As before, here are my thoughts on this recent arrival with the same scoring system, copied below....
Firstly, a confession.....
I have never played Terraforming Mars.......
Sorry I know in some parts this is considered heresy but I just couldn't get past that artwork, god it's terrible!!! It's always been on my list, it ticks so many of my game requirements but I could never bring myself to part with good money for something that ugly. Ares Expedition, however, is whole different ball game, it's gorgeous and I jumped in with both feet. But should I have.....
Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition – 4.25/5
Speed / Ease Of Set Up & Tear Down? – 4/5
It’s a very quick 5/10 minute job, with token boxes and bags provided. There are even card dividers!
Game Time? – 4/5
The game claims 60 minutes on the box, but for me it was nearer 90 minutes. But then solo I have all the time I need to think out the puzzle. You could race through a lot quicker if you wanted!
Rule Book? – 5/5
Easily the best I’ve seen in a long time. Clear, concise, well illustrated. There’s a quick start guide and comparison for experienced TM players
Component Quality? – 4/5
The artwork on the cards is gorgeous, night & day when compared to TM! Dual layered player boards, plastic cubes in their own trays, thick counters etc. Didn’t get a max because “Mars” would have been better if it had also been dual layered!
Theme? – 4/5
The theme shines through, with lots of different routes for you to go down to complete your task. Nothing bad happens though, which is a bit unlikely!
Gameplay? – 4/5
Simple, elegant game system that’s easy to follow. There is however, an element of luck in which cards you get and what the AI does!
Replayability? – 4/5
There are over 200 project and corporation cards so that every game is different, but that also means that some games are harder to win than others as you won’t always get the combos you need to build a decent production engine. It adds to the challenge, but a few crappy games in a row might be off putting.
Value For Money? – 5/5
Can’t fault the VFM here, it’s a lot of game in a very small, well designed package!
Keeper ????
Yes, for now, long term I think “It’s a Wonderful World” has the edge for replayability!
5 = Out of this world, could not be better!
4 = Great !!!
3 = Average (Where any game should be)
2 = Really needs some work to come up to standard!!
1 = Disastrous
0 = Oh! The Horror!!!!!!!
I think, as I sort of mentioned, it was longer for me because of my game style. Because it's solo I don't feel under any time pressures so I like to think my moves ahead and try and make a better go of getting combos working etc. Also at the start of the round your choice of action is a bit more of a gamble as you want to avoid duplicating what the AI will do, whereas later it needs a bit more thinking about and I liked that aspect of the game. I have seen someone do a playthrough in 30 minutes which is daft, so all I would say is that game time matches however you want to play the game, but 60 mins would probably be average.....
Again, personally, after the first couple of games I don't find winning the games a problem, with about a 75% success rate. Sometimes the cards just don't go your way in terms of creating good combos for your engine. You pick a corporation that gives you bonuses for steel for example and then you hardly see any steel cards, either production or requirement and it can be a much greater challenge to win, even so I usually come close and of course you can alter the difficulty to make it easier or harder....
Hope this helps.....:)
I'm surprised the solo game takes longer than a solo game of the original Terraforming Mars. I've also read that it is very difficult to win. How do you feel about the Puerto Rico/Race for the Galaxy inspired phases play for solo?
Oh, good to hear that you enjoyed it! I'm one of the weirdos who like the cards in the original TM (I find they have personality 😄). I also forked out a lot of money for the plastic tiles, so I can't justify buying another similar game. I suspect I'll skip the dice game when it comes out too. About time they designed something different!
Bitchin' Review, MoS! But no deodorant top components? WTF? 😄
Awesome Review! I own the kickstarter edition as well… and like you, I never played the original game. Not that I mind, regardless of what some of my friends have said. But, this one stood out to me a bit more. I’m glad you liked it. I’ll have to get it to the table one of these days. P.S. Most people who criticized this game were actually fans of the original. So that means for people like us this should be pretty darn good!