You’ll want to shed your hand of cards quicker than anyone else in L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game, but you might not be able to play what you want. Strategic quitting, which freezes the cards in your hand, may be the key to victory in this silly, engaging (German Game of the Year) Spiel des Jahres-nominated game. Don’t get stuck with a llama!
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. I mentioned L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game in a previous Whatcha Playing post and figured we should cover the game with a full review. I’m unsure if we’ll continue doing this with future board game reviews, but I’ve played a lot of L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game (also known as Don’t L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game) in the past several months. Board game design legend Reiner Knizia made another rules-light, fun game, but before we discuss L.L.A.M.A., we don’t want to skip the fine print.
Above is the designer Reiner Knizia dressed as a llama.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Reiner Knizia Publisher: AMIGO Date Released: 2019 Number of Players: 2-6 Age Range: 6 and up Setup Time: Almost none Play Time: Less than 20 minutes
Shuffle all the cards and deal six cards to each player. The remaining cards make up the face-down draw pile. Turn over the top card to start the discard pile. Have the tokens nearby to give all players access, and you’re done.
Game Flow
L.L.A.M.A. has an easy-to-read and brief rulebook, so I’ll borrow heavily from it. L.L.A.M.A. is played over several rounds. Randomly choose who goes first. During your turn, players may take one of these three actions:
* Play a card * Draw a card * Quit
Play a Card
Cards are numbered 1-6, and there’s a seventh, specialty card (the Llama). The top card on the discard pile determines which cards can be played. You can play a card with the same value as the top card or a value that’s one more than the top card. Llamas can be played on 6s or other llamas. On top of a llama, you can play another llama or a 1.
Draw a Card
You may draw 1 card from the draw pile. You can’t play this card on the same turn, so the turn passes to the next player. If the draw pile runs out, don’t create a new one. From now on, you can’t choose this action.
Quit
If you can’t play a card or don’t want to, and you don’t feel like drawing a card either, you can quit for the current round. Place your cards in front of you, face down. You are no longer playing this round.
End of Round
The round ends if:
* One player has played all of their cards. * All players have quit for the round.
If all but one player has quit the round, that player continues on their own. However, this player may no longer draw cards.
Scoring
Your remaining cards give you negative points, no matter if you have them in front of you (quitting) or in your hand. Each card is worth its value in points. Llamas are worth 10 points.
However, you count each card value only once per round, so if you have four 1s, for example, you only get one point. Likewise, all of your llamas would only give you a total of 10 points.
Taking Tokens
Tokens denote your negative points. There are white 1-point tokens and black 10-point tokens, which you may swap at any time.
Returning Tokens
If you played all your cards during a round and you have tokens from a previous round, you may return one of them (either a 1-point or 10-point token).
Shuffle all the cards and deal another six cards to each player for the next round. Start a new discard pile with the top card from the draw pile. The last player to play a card in the previous round starts off the new round.
End of Game
Continue playing until one of you has collected 40 or more points. The player with the fewest points wins the game. If there is a tie, the players share the victory.
Review
L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game may play a touch like Uno, but it has just enough juice to hold my attention. Players need to shed the cards in their hand, much like Uno, but the option to quit for the round and discarding the right cards makes all the difference. Sure. Most games of L.L.A.M.A. revolve around the right cards showing up in the deck. In fact, the first couple of times I played L.L.A.M.A. I had either forgotten about the quitting rule or the person who taught me the rules forgot to explain the rule. L.L.A.M.A. played without the quitting rule plays like a less backstabby Uno. But after learning about (or remembering) the quitting option, I’ve experienced enough rounds where strategic quitting works.
I’ve been dealt a stellar hand at the beginning of a round (five 1s and another card). As soon as I can play the one card that isn’t a 1, I’d quit for the round and take one point. Quitting puts a ton of pressure on one’s opponents to shed cards quickly and then quit themselves. While it may seem at first like an advantage to be the final player in a round, you can no longer draw cards. If you can’t go out with what’s in your hand, you’re scoring with whatever cards remain, and you don’t want to get caught with any llamas. Hence the game’s alternate name, Don’t L.L.A.M.A..
The game’s odd theme, silly titular mascot, and bright colors add to L.L.A.M.A.’s charm. And llama is a fun word to say. Llama, llama, llama, llama. L.L.A.M.A. is a hit with multiple game group types. I’ve played with numerous demographics and ages. The game is easy enough to quickly grasp and allows for interesting choices for more serious gamers (like strategic quitting or going out one round and discarding a token of your choice). L.L.A.M.A. is light enough that many of my Monday Game Nights begin with this game, and everyone chats while they throw down a card from time to time. It’s games like this that remind us of the social aspect of board games.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
More than just a less cutthroat Uno, L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game adds strategic quitting for the round, which adds pressure to your opponents. While I can’t see myself playing too many rounds of Uno, I’ll gladly play a game or two of L.L.A.M.A. The Card Game.
Terra Nil flips the city/civilization builder on its head. The world has been sapped of its resources, and it’s up to the player to return the world to its former lush landscapes, complete with wildlife, and then leave without a trace, allowing life to begin anew. Can you bring the world back to life Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. Today’s cozy video game is Terra Nil. I wish listed this one on Steam when its demo dropped, and then forgot about it. It wasn’t until Terra Nil popped up on Netflix, of all places, that I tried the full game. Terra Nil doesn’t have much of a story, so I’ll merge those two elements. Let’s see how Terra Nil rates on our review criteria.
Game Mechanisms: 9/10
Like I said in the introduction, Terra Nil deconstructs the city/civilization builder video game genre. Players start with a barren wasteland (similar to the picture above), and they must clean the (nuclear?) waste with items like scrubbers and then replenish the Earth using various gadgets like propagators, seeders, and hydroponics. Each stage of Terra Nil plays out like an elaborate puzzle. Depending on the climate you’re trying to achieve, you may need to lower or raise the region’s temperature. Balance between biomes is crucial, and you can monitor animals and the animals’ desires when they return.
This game loop is satisfying and familiar. For being the opposite of a city builder, Terra Nil uses plenty of city builder game tropes. This makes the game easier to get into, even if what you’re doing is the exact opposite of a city builder. Finding the right balance between biomes gets tricky–Who am I kidding? It can be rage-inducing. I lost count of the number of times I was off on a certain biome and had to add an acorn to a tree to create more forest, or I had to burn more green area with a solar panel incinerator. Ugh!
And just when you’ve almost figured out how one region works, Terra Nil will add a twist like adding tundra and lava floes to the mix. I binged Terra Nil on Steam and Netflix (I still can’t get over how Netflix has a video game of Terra Nil’s caliber), and it only took about forty or fifty hours to complete the game. There was a lot of trial and error. Terra Nil’s tutorial level teaches the basics, but you’re on your own after that level, and I got stuck. A lot. But Terra Nil made getting stuck fun.
Above Image from GameDesigning.Org
Gameplay Loop: 7/10
The frustration Terra Nil can create at higher levels keeps the Gameplay Loop score from claiming top honors, but outside of that, it’s fantastic. Terra Nil shuffles the gameplay enough to keep gamers on their toes for a good forty to fifty hours. Later levels combine elements of former levels in intriguing ways, building a super puzzle. Unlocking as many animals as you can for each region is a mini-game unto itself. I forget how many times I was rooting for a frog or otter to populate.
