Surviving Mars Review (Vineheart01)
Unfortunately i cannot say this is a good game.
From the beginning its always felt like it was missing some important mechanics, and i could never really put my finger on what. Every DLC partially fixed the issues, but i still could not figure out why this game bugged me so much despite how much i kept coming back to play it.
The Trains DLC finally made me realize the problem: theres no automation controls. A feature that ANY colony manager sim game uses, this one is missing. A feature that often gets overlooked, which is probably why i didnt even notice that was the main problem for so long, is missing from this game.
Why is that a big deal? There is no way to control where resources go on a macro scale. Local distribution isnt a problem because all drone hubs can reach the same depots, but once you start expanding outward you will find that almost all of your time will be keeping that remote area stockpiled with resources without completely draining another or having a lot of "dead" resources floating around that cannot be used due to how daisy-chaining depots works.
The game also has a bad habit of introducing mechanics that sound like you are supposed to be messing with them early on but either is impossible due to the insane upfront cost of resources or the upkeep for those buildings is so high it drains you super fast. The amount of times ive gotten a tech in the tier3-4 row that i cannot possibly use until several HOURS of gameplay later is baffling.
I dont know why this game is considered Very Positive reviewed. Every time i play this game i feel like i am struggling against the bugs and bad game designs rather than the game itself. Disasters never kill my colonies off, only slow them down. What kills my colonies is the fact that i cannot expand until i have a lot of resources, but i cant get a lot of resources until i expand. When i have a ton of roadblocks where my first thought is "how do i do that when the button i'd normally use in a game like this doesnt exist" theres a freaking problem.
If they added proper logistical/priority controls to depots and drone hubs i'd probably find a way around virtually every issue this game has. Unfortunately that lacking feature alone is the main reason i end up getting pissed off at this game at some point. Its funny because in games that does have it you dont even give it a passing thought