Review of The Helicarrier Heist

It would have been easy to remake the now infamous scene from 2012's The Avengers where heroes have to fend off villains assaulting a helicarrier. Author Mike Lafferty went another, more imaginative, and in the end, more rewarding route.

In this adventure, the heroes are tasked by a government organization Bureau of Aberrations, Mutations, and the Fantastic (BAMF; any comic fan worth his salt gets the winking reference) with infiltrate the flying HQ of a super-science criminal organization to steal a dire world-ending device and escape without getting caught.

The criminal organization? NEST (Network for the Expansion of Strategic Terrorism), clearly and cleverly modelled on COBRA from G.I. Joe with their Beetle Soldiers (grunts), Wasp Agents (elite troops with jetpacks), allied ninja-in-white (in this case, a woman named Snow Claw), and the masked NEST Leader who just coincidentally looks a lot like COBRA Commander.

The object of the heist is the robot known as Unity, an Ultron pastiche, but a number of alternate McGuffins are offered, ranging from the classic ray-gun that induces volcanoes to erupt to a frozen-but-still-alive golden age hero.

Want to get the action started quickly? The Helicarrier Heist has you covered by presenting a team of pre-generated characters based on public domain heroes: Green Turtle, Black Fury, Nightbird, and The Shield. All are well designed, and obviously useful beyond immediate application in this adventure. A cool addition are the sidebars detailing in brief the publishing history of each these Golden Age heroes; a nice touch.

The writing is fun and evocative, showing obvious passion for the genre. The artwork throughout shows a similar level of passion and skill. Fantastic maps of the helicarrier's varied levels are provided, including player friendly ones (courtesy of BAMF) that show general layout but without detail, vital tools that allow characters to plan their insertion - a trope of the heist genre - before the action begins.

Because once the action begins, it's really on - the thrills come fast and furious, culminating in a no-holds-barred showdown on the flight deck.

An action-heist superhero adventure, the Helicarrier Heist is a thrilling and unique experience.