending out heroes to use their powers to stop them. You can recruit Iron Man, Spiderman, Hulk, etc to help coordinate moves, but really it is a points game where you get enough points to knock out another card. The villains and heroes have beautiful artwork and it is a very nice board, but ask yourself; if this game were with a bunch of no-name heroes, would the game receive as much praise as it does? I believe the answer is no. For the most part, you are "fighting" villains in a points system. If you get more points than the villain, you defeat them.
Unfortunately, DC suffers from the same problem as Legendary. While you can choose to be a hero and fight a specific villain, you end up fighting with points again. You can be Batman and ultimately fight the Joker which is thematic, but you really don't have much to do. Sure, the cards say punch, equipment, starter, etc to help it feel like an actual comic based game (I find this better than the setup of Legendary), it still feels as if the theme is pasted on and would not be as popular should you strip away the artwork.
Looking at SotM, the game makes great use of the theme. You are the individual character you select. Your deck is designed so that you use your individual powers, equipment, and/or abilities help defeat the villain that you are facing. Any powers or cards that help the group of heroes makes sense due to the heroes remaining the same and an individual is not coming out of left field to heal you and then go away. If your team succeeds, it is due to working together to defeat a common foe. If they fail, it is because they were not best suited for the job against certain villains. Your hero is also semi-customizable in the sense that through promos (most of which are free on BGG), you can choose a special beginning power that helps customize how you play the hero. The only one complaint in terms of breaking the fourth wall that I have with the game is having a hero incapacitated, but I like it for the sake of keeping players engaged. When a hero "dies," you flip their card and they are able to do one of 3 things to the other hero(es) that still remain(s). Again, mechanically and gameplay-wise, it is great, but it does take you back to the fact you are playing a game instead of weaving a story.
The second point I wish to make is how Legendary and DC fail to utilize their worlds. DC and Marvel have a huge library of heroes and villains that involve some classic stories, yet their games do not feel like a story. I feel that DC is a little more guilty than Legendary because Legendary at least makes you feel as if you are in New York with its board and you are at least fighting people across the city. The game does this quite well, but again I don't praise it too much as if you stripped away the license, I personally think people would not give this game much thought. DC however, is the real culprit as one, it doesn't have a board to give you a point of origin as to where you are and two, it is just an amalgamation of just cards "fighting" on a table. You don't feel immersed in the world and you don't feel that the game does justice to the franchise.
SotM on the other hand brings you into the world due to the environment cards that you use for each game. Not only are you fighting your chosen villian, but in a way, you are fighting the environment as well. Some environments (such as Metrocity and Isla Primal) may end up helping you as heroes because of their effects or may hurt you (Rook City and Wagner Mars Base) because their abilities are stacked more in the villain's favor. Each individual environment feels unique and takes you to places that are unlike any other environment (with the exception of Time Cataclysm because it takes the environments of each released environment thus far) in the game. You can fight each of the 4 (16) villains in each of the 4 (10) environments and it will feel fresh and hard at the same time depending on where you end up.
Finally, I want to talk about value. DC and Legendary have their base boxes which offer many heroes and villains, but after about 10 plays of each, you basically can rinse and repeat. However, you can say this about any game in general, so I don't really knock them that hard for how a game is designed as the hallmark of a good game is how is it improved by its expansions. Currently, neither Legendary nor DC have expansions out on the market, though some have been announced for Legendary. Looking at what has been announced, the game remains the same, but gives you more heroes or villains to deal with. Again, this isn't a knock against it as this is the point of an expansion. SotM indeed does the same thing. However, as we all know, boardgaming is an expensive hobby and we want to get the most bang for our buck.
Legendary for the base game has 15 heroes, 7 villain groups, and 4 masterminds which make up the majority of the gameplay (there are others, but this makes up the core of the game) and retails for $60. DC on the other hand has 7 main heroes and a slew of other cards to make up a villain deck for you to fight and retails for $45. While these prices aren't too bad, I believe that SotM has them all beat with its $40 price point. With that you get 10 heroes all with 40 cards per hero, 4 villains with 25 cards per villain, and 4 environments all of which have 15 cards each. You can mix 3 heroes with each villain minimum and max at 5 heroes per villain. All in all you end up with 80-112 possible combinations of heroes, villains, and environments without any repeats of teams. Now, I don't know how much the DC or Marvel expansions will be but for another $20, I get 2 new heroes, 4 new villains, and 2 new environments to experiment with in SotM. So for $100, I have 3 expansions and a base game that gives me 2,400-2,720 unique combinations if heroes, villains, and environments without repeats.
