The games critic to be wrong with
Reviews, guides and articles of economic games such as Railroad Tycoon, Terraforming Mars and Brass.
Wealth of Nations is the only game where my degree in Commerce has felt like an advantage. No other title I’ve ever played does a better job capturing classical economic theory, from supply and demand to lesser-known concepts such as the bussiness cycle.
As representation of economics through play, Wealth of Nations has few rivals. As a game, though, I’m not as certain
Chicago Express is a game of alliances. But they are not the kind of alliances made explicit through negotiation. Rather, they are the kind that naturally arise from shared interests.
Set at the height of railroad expansion through the Appalachians, Chicago Express is a challenging game of stocks and manipulation. Quick and heavily streamlined, its simple rules hide a tremendous amounth of depth and a degree of tension that it’s often missing from many other train games.
I had very low expectations for Terraforming Mars: Prelude. So low, in fact, that I almost expected to dump the namesake cards and keep it around only for the handful extra corporations and projects included in the package. After all, what’s the point of playing an engine-building game if half the engine is already built for you? But it’s not quite like that.
It’s something much more interesting.
