Top Trumps : Specials - DC Super Heroes 1 product reviews

I actually know some of these superheroes and villains. Batman, Robin, Joker, Fantastic Four and... well, that seems to be about it. I never got into the superhero thing like some other kids my age. I do remember an American kid bring his comic books to school, but they were Ritchie Rich and Casper. Besides, I was more interested in the advertisments in the back of the comic book... Anyway, enough of that, now to the cards.

The cards themselves are a stylish, brushed metal grey, complemented by a steel coloured, hard plastic carry case. Each card contains a biography of the character so the ignorant amongst us can find out whether the character is really a superhero, or a villainous thug masquerading as a hero. One can rate each character under each of the six headings. I guess this would appeal more to the hard-core comic book fans than any other groups.

My daughter enjoyed playing this game with me, and although she knew fewer characters than I, she still enjoyed the game very much. I'm sure this deck will be a welcome edition to her school-yard games, and maybe some of the boys in her class will be more familiar with the superhero characters than us.

Top Trumps have many marvellous packs to choose from, and there are packs for every taste. Each hard plastic carry case is cunningly colour-coded with the card contents, making it easy to just grab one's favourite pack just by the colour of the carry case. I am truely glad to see a childhood favourite return to the shelves and into NZ so another generation can have fun with these excellent games. At under a tenner a game, one can build a good collection which will provide hours of fun for all the family (dreadful cliche, but stunningly accurate), because I have never tired of playing any of the Top Trumps games with my daughter. The fun you can have is unlimited.

I wasn't a great comic reader as a kid, I was more into the technical drawings of the BattleMechs from the MechWarrior RPG that is still going strong on Xbox at least. But when I did venture into comics, there were a few DC titles, along with a hefty dose of 2000ad's Judge Dredd.

Of all of the famous ones was of course Batman, and the other characters that came and went through Gotham City, and they are featured in the deck. But there is also quite a spread of the not-so-well-knowns... I was surprised to see Shazam in the deck, along with his wife, Mary Marvel. Blank Manta and Zatanna also make an appearance, as well as quite a few 'spinoffs' such as Supergirl, Aquagirl, Professor Zoom and the likes. I kinda liked that. It gave me a chance to have a stab at seeing who could have beaten who if time wasn't a factor.

Overall, this was one of my favourite decks, for nostaligia reasons if none other. The game is great to play, my son loved hearing some of the stories behind the characters, and the artwork is quite top notch. I am quite envious.

I used to read all these comics as a kid, which really used to upset my parents. So to flick through this pack was like walking down a gallery of all of my childhood buddies. It has been many years since I last picked up a Green Lantern comic so this deck also sprang a few surprises on me, with some of the storyline history of not one, not two, but three Green Lanterns in the deck. That's 1:10. But the real 'family franchise' to rule the deck is from Gotham City's tales, with a whopping 8 card spread! I was impressed to see my all-time favourite charcter included, Firestorm. That one was always a great read. A wonderful deck for me, and still a great game to play with the kids.