Citizens: On Mars Reviews

Better than Citizens: Far Lands Fair price

it was ok. Harder the further you get. I have no patience when I ply a game. I gave up.

Looks like a fun base builder, but it is not. Its a odd type of puzzler.

You've seemingly designed a system where the outcome is aimed at failure. If you didn't want to release a game at this point then you shouldn't have. You're welcome. If you don't understand, the game balance is skewed. Again, you're welcome? Lovely game other than that.

It's sort of OK for a few hours. Good points: Inexpensive, fast load times, looks ok, no training required, some achievements. Bad points: Very limited game play, only one small map, almost no sound effects and poor music, events don't seem to actually have any impact, cant make citizens happy so production is reduced, campaign is just training, Free Build mode is a waste of time as no resources are produced, Scenario has a max limit of days etc.

1) This game looks like early access. (problems with screen resolutions, etc.) 2) This is not a colony sim. But rather a puzzle on Mars. You have levels and tasks. Having completed the task, we move on to the next level. And a new colony. I'm disappointed. I was expecting a colony sim...

I'm 4 hours in to the game and I am having some fun.....so why the thumbs down. Well...let me mention some of the positives first. The graphics are crisp and look good. The game can be challenging without being frustrating. I en-counted no bugs what so ever. The main season I gave a thumbs down are this: This is a puzzle game....in no way can it really be called a "city builder or colony sim"...because it is truly neither. It's a "find the best spot to place the building in order to best exploit it's purpose". There is very little freedom in that sense. The fact that it does not say puzzle under the "tags" for the game is kinda crazy. Also...there is no in game save option so If you start a scenario you must finished it or loose and progress you have made.....which for me is a cardinal sin....especially on the pc. So....if puzzle games are your thing then you may enjoy the game considering it's only $5. But if you're looking for a true city builder I would stay clear.

The previous reviewers must only be playing the campaign mode. I got almost 6 hours in play last night and was up way too late playing this game. The "turn based" label is super misleading. Its more like a time clock that's going to run out, not something you have to press to continue playing like Civ. I played the prologue for a bit and it was the short, small map and move on to the next which is the campaign mode. Id totally play it first to get a good feel for the game before starting the scenario or you're going to get your butt kicked. The scenario, however; was a whole different game, 400 cycles, like I said more like days not actual turns. Large map, plenty of options and took me almost 6 hours to get through and that was with easy settings. I had to start over a few times. I won the Scenario and I really hope developers add more "stories" and Id also like to see some more challenging achievements, too (I got 9 out of 10 already.) This game was a steal at under 5$. I would totally recommend. Its definitely a resource management, builder type but if the balance gets off a little, its a mad dash to delete the workers housing and pause all non essential buildings. If you mess up, there are no game saves, only a continue option, so... Super fun and high blood pressure inducing. haaaa Happy Gaming y'all!

Okay so here we go. I don't know what other people might be expecting. But when I see a game labeled as Colony Sim, or, City Builder. I think of games like Cities: Skylines. Or Banished. Or Surviving Mars. Or Sim City. Or Frost Punk. Or Rimworld. This game is NOTHING like those games. It's got a lot of window dressing but what it all boils down to, is a puzzler. Which you'll notice isn't anywhere on it's steam store page. In my opinion the steam store page is misleading. It makes you think that you're gonna play the next Surviving Mars when you're actually not. The thing is, if this game came out as a puzzler game I prolly would've given it a good review. But since it's gonna advertise itself like its all those other games mentioned, then it'll be judged by the same standards. And as a city builder, colony sim game. It's below average. It's U.I. is annoying, hard to manage and understand. It's gameplay is a boring repetitive loop. It's "story" is just a tutorial. It's graphics are average. It's sound effects and music are average or slightly below average. It's replayability is nonexistent. It's length might be decent but I don't know. Overall I was highly disappointed with this game going in thinking it was one thing and then finding out it either isn't, or so bad that it felt like it isn't. The point is, I wasn't enjoying this game at all. I was very bored and annoyed by it. But hey...at least it was only 5 dollars right? If you'd like a more in depth look then check out the video on my YouTube Channel (link below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzujIVeNiso Otherwise thanks so much for reading and I hope I managed to help some of you out there to spend your money wisely.