Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. Review: A Satisfying Co-op Experience That Doesn't Quite Reach its Potential

The heroes of the Marvel Universe are yours to command in Fantasy Flight Games' Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R., a cooperative game for one to five players that has a team of heroes attempting to take down the nemesis before they can implement their grand plan. To do that you'll need to utilize your special powers to boost yourself as well as your teammates while also racing against the clock to complete missions before the Threat Limit has been reached. The amount of options and the number of playable heroes are impressive, but there's just something missing in the individuality of those heroes. When coupled with the substantial setup and a few other quirks, the game isn't quite able to reach its full potential, but there's still a lot of fun to be had.

The roster of Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. is stacked, as you can choose to play as Captain Marvel, Photon, Black Widow (Natasha and Yelena), Iron Man, War Machine, Spider-Man (Peter and Miles), Black Panther (T'Challa and Shuri), Doctor Strange, Brother Voodoo, Captain America (Steve and Sam), Daredevil, Elektra, Hulk, and She-Hulk. That's a fantastic roster of heroes, but how they're implemented is also quite novel. 

The Hero Sheets with each character are double-sided, and the Team-Up and Support cards are to be shared between characters. Characters of a similar nature are on either side of a Hero Sheet, so for example, Captain America's Steve and Sam are opposites of the same sheet. You will choose one side to be your character, but if you are taken out during the game, you won't bring that character back. Instead, you will flip the sheet and play as the other character for the rest of the game; since they share Support and Team-Up cards however, and you don't change the Aspect Sheet (more on that in a minute), only the character's core abilities will change.

It's an interesting way to shake things up midway through the game without setting your momentum back, though you might have to shift your strategies depending on the new character's powers. There's also the Aspect Sheet to consider, which represents a trait like Aggression, Protection, Justice, Leadership, Vigilance, and Determination. At the beginning of the game, you can choose any Aspect to go with your hero, though some are obviously better fits than others. They all have the same main core actions, but they differ in how you can boost them, and each sheet features one special passive ability to consider as well.

The amount of variety in characters, how they pair with the various Aspects, and how you interact with your team gives gameplay some welcome depth as far as your own actions, and that increases when you mix in the ability to empower players, prime enemies, use actions at a Base, and utilize Support and Team-Up cards, you've got plenty of options at your disposal. 

The problem comes in that the characters more often than not don't really feel all that special. Some are better than others, but I don't see many playing Spider-Man, Captain America, or Doctor Strange and feeling like they are truly those characters. Captain America for instance has one great ability called Intervene, which is available when he's empowered and allows him to move to another hero's space when they are attacked to prevent some damage. That feels like Cap, but the Super-Soldier and Defiant abilities feel like they could really be anyone because they are associated with Priming enemies and Boosting actions, things that are rather commonplace during the game. 

That same method is applied to many of the characters, so while there are a lot of options to mix and match, most of them never achieve the desired effect of making you feel like you're in the shoes of one of your favorite heroes. The Support Cards help, but because they are shared between the two heroes, they will always feel tacked on for one of them; plus the Team-Up cards don't push that individuality either for obvious reasons. That leaves the Hero Mission cards, which do help, giving you the option to unlock another strong ability, but you have to complete that mission first, and only one hero can complete their mission at a time. Suffice it to say, I encourage you to get those open early, as they are immensely useful, especially Daredevil's!

That brings us to the enemies you are fighting, including Loki, Ultron, Red Skull, or Thanos as the main nemesis. Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. also includes several weaker villains to fight, which will make their way to the board through Event Cards that you have to draw every round. Each Nemesis genuinely feels distinct and poses a challenge in a different way, and you'll face each one in a customized showdown to ultimately claim victory. 

You'll get more out of the battle experience if you play with at least four players, as more henchmen activate at four players, and that in turn allows you to fulfill some of the missions activated by defeating enemies on the board more quickly. You're consistently trying to complete missions to keep the threat from going over the current limit, but you'll still want to take some actions and unlock support, team-up, and hero missions to get the most out of the game. 

At times that makes for a more plodding experience in the early going, but it will pay off as you make your way through the game. That isn't as approachable a method for new players though, and there's significant effort in setting up the game and all its various decks and standees to get the game started in the first place, which is another small hurdle.

Overall Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. is an entertaining and challenging cooperative experience that features welcome layers of depth and replayability. That said, the stars of the show are supposed to be the heroes, and most of them are missing some of the flair and key elements that would make them feel like the heroes you know and love. Combined with the effort in getting the game to the table and some of the slow-burn nature of early turns, it's not as likely to make it back to my table as other Titles set in that universe.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Published By: Fantasy Flight Games

Designed By: Dane Beltrami

Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R. is available here on Amazon now. 

Review copy provided by the publisher