I don't often write reviews but I wanted to add my view on Aven. What a brilliant game! I really enjoy the challenge of balancing everything. And I mean everything. Power, water, food, nanites, potash etc etc etc. Sounds like a normal sort of economy game doesn't it. But there is the whole problem of spending so much time without enough people to run all the mines, water pumps and everything else you need. So things work, barely, until you have enough people. But how to get people when your colony is doing badly? And don't talk to me about winter! Low amounts of food produced, nione if you are only relying on normal food and farms, less power; I could go on. Ok, so the game play is good, what about graphics? I like the style of the game but I have turned down the graphics level, not because it won't run smoothly, its just I don't really like the amount of small detail showbn in the way of plants. Silly I know, and I apologise to the gfx artists who no doubt put a lot of work in to the game. So, do I recommend it? Yes Will I be playing in a year? I will be really surprised if not as I think that there will be a lot of replayability here. right, that's enough for now, I have a colony calling me back!!
Metro sort of took me by surprise. I am not someone who needs a fantastic gui if the game does not need it and Metro shows how a game, when done properly, does not need flashy graphics and amazing sound. What do I like about it? I like the simplicity of the game. That said though, this is not a simple game to master I don't think. A real brain test, planning vital, you have limited locomotives, lines, bridges, tunnels etc that you have to very careful with your use. The games starts nice and slowly, connect 2 stations together. Then, slowly other stations appear. Sounds easy eh? But it is not a case of people getting from 1 place to another. They want to get to a certain type of station, identified by a symbol. So, suddenly you need to make sure you have connected the right type of station with sensible lines. All in all a winner I think! I got it in the sale and I initially thought the price might be a bit high at full price. However I think that I was wrong, it will be giving me hours of gameplay so I would have been OK paying full price!
