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I love small, fast playing card games. I also appreciate games with fantastic art and the water coloured denizens of the deep instantly drew me to Pacific Ocean. Lets see if the wonderful presentation is backed up with equally engaging gameplay.
A Stunning World.
Before I get to how the game plays, I will reiterate just how good the art on these cards is. The choice of water colour was an excellent one and, along with the links between that artistic medium and the subject matter, has resulted in simply stunning depictions of all the beautiful oceanic creatures.
I would happily own this game simply to take it out browse through the cards now and again, similar to thumbing through a coffee table art book; the art is that good and up there with the best I’ve seen in a board game. Fortunately, there is a game attached too and it is a good one.
I Split, You Choose.
In Pacific Ocean, players alternately choose two of the three cards from their hand and place them on the table, one face up and the other face down. Their opponent takes either the face up card, or risks the face down one and adds it to their sanctuary, with the remaining card going to the player who offered then up. Cards are tucked at the top of their sanctuary for their icons or at the bottom for their scoring condition, which will trigger off the icons. Draw 2 more cards and repeat.
Yes, Pacific Ocean takes mere moments to explain as demonstrated by those few sentences above. It is the ‘I split, you choose’ mechanism (as featured in games such as Hanamikoji) distilled to its simplest essence and this results in a quick game I can teach anyone.
However, don’t let the simplicity lead you to believe there is little here to interest anyone beyond the most casual of gamers. The simple rules are the glowing lure of the angler fish, drawing you in. Before you know it, the game has you in its sharp teeth of agonising indecision.
Play two cards. One face down, one face up. Yet when faced with that choice, my brain goes into overdrive. Which card do I want? Do I want it for scoring or for icons? Which would my opponent want? What scoring conditions do they have in play? Do I offer something juicier face up to encourage them to leave the face down card? Can I play two cards I’d be equally happy with?
Clearly, my brain does not process all this well enough, as I lose more often than not, but that does not prevent me from returning to the deceptively simple choice offered each turn in Pacific Ocean. It plays inside its advertised 10 minutes too, so this is very much a game that encourages the players to shuffle up and go again.
Feeling Crabby
I do have a couple of niggles with Pacific Ocean. The first is one born of one of the strengths I’ve highlighted. The art.
Yes, it’s beautiful. Yes, the icons are clear and easily understood (with the occasional less intuitive scoring condition icon explained in the rulebook). If you play the game as described in the rules though, you are tucking all your cards at the top or at the bottom of your sanctuary card. This results in you having one stunning piece of art to admire at the end of the game, plus a bunch of icons.
I admit that this keeps the game state very clean and minimises table space, but I want to see that narwhal I played. I want to see that starfish and admire the effort gone in to paint it whilst I’m playing the game. The game is very abstract - the theme could be anything - and looking at the end state, it may as well have been.
There is an easy fix; I simply play icon cards in the space above my sanctuary card and scoring conditions below. This results in me having a gorgeous game once more at the cost of taking up slightly more real estate on the table.
The other nautical niggle is that you can find yourself in a situation where your cards are all far better for your opponent than for you. It can lead to moments where you feel little agency over your turn.
Fortunately, these are the exception rather than the rule and the game is fast enough that I can be forgiving of the occasional bad draw. It is important for me that the better player will win a game more often than not and this is the case in Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Ocean even includes a solo mode and it is well put together, though be warned that it is very challenging. I tend to stick to the ‘easier’ bot opponents. You do need to provide your own die, in order to play it. Not a problem for me, as I have plenty of spares at home, but I’m not a fan when a game does not include everything required to play.
Still, I suspect the solo mode here will have a bit more of a niche audience and not including a die probably keeps the price down. Just be aware of it if you are intending to play it solo and the good news is there is enough space to store a small die in the tin with the game.
A Whale of a Time.
Pacific Ocean is not perfect, but it is a very pure take on ‘I split, you choose’. If you enjoy two player games, especially those with an element of trying to read your opponent, then Pacific Ocean would be an excellent choice.
If the amazing artwork of the fabulous aquatic creatures that inhabit our world is something that appeals, you’ve probably already purchased this.
Pacific Ocean will not be the main event of a game night. What it will be though, is a game to break out when you have a spare 10-15 minutes, that will travel well (pocket sized and you can play it on a plane/train fold-down table easily) and that provides some seriously competitive head-to-head competition. As such, I’m glad I was clam-ouring to add it to my collection.
