Just finished playing
Teen Phalanx Forever! Summary: loved it.
- THE GOOD -
This is the most fun I've had playing a MA arc in a while and I attribute this to it's focus on being a series of one-shot adventures instead of one big chained epic story. Yes, I know in the end parts of everything tie together, but from mission to mission it was me and my teammates saving the day from The Weekly Bad Guy in classic action comicbook form, instead of working mission-per-mission towards one big climax. A refreshing change and very well executed.
Loved the writing, very humorous (I'm happy that I'm nerd enough to get all of the jokes) and the Teen Phalanx was an interesting cast of characters. Missions weren't too hard or easy, though my power selection bit me in the butt at points (see below), and despite it being full of EBs and AVs I could 'solo' it with help from the Teen Phalanx, which really added to the feel of being on the team as part of the story.
- THE BAD -
Little to nothing to complain about, really. Had some trouble getting Phalanx members to follow me through the tight-spaced maps, particularly Val who loves her Flight power, but it's not like authors can staple NPCs to a rail and tell them to avoid annoying corners and the like. The level variance (first couple of missions capped me at 20, the last at 30 or so?) wasn't really troubling, though it was kinda a bizarre jump (and given the final villain I was glad for the extra 10 levels of powers!)
- THE SILLY -
I decided to be a wiseguy and play through this clearly heroic arc with a lv.34 villain. Got a few giggles from being called "Kid Slaver King Drakarr" but the arc put me in my place when it puked a bunch of toxic damage on me in mission 1, where my poor villain's Electric Armour did nothing. Ouch. x_x
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If you can find the time, I'd love to get your opinion on my MA arc,
"Release the Dragon" (arc#229358)
I've done a lot of revising based on feedback from previous critiques, I hope you enjoy it should you play it!
