Express Route

Express Route begins with a fairly cute promise: a cooperative action-management/pick-up-and-deliver game in which trucks and planes carry goods across America so the team can complete a series of achievements before time runs out. On paper, it sounds like a pleasant little transport operation. At the table, though, the operation ends up feeling more like a chore with an airline logo.

In each game, I cooperate with the rest of the team, trying to organise deliveries and complete our objectives before the available time runs out. The core is using our actions to combine trucks and planes, pick up and deliver packages, and keep the transport machine moving.

The most interesting decision is that the team must balance the packages it keeps for achievements against those it “burns” for upgrades. The upgrades are necessary to win, so we cannot simply chase objectives. At the same time, the event deck can close a crucial route at the worst possible moment and blow up our plan. That randomness does not create tension; it often just judges you for daring to have a plan.

The problem is that, beyond that balancing act, the execution felt repetitive and boring to me. The concept has its good points, but it does not turn them into a game I want to play again. After one game I had absolutely no desire to set it up again, and there are dozens of better options in this genre.