Now it may sound like I'm bashing Legendary and DC; and in a way I am, but it is only because I hold tons of respect for Marvel and DC individually. Both of these comic book houses have tons of talent, but their card games are not implemented like they should be. These games are deck-builders with Marvel and DC slapped on them. I don't want to build a Batman deck, I want to be Batman. I want to see the Avengers assemble and defeat Dr. Doom or Loki. But we don't get that. Sentinels of the Multiverse on the other hand does what these two should have done and in my opinion, they should call up Greater than Games (though it might be a conflict of interest) and ask them to build the game that should have been built from the get go. When I first heard about DC and Legendary, I was excited. After seeing and playing them, I'm glad I didn't purchase them only because I don't want to sour anyone else's view of them. That's what rants are for. However, when I go to a game night or meet someone for the first time, I always bring SotM because it is easy to teach and it is pretty cool. Some heroes are harder to play than others, but I still enjoy myself every single time. There are times I get beat badly and others where it is too easy, but I keep playing over and over again. Though I haven't logged them all, I have played this game probably about 50 times and no game has turned out the same.
The one complaint that I hear constantly about SotM that almost infuriates me (and is one of the reasons I don't play many videogames any more) is because people don't like the artwork. Yes, this medium is visual and while I would love to have Jim Lee redesign the cards and would gladly spend another $100 just for that, look past the artwork and see the beauty that is in this game. There is another superhero game coming soon, Heroes of Metro City, and I will be curious to play that one for sure. Will it steal my heart for Sentinels of the Multiverse, probably not, but if it is modeled and pays homage to SotM, I'm sure we will get along. To DC and Marvel, I suggest you look at this game and take notes. To those who can't get past the artwork, read the character bios, download some art off of the internet that matches the size of the cards and past it on the cards to allow yourself to enjoy the game. I would almost say that everyone needs to own a copy of SotM because it will probably be the grand-daddy of superhero games some day.[thing=125678][thing=129437][thing=102652][/thing][/thing][/thing]
Sentinels of the Multiverse or SotM is a card management game with a comic book theme. You play as one of ten different heroes (or if you have backed the kickstarters or ordered the expansions, 20) who fight any one of 4 (16) different villains in 4 (10) environments. The art style is like that of a comic book with different cards depicting different actions from an overarching story. While not the best art on the market, the game plays phenomenally with 1-5 players where a minimum of 3 heroes total is recommended. Thus if 1 person wished to play a game on their own, they would have to manage 3, a two-player game consists of each player with a hero, and for 3-5, one hero each.
Despite not having a big-name story writer or artist attached to the game, SotM has many things going for it that other comic-book themed games do not. First, let's talk about the world. Now when you think of comic books, two names pop into your head immediately I'm sure, Detective Comics (DC) and Marvel. Both of these companies have developed great franchises and built their houses on the backs of individual heroes and teams. What Greater than Games (GtG) has done, is not licensed heroes from these or other comic book houses, but have come up with their own heroes, villains, and environments to create a new world. That isn't to say that they haven't taken liberties to adapt biographies and modus operandi's for their heroes that are similar to famous heroes from each house (The Wraith = Batman, Legacy = Superman/Supergirl/Captain America, Haka = Hulk, etc), but the way these heroes are presented really puts each house's representative game, Legendary and DC Card Game, to shame.
Why are they put to shame you may ask? Let's take a look at Legendary and the DC Card Game. Note that these are my opinions, but I think they are valid points. First of all, despite both games being based on established franchises, neither game feels like you are playing the individual heroes represented. Legendary, if one is being honest, is more of a S.H.I.E.L.D. simulator where villains are wreaking havoc in New York and S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending out heroes to use their powers to stop them. You can recruit Iron Man, Spiderman, Hulk, etc to help coordinate moves, but really it is a points game where you get enough points to knock out another card. The villains and heroes have beautiful artwork and it is a very nice board, but ask yourself; if this game were with a bunch of no-name heroes, would the game receive as much praise as it does? I believe the answer is no. For the most part, you are "fighting" villains in a points system. If you get more points than the villain, you defeat them.
Unfortunately, DC suffers from the same problem as Legendary. While you can choose to be a hero and fight a specific villain, you end up fighting with points again. You can be Batman and ultimately fight the Joker which is thematic, but you really don't have much to do. Sure, the cards say punch, equipment, starter, etc to help it feel like an actual comic based game (I find this better than the setup of Legendary), it still feels as if the theme is pasted on and would not be as popular should you strip away the artwork.
Looking at SotM, the game makes great use of the theme. You are the individual character you select. Your deck is designed so that you use your individual powers, equipment, and/or abilities help defeat the villain that you are facing. Any powers or cards that help the group of heroes makes sense due to the heroes remaining the same and an individual is not coming out of left field to heal you and then go away. If your team succeeds, it is due to working together to defeat a common foe. If they fail, it is because they were not best suited for the job against certain villains. Your hero is also semi-customizable in the sense that through promos (most of which are free on BGG), you can choose a special beginning power that helps customize how you play the hero. The only one complaint in terms of breaking the fourth wall that I have with the game is having a hero incapacitated, but I like it for the sake of keeping players engaged. When a hero "dies," you flip their card and they are able to do one of 3 things to the other hero(es) that still remain(s). Again, mechanically and gameplay-wise, it is great, but it does take you back to the fact you are playing a game instead of weaving a story.