Terra Nil is a good, chill time. I would crank up the sound effects to hear the sounds of the forests, streams, and lakes. Perhaps Terra Nil is a new way to Netflix and chill.
Narrative/Storytelling: 3/10
Because Terra Nil doesn’t have much of a story, I’m lumping Narrative and Storytelling into one element. Despite being mostly a straightforward building a green space game, Terra Nil’s premise suggests a greater story. That keeps this score from being any lower than a three. Terra Nil gives hints to what happened to the planet and drives home the idea that humans should be stewards of the environment.
User Interface: 7/10
Terra Nil’s volume of information causes the game to falter with its user interface. Despite an easy-to-navigate heads-up display and well-crafted menus, I got lost in Terra Nil’s mountains of options and data I needed to parse. The game does a good job of easing players into its cavernous menus at first, but after the first three regions, you’re thrown to the wolves. Good luck.
Terra Nil offers a detailed rulebook with phenomenal detail. I would flip through this rulebook even if I weren’t lost on what to do. The page above does a great job of showing and telling gamers how a turbine and a toxin scrubber work. I love Terra Nil’s attention to detail.
Graphics: 8/10
For what it is (a city builder game where you’re not building a city), Terra Nil’s graphics are on point. Despite how pretty Terra Nil can be, it still uses an isometric, top-down view of the environment. Sure, there’s an option to view your creation at the ground level, and that’s fun, but Terra Nil’s graphics stop shy of top marks.
Terra Nil pours in a lot of detail. The geese in the picture above are geese who reinhabited the area. If you look closely at wetlands, you can spot a frog hopping. You can find deer, bears, and wolves roaming the forests and mountains. You don’t even need to zoom in at the ground level, even though I love doing this after I finish a region. Terra Nil works as an interactive background. It’s soothing, cozy.
Audio: 10/10
Terra Nil is one of the few games I will always play with the sound. While the game’s soundtrack is relaxing and memorable in its own way, the sound effects of the environment give Terra Nil a high score. Even the noises the gadgets (like the scrubbers and terraformers) make satisfy. Putting down a ditch borer and listening to it create a future river feels great. The crackling of fire as it makes way for new growth makes me smile.
Terra Nil spares no expense with its audio effects. From the animals to the wind and snow, I’ve spent hours listening to one of my regions, trying to pinpoint which sounds I’m hearing. In short, Terra Nil may have some of the best sound editing I’ve ever heard in a video game.
Replay Factor: 7/10
Even though Terra Nil plays like a puzzle, it’s one of those games I can see replaying after multiple months or years have passed. It won’t take long for me to forget how to complete each region. In fact, I played Terra Nil within the last couple of months, and I’m pretty sure it would take me a couple of playthroughs before remembering how each gadget works and when best to use them. Terra Nil also includes scenarios, variable difficulties, and each region is randomly generated during each playthrough. That last point alone gives Terra Nil better than average replay value. I enjoyed my time with Terra Nil and look forward to playing it again.
Aggregated Score: 8
Even though I gave Terra Nil a story/narrative score, I’m omitting that score from its aggregated score. Terra Nil offers dozens of hours of calming gameplay. It functions like an interactive desktop background. I’m shocked Netflix picked up the rights to Terra Nil. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come for the streaming giant.
We had to discuss the Marvel United: Fantastic Four expansion from the Marvel United: X-Men launch. In fact, we’ll begin our coverage of the Marvel United: X-Men wave with this expansion. Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. We return once again to Marvel United. This is one of those game systems with a heap of expansions. Too many, if you ask me. But we’ll cover the expansions that will either be fan favorites (plenty of people will be interested in adding them to their collection) or good additions because of their gameplay variants. Fortunately, Marvel United: Fantastic Four fits both criteria.
We’ll get to Marvel’s first family in a minute, but first, let’s take a look at Marvel United: Fantastic Four’s less heroic details.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Andrea Chiarvesio, Eric M. Lang, and Francesco Rugerfred Sedda Publisher: CMON Global Limited and Spin Master Ltd. Date Released: 2022 Number of Players: 1-5 Age Range: 8 and up Setup Time: 5-10 minutes Play Time: 30-40 minutes
We already covered the Game Setup and Game Flow in our original Marvel United review (here’s a link to that review), so we’ll go over the basics in the following two sections. Let’s cover an abbreviated review of the game setup and rules.
Marvel United: Fantastic Four’s setup can change depending on which Villain(s) and Heroes you choose to play. Each game consists of six locations. Since Marvel United: Fantastic Four is an expansion, only includes four locations, and you’ll need a core set in addition to this expansion to play. You may choose your locations or shuffle them and choose six at random. Each Location card has spaces at the top for civilians and thugs, and a rectangle with a block of text that will state “End of Turn” at the top of the box.
Place civilian/thug tokens on their matching spaces. Shuffle the Villain’s Threat deck and deal out each Threat face-up so that it covers the rectangle at the bottom of each location. You must clear this threat before gaining the “End of Turn” effect printed on a Location. Place health tokens where signified on threat cards and on the Villain dashboard. Place the three mission cards (Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats) face up under the villain dashboard where the text reads “Unlocked.”
Each player shuffles their hero decks and then draws three cards to form their hands. Shuffle the Villain’s Master Plan deck. Leave the Master Plan deck face down. This will be the villain’s draw pile.
Players place their miniatures on one of the six location cards, usually the centralmost location for each player (easy access). Then, they place the villain on the location card opposing the heroes. If one player chooses to play as the villain, hand the Super Villain cards to them, and the Heroes gain access to Super Hero cards. These new card times can be played if the game state triggers their use (for example, “You play a Master Plan card” or “Any Hero has 4 or more cards in their hand at the end of the Hero turn.” Timing is key.
Game Flow
The villain(s) play first. Draw the top card of their master plan deck. The villain moves the number of spaces indicated. Resolve any BAM! Effects and these effects will be printed on a space within the villain’s dashboard. Then, place the civilian/thug tokens (if any) indicated at the bottom of the card. If a player has taken the role of the villain, they get a hand of cards and can choose which card they play. The heroes get their turn after all the villain’s effects are resolved.
Heroes pick which player goes first, and hero turns will continue around the table clockwise. At the beginning of each game, Heroes will get three turns before the villain receives another turn. During their turn, heroes play one card from their hand.
Resolve actions and the symbols printed at the bottom of the hero’s card in any order. The symbols at the bottom of a hero’s card will be shared with the next player, but any printed action will not be shared. Heroes will use these actions to complete missions. The game begins with three missions in play: Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats. Each mission card will have spaces for the tokens they require to complete. As soon as these spaces are filled, the card is discarded, and the mission is considered complete. Mission cards can be completed in any order.
After the heroes complete the first mission, the villain panics and will act (play a card) every two hero cards instead of every three hero cards. After the heroes complete the second mission, the villain becomes vulnerable to damage. The heroes can complete the third mission, but it isn’t necessary. If the heroes do complete the third mission, each hero immediately draws 1 card, increasing each player’s hand size by one.
