The Inside Scoop on Gaming

[Authorial Note: I recently noticed a couple of gaps in the RPG.Net review database. As I've not learned any interesting games recently, I thought I'd review a few older games to plug these holes. OverPower was originally released in 1995 and, even though it is widely regarded as a weak competitor in the CCG market, has continued to release expansions as well as enjoy active tournament support at comic book shops.]

The OverPower collectible card game is the Roger Clinton of the CCG market. Magazines such as Inquest Gamer and Duelist ignore it unless they are lacking a punching bag for the month. Many, though by no means all, gaming conventions pass up OverPower for main-stays like Magic and Legend of the Five Rings. Game stores that do brisk business in other CCGs leave OverPower in the hands of comic shops.

OverPower does deserve some of the derision it has received over the years. At the same time, players that completely write the game off will miss some interesting mechanics. In the shadow of Magic, older OverPower sets have dropped in price to the point where a collection costs a tenth of a Magic collection but provides more than a tenth the fun.

OverPower players control a team of four heroes or villains (or a combination of both) who are attempting to complete a mission while doing battle with an opposing team. A player wins by either completing her or his mission or by knocking out all four of his opponent's heroes and villains.

Each turn, both players draw eight cards from their customized decks. Players have the option of keeping the cards in their hand, so that any of their four characters can use the cards during the turn, or placing a card on a hero or villain which allows only that character to use the card. If the turn should end before a player runs out of cards in her hand, she must discard the cards in her hand but keeps the cards placed on specific characters. Next, players gamble one to seven of their Mission cards. When a player wins a battle, by dealing more damage than he takes, the ventured Mission cards are "completed." The player that "completes" all seven of his or her Mission cards first wins.

The character cards represent most of the popular heroes and villains from the Marvel, D.C., and Image comic book worlds. Each has a rank between one and eight for each of four powers; Energy, Fighting, Strength, and Intellect. Characters attack opponents by playing Basic Power cards. Each Basic Power card has a rank between one and eight and an icon that represents one of the four powers. If a character's rank equals or exceeds the number on the Basic Power card for that power icon, then the character may use that attack. Opposing characters defend the attack by playing a Basic Power card that matches or exceeds the number of the attack. Thus, the same cards used to attack are also used to defend, forcing players to judiciously play Basic Power Cards.

During a battle, the players take turns playing an attack card from one character card onto an opposing character card. The defending player may respond with a defense card. Then, the roles are reversed, and the defending player plays an attack card. A character is knocked out if it takes 20 points of damage or takes any amount of damage from three different power types. The fight continues until a player concedes the battle or until neither player wishes to attack. They discard their hands, draw a new hand of eight cards, and begin a new battle.

Basic Universe cards and Training cards add bonuses to the number on the Basic Power card. Teamwork cards, Tactic cards, and Ally cards allow multiple attacks during one turn. Finally, Special cards are usually applicable to a single hero or villain and are the most powerful cards in the deck. They represent powerful attacks, healing abilities, and other super powers helpful during a battle.

OverPower features some clever rules and techniques that should earn it a higher standing in the CCG community. The most interesting mechanic is the prohibition of "duplicate" cards in any single battle. Players are not allowed to have two duplicate cards in their hands or placed on their characters at any one time. If a duplicate card appears, the player must immediately discard it and may not draw an additional card. Combined with drawing eight cards a turn, the duplicates rule presents a radically different deck building strategy compared to other CCGs. Decks that contain only the most powerful cards will fail as the player continually discards duplicates. Instead, decks must be balanced to contain enough of the best cards so that one will be present each battle, but not so many that duplicates appear in an eight-card draw.

The two distinct ways of winning; completing missions or knocking out opponents, provide players with two very different strategic avenues. A deck may be designed to lose some battles while winning strategic fights with high stakes in Mission cards. On the other hand, a deck might ignore dealing out large amounts of damage and focus instead on picking on one character at a time to knock it out.

Unfortunately, OverPower has several weaknesses that account for its continued absence from the Top Ten charts. Most importantly, OverPower suffers from a large number of useless cards. This complaint is not aimed at specific cards, but rather entire card types. The Ally card is difficult to build into a strategy and the Double-shot card is not only confusing but practically impossible to use in a single battle. An additional card complaint is the absence of the Intellect power icon from characters in the early OverPower sets. Originally, characters had only three abilities. This was expanded to four with the release of DC OverPower - Batman and Superman. OverPower then re-released all of the old character cards with the new icon in the IQ expansion set. This virtually destroyed the value of the cards from the original OverPower, PowerSurge, and Mission Control sets. No player wants to feel that today's investment may be made useless tomorrow by a significant rule change.

OverPower's personality also leaves something to be desired, especially by role-players. The Inquest Gamer staff made the excellent point in issue 46 that "there's zero feel of being a superhero." Where Magic places players in the role of a Planeswalker and Vampire makes players into ancient, manipulative demons, OverPower never really mentions the player as a character. Because each team is made up of four characters, a player is not a single hero or villain, but rather some kind of bureaucratic manager that has no physical presence in the story of the game. This shortcoming alone probably accounts for OverPower's failure to capture much of the traditional RPG audience.

Finally, OverPower's support has been intermittent at best. In 1998, OverPower maker Fleer decided to simply stop producing the game. Marvel Comics picked up the product, but the transition left many players feeling abandoned as the fan club dried up and the new Web site barely crawled into existence.

