Gathering around the table in the living room, the other half and I decided to give Batman Gotham City Strategy Game a whirl, to see who could outwit whom and give that pesky Batsy a good old run for his money.
The objective is to take as much control of Gotham City as possible whilst trying to oust your fellow baddies and survive a beating from Batman.
What actually happened was two hours of calling each other the worst names possible, a round of full blown fisticuffs, and a breach of the peace order.
But please do not let this put you off, this is precisely what this game sets out to do. It actively encourages you to challenge your fellow crime lords to territorial fights, and use Batman to your benefit rather than having to face him yourself.
Each player takes control of a Batman villain: Joker, Killer Croc, Two-Face, or The Penguin – at this point I should point out I was terribly disappointed at the lack of female characters. I thought we would see Catwoman or Poison Ivy. Harley Quinn gets a mention on one of the Joker’s Villain Ability cards but that is it.
You have two sets of cards: Criminal Plot and Batman. At the beginning of each turn you play a Criminal Plot card in your hand, completing the instructions on it – collecting either money or information from areas you or your opponent hold in that part of the city. Also on the cards are additional effects like adding extra force to other ends of the board for example. The Villain Ability cards expand effects to boost your prowess during the game, supported by a token for each character to be used during play.
You progress in levels by meeting certain conditions: having a certain amount of henchmen on the board, the amount of money you have, etc. At the end of your turn you collect another Criminal Plot card. The objective is to take as much control of Gotham City as possible whilst trying to oust your fellow baddies and survive a beating from Batman. You gain power by collecting money and information (both in the form of tokens) to help spread your network thus allowing you to level up, with the winner being the first person to reach level 10. Each villain has their own player screens, for hiding their tokens and cards, but they better serve as a reminder of the rules – VERY useful when you start playing!
The Batman cards come in when the Batman symbol appears on a Criminal Plot card. How it works for you depends on how much you want to mess up your ‘friends’!
What I found surprising was Batman was not the ultimate threat – your so called ‘friends’ are. Taking over Gotham isn’t just about having enough muscle but working out what sectors complement others to help you gain power and levels. Seeing as this is also your opponent’s objective, things heat up pretty quickly encouraging you to think about your next move and try to work out everyone else’s tactics. Also Batman is not controlled by a single person but by actions performed on cards drawn by each player.
This game is BRILLIANT. It starts off slowly as you begin to establish where you want to take over (and remember the rules) but as the first small threats pour in against you and your opponents it starts to get messy, in a good way. I would recommend playing with the maximum four players. This speeds the game up but makes it more of a challenge on such a small area. We found that we could suss each other’s motives out after about half an hour of playing with just two people, so the more the merrier.
Batman will be the least of your problems as you purposely wind up friends and trample on toes to secure your chunk of the island. Get the drinks and snacks in, this game will bring you all closer. Expect a black eye by the end, though.
Designer: Paolo Mori
Mechanic: Card Based Strategy
Number of Players: 2-4 (Best with 4)
Length of Game: 1-2 hours
Complexity: Medium/Heavy
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