The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

Is The Crew: Mission Deep Sea worth taking on holiday?

Absolutely. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is one of our favourite games to take away.

Unlike some of our quick travel games, this isn't something we only get out to fill 10 or 20 minutes. We've happily played The Crew for a couple of hours at a time, and it's the sort of game we can come back to night after night.

At the same time, individual missions can be very short. That gives it an unusually useful combination for travelling: you can play a few missions when you've got limited time or settle in for an entire evening.

What's the game like?

The Crew is a cooperative card game, so rather than trying to beat each other, everyone is working towards the same objective.

The clever part is that communication is restricted. You can't simply tell everyone exactly which cards you're holding, so succeeding requires the group to gradually understand how everyone plays.

The missions give you different objectives rather than asking you to repeat exactly the same game every time. That's a big reason we've found the replay value so good.

It's also satisfying when a mission that initially seems difficult finally comes together.

Is it difficult to learn?

We'd rate Mission Deep Sea around 2/5 for complexity.

The basic card play isn't particularly complicated, but playing well takes more thought. The challenge comes from working out what other players are likely to have and how you're going to complete the mission without being able to freely discuss your cards.

That makes it considerably more interesting to us than its small box might suggest.

Is The Crew good with children?

It depends on their age and experience with games.

Our 13-year-old can play it comfortably, while our 10-year-old can play with some help.

The difficulty isn't really complicated rules. Younger players need to understand why they might need to play or hold onto particular cards and recognise what the other players are trying to achieve.

For families with younger children, we'd choose The Crew: Family Adventure – Marooned in Paradise instead. That version does a much better job of introducing the ideas visually.

Is it good for short sessions?

Yes, although that's not the main reason we take it.

Individual missions can be short, so there's nothing stopping us playing a handful and putting it away.

The difference compared with something like Dobble is that we rarely want to stop after a few missions.

On holiday, The Crew is much more likely to become one of our evening games — something we get out after dinner and suddenly realise we've been playing for a couple of hours.

How easy is it to pack?

Very easy considering how much gameplay you get from it.

There isn't a large board or lots of bulky components to justify carrying around. Most of the experience comes from the cards themselves.

For us, that's one of the best measures of a holiday game: how much entertainment are we getting for the amount of luggage space we're sacrificing?

The Crew performs exceptionally well on that measure.

Mission Deep Sea or Family Adventure?

We own both, and we'd choose them for different groups.

Mission Deep Sea is our preferred version overall. If everyone playing is comfortable with the normal Crew system, this is the one we'd take.

Family Adventure – Marooned in Paradise is the better choice when younger children are playing. Its flip-out board provides a useful visual guide and the gameplay is easier to follow.

Once the group no longer needs that additional help, we'd move to Mission Deep Sea.

Our verdict

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is one of the first games we'd put in our suitcase.

It's compact, cooperative, easy enough to learn without being shallow, and has enough variety to keep us playing for far longer than most games of its size.

Most importantly, this isn't a game we're recommending simply because it's small enough to travel with. We'd choose to play it anyway.

The fact that it also happens to be an excellent size for taking on holiday makes it one of our strongest recommendations.

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