Avatar the Last Airbender Fire Nation Rising Review: Aang-sters Paradise

About Avatar: The Last Airbender – Fire Nation Rising, from BoardGameGeek:

Avatar: The Last Airbender Fire Nation Rising is a cooperative card and dice game for 1-5 players who take command of Avatar Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko as they fight back against the Fire Nation to restore balance to the world. During the first part of the game players will recruit Heroes from the four nations and battle a variety of Villains leading up to the Day of Black Sun, all while advancing their position on the Balance Track, while the Villains advance on the matching Ruin track. When either side reaches the top of their track, the Day of Black Sun event is triggered, giving a significant advantage to the side that reached the top. In the second phase, players continue as before, but must also now fight the Final Battles at Wulong Forest, the Fire Nation Palace, and Ba Sing Se in an attempt to end the Hundred Year War. Players that stay ahead of the Fire Nation and succeed in all three battles will win the game. If any one team is completely defeated, or if 10 or more total Heroes are defeated, the players cannot stop the Fire Nation and have lost the game. At the start of each turn, the active player will choose one of three locations to visit. The Fire Nation will then attack, activating villain abilities in one location, and damaging Heroes in play. After resolving the attack the active player will assemble a pool of dice based on their starting set-up and additional Hero card abilities. Players will roll and assign these dice in order to match symbols on Hero and Team abilities, Hero cards they wish to recruit, Villain cards they want to attack, and in Phase 2 Final Battles they must complete. Players match all of the symbols shown on a card to complete the related task. The difficulty level can be adjusted based on players' familiarity with the game and the degree of challenge desired. -description from the publisher