Become the leader of a conservation team of marine biologists in this underwater themed strategy game. In the game you will drop reef balls, carry out research, complete missions and explore the coral reef. Will you be able to bring the reef back to life?
I came across this game last year while talking with the team at Board and Dice at UK Games Expo where they talked me through the basics of the game and what to expect from it. My wife was super interested in the game for its nautical theme and I really liked the sound of the strategy the game could offer so it went straight on my to buy list so we could play it when it released here in the UK.
First Impressions
The first thing that caught my attention with this one wasn't the box but the game board with its interesting layout and fantastic colour combinations making it stand out against the others on display including Windmill Valley. The components for this game are made of nice and sturdy cardstock and the player tokens and reef balls are beautifully crafted wooden pieces. Also from just looking at the game you could clearly see the symbols on the cards making them easy to read.
Game Play Overview
In a game of reef project players take on the role of a researcher leading a conservation team of saviors of the ocean to rebuild the coral reefs. You will sail the seas, hire crew, explore the coral reefs and attempt to restore them to a healthy condition. In order to succeed you must balance your resources and energy, clean up the pollution in the ocean and accomplish the missions you have set out to do.
The game is played over several rounds with players taking it in turns to perform one of two actions, Recharge or Travel.
If a player chooses to take the recharge action they do not move their ship this turn though they will gain rewards from the spaces on the inside of victory point track marked with an anchor. The rewards the player receives are any anchor icons that are at the point their scoring token has reached or passed resolving them one after the other proceeding in a backwards order till you reach the 0 space on the point track.
Though if a player decides to take the Travel action on their turn they will complete the following steps. To start with you may Deploy a Reef Ball to a route connecting to the island you are on as long as you have the energy and reef balls to do so. By dropping a reef ball you will make the route free for your ship to use in future turns. Next you must move your ship. You can move along as many routes as you wish paying the an amount of energy equal to that which is visible on those routes which do not have one of your reef balls on. Each route from an island will take you to another island and each island has a unique set of actions you can take while there making every move important. Once you have moved your ship you may choose to play one mission card as long as you can fulfill its requirement and gain the benefits listed on the card. Then as long as the mission card does not say you cannot use the island effect, you can resolve the the island effect and gain the benefits for going to that island. The game continues like this until one player passes the 22 Victory Point space on the track where their turn immediately gets interrupted to allow for Objectives to be handed out and chosen by all players. The players will then play the rest of the game with these objectives in mind and when the 45 Victory Point space is crossed by a player the game end is triggered. At this point players complete the current round and then they play one final round before working out final scoring. The player with the most Victory Points at the end is the winner.
Pros and Cons
This is a beautiful game with great component and art work that really engages the players. The game itself runs as smooth as butter with its simple to follow steps resulting in us picking up how it plays after our first turn allowing us to enjoy the strategy of the game within. My only issue with the game is the reef balls are a little fiddly to pick up out of the slotted spaces on the player board due to their shape though I do like the fact their is layered player boards so they do not get knocked over while playing. I found the cards and action spaces on the board really well illustrated with the symbols and icons being clearly differentiated allowing you to work out quick what each card and space did in the game.
Final Verdict
Overall, I really enjoyed this game, it's simple rules set allowed me to enjoy the strategy of the game and dive right in. My favourite part was being able to choose how you wanted to try and gain points from creating cool engines with the crew members you have hired, to diving deep down to the ocean floor or focusing hard in the lab and completing missions. In my opinion this game is a medium weight strategy game which I can see appealing to a lot of gamers, it gave me a similar satisfaction as when I have played Mytikas and Dog Park. If you are looking for a new strategy game that offers a variety of ways to win and isn't too complex to learn or teach I would highly recommend giving this a try.
In conclusion, we would rate this game a 9.1/10
Comments