Ice Flow is a unique game. Essentially you control 3 explorer meeples that are trying to cross the Bering Strait. First 3 across to Siberia wins. (Note: Why is the goal GOING to Siberia? I would consider the explorers to refuse to cross the winners. Siberia would be punishment you would think...but...I digress.)
The Bits:
YAY! God bless the bits! The bits are positively great in this game. Polar Bear Meeples, fish meeples, explorer meeples that look like they were taken from a street sign, and best of all...super-awesome ice floe tiles. Complete with cracked ice. The pictures simply do not do this gorgeous game justice. The fonts on the board are my only small gripe. They're doofy looking and difficult to read, but this is totally moot because the names don't mean a damn thing. Otherwise A+!
Gameplay:
As usual, I'm not a rules regurgitator, but here's the short version: You take one ice floe action, either rotating one, moving one along the flow track it sits on, or placing a new one. Then you move one explorer meeple as far as he can go on the board. (No movement points) There are polar bears and other hazards, and you can pick up ropes and fish to help you on your way.
This game teaches VERY fast, but damn if it isn't a thinker. You really do have to plan your moves, and someone can monkey up your works if they are trying. The game is relatively short, about 1-1.5 hours and is thoroughly engaging from the moment you pull out the cool ice blue ice floes to when you put the game away. I may be a bit whore (tm) but there is a whole lot of game here.
First person to get all 3 meeples to the far side wins. The end.
Fun Factor:
This game is rather fun, bouncing polar bears, thwarted attempts at making landfall, flying ice floes, and going fishing. Now, there is zero randomness in this game, so there won't be any dice cheers, but you'll have just as much fun.
Replayability:
If you played this game toooo much, I could see this one getting old after a while. This isn't a meat & potatoes game like Brass or Through The Ages. However, you will be thinking, a lot. This really is a gamer's style game that is short in playtime but long on decisions and a good time.
The Fiance's Opinion: "Jury is out for me, we tried playing late and I need to play this again to form a full opinion."
My Opinion:
8/10
This game is good-to-great. Its hard, but not mind bending, its just thinky. I like this game a lot, and it fills a unique slot in my game collection. Its a race, but its spatial, but not mathy. Overall pretty unique in my 200+ collection, and that is hard to do.
Last edited on 2008-07-05 23:19:50 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008 4:07 am
. Having said that, the ship carrying our ICE FLOW pallets to took less than 3 weeks to arrive at Chicago docks - where they have now been held up in customs for 2 weeks!