The island is a peaceful place and the inhabitants like to keep it that way. They get few visitors because of the monsters that live on the island. Others wonder why the inhabitants stay on the island with such fearful monsters. But, they do, and, they don't seem to have any problems living with the horrid creatures.Isle of Monsters, designed by Joshua DeBonis and Nikola Ristestki has artwork by Kwanchai Moriya and produced by Mayday Games, is about capturing monsters and caring for them so you can compete against the others players in scare contests.
Each player is working to become the Island Protector. This is done by catching and feeding the creatures on the island. Though the creatures look fierce and frightening, they are not. It is in how they are fed and presented that makes them look so ferocious.
Mechanics
There are several game mechanics taking place during the game. The first part of a round is spent gathering monsters and the food to feed them. Not all the monsters and food available on the game board are available to everyone, just those on the nearest outer islands and the center island. You need to keep an eye on what monsters your neighbor is feeding to see if there is the right food, and enough of it, for the monsters you have or want to capture.
After everyone passes from that phase the monsters that have eaten enough are matured and included into a deck used for the scoring phases of the round.
 |
| My hand early on |
Scoring takes place in two levels. The first level is to present a single, or grouping of monsters of the same type (earth, fire, or water) to compete against the other players' monster(s) to scare the crowd in attendance at the Scare Festival. Individual monsters have scores from 1 to 9 and their scores are added together when they are played together. The card(s) are hidden so you don't know what others have chosen until everyone reveals at the same time. The person with the highest score on their cards wins the scare contest.
After the monsters have scared the crowd they can scare each other (fire scares earth, earth scares water, and water scares fire). This isn't worth as many points, but it is possible with a larger game that the person scaring other players earns more points than the person who won the contest.
The monsters used in that round of scaring are set aside and the next round starts with the players who have remaining cards. The scaring rounds continue until only one person, or none, has cards left in their hand. Additional scare points are earned for having extra monsters.
The monsters used in the scaring during the round do not leave the game, they just can only be used once a scare round. After the round they are returned to the deck the player is building. It is added to during the next maturing phase.
Strategy
Since each player is limited to the two piles of monsters on the outer islands to either side of them, strategy is limited to what is available. However, a player needs to be aware of the strength of the monster, higher points takes more food to mature, and what they eat. You also have to decide if you want to be able to combine monsters, therefore, they need to be the same type. You can also work at creating bigger or smaller monsters. (Early in the game there is not enough food to mature the bigger monsters.) Bigger monsters are better for winning the scare contests, but maturing more smaller monsters allows you to compete in more rounds.
Appearance
 |
| Some of the cards |
During our play-testing it was the artwork that drew the attention of two of our players. The artwork is done by Kwanchai Moriya and one player mentioned that it reminded them of Pokemon cards. The artwork is fun and each of the monsters shows a different level of maturity for its type as it goes up in score.
The materials in the game are of good quality. The components are sturdy enough to withstand being played.
Re-playability
We were able to play a couple of games back to back without a problem. Younger players, or those who are not as adept at strategy, should be able to play this multiple times in a row without problems. It is also a game that could sit for a little while and be easily brought back to the table for another session.
Overall
Isle of Monsterswas easy to learn, and easy to teach. Set up and clean up was also quick. Although more experienced players have a slight advantage the advantage wasn't so much as to take away from the game.
Isle of Monstersis designed for 2–5 players. I played it with three players and it went well. There is a 2-player variation and I think the fun would increase as you add a fourth or fifth player.
Isle of Monstersis designed to last 20–45 minutes. Our games, even while learning took about 30 minutes. The time is controlled by the deck of monsters and the number of players doesn't vary the time much. The variable is more in deciding what you want to do.
Isle of Monstersis designed for ages 10+. Experienced younger players may be able to play this game. They may not catch all of the strategy nuances, but the artwork art is a draw for them.
A new Island Protector has been named. The others who vied for the title did well, it was a close competition. There is already talk of who is going to go for the title the next time the competition is held.
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment