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on September 17, 2013
Positives of the game:
1. Easy to learn. You will have the rules figured out in about 15 minutes. Less if you have played "Forbidden Island". This is a strong plus if you are playing the game with new people to the group or if you are playing with younger players.
2. Easy to play. Play your four actions, draw cards for the storm, play passes to the next player. Easy enough.
3. Very challenging. In my experience with co-op games, I want to play something that is fairly challenging to beat (in some cases, losing the game can be more fun than winning). This game is very tough to beat. You will have to work as a team and plan your moves carefully as even one error from one person can cause the game to end. Even if you beat the game on an easy setting, you can increase the difficulty to suit you likes. Right now the normal setting is proving to be quite a challenge.
4. Lots of replay. Different character rolls as well as the difficutly setting means you will play this game for a while (you definately will get your money's worth out of it).
5. A very beautiful game design. Tile and card art is very nice. The ship and its pieces are of very good quality (Make note of this Hasbro).
Negatives:
1. The tiles can be damaged. This game heavilly relies on what is hidden underneath the tiles that make up the game board. If a tile becomes damaged through use, it takes away a bit of the secrecy. The players note which tile is damaged and knows what is underneath of it. I would recommend tile covers to protect them. It's a couple of bucks but it prolongs the life of the game.
2. Do not play this game if you or anyone in your group is a sore loser. You will be beaten in this game plenty of times.
Overall:
Despite the tile issue, this game is fantastic! If you enjoyed "Forbidden Island", this is a must. If you have not played "Island", you do not need to as this game is very easy to learn but tough to beat. You will enjoy this game!
1. Easy to learn. You will have the rules figured out in about 15 minutes. Less if you have played "Forbidden Island". This is a strong plus if you are playing the game with new people to the group or if you are playing with younger players.
2. Easy to play. Play your four actions, draw cards for the storm, play passes to the next player. Easy enough.
3. Very challenging. In my experience with co-op games, I want to play something that is fairly challenging to beat (in some cases, losing the game can be more fun than winning). This game is very tough to beat. You will have to work as a team and plan your moves carefully as even one error from one person can cause the game to end. Even if you beat the game on an easy setting, you can increase the difficulty to suit you likes. Right now the normal setting is proving to be quite a challenge.
4. Lots of replay. Different character rolls as well as the difficutly setting means you will play this game for a while (you definately will get your money's worth out of it).
5. A very beautiful game design. Tile and card art is very nice. The ship and its pieces are of very good quality (Make note of this Hasbro).
Negatives:
1. The tiles can be damaged. This game heavilly relies on what is hidden underneath the tiles that make up the game board. If a tile becomes damaged through use, it takes away a bit of the secrecy. The players note which tile is damaged and knows what is underneath of it. I would recommend tile covers to protect them. It's a couple of bucks but it prolongs the life of the game.
2. Do not play this game if you or anyone in your group is a sore loser. You will be beaten in this game plenty of times.
Overall:
Despite the tile issue, this game is fantastic! If you enjoyed "Forbidden Island", this is a must. If you have not played "Island", you do not need to as this game is very easy to learn but tough to beat. You will enjoy this game!
on February 1, 2015
Quick take: Satisfyingly medium difficulty cooperative game, several steps more difficult than Forbidden Island. Interesting mechanics, fun theme and components.
Positives
Since the game board is random every time, it's a lot of fun anticipating what you will uncover as you start to unbury tiles. It is also cool how you locate the machine parts; the player must uncover both a horizontal and a vertical tile corresponding to the same part. Once both the horizontal and vertical pieces are uncovered, they create two lines that intersect the tile where the part may be found.
The water requirement for each player adds a palpable sense of urgency to each turn. Several times we had decided on what our next move would be, only to lose water in back-to-back turns and require an immediate change of strategy to find the nearest water source. These strategy shifts also happen from turn to turn as the storm moves the tiles around.
You have to keep moving, since the longer the game goes on, the more sand keeps piling up. Near the end of the game you'll find yourself splitting up part of the team to cover damage control while the rest keep exploring.
