Android: New Sci-Fi Crime Game
Wednesday December 31, 2008
I am a fan of crime fiction, and I am a fan of sci-fi. So it is not surprising at all that I am intrigued by Android, a new game from publisher Fantasy Flight Games described on the company's web site as "a board game of murder and conspiracy set in a dystopian future." Players first choose a role, such as a psychic clone, a corrupt cop, or an estranged bounty hunter. They then set about investigating a murder case. At the end of the game, the detective who has earned the most victory points wins.At BoardGameGeek.com, Android has inspired some polarized reactions. One player who rated it a perfect 10 called the game "seedy, sleazy, brilliant." Another player, who gave the game a 3.0 rating, said it was "perhaps this year's biggest disappointment." And though I love the theme, the idea and the artwork, I remain completely confused as to whether or not I will enjoy the game. I hope to find out soon!
Have you played Android? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Image courtesy of Fantasy Flight Games
Comments
I played my first game of Android last night. I’m somewhere between the two extremes you mentioned. I’d probably give the game a 7 overall, much of that coming from style.
Pros:
- Each character plays very differently.
- Character subplots are detailed and interesting. Digging deeper into your character’s tortured psyche and trying to keep them from spiralling into decay is probably the most fun part of the theme of the game.
- Mechanics are not nearly as complicated as they seem upon first reading the rules, but still have lots of little intricacies to keep things interesting.
- Card text and art do a great job of making the theme of sci-fi/noir come to life, even if the mechanics could be pasted onto some other setting with only minor changes.
Cons:
- This is a very very long game. Book 4-6 hours for your first play-through (We played for 5 hours with 4 people), especially if you play with people who have analysis paralysis problems.
- There are a LOT of pieces, which means setup and cleanup can take a long time. I’ve got all the tokens each character starts with sorted into its own baggie now, as well as other things sorted roughly by location on the board, so the next time should set up a lot faster.
- There are “dark cards” which you play on other players’ characters, but there isn’t a really strong reason to do so. You need to play the cards to recharge your own resources, and they can severely hamper other players, but other than personal grudges, there’s no reason to play a card on one character rather than another. Since you don’t know who is winning until the very end of the game, there’s no way to determine if you should be ganging up on a certain player or playing nice as much as possible.
- The “main” mystery that the characters are trying to solve is so thinly detailed and mechanically uninteresting, that the only reason to pursue it is to try and score points to win. There’s zero detail as to what each piece of evidence uncovered it, since evidence is just represented by a little chit with a number on it; nor is there any detail as to how the various factions of the conspiracy are connected to the main mystery, just that they are or are not. More detail as to exactly -how- the main mystery was unfolding would add a lot of tension and drama to the game.
So, overall: 4/5 style (loses points for not strictly tying the theme/setting to the mechanics, and for not making the main mystery more gripping); 3/5 substance (motivations quirks and complexity make for a game that it might be hard to convince people to play unless they really love the theme).
Adam, thanks for that summary. I am now 100% convinced that this is a game I must play. It sounds like it is ambitious and original, even if it doesn’t always work.
In my opinion Adam Drew’s comments on the game are pretty much up to the facts about it.
I’d only want to add a point I have with many games. That is undue length because of action repetition. That’s even worse with very long games of 4+ hours.
In ‘Android’ you play two weeks per 6 days of game time with a turn being one day equals in total 12 turns per player.
The point is: After 6 turns you did it all and got the shirt.
Every turn consists of about 6 time units to pay for your actions. Converting this to ‘hour units’ makes for more realistic translation of meaning. And you could beef up your day in ‘New Angeles’ to 8 to 10 hour units per turn for more actions per turn. Therefore the first week could be skipped.
Second week then provides enough time to get everything resolved with proper complexity.
The general event of the case is now revealed right from the start.
Would cost the player one of his (usually) two private plots though.
The conspiracy maze might be much less developed then. However, I consider this more realistic, since probably only a few factions are compromised with less puzzle pieces placed. Thereof not so much undue extra points to be earned besides the murder investigation. I see no disadvantage here.
Much shorter game then. Nothing missing in my view.