by Slysally
I apologize in advance for typos, and I'm sure I'll be adding and editing a bunch since this is being cranked out pretty quickly.I have played the DC Comics Deck-Building Game 4 times now. The game is a typical deck-builder a’la an Ascension style “line up” or center row purchasing area. There are however two unique differences 1.) each player has an oversized super hero card that gives that player their own special ability through out the game and 2.) players can and will be attacking one another as they vie for cards in the center row to obtain victory points. Here is where Cryptozoic has the opportunity to *wow* folks that are interested in Deck-builders but IF, and only if, they use those 2 features a lot more in upcoming expansions. For example, they could allow for players to add even more “weakness” cards to their opponents decks either as a special ability or via specialized attack cards. Currently there are only a few was to force “weakness” cards in to a players hand. Or how about adding a card or two that when it’s played it would destroys your opponents “location” cards they have laid out in front of them as on-going player effects (think Constructs in Ascension). Oh and here is another idea, how about some additional attack cards that force your opponent to flip over his Super Hero card thus voiding his super ability until he or she can *pay* or *power up* (as in resting)-- in other words they are forced to lose a turn or spend power to flip it back over. Either way by losing your Super Hero’s ability would stall your opponent when he/she is trying to obtain cards. As it stands now there is only 1 card that flips the Super-Hero card (so far as I can tell) and that is Captain Cold. Captain Cold forces all players to flip their Super Hero but unfortunately it is a one time attack.
As with most deck-builders there are of course a couple of end game triggers. In DCtDBG if you are ever unable to refill the line-up with cards OR if you are unable to flip over a new Super-Villain the game ends. IMHO the Super-Villain deck operates very similarly to the Honor gems that are used in Ascension, in that they are essentially a timer. Much like the Honor gems you may choose to race through the Super-Villain deck simply to end the game quickly or drag it out by choosing not obtaining them very often. However in DCtDBG there is one exception, each Super-Villain gives the player an ability when drawn from their deck (which is not the case with Honor Gems in Ascension) and that’s in addition to the VP gained at the end of the game. But just like in Ascension once those cards (aka Honor) are gone the game ends.
There is a TON of room to make this game AWESOME. And as it stands right now it’s not at all a bad game it’s just that I can see it *powering* into something way more immersive if it’s handled in the proper way (I’M TALKING TO YOU CRYPTOZOIC, PLEASE LISTEN). Also, there needs to be a way to remove cards from the “line up” with out purchasing them, you know a card that says destroy a card in the “line up”. If that option was available it would allow other players to put the kibosh on cards that his or her opponents might be eyeing.
Over all, I like this game, it’s fast, fun, thematic, and has a lot of room for growth with future development. As stated before I just worry that Cryptozoic will fumble the ball with future expansions...let’s face it they don’t have a stellar track record for creating Gamer-like-Games. In fact most of their games feel flat. So come on Cryptozoic get it right this time. Maybe offer a contest or something where you solicit the advice/ideas of gamers. It’s a win win really, you’ll get TONS of awesome ideas and some gamer will get a free expansion... whaddya think?