Oceans: Evolution
BY NICK BENTLEY, DOMINIC CRAPUCHETTES, BEN GOLDMAN AND BRIAN O’NEILL, NORTHSTAR GAMES STUDIO, £49.99
The aim of this new wildlife game is to create and evolve marine species, and try to stop them from going extinct. The first half of the game is relatively slow, as you gradually evolve your species and feed from the reef to build their populations. Then the Cambrian explosion occurs, and suddenly everything becomes a lot more extreme, including the playing of powerful trait cards from the ‘Deep’, such as ‘Abyss Dweller’, ‘Electric Discharge’ and ‘The Kraken’. If the latter half doesn’t appeal to you, the game can be made more family-friendly by playing the Reef variant and avoiding the ‘Deep’. There’s also a deluxe edition available.