{"id":286504,"date":"2023-09-07T07:59:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T12:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/?post_type=reviews&p=286504"},"modified":"2023-09-05T23:10:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T04:10:30","slug":"sky-team","status":"publish","type":"reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sky-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky Team Game Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \n <\/div>\n <\/span>\n
\n \n Scorpion Masqu\u00e9 Sky Team | Cooperative Dice Game for 2 Players | Ages 14+ | 20 Minutes<\/span>\n <\/a>\n
\n $41.96<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n Buy Now\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

My new friend Jo\u00eblle was nudging us along, but she had a tense look.<\/p>\n

It was October 2022; we were playing a prototype of an upcoming game called Sky Team<\/i> at the Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9<\/a> booth at SPIEL<\/a> in Essen, Germany. The setup was simple\u2014we were working together to try and land a plane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seven rounds to land the plane,\u201d Jo\u00eblle said through a mask while trying to shout over hundreds of other gamers walking around the expo hall. \u201cThis is the easy mode, so we should be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said we should be OK, but her eyes didn\u2019t seem to believe it. Besides, if any number of things went wrong, we would crash the plane and lose the game.<\/p>\n

But we didn\u2019t mess it up; in fact, we won on the very last action of the game. Between the teach, the handholding, and the final tug on the plane\u2019s brakes, we finished our marketing meeting and the Sky Team<\/i> demo in about 25 minutes.<\/p>\n

I was impressed. A two-player dice placement co-op game that makes it feel like I\u2019m really landing a plane and some nice little thematic touches to bring the experience home in a package that would retail for about 25 euros? I knew right then, and there that Sky Team<\/i> was destined for glory.<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t know at the time: how much other stuff would be in the box.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Roll the Dice, Then Stop Talking<\/h2>\n

Sky Team<\/i> is a two-player-only experience; there is no solo mode.<\/p>\n

Over seven rounds in the first scenario, players must land a plane represented by a dashboard that shows the plane\u2019s axis controls, speed, a radio function that works with a tower and other planes in your flight path, and a few other dials and gauges. Using dice rolled separately from your partner and in secret, each phase requires players to discuss their plans before NOT talking while placing dice to activate the plane\u2019s functions.<\/p>\n

A game only ends successfully when the players land the plane as the altimeter hits zero while activating the plane\u2019s brakes, flaps, and landing gear. You\u2019ve also got to land a perfectly-level plane and remove all of the aircraft in your flight path. If any of these items goes awry, the game immediately ends in a loss.<\/p>\n

Everything in Sky Team<\/i> is triggered by placing dice in appropriate spots on the dashboard. Each player\u2014a pilot, using blue controls and blue dice, and a co-pilot, with orange controls and orange dice\u2014is responsible for items on their half of the dashboard. Using placement spots that often require a specific rolled number, many turns in Sky Team<\/i> feel automatic\u2014at least once during the game\u2019s seven rounds, the co-pilot will have to unlock the switch on, say, the 2\/3 space to activate the flaps for that space.<\/p>\n

Other times, there\u2019s drama. The plane\u2019s axis tilts based on the two dice that eventually find their way to the axis spaces, one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot. If both players play a die of the same value, the plane\u2019s axis doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

If the pilot places a 5 and the co-pilot places a 4, the plane tilts a certain number of clicks toward the higher number, represented by a disc that shows the plane\u2019s tilt; go too far in one direction, and the plane goes into a spin and crashes, ending the game. Managing this is fun, because\u2026well, the players can\u2019t talk once the dice placement portion of the round begins.<\/p>\n

JUSTIN, ARE YOU SAYING THAT THIS GAME FORCES PLAYERS TO BELIEVE THAT A PILOT AND CO-PILOT SITTING IN THE SAME COCKPIT CAN\u2019T TALK???<\/p>\n

OK, OK, you\u2019re right\u2026this part of the game\u2019s approach to theme is insane. I can\u2019t even defend it. It didn\u2019t sound like anyone else from Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9 could defend it either. And because the theme doesn\u2019t feel pasted on, you\u2019ve gotta lean into the fact that this piece of logic feels like a massive miss.<\/p>\n

But if you can get past this single item, man, Sky Team<\/i>\u2026what a game!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Box Says \u201cHigh Drama\u201d<\/h2>\n

The front of the Sky Team<\/i> box has a couple notes in the bottom left-hand corner:<\/p>\n

\u201c2 Player Co-Op.\u201d \u201cImmersive.\u201d \u201cHigh Drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every game of Sky Team<\/i> is built around winning or losing late; I\u2019ve come away with wins in the initial scenario (landing at YUL, the airport in Montreal) with relative ease, but it was always thrilling and high-five-worthy by the end. There\u2019s real tension in every turn, but rounds 5-7 really ramp things up as players race to clear all of their switches and all of the planes in the way. There\u2019s a \u201cConcentration\u201d area of the dashboard where players can bury dice of any value to activate coffee tokens. Coffee is used to modify a die result +\/- 1 and can stack when a player uses multiple coffees at once.<\/p>\n

