Overview:

The Fantastic Four vs. Dr. Doom.

The Marvel Knights vs. Kingpin.

The Avengers vs. Red Skull.

The X-Men vs. Magneto.

These classic confrontations from the Marvel Universe are the backbone of the new boardgame from Fantasy Flight Games. The idea is pretty simple: you control one of these four superhero teams, fighting crime on the streets of Manhattan while the four evil masterminds attempt to unleash their diabolical master plans on the city. In the middle of all of this are dozens of hero allies from the Silver Surfer to She-Hulk, and a slew of general villains from Juggernaut to the Green Goblin, all of whom are looking to crush the heroes at every turn.

Each team has four members, and every hero is given a unique level as well as skills for when they are the main attacking hero and when they are simply “in support”, backing up their buddies. The X-Men consist of Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and Jean Grey; the Avengers bring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk to the table, the Marvel Knights are Daredevil, Spider-Man, Elektra, and Dr. Strange, while The Fantastic Four are pretty obvious with a roster of Invisible Woman, Thing, Torch, and Mr. Fantastic.

The goal of each game changes depending on the scenario you are playing but in general terms the idea is to solve headlines that pop up on the game board by fighting enemies which in turn earn you victory points. This is more or less a dice rolling combat game, with card playing and a slew of variables tossed in for good measure. The game is driven by the use of chits called Plot Points; these are like gold as you need to spend them in order to activate heroes (or keep them active) and buy allies. In game terms, it is more difficult to keep Thor in play than it is Captain America as Thor cost three points and Cap costs just one.

The board is broken down into six areas: Queens, Brooklyn, The Village and Upper, Central, and Lower Manhattan. Inside each area are several Districts which serve as the game’s movement spaces. Headlines are then placed at random at each Area location. These headlines tell the players the District where there is trouble, how potentially difficult a task is, its Victory Point rewards, what type of headline it is (which in turn tells the player which heroes might be right for the job) and whether or not a Mastermind could be behind the incident. The heroes are then sent out on their missions.

Rules:

The rules are a bit confusing the first time you read through them and it will take several plays before you really get the hang of what’s going on. It’s not that this is a terribly complex game, but with so many variables it’s very easy to miss something. For example, when fighting using the combat dice, you check for the number of “hits” to determine if a knockout is scored. What’s different here is that all ties go to the attacker, which is a bit different as in most games a tie means a defender holds his ground. It’s easy to miss this sort of thing and the layout of the rules leaves a lot to be desired as does the wording – thankfully there is a FAQ posted on the FFG website which answers a few questions in detail. Still, don’t expect to sit down and read the rules expecting to have a perfect grasp on how to play; this is a game that you really need to play as you read in order to learn the system.

The Bits:

As with most Fantasy Flight products, the components are outstanding. The 20 painted miniatures (16 heroes and the four masterminds) are of excellent quality; they’re big and detailed and look fantastic on the board. The allies and general villains are played as cards and the officially licensed artwork is of course superb and the card stock of the people, headlines, story cards and scenarios is excellent. There’s nothing flimsy or cheap about the game’s bits.

Ironically, it’s the board that is perhaps the biggest letdown. Its quality is fine, but its use leaves a lot to be desired. There’s a lot of wasted space and text on the board, which leaves one to wonder if perhaps the foundation for an expansion is already being laid. There are several markers on the map such as the location of Peter Parker’s apartment, S.H.I.E.L.D. secret HQ, and so on but they mean absolutely nothing in the game itself. It’s just filler. Pretty neat filler, sure, but still it serves no purpose in game terms.

The Fun Factors:

Duration and Downtime: Once you get the hang of the rules you can expect it to take anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours depending on how the game goes. Marvel Heroes does a good job of keeping everyone’s attention even when it’s not your turn. Villain cards are played by everyone (except the person whose turn it is) so planning out which villain to use on which hero keeps players involved. Even so, turns don’t take all that long so you most likely will not be complaining about waiting 20 minutes before you get to go. In fact, you may wish some games lasted longer, depending on the scenario that you are playing.