"It is not man who must fight against a hostile nature, but it is defenceless nature that has been a victim of humanity for generations.
I thought of starting this review with a quote from Jacques Cousteau, because who better than him represents the union between the passion for the ocean, revealing to humanity the wonders of the underwater world, and the importance of preserving it?
So it is with his words that I present Ocean Crisis, title of the Shepherd Kit that sees the light thanks to a Kickstarter project launched in March 2019, where he raised $ 68,438 out of 8,000!
It's mainly a placement for workers, where players will have to work together to solve an environmental disaster - so current in real life - involving the ocean, where tons of plastic are poured every year, putting the entire ecosystem at risk.
The title, formed by the base game plus the expansion Ocean Crisis: Catastrophe, entertains from 2 to 5 players over the age of 8 years, for a duration between 30 and 60 minutes.
COMPONENTS
The box, of important dimensions, is equipped with illustrated inserts where to store all the conspicuous material. The attention to detail is stunning, also thanks to the exit on Kickstarter, which often focuses on materials and visual impact.
Inside you will find:
- scoreboard land and ocean;
- 17 round cards divided by difficulty;
- 5 skill cards;
- 2 wooden dice;
- 36 tiles;
- 20 wooden meeple;
- 10 tokens and wooden cubes;
- 4 marine animals and 1 purifier, shaped in wood;
- first player marker;
- junk tiles;
- fabric bag;
- 3 mission cards and 3 scenario cards;
At the same time as the basic game, there is an additional box of small size: it is the expansion Ocean Crisis: Catastrophe.
Inside you will find a new set of round cards, 2 new missions, 2 new scenarios and new shaped wooden components: a whale, an oil tanker and a new purifier.
The components were made with particular attention to environmental impact: in fact, there is not even a plastic component and, just to emphasize the importance of recycling, the publisher has done everything possible to ensure that all the material is environmentally friendly.
The board is divided into 4 parts in the shape of a puzzle that can be combined in an instant, giving a large dashboard with pleasant illustrations. Next to the latter we will place the scoreboard depicting the ocean, characterized by a rotating disk, which will drain the waste.
When assembled together, they stand out remarkably, we have a small town in front of us, with the river flowing and arriving near the beach and then diving into the ocean; the overall vision, once the setup is over, is inevitably attractive.
There's nothing to complain about the quality of the card on the dashboard and the cards. The quality of the numerous wooden components is no less important, as is the choice to shape the figures of the marine animals: adorable, beautiful to see and pleasant to touch.
The game is distributed in the original language (English), independent except for the mission cards / scenarios and accompanied by the rules in Italian, the latter is comprehensive, clear and well-structured, leaves no doubt about the interpretation of the rules.
Impeccable members and promoted without reservation!
HOW TO PLAY
The players form a single team and work together to clean up the ocean of rubbish, offering first aid to marine animals and developing a green technology to protect the ecosystem, before time runs out, marked by several rounds.
The game includes 3 different levels of difficulty and players are free to choose from which to start.
The aim of the game is to survive for 6 rounds, preventing the waste tiles from filling the 6 spaces of the plastic island.
Each round consists of 5 stages:
1. Installation stage
The garbage cards are distributed in the indicated positions, along the three river sections and the ocean.
2. Planning phase
Players discuss and decide simultaneously where to place their workers: building a route from the eco-base to the city centre (with the possibility of activating bonuses) or cleaning the 3 areas between the river and/or the beach of their choice of waste.
3. Action phase
Players who have placed their workers in the eco-base area draw as many road passes as the number of workers placed.
Roads must start from the eco-base or be placed adjacent to previously placed road tiles. Players can discuss openly how to place them, but they play them in turn order. If a tile connects to a specific location, the player immediately activates a bonus.
Bonuses allow you to:
- acquire unique skills;
- Activate extra workers;
- Immediately remove all junk tiles in sections 2 or 3 of the river;
- Activate the water purification center that helps clean up section 1 of the river;
- Activate the water purifier;
- Activate the research center that makes cleaning easier.
After all the road tiles have been placed, the players will work to reduce and clean up the waste from the first player, to do so they must roll the dice and add 1 to the result obtained.
If the value obtained is equal to or greater than that indicated by the card, the rubbish will be removed, otherwise it will be turned upside down on the side easier to dispose of.
If the waste card is removed from the beach, the beach must be placed in the research centre. When the research centre is full, you can choose a card present there, so that that type of waste is placed directly on the side with the reduced value.
4. River flow phase
They move the waste cards to the next areas, flow downstream along the river and eventually end up in the ocean.
If there was not enough space in one area to hold them, the garbage would move along the river to the next section.
If the ocean is full, the waste card should be placed in the trash island.
5. Oceanic current phase
Throw the special nut and turn the ocean current disc counterclockwise.
If a waste card were to stop in one of the two marked positions, these cards would end up on the trash island.
If the garbage island reached 6 cards, the players would lose immediately, as they would not be able to control the garbage; otherwise a new round would start, drawing the next card.
If at the end of the 6th round the waste has not reached the level of 6 tiles, the players have saved the ocean and are winners!
Players will also be able to tackle a number of environmental rescue missions and scenarios regarding marine life and the ecosystem, each of which provides unique mechanisms and storylines.
The missions offer useful rewards, while the scenarios add new conditions for victory.
There are 3 missions and 3 scenarios in the basic game.
The Catastrophe expansion adds new round cards, 4 new scenarios and missions offering players more choice and combinations.
to be continued in the next part