Pandemic: Rising Tide Review - with Zee Garcia

[@NinoMit87]

Omg as beeing Dutch, this is to reallistic and scary for me. Why is my house underwater Zee? Why did you not save me in your first turn?

[@billjensen51]

"That's the general flow of the game" Well played Zee, well played.

[@dodec8449]

His name means "sea" in Dutch, so I guess he is born for puns about this game.

[@johanvangijsegem9620]

because i'm from the region, i didn't have a problem with the minuses you have, but i get your point

[@omtulsi]

Green for pluses (+) and red for minuses (-) otherwise thumbs up for aesthetics :-)

[@tozmom615]

Excellent review. I always enjoy Zee’s demonstrations.

[@dutch_blades]

Was waiting for this review! Time to watch it and see how my country will do in a game :')

[@JefferyHunt]

Hah, the things you dislike tend to be present in games I really like. I’ve got 1st edition Pandemic and Legacy. This may be the first of the spinoffs I consider getting.

[@alicemoore2036]

Hmm. I kind of liked the look of the board.

[@bookaddict777]

I do too actually.

[@silverfang6668]

I'm holding out for a space-themed Pandemic.

[@EgeTunca]

A game where the virus (alien) spreads through your space ship! Now that would be amazing!

[@deathrace8287]

Just don't put out for it... I said GOODDAY SIR!!

[@ClearanceCollector]

Sounds like the movie Alien. ^_^

[@babu981]

YES !!!

[@TheLimestoneCowboy]

STD Pabdemic?

[@konstspridare]

Bought it a week ago, played once, I liked the game a lot but totally agree on the problem with the board. I will go over the board with a big black marker and draw the borders clearer and a bit more straight.

[@Goblinerd]

While I agree some of the pieces are a bit fiddly, I couldn't agree less on the aesthetic. I think it is simply beautiful. I enjoy the fact that Pandemic, as a "brand", is coming out with new & different implementations of the original game. This version is, for me, one of the best versions. A+

[@kustomkure]

Goblinerd Highly agreed. Not missing this one for the world.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

Agreed. I dislike the super bright looks of some games, and prefer the "muted" colours. If he considers this muted I wonder what he thinks is bright tbh.

[@riffbw]

I love the look of the board all set up. I get that it might be a bit difficult to navigate, but the game is absolutely beautiful. The dikes being Catan size roads might not be ideal, but they are the easiest to make and do their job. Plus they stack nicely to put three on the ocean to hold back the water. My only complaint, and it's more personal than design, is how hard the names were to read. But that's a realism choice and I support it 100%.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I love and hate the target system. I love how it works and steers the review into important aspects. I hate that I now can’t use this cool idea myself! 😅

[@viljammaes6063]

It's a good review, with solid arguments. Still, I must say I disagreed quite a bit : D I LOVE the colours and look of the game. The art is simply amazing, and the fact that it uses muted colours suits the board, in my opinion, much, much more than the hyper saturated colours used in other Pandemic iterations. Had the colours been much brighter, it would be so hectic to look at the game. Just imagine it, all those curves (it's a very strange country, border wise) and names, and dikes, and rivers, and then colours that are just in your face. No, I think this is perfect, because it's just calm and easy to look at. Not to mention the fact they kept the original Dutch names, Delftware colours in the manual, tulips and windmills everywhere... They went all out to create a game true to the Dutch spirit. The only issue I have with the design of the board are the 3D things like the hammer, the water drops etc. Before Pandemic Iberia such things weren't present, and I don't get the trend of putting them on the board. It just distracts me from the game, and the otherwise beautiful graphics. The straight dikes on squiggly lines is a gripe that I didn't realise myself, but I can understand your problem with it. However, whereas you would have liked them to adjust the board (an abstract version of regions....brrrrr...) I felt they made the right decision to use straight dikes and have people just learn the game better. Make some effort and get used to things : ) The theme, in my opinion, is also quite genius. Yes, it deviates quite a bit, but with the plan of a yearly Pandemic release (and in case of the Legacy series even more Pandemic per year) it's good to finally have some variation in the series. I recently played Iberia for the first time, and although that iteration was -much- better than I would have expected and more fun than I gave it credit for the first game, I still heard myself saying a lot of sentences like 'Oh, this is like the [...] in regular Pandemic'. Rising Tide doesn't suffer from that feeling as much, while still retaining the basic concept that makes Pandemic such a great game. Again, great review, but I have the feeling your suggestions for change, and your points of critique, would have given the game a much too American flair, and might have 'simplified' the essence of the game a bit. In my opinion, this game deserves a 95%+ score, but I want to play it more before I render a final judgement. Edit: after playing it four more times I do understand what what you meant about the game being fiddly. Sometimes the areas are very small and you want to put a lot of stuff in them. We had one tiny area with a pump, a port, 2 cubes, and 5 dikes. That took a bit of dexterity to not flick things off the board : ) It can be a bit finicky at times but it's nothing that would take more than 2% off my overall game score.

[@bajohrs]

Why would Zee expect a good looking board? The designer is Jeroen. It has to look a bit like a Splotter game.

[@TheLomdr]

At the very least, the board looks better than Bus's original board. Surprised that they didn't go with (mini)Meeples for the population..

[@viljammaes6063]

Good-looking is highly subjective, and personally I think Rising Tide looks fantastic in almost every way : )

[@alicemoore2036]

This reminds me of the game Hotshots; a very fine game. In that game everyone is working to put out a forest fire.

[@GamingWithGeo]

Pandemic, by itself, was a pretty ho hum game as far as I'm concerned. But once I saw that this one was co-designed by one of the designers from Splotter, this became an insta-buy. It's not quite as heavy as I was hoping for however, but it's still quite enjoyable and easily my favorite of the franchise.

