This is a beautiful game with lots of possibilities and things to explore. The user interface is kind of confusing, but after a while I did not care anymore. However what really spoiled the game for me is the censorship. Central part of the game is exploring the galaxy and discovering species and planets. In this role I did what is obvious: I gave my systems catalogoue numbers. So far so good, until you try to enter cataloque entry 69... I am aware of "that" meaning of "69", but forbidding grown up people, who payed for a product, the entry of a simple two digit number in a harmless context is an absolute no go for me and ridiculous.
If you look for something complex, dont buy this. I did not play it for long yet, but so far it seems to be pretty simplied compared to Dangerous waters. If one likes to fiddle around with sensors and get a look and feel of really being on a submarine, then there are better alternatives.
I am disappointed by this game. I was thinking: a business simulation on Mars, what could be more complex? Even the most basic ressources would have to be shipped either from Earth or gathered on Mars. I imagined really complex ressource cycles, lots of micromanagement, struggle to establish human presence, technological challenges like malfunctions of equipment, detailled research or simple questions like "Where do I get new people to do the work?" What I got feels a bit like Farmville in Space. You plop a mine on a ressource symbol and see the ore coming in. Then you sell it. Or you build one of the few available factories that magically convert ore into products with the magical help of energy and then you sell the products. No complex settings, no storage issues, almost no additional ressources necessary, very simple and basic ressource cycles. To make it a bit more challenging you have to deal with sabotage from other factions and a deliberate limitation called "claims". You just can not build as much as you want, even though Mars is pretty much empty and even though you would guess that if you want to colonize a planet it would be in the best interest to use the space that is available. At least to can increase the number of claims by upgrading your Headquarter until you reach a pretty limited limit. There is also a very basic research list (I would not call it "tree"): You can increase the effiency of your building in four steps by paying cash and there are a few technologies called "patents" that change things a bit. What would a business simulation without a stock market? You can buy stocks from your competitors or your own. If you buy enough, you bought your competitor and he is out of business. I did not even find out how to sell stocks so I guess it is not even possible. No fancy stuff like graphs and spreadsheets to fiddle with numbers, nowhere in the game. There is a multiplayer mode which is probably the only reason for long term motivation.