Just as in Forbidden Island, the game tiles and pieces are very high quality, which adds to the great theme of the game.
Negatives
The different player roles are well balanced, with one exception. In our ten or so playthroughs, and especially in games with more players, the Water-Carrier has proven nearly indispensable to winning the game. Since being able to continually retrieve water is so important, we've lost many times when no one had that role in the game. If you're up for a challenge, this is it. Increasing the difficulty level? More power to you.
Final Thoughts
The water requirement adds an extra dimension to the game that wasn't present in Forbidden Island; it requires all players to be aware of everyone's "health" at all times. In one game this created a great moment where we finally assembled our entire water-starved team on one of the remaining water tiles to excavate it, only to flip and find it was only a mirage. It was an amazing letdown moment that you simply wouldn't get except in a cooperative game.
Forbidden Desert is a great follow-up to Forbidden Island. It definitely feels like a different game and is quite a bit harder than Island. Even though you'll lose many times, you'll feel that that you need to try "just one more time" to beat it. Addicting and fun.
Note: full review of this game, including gameplay descriptions and a lot more pictures available at playbegins.com
Positives
Since the game board is random every time, it's a lot of fun anticipating what you will uncover as you start to unbury tiles. It is also cool how you locate the machine parts; the player must uncover both a horizontal and a vertical tile corresponding to the same part. Once both the horizontal and vertical pieces are uncovered, they create two lines that intersect the tile where the part may be found.
The water requirement for each player adds a palpable sense of urgency to each turn. Several times we had decided on what our next move would be, only to lose water in back-to-back turns and require an immediate change of strategy to find the nearest water source. These strategy shifts also happen from turn to turn as the storm moves the tiles around.
You have to keep moving, since the longer the game goes on, the more sand keeps piling up. Near the end of the game you'll find yourself splitting up part of the team to cover damage control while the rest keep exploring.
Just as in Forbidden Island, the game tiles and pieces are very high quality, which adds to the great theme of the game.
Negatives
The different player roles are well balanced, with one exception. In our ten or so playthroughs, and especially in games with more players, the Water-Carrier has proven nearly indispensable to winning the game. Since being able to continually retrieve water is so important, we've lost many times when no one had that role in the game. If you're up for a challenge, this is it. Increasing the difficulty level? More power to you.
Final Thoughts
The water requirement adds an extra dimension to the game that wasn't present in Forbidden Island; it requires all players to be aware of everyone's "health" at all times. In one game this created a great moment where we finally assembled our entire water-starved team on one of the remaining water tiles to excavate it, only to flip and find it was only a mirage. It was an amazing letdown moment that you simply wouldn't get except in a cooperative game.
Forbidden Desert is a great follow-up to Forbidden Island. It definitely feels like a different game and is quite a bit harder than Island. Even though you'll lose many times, you'll feel that that you need to try "just one more time" to beat it. Addicting and fun.
Note: full review of this game, including gameplay descriptions and a lot more pictures available at playbegins.com
Enthusiast: Board Gameson December 28, 2016
A fun cooperative game with a somewhat counter-intuitive moving storm mechanic.
Forbidden Island is a simpler starter game.
Pandemic is more complex and involved but rewards you with loads of theme.
This game sits fairly in the middle. If you have mastered Forbidden Island the only new mechanic you'll need to review is the moving storm. It's not super-complex, but it does depend upon orientation/perspective so give it a good read (or watch a reliable playthrough) to get a good understanding about how it should work.
Beyond that the game is fun and will often lead to multiple replays. Won't feel radically different from Forbidden Island, but sufficiently different enough to warrant owning both if you're a big enough fan of cooperative games.
Forbidden Island is a simpler starter game.
Pandemic is more complex and involved but rewards you with loads of theme.
This game sits fairly in the middle. If you have mastered Forbidden Island the only new mechanic you'll need to review is the moving storm. It's not super-complex, but it does depend upon orientation/perspective so give it a good read (or watch a reliable playthrough) to get a good understanding about how it should work.
Beyond that the game is fun and will often lead to multiple replays. Won't feel radically different from Forbidden Island, but sufficiently different enough to warrant owning both if you're a big enough fan of cooperative games.