Play continues back and forth until either the villain wins (by completing their unique master plan or anyone, heroes or villains, runs out of cards) or the heroes win by dealing enough damage to the villain after the villain becomes vulnerable to damage.
Review
Marvel United: Fantastic Four has a huge legacy to live up to, and it lives up to the hype. I’m writing this review in June 2025, and Marvel United: Fantastic Four’s BGG score is an 8.5 (out of 10). This makes Fantastic Four the highest-rated Marvel United expansion. Yeah. It’s—pardon the pun—fantastic.
While Marvel United: X-Men Blue and Gold Teams features semi-cooperative play (players compete to clear the most goals), and this gives me strong X-Men: Under Siege vibes (a game I have a soft spot for), Fantastic Four introduces the idea of teamwork, and it does so simply and elegantly. Included in the box is a Fantastic Four team card. Various hero cards (from the members of the Fantastic Four) will add action tokens to the card, and can then use all actions on the Fantastic Four team card with different cards in their deck. This promotes a slow build. It simulates teamwork without using a lot of convoluted rules. I like the Team Cards from Marvel United’s third wave (Multiversus), but the method used in Fantastic Four is easy to follow and makes narrative sense.
Marvel United: Fantastic Four includes six heroes. One of which is the anti-hero (hero and villain) Doctor Doom. That’s a lot of heroes for one expansion—it’s almost as many as a core box—and each hero illustrates Marvel United’s second wave’s power creep. Granted, to get the most out of the Fantastic Four characters (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Human Torch), you’re encouraged to play as the Fantastic Four. The aforementioned Fantastic Four Team Card is amazing, but these characters are still effective outside the team setting.
Each member has a unique flavor. Mr. Fantastic is flexible. Get it? Flexible? Ha…ha. Invisible Woman can avoid damage altogether (using her “Invisiblity” card), but she takes herself out of combat, which makes sense. Human Torch can use Nova Flame and deal 2 damage to everything at his location—super useful. And The Thing deals copious amounts of damage and can ignore 1 damage during each Villain Turn. Very nice.
The remaining two heroes, Doctor Doom and Silver Surfer, don’t gain any benefit from the Fantastic Four team card, but they don’t need it. Doom gets tokens for each damage he takes. He can even use the symbols from the 3 previous Hero cards in the Storyline (instead of the previous one). This can generate as many as seven actions on a single turn. Yikes! Silver Surfer has extra card draw, can move anywhere with one of his special abilities, and can exchange a Location in play with one that isn’t in play. What? Silver Surfer can literally yeet any Location for another Location. That’s coconuts.
But Marvel United: Fantastic Four’s villains are just as overpowered as their hero counterparts. Even though Doctor Doom is the marquee villain, we’ll begin with Super-Skrull. Don’t overlook Super-Skrull. He has one of the more unique Special Rules in Marvel United. Whenever he BAM!s, he performs actions based on the symbols on the last Hero card in the Storyline. The heroes have some control over what Super-Skrull can do, but that doesn’t matter. None of Super-Skrull’s BAM! actions are things you want to happen. Super-Skrull attempts to knock out (KO) and hand each in-play hero a KO token, but this isn’t the only way he can win. Super-Skrull can’t be damage if any Crisis tokens exist, and he adds cards from his deck facedown in the Storyline, which leads to a shortened clock.
Super-Skrull is a spiffier version of Green Goblin. He does enough things well that you must split your focus on the various ways he can win, and even though he doesn’t have Henchmen (like Green Goblin), he makes up for it with crazy Threat card abilities that make clearing Thugs and Civilians less efficient, and each Threat card requires one of each action type. Super-Skrull covers all bases. But most people purchase Marvel United: Fantastic Four for Doctor Doom, and Doom delivers.
First off, Doom must be played with Latveria—naturally—and Latveria is the first Location card that has a negative “End of Turn” effect. In fact, Doom only has five Threat cards because Latveria begins the game without one. Latveria marks the first time Marvel United has included an “End of Turn” effect that benefits the villain. “You MUST take 1 damage for each Thug or Doombot in this Location.” Ouch! Latveria begins every game with three Doombot tokens, so if you don’t take out all of the Doombots, you’re discarding your entire hand. Double ouch! Doom’s Threat cards add extra Doombots (sometimes not even in the same place as the Threat card’s location) and can deal extra damage to heroes. Triple ouch!
As for his Villainous Plot, Doc Doom plays like Red Skull but way, way worse. He can increase the Doom Track (changed from the Red Skull’s Threat Track) far more often, and he can’t be damaged if a Doombot is at his Location. In short, Doctor Doom is nasty. You’ll need the Fantastic Four with their Team Card to defeat him. It can be done, but it’s a tough go. I find Doctor Doom tuned to the perfect level of difficulty. He may be one of the many reasons Marvel United: Fantastic Four is the highest-rated Marvel United expansion.
We talked about Latveria, but there’s another Location, Mount Wundagore, that has a negative “End of Turn” effect: Each Hero in this Location MUST discard all cards in their hand and draw the same number of cards (this does not KO). Even though this effect doesn’t count as a KO, it’s another way to shorten the clock. If anyone (including Heroes) runs out of cards in their deck, the heroes lose. Yowza! I like Marvel United: Fantastic Four’s inclusion of villain-centric Locations. We’ll see more of this later in the series, but villain-centric Locations do a lot to shake up Marvel United’s status quo. The remaining Locations have unique “End of Turn” abilities as well. The Baxter Building provides token draw if the character you’re playing was ever a member of the Fantastic Four. This is a boon for anyone who knows the comics. I appreciate that.
I also appreciate the Takeover Challenge card included in Marvel United: Fantastic Four. If a Thug, Civilian, or Doombot token can’t be added to a Location, after resolving Overflow, place the excess tokens on the Takeover card. If the card is full, Heroes immediately lose. The Takeover card has two sides with different difficulties (number of spots for tokens). This Challenge card, like the Fantastic Four’s Team Card, is simple and elegant. It adds just enough difficulty if the game has gotten too predictable.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
Marvel United: Fantastic Four is the highest-rated Marvel United expansion on BoardGameGeek and for good reason. This expansion adds more layers of complexity while staying thematic and not burdening the player with too many over-complicated rules. Every element from the Locations, the Challenge Card, the Heroes, and especially the Villains is well thought out and an excellent addition to any Marvel United collection.
Organ Trail gives a zombie apocalypse twist to the classic Oregon Trail. Not to be confused with the 2023 film of the same name, Organ Trail was developed by Men Who Wear Many Hats in 2010. 2010! That makes this game a decade and a half old. Yikes! Organ Trail began as a web game before a 2012 Kickstarter campaign expanded its release to Steam and iOS. Organ Trail has gone on to sell over half a million copies.
Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. Today, we’re reviewing the 2013 Organ Trail: Director’s Cut. The developer claims that this version moves past the original’s pure parody of Oregon Trail to become a game in its own right. Trade in your Conestoga wagon for a station wagon. It’s time to see how Organ Trail rates against our criteria.
