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The Kickstarter page for Sector 6 really got me intrigued to play it. A tile laying game where you can manipulate the tiles to help you and hinder your opponents. The minis on show looked great as did the premise of trying to collect more oxygen points than your opponents while competing with the changing maze style board.
The game originally played 2-4 players but with unlocked stretch goals it now plays 1-6 players in just under an hour.
Delve Inside
When the box arrived, I was surprised how small it was as I expecting something much bigger, however the artwork and overall quality was great. Once opened, you are greeted with a few punchboards containing the tiles and oxygen chits, three glossy books and the mini’s.
The minis here should be the star of the show, they looked great on the Kickstarter page but they just don’t live up to that. They are good and serve a purpose and I commend Draco Ideas for including them when they could have just used pawns or meeples. I think this is no fault of the publisher though and with Kickstarters getting increasingly impressive our standards are inevitably raised.
I was shocked at the quality of the three rule books though. One is your standard written rules which refers to pictures in one of the other books and then the other contains variant rules and game modes. The writing is very well done making the rules easy to pick up, the pictures are clear and concise and the game is made easy to learn by all of this.
One small complaint is the fact that when you are learning the game the constant flicking back and forth between the two books is fiddly. But once you have learnt the rules the written rule book is almost redundant.
How to Play
Sector 6 is fairly easy to set-up and even has an introduction level where you set up the tiles as the picture shows. Once you are comfortable with that you can than make up your own mazes.
You set-up the maze, place oxygen points on each maze tile and take a starting tile along with your colour minis. You then place your start tile, place your minis on them and take turns according to the rules.
During the game players will move the minis and attempt to collect more oxygen points than their opponent. The way you can move is determined by the maze tiles that have paths, walls and cog symbols on them. You can move as far as the paths allow you to in a straight line.
When you land on a tile you can either take the oxygen point on the tile you moved off (if there is one) or rotate the tile. This is where the game's gears become apparent. The tile can be moved one flat side (60 degrees) and each time a tile is rotated this gear system may move adjacent tiles too. Some basic knowledge of how gears work is helpful but the rules do a good job of explaining this too.
When I first played Sector 6 it felt like a tile placement version of Pac-Man, moving around the maze collecting points, but with the gear system the game soon gets more in-depth as the maze is constantly changing. Sector 6 has a vast amount of modes to try, including team play and solo mode, so it will really suit most game groups.
Final Thoughts on Sector 6
I was excited for Sector 6 and the way it was presented on Kickstarter only made the urge bigger. A tile laying game with depth and an abundance of game modes, with great looking mini’s - what’s not to love?
First off, the minis are not anywhere near what expected and sadly the production quality of the tiles were also a little bit poor compared to what I would expect. Some of the oxygen tile's art was off centre and the punchboards were not the greatest I have seen either.
The game mat add on is of fantastic quality and is nice to look at, but due to the constant moving tiles it effects what you can see properly so I actually play without it now. The little niggle of the rule books being in three parts and having to flip back and forwards is mainly down to me having a small table.
The game itself is very clever and fun to play. The way you move the tiles can not only help you but if planned properly can hinder your opponents. The more you play Sector 6 the more strategies you will learn. Player interaction is added to by this and all players must keep switched on if they want to remain in the game.
Replay-ability is great due to all the possible map combinations and game modes. The closest game I have played to this before is Labyrinth by Ravensburger, a constant changing map that is influenced by the players is a great idea and Sector 6 takes it to the next level.
Draco Ideas' last game, 2GM, was very much like this one, the game was great but it was let down in terms of production quality. I think if they can carry on like this and up the quality of their components then they will be a great publisher.
To summarise; Sector 6 is a good game that could have been great with a little bit better production quality. The game itself is very enjoyable and has tonnes of replay value. I just wish the game could have been presented as well as the Kickstarter page was. That being said I would rather a game plays well than just being aesthetically pleasing.