BOARD GAMES EVERYBODY SHOULD...
  • Home
  • Board Game soundtracks
    • The 7th Citidal
    • Kemet
    • Titan
    • Abyss
    • Claustrophobia 1643
    • The 7th Continent
    • Lucky Duck Games
    • Poule Poule
    • Syrinscape
    • Last Night
  • Board Game Talk
    • Reviews in English
    • Reviews en Français
    • Kickstarters
  • Burky & Badger podcast
  • Contact me

RECENT REVIEW THUMBNAILS

Barry has just played... 

Picture

A Jurassic sized game

2/12/2019

0 Comments

 

Dinosaur Island  (2017) review

Picture
Designer: Jonathan Gilmour, Brian Lewis
Publisher: Pandasaurus Games

1-4 players
ages 8 and up
90-120 minutes

written by Guilou
Picture

* Warning : all the components presented in the photos of this review come from the KS version, the retail version may be slightly different. *

Who hasn't dreamed of being able to manage a park of living dinosaurs? To be able to play with DNA while offering its visitors an intense and magical experience ? Dinosaurs were for dreamers, then Spielberg pushed the concept even further with his movie Jurassic Park.
Since then, there has always been this desire to find a game with a gameplay equivalent that could take us back to this wonderful adventure. Strangely, few games with this theme have emerged. There was an old MB game that came out many moons ago, but we were far from the possibility of managing a Jurrasic style park. License costs are certainly very high, fear of attacking this well loved monument, or simply a lack of interest ... The reasons are certainly varied to why a game like this never came to market.
​

Since the release of Jurassic World, licensed games have emerged. Aimed at the family audience and not necessarily the gamer, who wanted to control the management of the park itself. In 2017,  an "expert" game came to Kickstarter and surprised us, with this thematic flavor: Dinosaur Island from Pandasaurus Games.
Picture

The first thing that was surprising in this game was the art. Everything is very flashy (maybe too much?) Illustrators Kwanchai Moriya (Catacombs), Peter Wocken (Dead of Winter) and Anthony Wocken, had free rein to their madness and offered us unique and surprising visuals. A breath of fresh air in a world where production tends to be more and more standardized. This art gave a unique cachet to this game. Clearly, from its aesthetics, it can be cutting.

The designers Jonathan Gilmour (Dead of Winter) and Brian Lewis (Titan of Industry) offer us with their game, the opportunity to be at the head of a company that embarks on the exploitation of dinosaurs to attract tourists into their amusement park. Does it remind you of anything?

Everything is there. Creation of dinosaurs (thanks to the recovered DNA), creation of enclosures, levels of security, booths of goodies, food stands, attractions, specialists, dinosaurs, ... Even the rules offer a lot of tributes and funny references.
We are in a game as faithful as possible to the monument that is Jurassic Park without having the film footage  and stepping on any rights.
Picture

​In Dinosaur Island, the goal is to make your park lively as possible. Playable for 2 to 4 players (you have also a solo mode), each is the head of a scientific corporation. Your park is represented by an individual player board, on one side is the possible locations, on a kind of grid and on the other the actions that your workers can do. The game is played in several phases.
Picture

The first is the specific resource search. You are going to send your scientists to bring back DNA, to find dinosaur "recipes" (yes I do not know what else to call it), or to transform them into mundain workers.


We are in a fairly conventional job placement. The choices are represented either by dice or by locations, as is the case for dinosaurs. Moreover, there are two types of dinosaur"recipes": Herbivores and Carnivores. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Herbivores are easier to create and generate fewer problems but they attract less visitors. On the other hand, Carnivores are the opposite.

The taste of danger brings back more people. With Carnivores, you have two types : small and large (which are more difficult to create).  I take the lead and I answer you right away ... Yes, there is the Tyrannosaurs. Each species of dinosaurs is represented only once. So if you like this one especially, buy it immediately!
Picture

During the second phase, you will be able to recover equipment, build buildings and recruiter specialists to improve your park. No, you can't find John Hammond, Dr. Grant or Ian Malcom ... Though, if you look a little closer, maybe...