The second point I wish to make is how Legendary and DC fail to utilize their worlds. DC and Marvel have a huge library of heroes and villains that involve some classic stories, yet their games do not feel like a story. I feel that DC is a little more guilty than Legendary because Legendary at least makes you feel as if you are in New York with its board and you are at least fighting people across the city. The game does this quite well, but again I don't praise it too much as if you stripped away the license, I personally think people would not give this game much thought. DC however, is the real culprit as one, it doesn't have a board to give you a point of origin as to where you are and two, it is just an amalgamation of just cards "fighting" on a table. You don't feel immersed in the world and you don't feel that the game does justice to the franchise.
SotM on the other hand brings you into the world due to the environment cards that you use for each game. Not only are you fighting your chosen villian, but in a way, you are fighting the environment as well. Some environments (such as Metrocity and Isla Primal) may end up helping you as heroes because of their effects or may hurt you (Rook City and Wagner Mars Base) because their abilities are stacked more in the villain's favor. Each individual environment feels unique and takes you to places that are unlike any other environment (with the exception of Time Cataclysm because it takes the environments of each released environment thus far) in the game. You can fight each of the 4 (16) villains in each of the 4 (10) environments and it will feel fresh and hard at the same time depending on where you end up.
Finally, I want to talk about value. DC and Legendary have their base boxes which offer many heroes and villains, but after about 10 plays of each, you basically can rinse and repeat. However, you can say this about any game in general, so I don't really knock them that hard for how a game is designed as the hallmark of a good game is how is it improved by its expansions. Currently, neither Legendary nor DC have expansions out on the market, though some have been announced for Legendary. Looking at what has been announced, the game remains the same, but gives you more heroes or villains to deal with. Again, this isn't a knock against it as this is the point of an expansion. SotM indeed does the same thing. However, as we all know, boardgaming is an expensive hobby and we want to get the most bang for our buck.
Legendary for the base game has 15 heroes, 7 villain groups, and 4 masterminds which make up the majority of the gameplay (there are others, but this makes up the core of the game) and retails for $60. DC on the other hand has 7 main heroes and a slew of other cards to make up a villain deck for you to fight and retails for $45. While these prices aren't too bad, I believe that SotM has them all beat with its $40 price point. With that you get 10 heroes all with 40 cards per hero, 4 villains with 25 cards per villain, and 4 environments all of which have 15 cards each. You can mix 3 heroes with each villain minimum and max at 5 heroes per villain. All in all you end up with 80-112 possible combinations of heroes, villains, and environments without any repeats of teams. Now, I don't know how much the DC or Marvel expansions will be but for another $20, I get 2 new heroes, 4 new villains, and 2 new environments to experiment with in SotM. So for $100, I have 3 expansions and a base game that gives me 2,400-2,720 unique combinations if heroes, villains, and environments without repeats.
Now it may sound like I'm bashing Legendary and DC; and in a way I am, but it is only because I hold tons of respect for Marvel and DC individually. Both of these comic book houses have tons of talent, but their card games are not implemented like they should be. These games are deck-builders with Marvel and DC slapped on them. I don't want to build a Batman deck, I want to be Batman. I want to see the Avengers assemble and defeat Dr. Doom or Loki. But we don't get that. Sentinels of the Multiverse on the other hand does what these two should have done and in my opinion, they should call up Greater than Games (though it might be a conflict of interest) and ask them to build the game that should have been built from the get go. When I first heard about DC and Legendary, I was excited. After seeing and playing them, I'm glad I didn't purchase them only because I don't want to sour anyone else's view of them. That's what rants are for. However, when I go to a game night or meet someone for the first time, I always bring SotM because it is easy to teach and it is pretty cool. Some heroes are harder to play than others, but I still enjoy myself every single time. There are times I get beat badly and others where it is too easy, but I keep playing over and over again. Though I haven't logged them all, I have played this game probably about 50 times and no game has turned out the same.
The one complaint that I hear constantly about SotM that almost infuriates me (and is one of the reasons I don't play many videogames any more) is because people don't like the artwork. Yes, this medium is visual and while I would love to have Jim Lee redesign the cards and would gladly spend another $100 just for that, look past the artwork and see the beauty that is in this game. There is another superhero game coming soon, Heroes of Metro City, and I will be curious to play that one for sure. Will it steal my heart for Sentinels of the Multiverse, probably not, but if it is modeled and pays homage to SotM, I'm sure we will get along. To DC and Marvel, I suggest you look at this game and take notes. To those who can't get past the artwork, read the character bios, download some art off of the internet that matches the size of the cards and past it on the cards to allow yourself to enjoy the game. I would almost say that everyone needs to own a copy of SotM because it will probably be the grand-daddy of superhero games some day.[thing=125678][thing=129437][thing=102652][/thing][/thing][/thing]