(For all those not in the know: "Crisis" is short for "Crisis on Infinite Earths", a classic multi-comic mini-series in the 80s published by DC comics, who essentially used a gigantic trans-multiverse plotline to integrate their rather inflated multiple universes and re-boot a new, sleeker continuity. It is generally regarded as one of the best comic series/events of all time, for what that's worth.)
As ever from Green Ronin and M&M, the presentation is lovely, the layout and font very readable, the pictures too four-colour greatness for words, etc. The writing and plot are less so, but perfectly adequate.
In brief (no spoilers) the adventure consists of a hop across multiple universes to prevent an uber-villain from destoying all reality to feed his nihilistic powers. It's much as you'd expect; said villain has hidden a dimension-destoying bomb in Freedom City in each reality, and you've got to go and retrieve them before they go kaboom. Then you go home and have to fight said villain. The plot as written is actually fairly skeletal, which is probably a good thing; the hunt for each bomb can be as short ("It's in the Judge building." "Right, we go there and destroy it, no tourism this time.") or long as the GM and players would like. Certainly each world is very classically four-colour comics design, with a single twist on the real Freedom City. Look, I said no spoilers. Yes, of course they go to Earth-2.
The bad: It's skeletal. For an inexperienced GM and players, or if the PCs just aren't interested in the lovely comics atmosphere, each sub-adventure can be pretty short, and some may find it hard to work out a cohesive, interesting experience for each reality. It's predictable. Go from reality to reality, fight some bad guys, save each world, go home, fight Big Bad, mourn any dead, go home for tea. The default PCs in the pictures are the poster boys and girls of teen supers, the Next-Gen. The Next-Gen were sadly my least favourite part of Freedom City, so I don't really like seeing them quite so often. Also, the cover gives the impression that the default PCs are the JLA/Avengers-level Freedom League (which would frankly make a whole lot more sense given some of the opposition you run into). It's pretty tough. The main opposition in each world is actually pretty hardcore, being the main supers of each reality. If your characters aren't mainly combat-oriented, expect to die in the first world (which is pretty inhospitable), or at least fail your mission. Even if you are the Freedom League, you probab;y need to take a rest between worlds to heal up, or else - again - you will fail your mission. However, clever and imaginitive PCs will, as ever, be able to avoid fights and still achieve their objective.
The good: It's epic. While maybe a little short for it's own good, the feel of four-colour superheroics, the heroism, the sacrifices, and the dilemmas, are all captured perfectly. You want to do epic supers for once, this is your adventure. It's challenging. The fate of entire realities rests on your spandex-clad shoulders, and in each world you will face pretty much the best (or worst) that world's version of Freedom City has to offer. You will be tested, and should you emerge triumphant, you will remember your achievements always, and recall your honoured dead with pride. It's classic. If you like Freedom City's reference-loaded Astro City feel, Time of Crisis delivers more of the same. For instance, the throwaway villains you fight at the beginning are a definite nod to the Flash's Rogues Gallery, and of course the whole adventure is a massive reference to Crisis, especially Earth-2. It's pretty. The presentation is pretty faultless.
Overall, it's a nice supers adventure, though in some ways it strikes me as a wasted opportunity - it could have dome with more fleshing out and exploration. Though that's now a job for the GM, which can be both good and bad. With a little tweaking it should be perfectly adaptable to other supers setting or rulesets, since it's the ideas and pictures which are the most fun. Of course, if you hated Freedom City, you'll probably not like this much.
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