Game Mechanisms: 8/10
Organ Trail follows its inspiration’s lead (Oregon Trail) with its game mechanisms, but it differs enough to warrant a higher than average score. The Director’s Cut adds Choose Your Own Adventure aspects to the original’s release. Fighting off biker gangs and avoiding zombie deer stampedes are nice touches. But the bulk of the game (at least for me) was with scavenging. Honestly, I spent most of Oregon Trail hunting, so spending a lot of time scavenging (Organ Trail’s version of hunting) makes sense.
Despite being essentially the same mini-game, scavenging (in Organ Trail) feels far different from hunting (in Oregon Trail). First, the zombies are heading toward you. While you may find the occasional wild animal that will attack you (like a bear), animals like deer in (Oregon Trail) run away from you. Organ Trail even references the bear by having a bear be a boss fight, so there is a tip of the cap there. Second, killing zombies doesn’t give you any resources. Instead, you must pick up randomly generated items in the wilderness. While this makes thematic sense, I kind of miss the push and pull of do I use bullets to kill animals for food, trading one resource for another. But ultimately, the zombies are fun.
I do my best to dodge zombies, which is easy to do if you don’t face a horde. Zombies in the scavenging mini-game will follow your movements, so you can trap them behind fences, walls, trees, and other obstacles. The other mini-games, like avoiding a zombie deer stampede, shake up the doldrums, but repairing your station wagon is the most pervasive mini-game outside of scavenging. Repairing your car is a timing mini-game, and I stink at it. Looks like I’ll have to carry plenty of extra scrap. Even so, the trickiest mini-game to master is the one where a bandit randomly picks one of your friends/family members to kidnap. You’ll only get one shot to shoot the bandit in the head. Don’t miss.
There are 20 stops before you reach your destination, Safe Haven (in the Pacific Northwest), and each stop has some combination of an Auto Shop, Combat Training, and supplies for you to purchase, but every stop has a Job Board. Jobs add even more mini-games. These jobs become more important at higher difficulty settings. If you begin on “Easy” mode, you won’t need to do them beyond the halfway point on your trip. Player choice is paramount in Organ Trail.
Note: I’ve played the PlayStation4 and Steam versions. The PlayStation version is better than Steam’s. Unfortunately, players have fewer options if they play on Steam, so I’d lower the rating by a point for the Steam version.
Gameplay Loop: 9/10
Organ Trail’s core gameplay loop of scavenge, repair, shop, rest, and travel is a satisfying one, especially when you throw in the day/night cycle. You may want to rest or repair during the evening, when zombie activity is higher. This is a consideration when leaving a stop. There’s a percentage chance you’ll encounter a zombie horde, but player choice comes into play. You can sneak past the horde, floor the gas and try to speed past them, or bust out your shotguns and shoot while you drive. Even with a set gameplay, Organ Trail offers micro choices that have a profound impact.
Just like Oregon Trail, random events occur while you drive. Some are silly, like “Mike gets bored and starts making an annoying noise.” Others are more serious, like “Your mom has dysentery,” and you may need to stop and rest or risk her dying. And since Organ Trail is set in a zombie apocalypse, someone, like Jamie, could be bitten by a zombie (which is indicated by a green skull). So long as you keep them healthy with med packs, which aren’t cheap, they won’t turn. I hear there’s a weirdo at Safe Haven who pays for someone who’s infected.
Add in some combat upgrades for yourself and some car upgrades, and Organ Trail has plenty of options for you to explore. This improves Organ Trail’s already stellar gameplay loop.
Narrative/Storytelling: 8/10
Organ Trail has a simple but effective narrative. You’re traveling from one side of the United States to the other. The game uses liminal space to tell its story. I could see plenty of gamers missing Organ Trail’s story. To get the most out of Organ Trail (from a narrative perspective), it’s best to talk to strangers at each stop. They fill in the gaps by asking why the government thought nuking its people would “solve” the zombie crisis.
Nuclear strikes are the reason why you must take an indirect route to make it from Washington DC to Safe Haven. Other tidbits of information are sprinkled during these interactions. Organ Trail manages to add in a few more with merchants and the random bandits who abduct your passengers. Organ Trail has an interesting world. How did the disease (if zombism is a disease) cross over from humans to deer and bears?
User Interface: 8/10
While clunky (or outdated) at times, Organ Trail has a simple-to-understand and navigate user interface. If you’ve ever played Oregon Trail, you’ll know how to play Organ Trail. The game keeps players informed with specific details about their party. You can check the map and see how many stops you have remaining, and if you know anything about geography, you can plan when you may need certain upgrades like snow tires. Hint: most likely when you’re traveling through the Rockies.
Notifications will pop up on the main screen if any major issues occur. The tabs work and are self-explanatory. I have few issues with Organ Trail’s user interface.
Graphics: 6/10
I struggled with scoring Organ Trail’s graphics. Yes. The graphics aren’t the best, but they’re not meant to be the best. Organ Trail is a retro game, parodying a video game released in the mid-80s. And yet, Organ Trail finds ways to make its graphics unsettling. This works to steep the game in atmosphere.
Audio: 8/10
Organ Trail has a good mix of sound effects meant to mimic Oregon Trail (like clinks and bloops after a stage is complete) and others that subtly suggest a game with a darker subject matter (like splattering brains and cocking a gun). Organ Trail’s soundtrack, by Ben Crossbones, does a lot of heavy lifting. I often play video games on mute; I didn’t with Organ Trail. Crossbones does a great job of capturing the game’s mood and theme without going too over the top. Organ Trail’s soundtrack is the right level of creepy.
Replay Factor: 7/10
Organ Trail plays quickly, no less than five hours, so it’s easy to replay this title. It offers multiple difficulty settings, and the higher ones offer a good challenge. There’s even a leaderboard (Organ Trail grades your accomplishments during each playthrough). I even like the addition of finding your tombstone from a previous playthrough. All of this is fantastic, but I don’t see gamers playing Organ Trail more than a handful of times. I could see replaying it after several years. I sure have. I can only give this game a slightly above-average replay factor.
Organ Trail is typically sold for $5-10. That’s a steal for the amount of game you get. I recommend giving it a try, especially if you like zombie apocalypses and the original Oregon Trail.
Happy Weekend, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and I’m sharing my thoughts on Marvel Zombies on Disney+. Honestly, I didn’t think Marvel Zombies was necessary. I got enough of this world during the episode or two of What If? that featured Marvel Zombies. The concept is simple. Most Marvel superheroes become zombies.
The original comic book series managed to strike a balance where readers cared about the characters and had a healthy dose of hope. Most of that is dashed at some point, but readers could hold onto some hope for at least a little time. The animated series is rushed (there are only four episodes), so any hope lasts approximately five minutes. Without hope, there are no stakes. Everything becomes futile. I don’t believe this world to be anything but “let’s see all the MCU turn into zombies.” Mission accomplished, I guess. Instead of any real hope that could lead to stakes, let’s throw in all the least serious characters in the MCU, so they’re dropping one-liners every few seconds. But laughs don’t make for a compelling story.
