I can’t think of anything in this world that isn’t made better by putting giant, transforming robots into it – be it Gundam, Power Rangers, Voltron, among others – and this fundamental law of the universe remains true when dealing with board game crossovers. Renegade Game Studios is no stranger to concocting such a thing, and one of its latest creations brings together the tech of Cybertron and high-stakes racing board games with the brand-new release Robo Rally: Transformers.
Robo Rally: Transformers is an adaptation of Richard Garfield’s (yes, the guy who created Magic: The Gathering) 1994 classic Robo Rally. The new game sees some fan favorite Autobots and Decepticons dropped into the rally race. Based off Avalon Hill’s 2016 revised release of the game, Robo Rally is a programming title that tasks you and up to five other players to race around a course to reach various checkpoint flags, before taking home the goal.
To do this, you play cards in a sequence that dictates the actions you take, from moving to turning in a different direction and more. Each player reveals one of their cards, with everyone taking their action and seeing how the moves resolve. This new version adds a handful of unique mechanics and features pulled from the Transformers property that Ratchets (see what I did there?) everything up a notch, including transforming into your bot’s alt mode, shooting, and even new Cybertronian hazards to watch out for.
Robo Rally Transformers includes six choices of bots for players to pick from: Optimus Prime, Blurr, and Arcee, representing the Autobots; and Megatron, Drag Strip, and Flamewar for the Deceptions. Each of the Cybertronian contestants is outfitted with a unique ability and three special upgrades they can equip, further boosting their abilities in both robot and alt modes. All are represented by impressively detailed plastic minis, each in a unique color and shaded to help bring out those glorious robot details. As a whole, the production quilting on display here with Robo Rally Transformers is top-notch, something that I have come to expect out of Renegade Games products – they make good stuff.
As someone who tends to be the “teacher” of games, I always appreciate board games that can be taught relatively quickly with even brand new players being able to grasp the majority of how a game works by the end of a turn or two. Robo Rally Transformers, I am happy to report, fits comfortably into that category. The basic systems like how the cards work is painless and straightforward with card actions being simple to grasp, such as “Move 1/2/3” or “Turn Right/Left,” with effects from the upgrade cards being only a slight step up in terms of complexity to understand. The biggest hurdle is keeping track of what the various tiles do, but the game comes with a handy player aid to clear up that confusion, though it would have been nice if more than a single aid were included, perhaps enough for each player to get one.
The box contains a number of double-sided boards that can be used to build a wide variety of maps to race around on. They vary in complexity and optimal player counts, with some that are great on their own or work best when paired with additional boards. The instruction booklet includes a number of layout recommendations that are fun to play, with even the beginner introductory configuration providing a good time for players to test their metal on.
Out of all the games I played, I never found a configuration that I didn’t enjoy and the modularity let me build my own levels too, once I got used to the systems. This adds a great deal of replayability to the game. I had an especially good time making truly devilish and hazardous maps to navigate around, which resulted in a number of hilarious situations of folks being shoved into laser beams, falling into lava pits, or blasted by a bunch of players all at once.
Robo Rally Transformers is one of those games that I think gets better the more players you add, thanks to how all the characters can play and interact with one another, throwing the whole game into a frenetic and unpredictable gauntlet. The more characters on the board, the larger of an influence (and bigger disruptions) anyones’ actions can have on one anothers. A single person pumping into someone else, causing them to rotate, or sent into someone else early on, can cause a snowball effect for the rest of the round as their pre-planned actions were based on the position and rotations they should have been at.
It all makes for some hilarious moments, but also frustrating ones, if your plans to reach one of those coveted checkpoints crumbles at the last moment. Robo Rally: Transformers, and Robo Rally in general, is a game for folks who can find the fun with the chaos, and roll with the punches. Strategy still plays a big hand in how well you do, knowing the best time to switch into your alt mode to take advantage of different terrain tiles, when to pass on those alluring energon cubes, and when to take those shots at your opponents all matters and its when these aspects of strategy, luck, and chaos all mix does this game truly shine.
On the topic of Robo Rally games as a whole, fans who have other boxes from Renegade’s releases will be happy to know that Transformers can be incorporated into those games as well. A handy little blurb in this game’s instruction manual explains the process involved to throw Optimus and Blurr into the race with the original Robo Rally crew.
