The reviews I read weren’t exaggerating. The component quality is absolutely awful. The opaque cubes came pre-chipped – the clear ones appeared used! – cards were warped and the main board was creased. Even expecting sup-par parts and artwork really didn’t prepare me for the actual unwrapping and utter disbelief that this was “professionally” designed, printed and given the thumbs-up to go to retail. I even managed to pick up my copy at a 50% discount but still felt ripped off and disappointed.
feels low-end like it should have come out of a cheap Christmas cracker
The absolute highlight of the entire unboxing was the nice but utterly unnecessary Mars-printed inlay that sits inside the box. A ray of light that doesn’t exactly manage to mitigate the bleak dissatisfaction that the package emanates upon opening. Everything just feels low-end like it should have come out of a cheap Christmas cracker printed in some back alley sweatshop in China. Even as I write this I’m wondering if my copy is actually genuine or – as other reviewers have suggested – perhaps I should have gone out of my way to buy a Chinese fake as the quality might actually be an improvement.
Needs to come in a cracker!
In a way I like to think that perhaps all this was by design. Perhaps the bleak, hopeless expanse of Mars is somehow being mirrored by the lacklustre quality of the components provided.
Gameplay
I won’t spend much time explaining how the game is played as there are tons of online resources for that, just check out BoardGameGeek, but at its core Terraforming Mars is a Euro style engine builder with bags (and I mean BAGS) of cards and consequently choice. The decisions are often interesting and it can be fun to try to change the climate of the red planet.
Final thoughts
For me, a good game makes me think long after it is finished. Where did I go wrong. What could I have done better and how will I adapt in the future. In Terraforming Mars the cards will decide what path is available to take and often whether or not victory is even possible. As such it is just too random to be able to form a long term strategy or plan for future games. Maybe if the cards were separated into Tech eras (so getting solar panels after getting orbital solar panels didn’t feel like a strange backwards step) or some other gameplay adjustment that brought down the luck-of-the-cards element I would enjoy it more.
It’s pretty good. Not great.
Sub note: I don’t really understand why it’s got its current 4th place rank overall (and especially in strategy) on Board Game Geek. Perhaps I’m missing something or need to play more…