OverPower's faults will probably always keep it mired in the backwoods of the CCG market. That is not to say, however, that the game is a complete failure. Its successes are praise-worthy and, in the eyes of comics fans and bargain hunters, make up for its shortcomings.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

OverPower
Author: Marvel Comics Category: Collectible Card Game Company/Publisher: Marvel Comics Cost: varies Page count: n/a Capsule Review by Brad Weier on 01/31/99. Genre tags: none	[Authorial Note: I recently noticed a couple of gaps in the RPG.Net review database. As I've not learned any interesting games recently, I thought I'd review a few older games to plug these holes. OverPower was originally released in 1995 and, even though it is widely regarded as a weak competitor in the CCG market, has continued to release expansions as well as enjoy active tournament support at comic book shops.] The OverPower collectible card game is the Roger Clinton of the CCG market. Magazines such as Inquest Gamer and Duelist ignore it unless they are lacking a punching bag for the month. Many, though by no means all, gaming conventions pass up OverPower for main-stays like Magic and Legend of the Five Rings. Game stores that do brisk business in other CCGs leave OverPower in the hands of comic shops. OverPower does deserve some of the derision it has received over the years. At the same time, players that completely write the game off will miss some interesting mechanics. In the shadow of Magic, older OverPower sets have dropped in price to the point where a collection costs a tenth of a Magic collection but provides more than a tenth the fun. OverPower players control a team of four heroes or villains (or a combination of both) who are attempting to complete a mission while doing battle with an opposing team. A player wins by either completing her or his mission or by knocking out all four of his opponent's heroes and villains. Each turn, both players draw eight cards from their customized decks. Players have the option of keeping the cards in their hand, so that any of their four characters can use the cards during the turn, or placing a card on a hero or villain which allows only that character to use the card. If the turn should end before a player runs out of cards in her hand, she must discard the cards in her hand but keeps the cards placed on specific characters. Next, players gamble one to seven of their Mission cards. When a player wins a battle, by dealing more damage than he takes, the ventured Mission cards are "completed." The player that "completes" all seven of his or her Mission cards first wins. The character cards represent most of the popular heroes and villains from the Marvel, D.C., and Image comic book worlds. Each has a rank between one and eight for each of four powers; Energy, Fighting, Strength, and Intellect. Characters attack opponents by playing Basic Power cards. Each Basic Power card has a rank between one and eight and an icon that represents one of the four powers. If a character's rank equals or exceeds the number on the Basic Power card for that power icon, then the character may use that attack. Opposing characters defend the attack by playing a Basic Power card that matches or exceeds the number of the attack. Thus, the same cards used to attack are also used to defend, forcing players to judiciously play Basic Power Cards. During a battle, the players take turns playing an attack card from one character card onto an opposing character card. The defending player may respond with a defense card. Then, the roles are reversed, and the defending player plays an attack card. A character is knocked out if it takes 20 points of damage or takes any amount of damage from three different power types. The fight continues until a player concedes the battle or until neither player wishes to attack. They discard their hands, draw a new hand of eight cards, and begin a new battle. Basic Universe cards and Training cards add bonuses to the number on the Basic Power card. Teamwork cards, Tactic cards, and Ally cards allow multiple attacks during one turn. Finally, Special cards are usually applicable to a single hero or villain and are the most powerful cards in the deck. They represent powerful attacks, healing abilities, and other super powers helpful during a battle. OverPower features some clever rules and techniques that should earn it a higher standing in the CCG community. The most interesting mechanic is the prohibition of "duplicate" cards in any single battle. Players are not allowed to have two duplicate cards in their hands or placed on their characters at any one time. If a duplicate card appears, the player must immediately discard it and may not draw an additional card. Combined with drawing eight cards a turn, the duplicates rule presents a radically different deck building strategy compared to other CCGs. Decks that contain only the most powerful cards will fail as the player continually discards duplicates. Instead, decks must be balanced to contain enough of the best cards so that one will be present each battle, but not so many that duplicates appear in an eight-card draw. The two distinct ways of winning; completing missions or knocking out opponents, provide players with two very different strategic avenues. A deck may be designed to lose some battles while winning strategic fights with high stakes in Mission cards. On the other hand, a deck might ignore dealing out large amounts of damage and focus instead on picking on one character at a time to knock it out. Unfortunately, OverPower has several weaknesses that account for its continued absence from the Top Ten charts. Most importantly, OverPower suffers from a large number of useless cards. This complaint is not aimed at specific cards, but rather entire card types. The Ally card is difficult to build into a strategy and the Double-shot card is not only confusing but practically impossible to use in a single battle. An additional card complaint is the absence of the Intellect power icon from characters in the early OverPower sets. Originally, characters had only three abilities. This was expanded to four with the release of DC OverPower - Batman and Superman. OverPower then re-released all of the old character cards with the new icon in the IQ expansion set. This virtually destroyed the value of the cards from the original OverPower, PowerSurge, and Mission Control sets. No player wants to feel that today's investment may be made useless tomorrow by a significant rule change. OverPower's personality also leaves something to be desired, especially by role-players. The Inquest Gamer staff made the excellent point in issue 46 that "there's zero feel of being a superhero." Where Magic places players in the role of a Planeswalker and Vampire makes players into ancient, manipulative demons, OverPower never really mentions the player as a character. Because each team is made up of four characters, a player is not a single hero or villain, but rather some kind of bureaucratic manager that has no physical presence in the story of the game. This shortcoming alone probably accounts for OverPower's failure to capture much of the traditional RPG audience. Finally, OverPower's support has been intermittent at best. In 1998, OverPower maker Fleer decided to simply stop producing the game. Marvel Comics picked up the product, but the transition left many players feeling abandoned as the fan club dried up and the new Web site barely crawled into existence. OverPower's faults will probably always keep it mired in the backwoods of the CCG market. That is not to say, however, that the game is a complete failure. Its successes are praise-worthy and, in the eyes of comics fans and bargain hunters, make up for its shortcomings. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)