The name of the game is Hero’s Incorporated with the catch phrase “Fighting Crime Does Pay!” That phrase says it all. Players compete as a duo of superheroes who attempt to rid the city of crime (something that’s impossible in the game mechanics but hey… a hero’s work is never done.) In the process of fighting criminals each team of crime fighters tries to curry the public’s favor and become the most popular tag team of villain bashing, felon flinging, gangster crushing, defenders of the city around. The first team to collect 36 “hero points” (a measure of popularity) takes the prize and becomes “…the only officially elected and funded Defenders of Megalopolis.” As it says on the front of the game “Fighting Crime Does Pay!”
The game comes with 12 different superhero cards (fantastic art by the way check it out at http://www.questmachine.com). At GAMA the company was advertising the game by releasing a short six-page comic book, which was quite entertaining, and mimics game play very nicely. There were rumors that they might continue comic book production on their website which would be great. Each superhero has a unique ability or combination of abilities. Once you see them, if you have even the slightest interest in the superhero genre, you’ll want to know more about these characters.
There is a deck of cards that comes with the game, which adds some randomness and tactical choices. Most players can take one card per turn, but this takes one of your four actions, which means your superheroes lose a chance to beat up on the bad guys. Cards come in a variety such as gadgets, fate, adventure and my favorite supervillains. Supervillains can really change the balance of a turn. You play a supervillian on a crime and now that crime is being run by that supervillian. Supervillians tend to be tough to beat, but not impossible (well except for Limbo but you’ll have to buy the game to see what that’s all about.)
Additionally you get 25 city squares. Each square has a point value that equals the crime’s strength and the hero points you get for defeating the crime. 24 of the city squares are shuffled each game and randomly laid out to create the city. Square 25 is the center of the city and represents where crimes always start. (Maybe its just the cynic in me but I sort of like the idea of crime always starting from the equivalent of city hall.)
In the four-player game there are seven crime token that constantly wander the city. Each token represents a crime in progress and while they can be defeated, they can never be destroyed. Each crime randomly moves each turn. Crimes that exit the board are replaced in the center of the board where they start a new crime spree. As I noted before, in Megalopolis you can never completely stop crime.
The quality of the game pieces is fantastic. The cards are flexible yet sturdy. The town squares are heavy cardboard and can take a beating. There are cardboard cuts outs of the superheroes with beautiful artwork that are made of the same sturdy material as the town squares. This is a game that is going to last, no matter how abusive a gamer you are.
The game is simple in its mechanics but has enough variety to make its replay factor pretty high. Everything is resolved by rolling a d6 verses a target number. There are some modifiers that may apply but they are fairly minor (in fact I can only think of one.) If you tie or beat the target number you win, however if someone else beats the target number later in a turn with a higher total, you no longer win. Thus opponent teams of crime fighters can steal a successfully fought crime from another team. Fear not that your efforts will have been wasted as the original team can attempt to steal the success back. This mechanic makes the competition for crime fighting very fierce and is where much of the game’s enjoyment comes from.
The game is designed for 2-4 players but I only got the opportunity to play a four-player game. Average game took about an hour and a half. Understanding the basic mechanics and rules of the game took less than 20 minutes. Outside of assembly time (which I am unsure of seeing as the game had already been set up) the game can pretty much be played straight out of the box.
If you like comics, superhero movies, or just seriously built guys wearing tights, then you should really check out Heroes Incorporated. It’s got the feel of a quick and fun beer and pretzel game with the quality and dynamics of a European family game. It’s a great investment and the game has so much potential that I’ll be very surprised if I don’t see an expansion before the year is over. After playing it only once I knew it had to become a part of my game library, and if you get the chance to play it, I’m fairly sure you’ll feel the same.
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