[@markthibault8579]

Neat idea. I also think a cybersecurity themed variant of Pandemic would be cool.

[@Fergit_]

Hack the Planet?

[@markthibault8579]

You could be part of a multi-national cyber team, fighting malware, worms, etc.

[@DPDLC]

When you say spin off games do you include Pandemic: The Cure or are you strictly talking about board versions?

[@ccggenius]

That's an expansion, not a spin-off. If whatever it is talks about needing a copy of the base game to play, it's an expansion, not a spin-off.

[@CoryFleury]

The Cure is it's own game, not an expansion. It's just a dice based game instead of a board game.

[@ccggenius]

Huh... You learn something new every day. Consider my previous comment withdrawn.

[@Dalmatinac3]

The graphics look attractive to me. The board looks attractive. The theme and water flow is great. I wouldn't put this as my least favorite... I think for me from all the spinoffs they are all pretty much even. This one was another great spinoff.

[@ClearanceCollector]

Agree on the map. Not abstract enough.

[@Raenaece]

I just kept thinking why are there water cubes in the north and southern sea? Of course there's water! It's a sea!

[@VaultBoy13]

I'll likely pick it up at some point, but it's a shame that it's on the fiddly side.

[@viljammaes6063]

Well, you might have a different opinion. I sure do : ) I don't get his 'fiddly' arguments at all. Edit: after playing it four more times I do understand what he means. Sometimes the areas are very small and you want to put a lot of stuff in them. We had one tiny area with a pump, a port, 2 cubes, and 5 dikes. That took a bit of dexterity to not flick things off the board : ) But it's nothing that I find a huge bother.

[@dancollins3999]

Essentially forbidden island?

[@apita4181]

Pandemic with Forbidden Island mechanics! Sign me out!!

[@prufrock1977]

Feels like a callback to Forbidden Island.

[@guillermoz4914]

prufrock1977 my thoughts exactly

[@viljammaes6063]

I don't get the references to Forbidden Island. I mean, aside from rising water there seems to be almost no connection. It's like Robinson Crusoe being a callback to Forbidden Island, because, you know, island... : P Seriously though, the game itself feels nothing like Forbidden Island, and floods have been a part of human history for millenia. That's the whole reason there are so many flood myths. And the Dutch are just very linked to the water, so it's only logical that this game has a flood theme.

[@prufrock1977]

Seeing that Forbidden Island is a Matt Leacock re-skin of Pandemic where you are preventing flooding AND this game is a Matt Leacock re-skin of Pandemic where you are preventing flooding...I don't know how I could see them as being analogous in any way. :P So, my real question is why revisit such a similar theme? Why focus on the Netherlands? Is the next one going to be located in Egypt when you'll have to trek through shifting dunes? ....Why does that sound so familiar?

[@viljammaes6063]

They focussed on The Netherlands because that was were the championship was held : ) If the next championship is in Egypt, then yeah, I guess so : D

[@thomassanderson7927]

Not Ocean its the North Sea

[@IngoSchildmann]

The North Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean.

[@thomassanderson7927]

Ingo Schildmann Well only in the same way as the Atlantic is part of the Pacific. The Sea defences in the Netherlands are Sea defences

[@barbecquerel]

When Pandemic meets Forbidden Island....

[@JobraKai]

Is this a forbidden island killer??? Looks like it might be.

[@TheLomdr]

Looks to be a step up for someone that likes Forbidden island. Feels that it provides enough of a twist from Forbidden Island to 'own both'. Though there are some weird design decisions that makes the Diver 'harder' to play (No way to mark where tiles sunk vs board borders, fixable with blue poker chips or other water tokens)

[@goyasolidar]

Either way, you gave your money to Matt Leacock.

[@KissellMissile]

Pandemic is a step up from Forbidden Island and this is a step up from Pandemic. If you want a super-light coop, FI is hard to beat. If you want anything else, it can be a bit boring.

[@zackotron1986]

Matt Leacock beating his own game!

[@roop298]

Zee, replay ability and 'learn ability' are not the same thing.

[@Patronux]

I don't know why people are comparing this with Forbidden Island. Those games share absolutely nothing, except you have 4 actions per turn, and that's it. Not even the theme/goal are similar at all.

[@jeremysnyder8848]

Patronux The mechanics between Pandemic and the Forbidden series are similar: 4 actions, grab 2 cards (something bad might happen), turn over bad cards (number increases over time). With this game the theme is also similar to Forbidden Island (sinking land, storms, etc) and not related to Pandemic (diseases).

[@Patronux]

Jeremy Snyder Forbidden Island is Pandemic lite. But I've never so many comparisons until now, just because they share the flooding theming. And that's the most superfluous thing those games have in common.

[@benjaminspears8488]

Kind of a cross between Forbidden Island and Flashpoint, but not really as exciting as either.

[@Fuzzyfoot88]

Pandemic is outdated, great, but outdated. I personally think that Iberia replaces it completely, Reign drips some interesting choices and theme on it, and Tide takes into a new direction that I'm happy to experience. But honestly, The Cure/reign convinced me to sell Pandemic, and Iberia/Tide has shown me the IP is heading in a better direction finally.

[@RowantarotBlogspot]

I agree, it is an unattractive board and components. I've got Pandemic, Iberia and The Cure, but I don't think I'll buy this one. It's ugly enough to put me off. Thanks for the review!

[@EgeTunca]

I loved iberia but this is one is just you worded bland... horrible artwork, horrible visuals. Whats up with Z-man and their poor judgement of art direction... Hard Pass...

[@WoogieBoogie03]

Pandemic has officially jumped the shark

[@garcipat]

Are you sick zee? You relly dont look too healthy :-(

[@justinrrizzo]

Is this even real? How many stinking Pandemic games are we going to get? Let it die.