Kickstarter - Marvel United

Por si acaso, comento que los últimos dos vídeos están muy bien para ver las diferencias entre los héroes. Sobre todo el último.

Conclusiones:

Marvel United is a cooperative board game based off of the Marvel Universe. I hesitate to say if it is based off of the Comics or the MCU as I think it fits somewhere in the middle.

The game uses a Chibi motif. Everyone is a little fatter, a little shorter, and a lot cuter. This is going to be a unique look that a lot of people are going to love, but it may turn off some people. Kids are going to really dig this and at its heart that is who this game is intended for.

Let me elaborate on that: this is a family weight game. I don't really think it is a kids game and not really a gamer game; instead, this is a fantastic game to play with your family. It is a cooperative game where everyone will work together to defeat the villains. Each of the villains really changes up the game. With this core box, you will really want more villains not really more heroes. The heroes are a tad bland and do not feel all that different.

Let's discuss this a little more. The heroes use the same 4 icons (and really 3 because 1 is a wild that is really just the other 3). They have a card or two that will have different powers on it that is unique to them. At the the extremes they feel really different. Black Widow and Hulk feel very different, but Hulk and Captain Marvel feel very much the same. Well, unless you are up against Taskmaster then Hulk feels very unique.

On the other hand, the villains feel super different. There are 3 villains included in the box and they feel very different from each other. This is unique that the villains are changing up the game and you will find yourself wanting more and more villains.

The game feels like an old pair of jeans. It is very familiar and borrows heavily from Pandemic (this feels most like Pandemic when you play against Ultron). This is a big plus and negative to the game. This makes the game easier to pick up and play but over time it may feel repetitive quicker. This means you will really need those expansions to keep the game fresh.

At its core, the game is about playing icons and doing what those icons say. There are 3 icons (4 if you include a wild). This keeps the game super simple for gamers. The mass market will find a lot in this box to be very new. This is a hard line to walk and I am really hoping that the expansions bring more out in the long term viability of the game. At its core, the bad guys will do things to the board and the heroes and the heroes will then play icons to take different actions to combat and stop the villains.

Overall, I have to admit I am happy with the core box. Even though I'm a Kickstarter backer (all in), I did seek out the Wal Mart version to have the game faster. It really made me want my Kickstarter version quicker as I want those expansions. This was a game I was excited for and now I'm super excited for it. I'm ready to go and I think this is a game you should seek out.

* Be aware the Wal Mart version comes with an exclusive Venom that isn't in the other core box.


Keeper.


Components:

I have the Wal Mart exclusive version of the game. This is a game that cost me $29.99. I do not normally point this out, but the components are crazy good for that price. For a $100.00 Kickstarter game the has a few issues. I am going to state this game is amazing for the price I paid, but I'm going to point out a few things as if it cost me a lot more. The locations and villain cards are not cardboard and a tad thin. These are not the greatest cards and the art work is repeated at times (the heroes have a lot more unique art work). The minis are fantastic and what you would expect from CMON.


Rule Book:

The rule book is very, very good. It is a good size, a quick read, and easy to reference. The book is printed in full color with plenty of examples. I had a couple of specific questions but for the most part the book is an easy read. You need about 10-20 minutes to read the book and you should be up and running.

The solo rules are a tad lacking and it really is unplayable without making a couple of logic jumps. The solo rules really feel like an after thought.

Flow of the Game:

The core box is going to come with 3 different villains that play very different and 7 heroes who play a little differently. Each game the players will choose a villain and a hero to play as is.

The players are going to win if they defeat the villain. Each villain may have a different win condition, but in this core box it is always do X and the beat up the bad guy. During the game you will try to defeat 2 goals in order to be allowed to hit the villain (accomplish 4 threats, save X number of civilians, arrest Y number of thugs).

The game has a fluid round format. The villain will always play a card and then the heroes will play 3 cards (in turn order, one per hero) and then the villain and then more hero cards. This continues until the game ends.

The villain card will normally move the villain around the board and activate the threat or activate the "BAM" effect of the villain. These will normally had thugs to the board (or civilians), crisis tokens, damage the heroes, or any number of interesting bad guy things that will attempt to prevent the heroes from winning.

The hero cards will have icons on it and sometimes it might have a power (normally, each hero has a couple of cards that have a unique power just for them). There are 4 possible icons: movement, punch (hurts villains/henchmen or arrest thugs), heroic actions (save civilians or add a heroic chit to a threat card), or a wild (any of the previous actions).

The cooperative trick to the game is the hero gets to activate the icons they played and the icons of the card played before. This gives the players an opportunity to discuss the cards played and the order of cards played.

* After the players accomplishes 1 of the 3 goals the villain will start playing a card after every 2 hero cards which ramps up the game.



Should I buy this game?:

This is an easy recommendation for families and families that are fans of the Marvel Universe. Then, I can recommend this for any fans of Marvel and this really brings the universe together. Solo gamers are going to enjoy this game and fans of cooperative games (and especially Pandemic fans). This game is going to appeal to a lot of gamers, but likely not people who only play heavier Euro type games.

Keeper.