Marvel Zombies’ short run means that it’s over quickly. That’s a plus. If you want to burn an hour and a half, there are worse ways to do it. I can’t recommend this series, but wait, Marvel Zombies could be getting a second season. Great.
Some will enjoy Marvel Zombies. You do get to watch MCU characters turn into zombies, and that can be fun. Some of the ways they turn are inventive. The animation is phenomenal. Marvel Animation Studios is knocking things out of the park, so you could watch Marvel Zombies for the visuals alone. And I do like that Marvel Zombies is a standalone story. We don’t need another show in the connected universe.
One last positive: Marvel Zombies makes Zombie Hawkeye a menace. Hawkeye is terrifying. Most of Hawkeye’s scenes are in the first episode, and I would recommend watching this version of Hawkeye. Heck, I’d watch a show with Zombie Hawkeye (the only zombie is Hawkeye) hunting superheroes.
I’ll keep this Marvel Zombies review short. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
We’ve discussed many Marvel United expansions from the game’s initial set; it’s time to talk about Marvel United: X-Men. This version of Marvel United adds team play and a one versus many option, where one player controls the villain while the others play the heroes. This increases gameplay options and allows for a fifth player to join in on the fun.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. In Marvel United: X-Men, players act as iconic X-Men heroes who work together to stop the master plan of a powerful villain controlled by the game and in some cases another player. Each villain has a unique master plan, cards that trigger various effects, and threats that make clearing locations difficult. Heroes clear missions, making the villain vulnerable, and finally take on the big bad villain before they complete their master plan. Can you save the day in time? Marvel United: X-Men adds Marvel’s merry mutants to the fray.
Before we get any further, we’ll take a side quest and discuss Marvel United: X-Men’s less heroic details.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Andrea Chiarvesio, Eric M. Lang, and Francesco Rugerfred Sedda Publisher: CMON Global Limited and Spin Master Ltd. Date Released: 2021 Number of Players: 1-5 Age Range: 8 and up Setup Time: 5-10 minutes Play Time: 30-40 minutes
We already covered the Game Setup and Game Flow in our original Marvel United review (here’s a link to that review), so we’ll go over the basics in the following two sections. Let’s cover an abbreviated review of the game setup and rules.
Marvel United: X-Men’s setup can change depending on which Villain(s) and Heroes you choose to play. Each game consists of six locations. Eight locations are included because Marvel United: X-Men is a core set. You may choose your locations or shuffle them and choose six at random. Each Location card has spaces at the top for civilians and thugs and a rectangle with a block of text that will state “End of Turn” at the top of the box.
Place civilian/thug tokens on their matching spaces. Shuffle the Villain’s Threat deck and deal out each Threat face-up so that it covers the rectangle at the bottom of each location. You must clear this threat before gaining the “End of Turn” effect printed on a Location. Place health tokens where signified on threat cards and on the Villain dashboard. Place the three mission cards (Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats) face up under the villain dashboard where the text reads “Unlocked.”
Each player shuffles their hero decks and then draws three cards to form their hands. Shuffle the Villain’s Master Plan deck. Leave the Master Plan deck face down. This will be the villain’s draw pile.
Players place their miniatures on one of the six location cards, usually the centralmost location for each player (easy access). Then, they place the villain on the location card opposing the heroes. If one player chooses to play as the villain, hand the Super Villain cards to them, and the Heroes gain access to Super Hero cards. These new card times can be played if the game state triggers their use (for example, “You play a Master Plan card” or “Any Hero has 4 or more cards in their hand at the end of the Hero Turn.” Timing is key.
Game Flow
The villain(s) play first. Draw the top card of their master plan deck. The villain moves the number of spaces indicated. Resolve any BAM! Effects and these effects will be printed on a space within the villain’s dashboard. Then, place the civilian/thug tokens (if any) indicated at the bottom of the card. If a player has taken the role of the villain, they get a hand of cards and can choose which card they play. The heroes get their turn after all the villain’s effects are resolved.
Heroes pick who goes first, and hero turns will continue around the table clockwise. At the beginning of each game, Heroes will get three turns before the villain receives another turn. During their turn, heroes play one card from their hand.
Resolve actions and the symbols printed at the bottom of the hero’s card in any order. The symbols at the bottom of a hero’s card will be shared with the next player, but any printed action will not be shared. Heroes will use these actions to complete missions. The game begins with three missions in play: Defeat Thugs, Rescue Civilians, and Clear Threats. Each mission card will have spaces for the tokens they require to complete. As soon as these spaces are filled, the card is discarded, and the mission is considered complete. Mission cards can be completed in any order.
After the heroes complete the first mission, the villain panics and will act (play a card) every two hero cards instead of every three hero cards. After the heroes complete the second mission, the villain becomes vulnerable to damage. The heroes can complete the third mission, but it isn’t necessary. If the heroes do complete the third mission, each hero immediately draws 1 card, increasing each player’s hand size by one.
Play continues back and forth until either the villain wins (by completing their unique master plan or anyone, heroes or villains, runs out of cards) or the heroes win by dealing enough damage to the villain after the villain becomes vulnerable to damage.
Review
Marvel United: X-Men features many new game concepts for the United game system. Having one player take on the role of the villain is the most obvious. I like that Spin Master and CMON games include a chart that allows gamers to play villains from the previous set. Since X-Men characters have a knack for flip-flopping their allegiance, it makes sense that Marvel United: X-Men began the trend of purple miniatures (anti-heroes who can be played as heroes or villains). This feature is crucial to the game design, as I forgot it began with Marvel United’s second wave (X-Men). Marvel United: X-Men also adds a team element with its Blue and Gold Team expansions. That doesn’t factor in too much with the core set. We’ll talk more about the X-Men Blue and Gold Teams in the future.
Power creep is a real thing in Marvel United: X-Men. In the original set, players were lucky if they had three unique abilities and anything more than three cards in their deck with special abilities. Marvel United: X-Men heroes have a minimum of four cards in their deck with special abilities and at least two unique special effects, but there are plenty of heroes with way more than four special ability cards. Marvel United: X-Men also includes plenty of powers that deal with crisis tokens. The original set had a few ways to deal with crisis tokens; most of the methods came in the form of Location “End of Turn” abilities. I like the inclusion of heroes with crisis token abilities. The heroes in Marvel United’s second way had plenty of new ways to affect the game state.
Beginning with the anti-heroes (the purple miniatures who can be heroes or villains), let’s get into specific heroes you can find in the Marvel United: X-Men Core Set. Mystique features few Heroics but plenty of Move and Attack. Her two special abilities (two copies of each card) allow her to prevent new tokens (Thugs or Civilians) from being added by the next Master Plan card, and she can redirect damage from herself to Henchmen or Thugs. This plays into Mystique’s ability as an infiltrator. Typically, Marvel United: X-Men does a good job of showing each anti-hero as their heroic and villainous selves. Magneto is the other anti-hero included in the Core Set. Like Mystique, he has little Heroics but can zoom around the board and deal copious amounts of damage. I like Magneto’s ability to convert symbols into Wild symbols. This makes him versatile.
