Four years ago I was just an average book store clerk and my geeky tendencies were quietly expressed through a love of fantasy novels, manga and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine re-runs. Those were my gateway drugs. But it wasn’t long before I was introduced to the harder stuff.

My name is Emma and I’m a HeroClix addict.

For the uninitiated out there, HeroClix is a table top game that features well-known superheroes on a dial base. Sounds simple, right? I suppose it is, but keeping track of various powers and abilities can be a headache sometimes. I was taught how to play by my boyfriend, way back in the fledgling days of our relationship (that’s how you know if he’s a keeper, btw, if you can be open about your love of table top games.) But, without sounding too full of myself, the student soon became the master. In other words, I kick HeroClix ass.

Granted, I only play against my boyfriend, but I haven’t lost a game in a long time, despite his carefully chosen teams with complementary team abilities and his greater understanding of the nuances of the rules. He berates me for throwing together a teams that are never without Scarlet Witch (for her probability control, y’all) or Donna Troy (because she’s so damn hard to kill) while he has a fondness for Thing or Colossus or any number of big, strong, manly men types. Sure, a lot of this game is dependent on luck – dice rolls decide your fate. But the fact remains, that I just seem to have the edge.

Which is why when I heard about HeroClix online (HCO), I was all over it. This summer, the paid beta version of the game was launched, and for the low price of $1.95 it was definitely worth a try. I was thinking along the lines of Words with Friends, but with Heroclix instead of spelling.

I’m not going to pretend that HCO is at all user-friendly or intuitive, because it isn’t. It took me a full two weeks to figure out how to acquire the annoyingly named Clixbux. Clixbux is the currency of HCO and it is how you buy booster packs in the game. When you first sign up, you are gifted with a Fantastic Four started set, but, given the blatant money grabbing tone of the game, I’m surprised the powers that be even allowed us those measly free clix.  Let’s do some math, shall we?

100 Clixbux costs $5 and the Hammer of Thor booster in the game costs 239 Clixbux. So we’re looking at around $12.50 for a booster pack. I don’t know about the going rate for HeroClix boosters in the US, but here in the UK that’s only marginally cheaper than a physical booster pack. So, the question is, do you want to pay basically the same amount for a virtual collection of Heroclix?

I, for one, am not thrilled with this. I have an extensive collection of physical clix. Surely there should be some kind of system whereby actual clix can be transferred into virtual ones. I know that is next to impossible for retired figures, but next time I buy a new, NECA manufactured box of HeroClix, it’d be swell if there was a redeemable code inside for an online booster.

At the moment, there are only Marvel Universe clix available, which is bad news for a DC fan like me. It is also hard to judge a game in beta, since the graphics, gameplay etc. is often not what the finished product will look like. But at this stage, the graphics aren’t great and the gameplay interface is unbearably clunky. Just moving across the map takes an unusual amount of skill and the whole thing just takes a lot of the fun out of the game. Fan reception has been almost uniformly negative so I’m not the only one who’s disappointed. It may get better by the time it is fully released, but it’ll be too little too late for me, as I’m already out.

By all means, try it for yourself if you are so inclined. I’d love to be proved wrong on this, I really would. But I’ll be sticking to kicking ass at home for the time being, and it’d take a lot more than this to convince me to play Heroclix online in any meaningful way.