OUR BIG RED NEIGHBOR A Game Review
By Katryna Starks
A
S futurists, we want to try to make Earth as great as it
is about the PC version of the game and not the board game. The
can be. Earth is our home, and scientifically speaking,
physical game adaptation seems to stay close to the original. There is
we aren’t close to having another. The nearest planet
a large graphic of Mars and it’s moons, overlayed with hexagons that
that shows any promise is our next door neighbor, Mars – which
indicate where tiles can be placed. The basic gameplay consists of
is technically inhabited by a bunch of human-made robots,
cards that can be bought with in-game currency, and tiles that can
though not actual humans. As our neighbor, Mars is a source of
be placed as standard actions or as a result of playing cards. The
endless fascination for scientists and game designers alike. For
game has three goals: (1) Place 9 oceans on the planet, (2) Raise
this edition, the focus is on games that terraform Mars into an
the atmospheric oxygen level to 14%, and (3) Raise the temperature
inhabitable space for Earthlings.
from -30C (-22F) to 8C (46.4F) in increments of 2C (35.6F). The card/board game aspect detracts from the immersion
Terraforming Mars
of the game. The tiles only show an overview of the planet
This game has a straightforward title, but an interesting origin.
from space. The view is of oceans, volcanoes, plants, and cities,
Terraforming Mars is a board game-turned video game. This article
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HUMAN FUTURES
however the cities are condensed to the size of a tile, so they look
