So being a public holiday today in the UK I had time to take this new arrival for a spin......
Ratings as follows.....
The Mariana Trench – 2.1/5
Speed / Ease Of Set Up & Tear Down? – 3/5
Nothing to it, so as expected!
Game Time? – 2/5
On the box it says 10-15 mins. For me, solo, it was 6 mins for the basic game and about 10 mins with all the expansions chucked in. Far too quick and unrewarding!
Rule Book? – 3/5
Very simple game so not much is needed. The rules sheet is ok and does a job. Slightly confusing on the expansions where one has a sheet and the other has an extra card!
Component Quality? – 0/5
Ok, so here’s a rating I never seriously thought I would give. Firstly there is a card (Plesiosaur) missing, which they are aware of and will be fixing at a later date and for now doesn’t affect the gameplay! Next, ALL the cards are cut slightly wrong with two opposite corners sloping in. From the base set there is in theory a counter missing (needed for the 2 player game). If you have the KS version there is a spare with the expansions if not… There is a “charge” token in the game also, which keeps changing names at varying times to “electric” or “spark” and finally the cards. They are thick, but they are also that horrible dry matte finish (like old VPG games) and are impossible to shuffle cleanly unless you sleeve them.
Theme? – 3/5
I gave them the par score on this one, the theme is there I suppose!
Gameplay? – 2/5
In the base “solo” you play against an AI which means the game last between 16 & 24 turns depending on the card draw as the AI’s movement is the timer. Now in some other games that’s a lot, here, your turn might be, pick up a token, turn over a card, do absolutely nothing and recharge. There is very little time to do anything, adding the expansions adds a couple of turns and some more pitfalls but otherwise it’s too short to be interesting.
Replayability? – 2/5
Multiplayer I can see being a little better as there wouldn’t be such a fixed number of turns. With some work and some house rules maybe there is something in there but since I was bored after one game and had to force myself to play a few more times to confirm my suspicions, I’ll take some convincing!
Value For Money? –2/5
I know it a very cheap “filler” game but with both practical and technical faults, there’s a problem here. Better for Multiplayers
Keeper ????
If you’ve read this far, do I really need to answer this…….:(
5 = Out of this world, could not be better!
4 = Great !!!
3 = Average (Where any game should be)
2 = Really needs some work to come up to standard!!
1 = Disastrous
0 = Oh! The Horror!!!!!!!
It doesn't matter what I think!
If you like it then that's great......😁
I liked this game more than you did, MoS. I applied some House Rules, as I often do, since that can enhance my "gaming experience", and it did in this case. 🙂 I didn't have the component quality issue you did, so I gave that category a much higher score. It's also the first game I purchased a mat for, so I had that as a cosmetic booster. I like the Exploration Submarine theme, too. I like submarines for some reason. I think in part, because they're the pinnacle of modern technology (NASA, notwithstanding). Z, if you're there, is this sub, "The Terrible"? It sure looks like it! 😄
Image Source: largest-submarines.blogspot.com
I asked the designer, Tris, a couple of questions on Gamefound, and he was very responsive. Thumbs-Up there. I'll bring it to the table again (with spiffy mat and House Rules).
Well, this is a plucky Thread!
P.S. FWIW, Tristam, I backed this game and am looking forward to receiving it. I'm relatively easy to please with games, so hopefully I'll like the Solo Mode. 🙂
Have a look at this review, it covers how the strategy in the game works.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edqPFZGgWUs
Such a shame. The artwork is really nice in this game. It would be easy to purchase something like this, especially with such a cool theme. At least you tried it several times and gave it a chance. Thanks for the review!
Just as a follow up I did e-mail Tristam Rossin, the maker of the game, as a heads up just to tip him off about the other issues. He replied....
"I hadn't previously noticed, not perfect I admit but something I can live with at this stage as it's very, very minor"
Now whilst I wasn't expecting him to do anything about my copy I was expecting a little more concern for his other backers and future buyers.
Needless to say I shall be careful in backing any future games he might be involved with as he obviously has a high attention to detail......
Thanks, MoS. Now I'm better prepared to be disappointed. 😀
So what's the Holiday there in the UK, today?
Very nice and thorough review as usual!