Board games based on popular video game licenses, similar to the recently released Borderlandare – most of the time – a bit of crap. The worst offenders are those who try to transfer the gaming experience note for note directly from a PC or console to an analogue format. That is why I find Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority Hagalaznow available from Modiphius Entertainment, so interesting.
The game by award-winning designer Eric Lang (Bloodlust, Living in Reterra) and diehard Mass Effect fan Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 (Crazy Rich Asians), feels like a Mass Effect game should, with difficult and consequential decisions at every turn. But it also knows what it is – a dice-based, action-oriented game that simulates only a tiny slice of a much larger universe. It tickles the tactical, sci-fi-focused lobes of my brain, which has no doubt been conditioned by years of turn-based games like X-COM: UFO Defense and his descendants in a wonderful way. And I’m excited to see how the publisher takes things from here.
Image: Modiphius Entertainment
Mass Effect: The Board Game takes place during the events of Mass Effect 3but does not directly represent a specific mission in this game. As such, the first playthrough has an air of mystery as players explore a crashed Cerberus research vessel without really knowing what to expect. This is a campaign game, but not in the traditional sense. There aren’t 100+ missions that will take your party months or years to complete. This is a tight story arc of three to five missions – and each mission should only take 30 to 45 minutes to complete.
Yes, it’s a campaign game that you could theoretically play through in a single sitting. It will either excite you on a deep and emotional level or make you so angry you’ll rip a phone book in half. I think it works, even if you pay a little extra for a compact experience.
The basic mechanics are very reminiscent of a board game, which I like. At the start of your turn, you roll a set of 12 chunky special dice, then split three of those dice on your character sheet and pass the rest to the right. You might need two exclamation points to fire your weapon twice and clear a few hulls outside a complex; or you might need to assign a die with multiple arrows to get to an open door; or you might use a special blue exclamation point to trigger a special ability. You can even use all three, or some other combination. As long as you have empty spaces on your sheet and dice to fill them, the world is your oyster.
However, should one of your teammates go down, they’ll take three of those dice with them, locking them onto their character sheet until you can revive them. Losing a second ally leaves you with half your dice pool, flat-footed, and rolling uphill at terrible odds. At the same time, enemies are spawning around the map at breakneck speed. It’s fast, frantic, and fluid. Realize there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve. The core rulebook is a glossy, magazine-style affair, with more than 40 pages to work through before or during your first game. But if you can manage to digest that much instructional content, you’re really in for a Mass Effect-style treat.
The campaign itself is pretty clever, with each playthrough comprising three main missions and two possible loyalty missions. The game includes a narrative book with numbered passages that you read aloud as you progress through the branching narrative. There’s a leveling system that expands the player’s abilities as they progress through the mission, unlocking interesting new playstyles on the fly. Mass Effect: The Board Game even offers powerful advantages when playing as either a Paragon or a Renegade (though, just like in the video game, splitting the difference between the two isn’t quite as rewarding). Best of all, cooperation is key, except here you actually have the time to think things through before you come under fire.
As a product, it also seems to have been designed with potential expansions in mind. Instead of modular cardboard tiles, the game cards are packaged in a spiral booklet. The cost of producing another one of these is probably quite low, so add-ons and expansions to this core set are practically inevitable.
Another interesting thing about Mass Effect: The Board Game is that it is inherently a single player game. If you want to play through it alone in an afternoon, that makes perfect sense. In fact, once you’ve put in the hours, you can forget about the manual altogether when you sit down with your friends for another round. Or you can just speed through the game yourself, trying over and over to get the highest score possible.
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’s beneath you, isn’t it?
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority Hagalaz can be pre-ordered now. The game was tested with a retail copy from Modiphius Entertainment. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on the editorial content, but Vox Media may receive commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find Further information on Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
