The map looked nice at first glance, but over time it became a monument to analysis paralysis. As much as I like card drafting, it added an extra 30 minutes and felt like a used band-aid attempt to prevent players from creating powerful combos. The box says 90-120 minutes of game time, my games lasted 2 to 3 hours, a length I didn’t find acceptable for this type of gameplay loop. While Terraforming Mars is popular enough to form its own government, I wasn’t a fan. Travel to BoardGameGeek’s files, and it is littered with user-made content such as new cards, variants, and even alternative maps. Reviewers chanted about its greatness, praising its card system or hexagonal map, often comparing it to games like Race for the Galaxy. Since its release, there have been five expansions, an app version, and they announced they are working on a Legacy version as well as a dice spin-off. Simply calling this game successful would be undermining it. On a hexagonal board in the middle of the play area, you can build infrastructure for scoring points and blocking your opponents.

You play cards from your hand to gain more resources and abilities to use.

Players are given playmats, which help them keep track of what resources they have available for heating the planet or planting trees.

To achieve this, corporations fund projects which benefit both terraforming efforts and themselves while also claiming land on this red frontier. Of course, such an endeavor would attract the largest corporations since the success of such a project would provide unmeasurable wealth and prestige for its victors. The game is about a future where the World Government wants to make Mars a habitable planet for forthcoming generations. In 2016, Terraforming Mars made its debut in the world of board games. Check out our review Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition to see if can be as big a hit as the original.

Terraforming mars ares expedition