This game got to me. It’s the worst practical joke you can play on a geek. Reading through the introduction left me thinking “Wait, what?!” – you’ll know what I mean when you read it.
The Game in Last Appearances #4 by Paul Czege is set in the DC Universe. It has the players tell the story of 3 great DC superheroes fighting over a certain young lady by the name of Madkitten.
The game has a small set of simple and straightforward rules. However, those rules, coupled with the predefined set of if-then endings, let the players strategize and trick their opponents. This meta level of play makes the game quite an interesting exercise in bluff and cold logic, and adds a lot of potential replay value.
What I found missing in the text were some brief examples of play, as well as even very basic information on the characters. This would help those gamers with less of a comic book background (like me) get into the mood and feel of the game.
The flat bullet point notation of the rules is very efficient and helped me get through the rules fast, but at the same time left me a bit confused about the flow and structure of the game.
Finally, I owe Paul a tip of the hat for mimicking DC Database’s print layout and style so perfectly that, for a while, I thought it was actually taken from the wiki. Which should say a lot given that I work at Wikia. Well played, sir.