Perhaps because of the increased number of powers within hero decks, Marvel United: X-Men does an even better job of capturing its heroes. Wolverine begins the game with a healing factor. Cyclops uses Leadership, while Beast also has a regenerating factor (not as persistent as Wolverines) and he specializes in heroics and movement. So far, far thematic, but I really like Storm, Jean Grey, and Professor X. Storm can reposition the entire team, Jean Grey can manipulate the Storyline with Telekinesis, and Professor X may be the most powerful hero in the X-Men Core Set. He’s surprisingly mobile with a penchant for heroics. He can also use Telepathy to manipulate the Storyline, give tokens with Leadership, turn symbols into Wilds, and even turn Thugs into Civilians.
In short, the heroes of Marvel United: X-Men have more personality than the previous set. Professor X may be overly powerful. Half of the cards in his deck possess special abilities, and two of the other six cards feature wild symbols. The villains in the X-Men Core Set provide plenty of twists for gameplay, but that’s to be expected from Marvel United villains. The villains have always represented this game’s most intriguing design space. Sabretooth hunts heroes, while Juggernaut charges from one location to the next, damaging everyone in his way. Magneto is especially difficult to stop. He can nullify all Hero effects and hand out crisis tokens to heroes, damaging them for each crisis token the hero possesses. But Mystique may be the most interesting villain from this lot. She targets Senator Kelly, and the heroes lose if she carries out her assassination.
Marvel United: X-Men’s Locations have varied “End of Turn” abilities. Token draw, healing, moving to another location, rescuing a Civilian, and dealing damage to a Thug/Henchman are standard fare by this point, but Marvel United: X-Men’s Locations gives these mechanisms a few twists. But my favorite “End of Turn” ability may be Sentinel Space Station’s. You may discard 1 card from your hand to the bottom of your deck to swap a card from your hand with one of your face-up cards in the Storyline. This ability is a hint of what one can expect in other Marvel United: X-Men expansions.The Marvel United: X-Men Core Set does enough to show what the second United wave of games offers. It does a great job of building on a solid foundation.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
Marvel United: X-Men adds numerous wrinkles to the United Series’ gameplay. A player can take the role of the villain, team play is possible, and antihero characters can be either heroes or villains. The heroes within Marvel United’s second wave have more personality, while the villains remain stellar. Mystique’s mission of assassinating Senator Kelly is fantastic.
Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Flip 7 takes the premise of Blackjack and extends it to party game proportions. Flip over cards one by one without flipping the same number twice. While the game choices are simple (hit or stay), the ramifications of your actions aren’t. Are you the type of player to play it safe and bank points before you bust, or will you risk it all for the bonus by flipping over seven unique cards in a row? Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’ll review Flip 7 in a moment, but before we draw our first card, let’s discuss Flip 7’s fine print.
The Fiddly Bits
Designer: Eric Olsen Publisher: The Op Games; KOSMOS Date Released: 2024 Number of Players: 3-18 Age Range: 6 and up Setup Time: Nominal Play Time: 10-20 minutes
Shuffle the deck and choose a player to be the Dealer for the round.
In turn order, the Dealer deals one card face up to each player, including themselves. If an Action card is drawn, resolve it immediately (more on Action cards in the Game Flow section). Once any Action cards are resolved, continue dealing until everyone has been dealt a card. Not everyone will have a Number card (a card with a number). Some players may have multiple cards because of other Action cards.
Game Flow
The Dealer now offers each player in turn the option to “Hit” (deal them another card) or “Stay” (exit the round and bank their points). If you Hit, put the Number cards in a single row with Score Modifier cards.
Flip 7 features a special deck of cards. It’s Number cards range from 0 to 12. There are copies of each card equal to the card’s value. For example, there are 12 copies of the 12 Number card and 5 copies of the 5 Number card. Zero is the only exception; there’s only one copy of the 0 Number card. Flip 7’s deck also contains Score Modifier cards (Times 2 which doubles your point value and the rest adding a flat number to your score). Flip 7 also has three Action cards: Freeze, Flip Three, and Second Chance. Second Chance allows you to ignore one bust (drawing the same Number card). Flip Three allows the player to choose a player (even themselves) to draw three cards in a row. Freeze cards are given to a player to force them to stay for the round (they will not be able to draw more cards).
Remember: Players bust (don’t receive points and are eliminated from the round) if they draw two of the same Number card.
The round continues until one of two criteria are met. 1) There are no active players because all players have busted or chosen to stay. 2) One player can Flip 7 number cards, ending the round immediately.
At the end of each round, players score points. Add the value of all your Number cards. Adjust your score with any Score Modifier cards. If you Flip 7 Number cards during the round, score an additional 15 points.
When starting the next round, set all cards from the previous round aside. Do not shuffle them back into the deck. Pass the remaining cards in the deck to the left, that player becomes the new Dealer. When the deck runs out, shuffle all discards to form a new deck. If you need to reshuffle mid-round, leave all cards in front of the players where they are.
At the end of the round when at least one player reaches 200 points, the player with the most points wins.
Review
Flip 7 has taken the tabletop gaming community by storm. I can see why. It has a simple premise (party game Blackjack) and easy-to-understand choices each turn and round. Flip 7 is necessary for the tabletop community. In practice, Flip 7 is the game I can play with my grandma and my four-year-old niece. It’s the most gateway of gateway games.
Since this is the case, I’ve played Flip 7 a ton over the past several months. Seriously, Flip 7 was released during the holiday season (December 2024), I’m writing this in early May (we write many of our reviews weeks, if not months, in advance), and I’ve played this game with 10 different game groups and over 150 times. That’s about 30 times every month. I’ve almost played Flip 7 once every day. One of those months was February, so I’ve definitely played Flip 7 once every day. Frankly, I’m sick of playing Flip 7. It’s a good filler game, but I haven’t seen a game with this much crossover appeal.
And that’s a strength for Flip 7. It’s one of the few games I can get everyone on board playing. That’s why it’s necessary for the tabletop community and for tabletop gaming. But does it convince non-gamers to try other games that aren’t Flip 7? I’m unsure.
But I do like the inclusion of Action cards. There are three copies of each Action card. Freeze seems mean, but it could be pivotal in stopping someone who had an easy rise to the top of the scoring track; it’s a decent catch-up game mechanism of sorts but this can devolve into targeting the leader (like Munchkin). Players can only hold onto one Second Chance. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a player forced to give a second copy of Second Chance to an opponent. Those cards have a way of finding the same player. But Flip Three has the most strategic value. During the early game, you may want to target yourself. Later in the game, you’ll want to choose someone else and force them to bust. Is this enough strategy? Probably not for many tabletop gamers.
I can see that people who can count cards have an advantage in Flip 7, but that takes the fun out of the game. While the rules don’t forbid someone from looking at the discard, it goes against the soul of Flip 7. The Number cards value equaling the number of copies in the deck is clever, and the game doesn’t overstay its welcome—unless you’ve played it over 150 times in a handful of months.
