Our mate Bucko put us on to this game and he has also been indoctrinating the PIGS guys as well.

Adds a whole new meaning to “Telephone to Glory” doesn’t it!

The Game

The players are trying to stop randomly drawn villains from destroying Gotham city. As in the various episodes of the animated series the game is played out in “Acts” (like in 7TV game if you are familiar with the Crooked Dice offering). Each act becomes progressively harder as the “movie” reaches its final climax.

To win the game you have to survive all four acts, stop a substantial part of the city from being destroyed and making sure a certain amount of citizens are not hurt in the process.

Sounds simple doesn’t it, and from a rules perspective it is quite easy to learn. To win you need lots of luck, good strategy, and all players working cooperatively to succeed. Very quickly things begin to go awry and you start to find the game is very difficult to win.

The game is quick to play and normally takes about an hour to lose, oops I meant complete!

Setting Up The Game

The game takes a bit to set up but not more than most games these days so I do not have any issues with this. We play the Pandemic series of games a lot and it takes about the same set-up time as those.

Quality of Game Components

The artwork components of the game are excellent and reflect the animated movies. The card are great but a little thin and I will need to laminate these for protection. The board game is a 3D thick paper set of multi story building which are a bit naff and could do with improvement. The quality one gets in card buildings in games these days is far superior. I will eventually replace mine with mdf 6mm buildings and a streetscape base which I will have a multiple uses for.

The figures are excellent and are the equivalent of the “Zombicide” figures if you are familiar with them. They will look great painted.

The box art is your normal standard quality, but nothing to rave about and provides enough storage for the gamer, even when the buildings are made up, if you slip them inside each other.

Overall the game components provide a great visual appeal that matches the theme, and the 3D effect is a cool idea despite the buildings qualities.

Rules Ease of Use.

The rulebook is your standard comic style set of rules with a glossy finish and in full colour. I class the rules as easy to learn but the game a difficult one to succeed in, and hard to master. The rules are well laid out but could do with a better index.

Is it fun to play?

This is a cooperative game and as such creates a lot of interaction with the other players. Each Act gradually increases the tension and difficulty and adds to the enjoyment. SWMBO and I loved our first game so much I ordered the game and expansion the same night. Amazon were great and the parcel arrived within twenty four hours.

Verdict

This is a great game to play even if you are not a fan of Batman or the Animated Series. SWMBO doesn’t like Batman movies or anything animated but loves this game and also our miniatures version of the game.

The price was cheap with the game and the expansion coming to around AU$100.00.

I really enjoy it, despite its difficulty, which only adds to the enjoyment when you finally defeat those dastardly villains with a