Per Aspera

Gra jest bardzo powolna w sumie prosta w założeniach. Brakuje jej skomplikowania. Np. dlaczego mając płynną wodę, dalej muszę szukać zamrożonego lodu, zamiast opracować przybrzeżne technologie oczyszczania wody? Dlaczgo nie mogę do oddalonej bazy wysłać rakiety z zaopatrzeniem? Dlaczego info o surowcach jest wpsólne i nie ma informacji ile surowców jest do dyspozycji odseparowanej bazy? Takich dlaczego jest dużo, ale... syndrom jeszcze jednej tury jest tu silny. Mimo że gra mnie wymęczyła, nie mogłem przestać. The game is very slow, actually simple in assumptions. It lacks complexity. For example, why do I have to keep looking for frozen ice with liquid water, rather than developing coastal water purification technologies? Why can't I send a supply rocket to a remote base? Why is the information about raw materials common and there is no information on how many raw materials are available in a separate base? Why there are many, but ... the syndrome of one more round is strong here. Even though the game was exhausting me, I couldn't stop.

I bought these games after reading Kim Stanley Robinson's books. He has an epic trilogy about Mars, and it might be just an coincidence that game's DLCs are named after after some of these books. But game and books clearly share some concepts, so I bought this game. Anyway, review is about the game. There are campaign, sandbox and multiplayer, latter of these I didn't tried. Campaign limits your progression with narrative (a lot of time you just wait for some kind of meter to progress to trigger story event). And there are four difficulty modes for campaing and sandbox, these, basically, differ in amount of avalaible recources and time to get something done. Therefore, I recommend picking the easiest level to complete the story for less tedious experience and whatever you like for sandbox mode. It's a game of logistics management. There are resources scattered on map, resources have to be mined and made into goods on factories, and goods delivered. You take role of AI overseeing automated production and delivery. Your ultimate tasks is to gather and produce enough to complete several megaprojects to terrafrom planet, and for this your also need to mantain and increase lifeforce of colonists. Colonists consume food and water and produce research points. More you expand, more research points and colonists are needed. Execution has flaws, though. It's very easy to overstretch delivery capacity, and game doesn't tell you how to build efficient networks. Megaprojects have to be taken with care, as some of their effects may hinder progress later in the game. Colonists are also just exist, there is no interaction with them, except pre-written dialogues in campaign mode. The strongest points of game are graphics, and in campaign are voice acting and plot. Visuals are not spectacular, but seeing red hues turn into green and blue is very satisfying, and all buildings are nicely detailed. Voice actors are superb, and story is really great, you have to see for youself.

This game seems criminally underrated in my opinion. It's got a lot of amazing things going for it. I love the soundtrack. It's got all the elements of a great science fiction story buried within a simulation/city builder. I also enjoyed all the scientific options it presents you with for terraforming Mars. I don't want to spoil any, but if you've read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, or play the board game Terraforming Mars, likely you'll have heard of a lot of them and you get to implement them yourself and see them in real time. And when you make mistakes that end up in all your base being flooded or on fire, you'll kick yourself for not realizing that ahead of time and want to try again. Really looking forward to another of these games!

It's a nice terra forming sim with good artwork and interesting mechanics. However, the game is unpolished. There is not enough to do and too much repetition for the length of the story campaign. The gameplay is fun, but the game is just soooooo slow very quickly and will never put up speed again until it is finished. I managed to embrace this and turned the game into an interactive screen saver. While I was working, I went back to the screen a couple times, let the game idle and listen to the story bits and managed to finish the game with minimal interaction at the end. Again, the game is not bad. If you are interested in the genre and different ways to approach it, it is a good experience. But it has its flaws.

A slow burn, but worth it. Great graphics and steady changes to the world.