Flip 7’s box says 3+ players. Its entry on BoardGameGeek lists it as 3-99 players. The rulebook suggests that if you have more than a dozen players, use a second copy of Flip 7. While this may be technically true, the game plays best at 5-6 players. Flip 7 would overstay its welcome if you included over a dozen players. It would take forever for twelve people to determine whether they should hit or stay. There isn’t much else to Flip 7, but I’d be bored if I had to wait for eleven other people to make that simple choice. And forget 98 other people. I’d walk away from the table.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
While not my first or second choice of filler game, Flip 7 has enough crossover appeal to appease the masses. It doesn’t have enough strategy for hardcore tabletop gamers, but Flip 7 is the kind of game I can get my grandma or four-year-old niece to play. Therefore, Flip 7 is a good game to keep on hand for non-gamers.
Kitaria Fables by Indonesian indie game studio Twin Hearts combines a farming sim like Stardew Valley with a mild adventure game. Players assume the role of a cat hero Nyanza (or Nyan for short), hence the name Kitaria, as Nyan upgrades his weapons and armor and learns new abilities to save the Empire.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here. We’re covering a video game today that’s unlike most we’ve covered in the past. Kitaria Fables is a cozy game. Full disclosure: I’ve picked up this game on sale for multiple systems (Steam, Switch, and PlayStation 4), but I’ve played the most on PS4. Cozy games have taken off in the past few years, and I’m here for it. I love a good cozy game. But how does Kitaria Fables stack up against our review criteria?
Mechanisms: 7/10
Kitaria Fables has solid game mechanisms, but there’s a reason it’s often compared to Stardew Valley—I compared Kitaria Fables to Stardew Valley in the opening paragraph of this review. Kitaria Fables borrows many mechanisms, its graphic design, and some of its perspective from Stardew Valley. All of the mechanisms Kitaria Fables borrows are well done. But I can’t give it top marks.
Still, Kitaria Fables adds a few things to the Stardew Valley formula to make it stand out. Not the least of which is the adventure aspects. Gone are the procedurally generated mines. In their place are regions to explore and enemies to vanquish. Enemies will drop items to use for upgrade materials. So far, this sounds like a typical adventure game, but Kitaria Fables opts to go with ability upgrades instead of leveling.
Players can trade out Nyan’s magic abilities at any time. The only downside is that more powerful spells usually cost more magic gems. In the top left-hand corner, you’ll see Nyan’s health. Magic gems are displayed below Nyan’s health bar. Nyan can gain more magic gems by physically attacking enemies, so there’s a push-pull with varying Nyan’s combat style.
I’ve seen other games use custom move-sets similar to Kitaria Fables’ setup (like the Cat Quest series), but Kitaria Fables does just enough to separate itself from its competition. But not enough to escape a slightly above average score.
Gameplay Loop: 8/10
This score should come as no surprise. Kitaria Fables combines Stardew Valley and Cat Quest. I didn’t think of Cat Quest before writing this review (funny how both games have cat protagonists). With Stardew Valley and Cat Quest as inspiration, Kitaria Fables has a high gameplay loop score. All enemies (including bosses like the one pictured above) respawn at the beginning of each day, so it’s easy to grind Nyan to god-like powers.
Kitaria Fables has a couple of obtuse missions. I was stuck a handful of times and used trial and error to figure out what the game meant for me to do. But those moments were few and didn’t detract from the overall experience. And the NPCs rebooted their routine every in-game day in addition to the enemies respawning. If I couldn’t figure out something one day, I could try again the next. This is one of the reasons why Kitaria Fables is a cozy game. It induces little to no stress.
Narrative: 3/10
The Empire, the Calamity, Capital City, and other generic terms left me wanting. Kitaria Fables doesn’t have much of a story, and the story it has can get grown-inducing. I’m unsure if this lack of story comes from poor localization or if Kitaria Fables wanted generic names and storylines to make it easy for people from different backgrounds to follow. Either way, I’m unimpressed. Kitaria Fables has one big twist. I won’t spoil it here, even though that’s unnecessary. The big reveal is obvious.
Storytelling: 5/10
I can’t tell which score should be higher, narrative or storytelling. I’m giving storytelling an average score. That seems right. Kitaria Fables does a good job of executing its story, but it just has a forgettable story. Still, look at the adorable animal people. I love characters like Caramel, a brown furred mouse child who lives in Paw Village. Caramel will ask Nyan for a piece of candy. If you give him candy, you’ll unlock a mission. If you refuse to give him candy, you’ll unlock a different mission. This happens to be one of the obtuse story branches I mentioned in the gameplay loop section. You can unlock both missions. All you must do is interact with Caramel on two different occasions.
User Interface: 8/10
Kitaria Fables has an easy-to-use interface. During combat, Nyan will have items (to include healing items) and spells/moves assigned to hot keys. While not in combat, Nyan can pull up a menu (on the left-hand side of the screen) that will have clearly marked tabs. Players will receive different options depending on whether Nyan interacts with an NPC or an object (like a mirror to change Nyan’s appearance) or doesn’t interact with anything.
Players can pin items (if they find them in a store) to know how much of an item they need for an upgrade. This is standard stuff, but you’d be surprised how many games forget to include a pin object option. Kitaria Fables does a great job of incorporating good practices from other games with its user interface. The only reason I knock the game down a point is the Switch version. If you pick up Kitaria Fables on PlayStation 4 or Steam, go ahead and raise this score. The Switch version isn’t too difficult to navigate, but it’s lacking.
Graphics: 8/10
Kitaria Fables features charming graphics, but it doesn’t take top marks because Twin Hearts may have lowered the graphic quality to fit on the Switch. Honestly, if Kitaria Fables exclusively came out for the Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 (three or four years later), the graphics score could be even higher. Older systems may have held back the graphics, but that doesn’t mean that Kitaria Fables’ look is anything but enchanting.
I also love Kitaria Fables’ colorful world. Each zone feels unique: lush forests, dank swamps, and barren deserts. Kitaria Fables mixes up its enemies in quirky ways to match the various biomes. Despite some technical limitations, Kitaria Fables has gorgeous graphics.
Audio: 8/10
When I first booted Kitaria Fables, the music didn’t grab me. It was there and pleasant. But the more I played, the more Kitaria Fables’ soundtrack grew on me. Kitaria Fables’ soundtrack isn’t one of those wow you when you first hear it soundtracks. It’s one of those slow-burning soundtracks. I wasn’t surprised to see the Kitaria Fables’ soundtrack available on vinyl. It can be infectious.
Replay Factor: 6/10
I enjoyed my time with Kitaria Fables. Heck, I blew through the game in a few days and picked it up on multiple platforms. But I wouldn’t call Kitaria Fables a game with high replay value. I can hope that I’ll forget specifics about Kitaria Fables and return to the game in several years. While a solid game, Kitaria Fables’ linear story (with no alternative storylines) makes it a one-time play game. And that’s okay.
Aggregated Score: 6.6
Kitaria Fables delivers a well-constructed video game that combines elements of Stardew Valley and Cat Quest. I enjoyed a lot of the colorful characters and the gorgeous set pieces. And cats, who doesn’t love cat people? While I wouldn’t expect a game with a ton of replay value, Kitaria Fables is a great one-time play game, especially if it’s on sale.
Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Marvel Studios Animation released its fifth project in its short four years of existence with Eyes of Wakanda. This series looks amazing. The premise of time-hopping through history, showing Wakanda’s secret spies, the Hatut Zaraze (War Dogs), retrieving Wakanda’s advanced technology, sounds exciting. And Eyes of Wakanda is fun, I can see where storyboard artist Todd Harris wanted to go with Eyes of Wakanda’s story, but the reduced episode run makes it difficult for the Eyes of Wakanda to find its stride.
The War Dogs’ mission is to sneak into outside countries and recover lost Vibranium artifacts that, if they fall into the wrong hands, could expose or bring harm to Wakanda. The Hatut Zaraze do their best to keep Wakanda hidden from the outside world. This idea dovetails into the first Black Panther film; Killmonger found a Wakandan artifact on display in a museum. More on this moment later. Eyes of Wakanda’s first season features four key moments in Wakandan history: the Bronze Age, the Trojan War, the beginning of China’s Ming dynasty, and the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Each episode leans into the region’s cultural aesthetics. Eyes of Wakanda shows accurate depictions of the people who lived in each location during that time. I can’t say it enough, the art style is fabulous.
I also like how these four episodes are stand-alone stories. You don’t need to watch either of the Black Panther movies or do any other MCU homework. Everything you need to know is contained in four half-hour episodes. The first and final episodes of Eyes of Wakanda’s first season stand out above the middle two. I like the idea of reintroducing Iron Fist in the third episode–there’s hope we’ll have another Iron Fist sighting in the MCU–but the middle two episodes don’t do as much to explore Wakanda. The first episode shows how far advanced Wakanda is from the rest of a Bronze Age society. The fourth directly ties into Black Panther and Killmonger (this is the artifact, the axe, Killmonger steals from the museum). I have mixed feelings about forcing Eyes of Wakanda to connect with Black Panther, but the MCU is going to MCU. The bookend episodes also delve further into their protagonists.
In the first episode, we follow failed Dora Milaje candidate Noni, while the fourth episode centers on eager Wakandan Prince Tafari. I didn’t see the same character development in the middle two episodes. Or at least, the middle two didn’t stand out as much.
Eyes of Wakanda’s short run works against it. A couple more episodes like the first and fourth could’ve allowed Eyes of Wakanda to find its footing. Several television shows need at least two or three episodes to “really get going,” and I got that vibe from Eyes of Wakanda. With a larger episode order, Marvel Studios Animations could’ve shown more sides of Wakanda.
Still, what’s here is fun, and two hours isn’t a long investment for an animated series. And I can’t stress how amazing Eyes of Wakanda’s animation is. To this point, What If? was Marvel Studios Animations’ crowning achievement for art style and direction. Eyes of Wakanda gives What If? a run for its money. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with a Fantastic Four: First Steps review. Right off the bat, I must say 2025 is a banner year for superhero films and shows. The DCEU had been flailing for years; Superman (2025) gives the franchise new hope. The MCU has been a shell of itself in previous years, but Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four: First Steps have been a return to form. I love that little MCU homework is needed for Fantastic Four: First Steps. Spider-Man: Homecoming aside, Fantastic Four: First Steps is the closest the MCU has felt to a Phase One movie in almost a decade. Fantastic!
I’ll try to avoid spoilers in this review. If you’ve read the Fantastic Four comic book, you should know the basis for a Galactus story. Fantastic Four: First Steps is the most comic book accurate Fantastic Four film. I mentioned in a previous Geekly News post that Shalla-Bal does have a basis in the comics; she’s Norrin Radd’s longtime romantic interest and has powers comparable to the Silver Surfer. In alternate universes, Shalla-Bal becomes Galactus’s herald in Radd’s stead, so if Earth 828 (nice tribute to Jack Kirby’s birthday, August 28th) is an alternate universe, it makes sense if she becomes Galactus’s herald. This allows Radd to become the Silver Surfer in Earth 616 (or some other Marvel universe). And Galactus is terrifying.
Galactus reminds me of the Reapers in Mass Effect: part living being and part machine. This visual effects decision makes sense. It allows for Galactus to look like his comic book counterpart. I cheered when I saw him onscreen. Galactus’s look is another great comic book accurate element. Johnny Storm figuring out Shalla-Bal’s history and pleading with her to save Earth was another classic comic book moment. Both Radd and Shalla-Bal sacrificed themselves to save their planet (Zenn-La) from Galactus, only to become Galactus’s pawns and destroy other planets.
I even liked the montage at the beginning of Fantastic Four: First Steps. It shows the team has been in the superhero/explorer/adventuring business for years, while not bogging down the film with extra runtime. While I would’ve liked to have seen John Malkovich’s Red Ghost, it made sense for Fantastic Four: First Steps to cut his scenes from the movie. Fantastic Four: First Steps had a tight 114-minute runtime. Just under two hours. That’s unheard of with modern blockbusters. Rumors swirled a few months ago that Fantastic Four: First Steps had a runtime of over two and a half hours, which would’ve made it one of the longest MCU films before edits. Fantastic Four went from being one of the longest MCU films to the fifth shortest. The audience got what it needed in that runtime. Kudos to Fantastic Four for cutting unneeded scenes.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is just what the MCU needed. Just like Superman (2025) got me excited for DC Comics movies again, Fantastic Four: First Steps got me excited for the MCU again. And like Superman, I have some notes for Fantastic Four: First Steps. The biggest is Galactus’s timeline. While Galactus does lumber through the universe on his never-ending quest for sustenance, it doesn’t make sense that Earth prepares for the titan’s visit when he’s already in our solar system. Galactus passes Jupiter by the time the Fantastic Four share their plan with the world, a plan that would take months to prepare. When the team’s first plan fails, they don’t switch to their second plan until Galactus is passing the moon. What? That timeline makes little sense.
Galactus entering our galaxy when the Fantastic Four share their first plan, and then reaching Jupiter when the Fantastic Four pivot to another plan, would make more sense. This is a nitpick, but I chuckled at this timeline’s absurdity. Invisible Woman giving birth in space with no bodily fluids is another one of my silly nitpicks. I get why Fantastic Four: First Steps chose not to include a zero-gravity placenta, but I figured I’d mention the lack of bodily fluids. Don’t get me wrong, I just finished a jumbo-sized popcorn and pretzel bites before the birth scene. My stomach appreciated the lack of floating bodily fluids. Still, Franklin Richards’s birth was the most sterile birth I’ve ever seen.
I could mention another nitpick or two, but those are smaller nitpicks, and they didn’t detract from Fantastic Four: First Steps. This is the Fantastic Four film I’ve waited for decades, and I’m so glad I got to review it on Geekly. I watched the 2015 Fantastic Four in the theater and reviewed it. Fantastic Four: First Steps was a huge upgrade. This film features the most comic book accurate Fantastic Four. And I hope Fantastic Four: First Steps begins a new trend for the MCU: less MCU homework for each project and cutting out unnecessary scenes for tighter runtimes. Fantastic Four: First Steps continues the MCU’s upward trajectory. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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