So you can get goodies, attractions or food stalls, each of which yield different benefits. The equipment offer you new actions for your workers. Specialists are there to give you bonuses during the game. Be careful, all places are limited and it costs money. If nothing interests you, it is possible to recover DNA instead. Each player will have the right to two purchases. Apart from taking the tile that interested the other players, the interaction is low.
Picture

​Here in the third phase, each player will use their workers to develop their park. It is at this moment that we will create our dinosaurs for example. What's the point of a park without dinosaurs? To come into the world, these charming creatures need a type of DNA according to their "recipe". They will bring you victory points at the end of the game but especially points of interest, that's what makes the audience come. They will also need a large enough enclosure. Apart from the joyous aspect of genetic transformation, it is at this stage that you will be able to improve your security, your money (advertising costs) and your paddocks. Here, everyone plays at the same time.
Picture

​The fourth phase is the fastest. We check each park one by one and the doors open. We draw a number of tourists equal to our fame. But beware, some tourists are not there to just visit. But pose more problems, than profits. In front of all that are the crowds and is your security sufficient to protect them? Because if you have been too greedy or unscrupulous, your dinosaurs can, for a very short moment, break out of their paddock and have fun with your visitors. Nothing serious. After all, some deaths do increase the fame of a park, no! ... No? Ah! ... So you will lose a few victory points based on these unexplained disappearances. But rest assured, they had still paid their entry before their death. Also, since the world has a short memory, the next turn, your park will reopen. You'll adjust your score and start again.

Picture
The end of the game will come when all public objective have been won. These randomly chosen goals at the beginning of a game can be modulated to increase or shorten the game. There is also a “first come first serve” race between the players.

Dinosaur Island is a game with simple rules. You explain and understand everything quickly, without having to go back to the rule book. Games can be more or less long and none are really alike. I'll admit it, I love this game. And yet, let's be honest, it's not perfect. Besides its design (pink dinosaurs!), one of my first critiques is that it appears to be a solitary game. Indeed, apart from a little pressure on the objectives or which dice to choose in phase 1, the interaction is very weak or non-existent. Players create their park in their own corner and then occasionally look at where other players are. Usually, this is something that bothers me.


But, I admit that I let myself be so transported by my imagination in this game that it does not remove my pleasure. And, it always makes you smile to see another player forget the importance of security. In general, game does not offer a very difficult challenge. It is rare to be really stuck and we always end up doing what we want... almost. For players looking for complexity, you will be disappointed. Another point more anecdotal, the customization of the park is also a little limited especially by meeples dinosaurs that closely resemble the others (but hey, it would have been much more expensive to have different meeple dinosaurs for each species). There is no such thing as a specialty or a specific thing to watch depending on the dinosaur taken. It's pretty generic.​
Picture

In spite of all that, I continue to love this game. I dreamlike feeling transports me into the game. Its simplicity makes it easy to take out and play. No need to go back to the rules at every game.

The replayability is present by the choice of public goals, the choices during the game and what the dice offer ... The material is very nice and quite neat. I see myself at the head of an entertainment company, choosing my dinosaurs carefully, develop my park, protect (or not) my visitors ... This game really has a magical aura.
​

I think the relation to Jurassic Park is not insignificant. If the game was talking about something else, with the same mechanisms, I'm not sure it would please me as much. The theme and the nostalgia therefore occupy very important places in my appreciation of the game. The first player token, a visitor's bracelet for the KS version, puts you directly in the mood.

Dinosaur Island is a particular game. The choice of graphics, the choice of the gameplay, the choice of theme, everything has been carefully worked for our greatest pleasure. We can of course expect more. After all, with such a theme, our imagination is racing very quickly. More customization, more differentiation, more challenge, more choice ...
​

But then we would have a different type of game. Finally, is not it the will of the authors to have created a simple game but not too simplistic. A game open to all and playable by the vast majority, while keeping a strong identity and an ounce of difficulty? In any case, I can only recommend this game, which even if it does not invent anything and remains fairly traditional (a mix of mechanisms), makes you plunge into of your childhood dreams . A success simply.
Picture

​Note that following the success of the game, an expansion has been realised. Totally Liquid offers the possibility to play up to five, new types of dinosaurs (sailors), new paddocks, new specialists ... A new experience that I will review soon.
​

At the same time as this expansion, they released a special version for two players, Duelosaur Island. If you are interested, I could also review that for you?

Technical Score 9/10
The components of the game are very good quality. The boards are hard cardboard, very resistant. The meeples are funny. The rules are well written and everything is installed quickly. 
The graphics and the choice of colors can disorientate or even run away. Yet this daring choice brings a breath of fresh air into the current production.

BGG Score 9/10
(Excellent game. Always want play it.)
A game with simple, catchy rules that makes you relive the adventure Jurassic Park. An excellent game to spend a good moment of reflection between players or with you family.

