#gameswright

[boardgaminggeek]

First play of Forbidden Island today, a really interesting co-op game

[yetanothergamingcouple]

Forbidden Island

Today we’re reviewing Forbidden Island and we have a special guest reviewer, Katie, with us for this one . It’s the first instalment in the Forbidden series and was published by Gameswright in 2010. It’s a 2-4 player co-operative game, with an age rating of 10 years and up.

All three of us like the artwork and think the island tiles are well illustrated. Katie thought the mythical/fantasy vibe on the island tiles were cool. The treasure pieces are detailed and bold in colour. They are easily identifiable and well-made, they do however have joining seams running all along them. This does not impact game play and they can remain upright without any issues. As we have previously stated we prefer game pieces to be made from wood as we find it more aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly than plastic/resin. We chose to use a gem to mark the water level as opposed to the plastic slider clip as this would cause damage to the cardboard water level meter. Speaking of the water level meter since we purchased the game in December 2019 the water level meter has begun to bend slightly but at this time it doesn’t impact the game. As we currently move our games between two houses as well as friends, we really appreciate the game box being made from metal.  This ensures there’s no damage to the game.

The rules for Forbidden Island are rather simple in practice, you perform 3 actions, draw 2 treasure cards, and play the required amount of flood cards. It can as Katie expressed sound confusing when you first hear/read the rules but it’s easier to understand when playing.  

Luck is a significant factor in Forbidden Island. The order of which the cards come out of the item and storm decks can significantly alter a game. The random placement of the island tiles also can affect game play. Completely sunken tiles can cause an issue but are less troublesome in other places like at the edges. This adds an air of excitement to the game and keeps players on their toes.

If players can navigate this and discuss actions, card uses and card exchanges effectively then this will increase the chance of success. This can be as simple as who is gathering which type of treasure card or who needs to go shore-up a heavily flooded area to prevent issues later. Larger groups will include a lot more discussion and planning as more actions and cards must be managed. Plans may also need to be re-evaluated if the game changes unexpectedly and thwarts the player's plans and efforts.

We managed to escape the island with a few strategic helicopter and sandbag cards being used. Although we won we did lose seven island tiles throughout the course of the game.

Forbidden Island’s suggested play time is 30 minutes and when we played it came in at 32 minutes. All three of us agreed that it felt like the right length of time. With the game being co-operative you’re still an active planning participant between your turns.  This game has a substantial amount of replay value. The obvious place it’s replay value comes from is the drawing of treasure cards and flood cards but the biggest asset for replay is the island tiles random layout each game.  Another way the game has replay value is you can alter the difficulty at the start of the game by setting the water level meter higher or lower.  This means no two games are ever the same. Both Katie and Kirsty feel that they would need a break before playing again but Andy could happily dive straight back in for a second game.

Forbidden Island was a game that we picked up by chance and are not disappointed with the spontaneous purchase. For us it’s a must have co-operative game. Katie found the game fun and engaging but felt she could be a little more challenged (we will make sure to play on a harder difficulty next time ). Katie gives Forbidden Island 7/10 as it challenges her problem-solving skills, and you won’t play the same game twice. Kirsty also rates it 7/10 for similar reasons, while Andy gives it 8/10.