Enthusiast: Board Gameson October 8, 2016
This is one of the better cooperative games around. We have a number of games at our home (maybe 40) and play them frequently. The game we have that I will compare this to is pandemic as they are the same general category of game.
Compared to pandemic, this game is less stressful, quicker, and easier. It has a really interesting mechanic with the constantly changing board and the mechanic for hiding the various pieces you have to find. We enjoy it plenty well, though for some reason it's not quite as engaging as pandemic. I guess it just feels a little lighter, though I can't exactly say why. Maybe the idea of diseases spreading around the world is just a bit scarier than running out of water or being buried in the desert.
Of the two I also think this game works better with a smaller number of players. I get the feeling Pandemic shines a bit more with more players and this one plays quite well with two.
We have several small cooperative games (like card games and stuff) but this is a full-sized full-length game. It's just relatively light and for a full-size, full-length game, but much more involved than the simple cooperative games we have (like Onirim and Hanabi, for example).
Having enjoyed this game very well, we also bought its slightly older cousin: Forbidden Island. Will review that after it arrives and we get some experience with it.
Compared to pandemic, this game is less stressful, quicker, and easier. It has a really interesting mechanic with the constantly changing board and the mechanic for hiding the various pieces you have to find. We enjoy it plenty well, though for some reason it's not quite as engaging as pandemic. I guess it just feels a little lighter, though I can't exactly say why. Maybe the idea of diseases spreading around the world is just a bit scarier than running out of water or being buried in the desert.
Of the two I also think this game works better with a smaller number of players. I get the feeling Pandemic shines a bit more with more players and this one plays quite well with two.
We have several small cooperative games (like card games and stuff) but this is a full-sized full-length game. It's just relatively light and for a full-size, full-length game, but much more involved than the simple cooperative games we have (like Onirim and Hanabi, for example).
Having enjoyed this game very well, we also bought its slightly older cousin: Forbidden Island. Will review that after it arrives and we get some experience with it.
on March 1, 2017
Great game! I love when game mechanics work to create a running game that makes you feel the pressure while working with a team.
The way the sand blows by direction tiles and the sun beating down and storm levels rising is great at moving the game to its conclusion. The team really has to work well together and coordinate.
You really do feel the pressure to hurry up and yet you have to dig nearly everywhere it seems. I can't stress enough that if you want to beat this game, you must coordinate and discuss with your team on what each of you will do. I don't think I have ever seen team work in a board game like this one.
I am not the biggest fan of the characters that each person takes on because they don't seem necessarily powerful or in the case of the meteorologist , very powerful but his sole action becomes doing nothing because you need his power so badly (you'll see when you play the game). But, I understand you can't make them too powerful and within the confines of the game, they really are useful (not always the waterboy) and absolutely necessary.
Anyway, I always give some negative but this is still a great game. I highly recommend for a group wanting some coop fun.
The way the sand blows by direction tiles and the sun beating down and storm levels rising is great at moving the game to its conclusion. The team really has to work well together and coordinate.
You really do feel the pressure to hurry up and yet you have to dig nearly everywhere it seems. I can't stress enough that if you want to beat this game, you must coordinate and discuss with your team on what each of you will do. I don't think I have ever seen team work in a board game like this one.
I am not the biggest fan of the characters that each person takes on because they don't seem necessarily powerful or in the case of the meteorologist , very powerful but his sole action becomes doing nothing because you need his power so badly (you'll see when you play the game). But, I understand you can't make them too powerful and within the confines of the game, they really are useful (not always the waterboy) and absolutely necessary.
Anyway, I always give some negative but this is still a great game. I highly recommend for a group wanting some coop fun.
on May 12, 2017
Forbidden Desert is awesome because it's cooperative AND challenging. No two games are going to be the same, so it's fun every time, even with just 2 people playing. Got this so my husband and I have a 2-player game at the ready when we want to play something and don't feel like battling each other. A lot of 2-players either make it so you're constantly doing "mean things" to the other person if you want to win, or can't help it because that's how the cards come out, or it gets boring really quickly and relies on luck more than strategy. Like, you can technically play Smash Up with two people, but because there is no way to spread out the hits among additional players, the game ends quickly and often one person never really gets to play. Star Realms is kinda like that too - luck of the draw can put someone so far behind in just a turn or two that there is no way to recover and you know the game is already over before it barely starts. This has none of those issues and you never know what's going to happen next!
on April 17, 2017
We've played this about 10 times now. My favorite is playing with kids. I've played with adults and we always have fun, but playing with kids is way better because it seems so exciting to them. Each turn is a mini-drama and we pretend that our very lives are at stake. On your turn you perform an action, usually by moving from tile to tile and flipping over (excavating tiles), looking for 2 tiles that align to show you where each object for that game can be found. At the end of your turn you flip over storm cards and the storm can move sand onto tiles that you must then excavate or the storm will pick up causing more storm cards to be drawn at the end of each turn. The more storm cards turned after each player, the more likely you will die in the desert. Our kids love it and it gives us quality time with our kids while teaching critical thinking and basic strategy. Lots of fun.
on May 2, 2017
This is a cooperative board game. I had never played one before, but I love it. The players work together to achieve the objective instead of competing against one another. Trust me, in my house competitive games (like Monopoly) usually ended in shouting, tears and/or hurt feelings. It's an easy game to learn and quick to set up and play. The mechanic for moving tiles when the storm picks up is a bit confusing, but we just move the tile in a way that makes sense to us. The different role cards allow for unique game play each time. We play this one at least once a a week. Enjoy!
on December 16, 2013
The premise is simple. You saved the relics from forbidden island and escaped on your helicopter, but on the way home your helicopter crashed in the desert. You now have to search for the parts of the helicopter to rebuild it and escape the desert.
In the first version you would just have islands sinking and the water rising cards and the equipment cards were useful but it wasnt vital to choose carefully when you would use them.
In this game, every turn you have sand covering the tiles which leads to them being blocked (similar to tiles being covered with water), you have tiles shifting due to the sandstorm which moves them away from where you would like them, storm getting worse which results to more cards being drawn every turn (similar to water rising cards) and a sun beat down which forces you to drink water every turn or you die (and everyone loses if that happens). There are tunnels to travel through and stay protected from the sun beat down cards, tiles get excavated to find where the engine parts have fallen and you can share water (as well as cards like before).
In this game you have to decide carefully when you will use your cards because if you use them too early you will realise that you should have waited for the right time.
This is an advanced version of forbidden island. More things going on each turn and more things to discuss with your teammaes to survive. After a game of forbidden island we had mastered it so it didnt really provide a challenge. 3 Games of this so far and we still havent won. Forbidden island had a great replay value but this has even more.
A must buy if you enjoyed the first.
If you arent a fan of coop games because you prefer to have a clear winner (preferably yourself :P) than you will not enjoy this game as you really need to work with the other players.
Great game.
In the first version you would just have islands sinking and the water rising cards and the equipment cards were useful but it wasnt vital to choose carefully when you would use them.
In this game, every turn you have sand covering the tiles which leads to them being blocked (similar to tiles being covered with water), you have tiles shifting due to the sandstorm which moves them away from where you would like them, storm getting worse which results to more cards being drawn every turn (similar to water rising cards) and a sun beat down which forces you to drink water every turn or you die (and everyone loses if that happens). There are tunnels to travel through and stay protected from the sun beat down cards, tiles get excavated to find where the engine parts have fallen and you can share water (as well as cards like before).
In this game you have to decide carefully when you will use your cards because if you use them too early you will realise that you should have waited for the right time.
This is an advanced version of forbidden island. More things going on each turn and more things to discuss with your teammaes to survive. After a game of forbidden island we had mastered it so it didnt really provide a challenge. 3 Games of this so far and we still havent won. Forbidden island had a great replay value but this has even more.
A must buy if you enjoyed the first.
If you arent a fan of coop games because you prefer to have a clear winner (preferably yourself :P) than you will not enjoy this game as you really need to work with the other players.
Great game.
