In many ways, a good euro-style game can be considered a model or perhaps a simulation of a concept or real-world scenario. A model therefore, which can be interacted with by players through their choices and decisions. In most cases, these games offer me the most enjoyment. Primarily because I can play with concepts or ideas that are dear to me or for which I have a personal affinity. In doing so, I use the tools that come with the game, as part of its ruleset, subscribing to the limitations imposed. A good simulation will embrace a strong theme within which the decisions and choices made will further enhance the experience.
I own several games which purport to do this, but there are only a few which leverage the above concepts of simulation and theme in ways that make the experience unique and exciting. I recently bought a game called Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. The game can be considered an off-shoot, or smaller brother, to the successful game Terraforming Mars. When Ares Expedition came out, I thought I was just looking at yet another expansion of sorts. A money grabbing exercise not so much different from the steady stream which floods the gaming market. In this case, I could not have been more mistaken. Ares Expedition is not an expansion, it is a standalone experience.
However, before we go any further, a word or two about the original Terraforming Mars is in order. As the name suggests, in Terraforming Mars, you play the part of a powerful organisation competing with others to reap the benefits of terraforming the red planet. You will do this by taking actions to increase the temperature of the planet and plant vegetation in order to increase oxygen levels. During the course of the game, players will draw project cards and then select one of 5 possible actions, per turn, in order to achieve their individual goals. What this means is that during any given turn, some of the available actions will be executed while others will be left out depending on the choices made.
At its core, Terraforming Mars feels like a race with the principal objective of coming out on top. Yet when you look closer, you realise that there is more, so much more to this. Each action you take or project you play to your personal tableau, will help you build a virtual engine from which you will obtain the necessary resources. Some project cards will benefit you early on when the planet is still hostile, cold and depleted of oxygen. Others will make more sense once the planet gets warmer and oxygen levels increase and start sustaining life.
The theme here is a strong one and ever present. Miss an important project card on your turn and your engine may not generate sufficient resources. Yes, there are standard projects you could appeal to when you have no cards to play, but these come at a cost which may not be sustainable in the long run.
The game offers various paths to victory and the competition aspect plays a strong part throughout, yet this game does not feel like it is only about the win. Every game you play, you will find yourself thinking about what could generate the best combination of heat and vegetation and which project cards will aid your terraforming objective. Basically you find yourself strategizing, feeling engaged in this well-crafted simulation. Then there are the colonies or cities, you want to build these as they will increase your presence on the planet, earning you more Terraforming Points and possibly victory. If you allow it, this game can become extremely engaging for all the right reasons. Here is a puzzle that will draw you in, leading you deep into its world through its well crafted rules.
Then we have the Ares Expedition. This has all the charm and theme which made Terraforming Mars such an incredible game but it purposely cuts down on the former's sprawling game time. Terraforming Mars can actually last 3 to 4 hours, a timeframe not many casual gamers can afford. Ares Expedition on the other hand, promises a similar experience in around a third of the game time. That is not to be taken lightly.
In Ares Expedition you still get the project cards, and you still get corporation specific benefits, yet there are differences. While your objectives to increase planetary temperature and vegetation are still key aspects of this game, you no longer have cities to concern yourself with or forests to place on the main map. The notions are dealt with differently, not removed mind you! You get to terraform sectors on the main map (albeit a much smaller one) and to score points on the terraforming track. So ultimately the feel remains true to the spirit of the original game.
Component-wise the game is well presented. The large stack of project cards are all linen finish. The copper, silver and gold tokens are made from colourful translucent plastic. Everything has a proper place inside the box. The cardboard used is of good quality and the player boards have nifty recessed “scoring tracks” which help you keep your cube markers in their right place during the game.
The rules, while straightforward, have a minor issue which has put me a bit off. I feel that It is not clear when points need to be moved along the scoring tracks (on the player boards), and when I should be adding points to the credit, heat or vegetation pools. Still, I have resolved to give the ruleset another, more thorough, reading. The fact that I will even bother to better understand the ruleset, is proof enough of how appealing I find this game and my eagerness to dive into this incredible experience.
Going back to the claimed game duration, Ares Expedition appears to have achieved a goal which few other games of its ilk can lay claim to. This is because there is a market for medium duration games like Ares Expedition. Games with longer playtimes are fantastic for hardcore gaming groups which are commit to regular gaming sessions. This however, isn’t the reality faced by most board game aficionados. Typical acceptable game durations for board games stand at between 90 to 150 minutes. There will be circumstances where games lasting 180 minutes will be tolerated but normally, casual gamers will prefer shorter games.
From the thematic standpoint, both Terraforming Mars and Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition could not have come at a better time. Mars has never been so present in the collective consciousness. Elon Musk is targeting Mars for colonisation and various countries already have separate exploratory missions on the red planet. Mars has become the embodiment of mankind's renewed desire to become a spacefaring species. It is indeed ironic that for most of the 90’s and early 2000’s, space exploration took a more back-burner approach due to other global priorities. Still, today in 2022, in spite of the COVID pandemic and other earthbound threats including wars, mankind is pushing steadily on the accelerator pedal of space exploration. These games I am writing about are one means of perhaps further solidifying this desire to reach up to the stars.
Then obviously you have those who question why we spend the kind of money that is spent to reach an essentially uninhabitable planet. The question is legitimate but the truth is that it’s not the goal itself but the push we are seeing in other scientific fields that somehow are linked to it. I am here talking about communications, internet, networking, alternative energy production and advances in energy production through nuclear fusion. All these scientific achievements will be necessary on Mars if we are to turn it into a viable colony.
Ironically while trying to seek ways to make the unliveable, liveable, we may indeed find ways to correct those manmade problems that are plaguing our planet at the moment. Things like sustainable food production, renewable energy sources and nuclear fusion.
Terraforming is not instantaneous, if it is to be achieved at all, the effect will be felt over several generations, in the meantime we need to utilise an entire arsenal of technologies to make mankind’s stay over there possible. Technologies which are being developed or improved upon, now as we speak.
But I digress...after all Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is but a game, a lofty mind game which in its own way contributes towards reminding us about what mankind could potentially achieve. It’s a thematic Eurogame that silently points a finger to the red planet inviting us to ignite our imagination.
…and perhaps one day, several decades into the future, colonists will be engaged in actual Terraforming, turning what is now but a game, or a mental exercise, into something tangible.
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