The flexibility with the coffee, and the intuitive nature of placing dice in the required axis and engine spaces each round, make for a good time. If Sky Team<\/i> was only the Montreal mission, I would still recommend playing it, but you\u2019d play it 3-4 times and be done with it after seeing how that played out.<\/p>\n

But the final version of Sky Team<\/i> has a shocking amount of content in the box to change things up a bit. There\u2019s a log book in the box with 20 extra missions, with plenty of extra components included to keep things spicy. Extra airports, extra planes, and some icons that appear to dictate the axis during a flight, not just when the plane lands.<\/p>\n

For players that want Sky Team<\/i> to have enough content to offer something fresh for months, Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9 has you covered. Designer Luc Remond\u2014whose only other credit I recognize is SPLITO<\/i><\/a>\u2014and the development team for this game has clearly stuck the landing with Sky Team<\/i>. The balancing feels perfect, I love how simple the dashboard is for both gamers and non-hobbyists alike, and everything makes sense.<\/p>\n

Well, everything except the decision to not let players talk during the round. I get it\u2014if I know what my co-pilot has behind her screen, most of the drama gets stripped away. It just doesn\u2019t make thematic sense that I\u2019m working with another pilot to land a plane in potentially dangerous situations, all while NOT talking about how we can adjust the speed needed to smoothly hit that tarmac at Heathrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One other complaint came to light when exploring the extra modules\u2014Sky Team<\/i> may come off to some players as an exercise in luck, not strategy, particularly when managing additional dials and gauges with limited actions.<\/p>\n

A small example. My wife and I tried the OSL mission, where players have to land in Oslo while also managing a fuel gauge (kerosene, in the game\u2019s terminology). We didn\u2019t need a lot extra to go right, but we did need a few of our dice rolls to work out, and as you move through the additional missions there are less chances to dump a die in the Concentration area to provide the +\/-1 to die rolls. It was a constant struggle, and one that didn\u2019t always feel fair.<\/p>\n

The game wasn\u2019t significantly harder during that scenario, with only one additional function to manage. But, it did force my wife to ask a question: do all of these extra missions just push the game into \u201cwe got REALLY lucky with our rolls\u201d territory? Or are there enough chances to plan\/mitigate around poor luck? Thematically, does it feel off that it\u2019s basically a crapshoot to land an airplane at some of these airports with lives at stake?<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t tried all of the extra missions, but the consideration of randomness in these scenarios did cross my mind. This isn\u2019t meant to be a complaint, but it is an observation worth considering for those looking for a game firmly on the side of strategy\u2026Sky Team<\/i> isn\u2019t that, and that is particularly true with the bonus content in my short time with the game, but it does embrace the need for planning when working with a partner on the harder missions.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, Sky Team<\/i> might be the tightest design I\u2019ve played this year. Nothing is wasted. The components are excellent. You can play the initial scenario, and maybe a few others in the box, in 15 minutes or less. (Shorter playtimes are easy to achieve if you keep crashing the plane!!) I had my wife up and running in five minutes; the teach is really quick. The replayability is off the charts, and the value proposition is excellent.<\/p>\n

Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9 continues to amaze. Decrypto<\/i><\/a> is getting a five-year anniversary update later this year, Turing Machine<\/i><\/a> was excellent, and Zero to 100<\/i><\/a> was a fun party game. With Dead Cells<\/i> coming soon, and the continued excellence of the Zombie Evolution<\/i> games (Kidz<\/i><\/a>, Teenz<\/i><\/a>, and Flashback<\/i><\/a>), Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9 has had an incredible run. Sky Team<\/i> only adds to the trophy collection!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin had the chance to play a prototype version of Sky Team last year from Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9. Find out what he thinks about the finished product in his review!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":285966,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"coauthors":[6089],"class_list":["post-286504","reviews","type-reviews","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-flight-board-games","designers-luc-remond","mechanisms-communication-limits","mechanisms-cooperative-game","mechanisms-dice-rolling","publishers-hachette-boardgames-usa","publishers-le-scorpion-masque","artists-adrien-rives","artists-eric-hibbeler","release_year-6543"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSky Team Game Review — Meeple Mountain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justin had the chance to play a prototype version of Sky Team last year from Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9. Find out what he thinks about the finished product in his review!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sky-team\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sky-team\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Board Game Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sky Team Game Review\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sky Team Game Review — Meeple Mountain","description":"Justin had the chance to play a prototype version of Sky Team last year from Le Scorpion Masqu\u00e9. Find out what he thinks about the finished product in his review!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sky-team\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sky-team\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Board Game Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sky Team Game Review"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reviews\/286504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reviews"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reviews"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reviews\/286504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286504"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=286504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}