Captain... what is that???
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
Designer: Thomas Sing
Artist: Marco Armbruster
Published: 2021
Players: 2-5
Playing Time: 20 Mins
BGG Rating: 8.2
BGG Ranking: 36
Publisher: Kosmos
Mechanics: Cooperative Game, Hand Management, Trick-taking
Sleeves: USA 56x87mm, BST 70x120mm
Game Description:
In the trick-taking card game The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, you and the other players work together to search for the lost continent of Mu. This new adventure takes your crew deep down into the abyss on a search for the fabled sunken land. How far you get depends entirely on how well you work together as a team. Card by card, trick by trick, your search party will discover the challenges that lie ahead and forge a path to Mu.
Quick play overview:
Each game is a scenario that gives you a difficulty setting and by that you draw a determined number of cards from the Mission deck.
The captain of the crew will start by selecting a Mission card that he will try to fulfill and then the next player and so one till all the missions are divided between the players.
Now the players have to play cards following the general Trick-taking rules like:
- You have to follow the suit of the first card played this round unless you don't have it.. then you can play whichever card you want but it won't have any power in this round
- The player that played the highest card of the leading suit will collect the cards
The round is over when all the missions cards are fulfilled or when the players fail one of the cards (a player has to collect maximum two tricks but cannot avoid collecting a third trick).
…and did I forget to mention that there is no talky-talky in this game? Well.. good luck crew, there is no way back from the Deep Sea now.
Final thoughts:
The game is super simple to explain to gamers and non gamers alike… and as a coop it brings people together instead of making teams where they fight it out.
Personally this is the best trick-taking game in my book.
SCORE:
Gameplay: 8/10
The Crew is a difficult puzzle game. Yes, the first scenarios sound very easy but once you have to complete some 5+ missions in one round, you better take the game seriously from the first trick.
Art & Graphic Design: 7/10
The art is nice.. the cards create a panorama if placed side by side, which is always cute. But there is not much to this game, so there was also not a lot of space for art.
Graphic design… well there are cards with numbers in the corners. You better not fail the design on this one.
Rules & Complexity: 8/10
The rules for playing are clear. But there are too many special cases that you have to check everytime you have to play a scenarion with this »complications«.
The game is simple to learn and simple to play. Complexity comes from the amount of missions you have to finish in a single scenario.
Theme: 3/10
The theme is pasted on and makes no sense with the gameplay…but at least they gave us something. I read the intros for each scenario as I really want to know what is goin on 😊
Fun & Replayability: 10/10
Trick-taking is not even close to the top of the mechanisms that I'm looking forward in my games…but coop is…so this is the only trick-taking game in my collection. Trying to figure out puzzles with friends is always fun.
The Crew has unlimited replayability. Each scenario will instruct you to take X mission cards from a big deck of cards. Even if you repeat the same mission cards, each player will have a different starting hand..