Fast 9 might not be out yet but Funko Games‘ Fast and Furious: Highway Heist is and it’s pretty dang fun! Designed by Prospero Hall, this cooperative board game is for 2-4 players aged 12+ with three different scenarios based on the movie series.
Playing as Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman, and the rest of Team Toretto on a harrowing high-speed heist you go up against heavily-armed enemies with your fancy vehicles, daring driving, and leaps from vehicle-to-vehicle. Whether you’re trying to take down a semi-truck filled with cargo, stopping a rampaging tank, or bring down a high-tech helicopter, players must work together to take advantage of every team member’s strengths to pull off the jobs no other crew can do!
Of course as a huge fan of the series and no stranger to Funko board games, I needed to play this right away and was provided a free copy for a fair review.
What’s in the Box?
1 Road Board, 6 Character Boards, 4 Vehicle Boards, 4 Player Vehicles, 4 Enemy Vehicles, 8 Enemy SUVs, 4 Player Pegs, 9 Enemy Pegs, 6 Dice, 27 Stunt Cards, 36 Enemy Cards, 3 Scenario Boards, 4 Reference Cards, 36 Tokens, 7 Cubes, 3 Scenario Guides, and Instructions come in the colorful and sturdy Fast and Furious: Highway Heist box. While there are a lot of pieces, you only use a certain combination depending on which of the three scenarios you choose to play!
I have to say that the little figures are solid (but definitely a choking hazard so this game is not safe for the youngins) and the player cards are really high quality, with the art evoking each Fast and Furious character without being an obvious copy of a movie photo. The helicopter is an especially great detail, with a stand so it’s high above the rest of the pieces.
How’s It Play?
You play with three different scenarios based on series characters and events. For example, Tank Assault (and the easiest scenario) is described as follows:
Dangerous mercenary Owen Shaw has stolen a top secret computer chip from a military convoy, and plans to use it to create a deadly device. He is currently escaping in a tank on a highway in Spain. Your team must destroy the tank by forcing it to drive into wrecked enemy SUVs, wearing it down and stopping Shaw in his tracks.
Semi Heist requires players to retrieve valuable cargo from a semi truck and Chopper Takedown reunites us with Ramsey, a powerful computer hacker being hunted by Decker Shaw (dang those Shaws) and we have to, well, takedown the chopper!
Each scenario starts with the same setup, the road board is in the center of the table, each player picks a character and vehicle, a strength cube, and under light token. Then, based on the scenario, you have a scenario board, enemy and stunt cards, and remaining enemy pieces to the side of the board.
Players work together to move their player pegs (characters) to cause wrecks and damage to the specific enemy vehicles and can take two actions per turn.
Since the game is dice based, there is a level of luck for just how fast each player can move and cause damage to the tank, helicopter, or semi as they take actions including driving, leaping, ramming an enemy SUV, forcing, shaking, brawling, hijacking, and taking a boost token. There’s also stunt actions which are reminiscent of the stunts in the film.
To win the game, players either have to achieve the objective for the scenario or perform the level 3 stunt action. For the tank, that’s sending it off the highway where it explodes. The team loses if the level 3 stunt card moves off the road board, leaving no stunt cards available.
The Verdict?
It’s easy to slap a theme onto a board game and call it quits, but to make the theme work and actually elevate it to a solid board game requires work. In this case, Prospero Hall did an admirable job of creating a fun game that truly fits within the theme while staying family friendly. For example, if an enemy or player vehicle get into a wreck, no enemy or players are injured. Rather they just move to the nearest car.
Other thoughtful details include the specials that different characters have. For example, Han can Outmaneuver and swap positions with any adjacent enemy SUVs after a drive action whereas Dom gets the Quarter Mile at a Time skill, which allows the player with Dom to reroll one die when attempting a roll for a skill.
Unfortunately, in attempts to create a game that fits the theme, there are a lot of rules and things to understand during the first play of the game and I found myself frustrated at times trying to keep everything straight. However, the player reference cards really are handy and by the second playthrough, my cousins and I were able to move through the game without having to refer to the rules every few minutes.
My only other quibble is that you can’t get onto the helicopter! I guess to keep it realistic within the game would require too many moves and steps…
Fast and Furious: Highway Heist is a delightfully themed board game designed in a way that players must truly work together to beat the bad guys. Anyone who likes the movies, co-op games, or car based games should definitely give this a try!
You can pick up a copy Fast and Furious: Highway Heist on Amazon, your FLGS, and Funko for $29.99.
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Images and review copy courtesy of Funko Games
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