Combined Score 9/10
Great Score for very good game. And now it's over to you...


Picture
Barry's first impressions
The game does capture the essence of building a theme park. With so many tiles to buy, cards to collect and different Dinosaurs to play with, there is a lot of replayability. But with that come a big load of boards. A board for each phase, is a little too much for a coffee shop to play with, but everything is thematic and interesting.
​

I did enjoy playing the game although I felt it was unbalance with this “short term memory” world. If a visitor died tragically at a theme park, there would be a bit of bad press and the loss of income or point. This game captures that. But a massacre at a park should be devastating to a park owners score...not here.

​
0 Comments
    Picture

    Authors

    Barry &
    Guilou & Arnauld

    shortcuts

    All
    1st Impressions
    99 Monkeys
    ABACUSSPIELE
    Act In Game
    Alderac Entertainment Group
    Ameritrash Games
    Arnauld
    Asmodee
    Atalia
    Aurora Games
    Barry
    ​Bellwether Games
    Blackfire
    Blackrock Games
    Blog
    Blue Orange Games
    Bombyx
    Bonjour Games
    Burky & Badger
    Buzzy Games
    Catch Up Games
    Choice Provisions
    Clyde & Cart Press
    CMON Limited
    Cool Mini Or Not
    Cosmo Duck
    Cranio Creations
    Cryptozoic Entertainment
    Czech Games Edition
    Draco Ideas
    Druid City Games
    DV Giochi
    Eagle-Gryphon Games
    Eclipse Editorial
    Edge Entertainment
    Eggertspiele
    Elwin Klappe
    EmperorS4
    Essen Spiel
    Events
    Fantasy Flight Game
    Filosofia Editions
    Flying Carpet Games
    Flying Frog
    Funky Sheep
    Game Brewer
    Game Works
    Gen Con
    Gigamic
    GMT Games
    Golden Egg Games
    GREIFERISTO
    Grimlord Games
    GRRRE Games
    Guillotine Games
    Guilou
    Haba
    Hasbro
    Helvetiq
    Hexy Studio
    Holy Grail Games
    Homosapien Lab
    Homosapiens Lab
    Horrible Games
    How To Play
    HUCH!
    Iello
    Imperial Publishing
    Impressions
    Inside Up Games
    Interview
    Intrafin
    Itten
    Japan Brand
    Jeux Opla
    Jolly Dutch Productions
    Jolly Thinkers
    Jumping Turtle Games
    Junk Spirit Games
    Karma Games
    Kickstarter
    KOSMOS
    La Boite De Jeu
    Last Night
    Lifestyle Boardgames
    Lucky Duck Games
    Ludonaute
    Ludonova
    Mandoo Game
    Matagot
    Meeple City Games
    Modiphius
    Monolith
    Monthly
    Moonster Games
    Morning
    MOZI Game
    My Cup Of Tea
    Mythic Games
    Nauvoo Games
    Next Move Games
    Norsker Games
    North Star Games
    Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
    Oink Games
    Oka Luda Editions
    Osprey Games
    Oya
    Ozaku Brand
    Oz Editions
    Pandasaurus Games
    Paris Est Ludique
    Parker Brothers
    Pegasus Spiele
    Pixie Games
    Plan B Games
    Player 3
    Podcast
    Precisamente
    Preview
    Quantum Quiz
    Queen Games
    Renegade Game Studios
    Review
    RUNES Editions
    Say Cheves
    Schmidt Spiele
    Second Gate Games
    Serious Poulp
    Sit Down!
    Sorry We Are French
    Soundscape
    Space Cowboys
    Spielworxx
    Steamforged Games
    Stronghold Games
    Superlude Editions
    Super Meeple
    Sweet Games
    Tasty Minstrel Games
    Tested
    The Flying Games
    ThinkNoodle Games
    Tiki Editions
    Top Ten
    Treefrog Games
    Twitch TV
    TWOPLUS Games
    UK Gaming Expo
    USAopoly
    Weta Workshop
    White Goblin Games
    Yoka By Tsume
    Z-Man Games

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture

Contact me

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Board Game soundtracks
    • The 7th Citidal
    • Kemet
    • Titan
    • Abyss
    • Claustrophobia 1643
    • The 7th Continent
    • Lucky Duck Games
    • Poule Poule
    • Syrinscape
    • Last Night
  • Board Game Talk
    • Reviews in English
    • Reviews en Français
    • Kickstarters
  • Burky & Badger podcast
  • Contact me