{"id":7570,"date":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/phoenixengin.com\/?p=7570"},"modified":"2024-09-02T20:31:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T20:31:44","slug":"mass-effect-the-board-game-prioritizes-tactical-action-over-space-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/phoenixengin.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/02\/mass-effect-the-board-game-prioritizes-tactical-action-over-space-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass Effect: The Board Game prioritizes tactical action over space opera"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Board games based on popular video game licenses, much like the recently released Borderlands<\/em><\/a>, are \u2014 more often than not \u2014 a bit shit. The worst offenders are those that seek to directly port the gameplay experience note-for-note from a PC or console over to an analog format. That\u2019s why I find Mass Effect: The Board Game \u2013 Priority Hagalaz<\/em><\/a>, out now from Modiphius Entertainment, so interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The game, by award-winning designer Eric Lang (Blood Rage<\/em><\/a>, Life in Reterra<\/em><\/a>) and die-hard Mass Effect fan Calvin Wong Tze Loon \u9ec3\u5b50\u502b (Crazy Rich Asians<\/em><\/a>), feels like a Mass Effect game should, with difficult and impactful decisions around every corner. But it also knows what it is \u2014 a dice-based, action-oriented romp that simulates just a tiny slice of a much larger universe. It tickles the tactical science fiction-centered lobes of my brain meat, enlarged no doubt by years of turn-based games like X-COM: UFO Defense<\/em> and its descendants, in a delightful way. And I\u2019m interested to see where the publisher takes things from here.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Mass Effect: The Board Game<\/em> is set during the events of Mass Effect 3<\/a><\/em>, but does not directly represent any specific mission in that game. As such, the first playthrough has a whiff of mystery to it as players explore a downed Cerberus research vessel without really knowing what\u2019s in store for them. This is a campaign game, but not in the traditional sense. There aren\u2019t 100-plus missions that will take your group months or years to run through. This is a tight, three-to-five-mission arc \u2014 and each mission should only take 30 to 45 minutes to complete.<\/p>\n

Yep, it\u2019s a campaign game that you could theoretically play through in a single sitting. That either excites you at a deep and emotional level, or makes you angry enough to tear a phonebook in half. I think it works, even if you are paying a bit of a premium for a concise experience.<\/p>\n

The core mechanic is very board game-y, which I like. At the beginning of your turn you\u2019ll roll a set of 12 chonky custom dice, then divvy up three of those dice on your character sheet before passing the remainder to the right. You might need two exclamation points to fire your weapon twice, clearing a few husks from outside of a complex; or you might need to assign a multi-arrowed die in order to move up to an open doorway; or you might use a special blue exclamation point to pop off a special ability. You can even do all three, or some other combination. So long as you\u2019ve got empty slots on your sheet and dice to fill them, the world is your oyster.<\/p>\n

However, should one of your squadmates go down, they take three of those dice with them, locking them in place on their character sheet until you manage to revive them. Lose a second ally and you\u2019re down to half your dice pool, back-footed and rolling uphill with terrible odds. At the same time, enemies are spawning onto the map at a frenzied rate. It\u2019s fast, frenetic, and fluid. Understand that there is going to be a bit of a learning curve. The core rulebook is a glossy, magazine-shaped affair with more than 40 pages to absorb ahead of \u2014 or during \u2014 your first game. But if you can manage to stomach that much instructional content, you\u2019re really in for a Mass Effect-flavored treat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The campaign itself is pretty clever. Every playthrough features three core missions, and two potential loyalty missions. The game includes a narrative book with numbered passages that you\u2019ll read out loud as you make your way through the branching narrative. There\u2019s a leveling system that adds to player abilities mid-mission, unlocking interesting new styles of play on the fly. Mass Effect: The Board Game<\/em> even offers powerful boons for playing as a Paragon or a Renegade (though, just as in the video game, splitting the difference between the two isn\u2019t quite as rewarding). Best of all, cooperation is key, with the exception here that you actually get the time to deliberate about things before coming under fire.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

As a product, it also appears to have been designed with potential expansions in mind. Rather than modular cardboard tiles, the game maps come bundled inside a spiral-bound notebook. The cost to manufacture another one of those is likely pretty low, making add-ons and expansions to this core set a virtual inevitability.<\/p>\n

Yet another interesting thing about Mass Effect: The Board Game<\/em> is that it\u2019s natively single-player. If you want to blast through it all yourself in an afternoon, that\u2019s a perfectly sensible thing to do. In fact, once you put in the hours, you\u2019ll be free from the manual entirely when you sit down with your friends for another session. Or you can just keep speedrunning the game yourself, trying time and again to rack up the highest score possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only downside? No smooching. Well, I guess you could hold up the miniatures and make some kissy faces if you wanted to. But that\u2019s beneath you, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

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Mass Effect: The Board Game \u2013 Priority Hagalaz is available for pre-order now. The game was reviewed with a retail copy provided by Modiphius Entertainment. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find<\/em> <\/em>additional information about Polygon\u2019s ethics policy here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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