Overdrive is an arena sports game that is a spin off of Mantic’s Warpath universe where players have 8 rounds to score points.
Mantic brings an arena sports game that is somehow a throwback to our days on the playground with Overdrive. Each player takes on the role of a coach and takes turns choosing their three players. The game comes with six total players with eight additional players available (for now) for purchase in packs of two. With the additional players added, each coach will still select one at a time until they each have three. This means if you purchase these packs someone is getting left out of the game like I was from kick ball. There is of course a six player option for coaches that makes picking your team more interesting. Basically each coach chooses their six players and then alternate to pick three from the list. The caveat here is that when picking one character the other coach can’t pick the same character even if they have them.
Overall mechanics of the game are quite simple, focusing more on a dynamic game that lasts on average between 60-90 minutes. This is the perfect amount of time more games these days for me. Overdrive consists of eight rounds of action where only the first round you can’t score any points. The goal is to have your three players in the zone that is designated the scoring zone. The board has six of these zones and a random one is chosen each round. If you have your player fully in the zone you score. As I said, it’s quite simple.
The game is rated for ages fourteen and up but can be played with even the grade-schooler crowd as well. That is to say they should be able to understand the mechanics but at their age struggle with the strategy. For an introductory game into tabletop gaming this is a great choice with simple mechanics and virtually no models needed. The fact that they come fully assembled (other than the bases) makes it even easier for this. The randomness of the scoring zones does detract from the game for me though because it is less about strategy and more about luck. Are you in the zone? Great, here’s a point. There is still strategy to the game, mostly in combating the other players to get you to the zone you want to be in but the scoring is still random. Despite this mechanic the game was still enjoyable and the new players you can add have me quite curious.
