When comparing Puerto Rico vs Terraforming Mars, the Slant community recommends Terraforming Mars for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Terraforming Mars is ranked 8th while Puerto Rico is ranked 27th. The most important reason people chose Terraforming Mars is:
The constant anticipation and sense that you're working towards a goal is very pronounced. At the start of the game, you'll have limited money and resources, but as the game progresses and these resources accumulate, you can start to do more and more things each turn. Seeing your strategy slowly start to pay off as your corporation grows, and knowing you'll soon have the resources to unleash your big play helps to keep you excited for the next round.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Simple to learn, but plenty of strategy
The basic game flow of choosing Governor roles each round is easy to grasp, but in its simplicity, it offers much depth. Sometimes choosing between a role which will benefit you at the moment versus a role with the bonus money can make you pause and plan ahead. Perhaps you might even consider taking a role that you know your opponent wants, just to prevent them from getting ahead. This constant analyzing allows for plenty of strategy to take hold even if the game play itself is rather simplistic.
Pro Offers exciting possibilties during game play
Building new buildings, trading goods, and taking control of the shipping market can offer some intense gameplay. Deciding what role to take each turn for maximum benefit can be exciting - there is a limited supply of everything. Goods take time to produce and there is only limited ships for use in exporting them. If someone else takes the role you wanted that turn and ruins your shipping or trading plans, you'll have to adjust your strategy on the fly. This can result in some pretty exciting gameplay where you're always thinking of multiple paths to victory.
Pro Each round you'll get to try something new
On each round, players go around the table and choose among seven Governor roles such as builder, captain, trader, and more.
Each role has its own special ability and benefit - for example, builders can erect buildings with money and captains can ship goods. At the end of each round, there will always be three or more roles which were not chosen. These roles are given bonus money for the next round in order to encourage players to choose them on the next round. It's a simple mechanic, but being able to try a new role every round ensures you'll have plenty of ways to play out each round.
Additionally, there is a Governor token that is passed to a new player every turn. This token allows you to choose all roles on the round you're in possession of the token. This has to the potential to be a very fun and lucrative turn.
Pro Smooth game flow thanks to balance
There are several aspects of balance that make the game play out incredibly smooth.
First of all, each role can only be selected by one player per round. No two players can choose Captain on the same round, for example. This means no one player can ever dominate a role since it's likely they won't get to choose that role during the next round. The addition of the tempting bonus money to unused roles from the previous round pretty much means all roles will get used eventually.
Secondly, when you go to ship your goods if you choose the trader role, each ship can only hold one type of good. So if you are focusing on sugar exportation, you won't have to worry about your opponent who is farming something else hogging all the ships.
Lastly, while players go around the table and roles are executed in order, their benefits do not take place until after the round is over. This means even if someone acted before you that round, he or she will not necessarily have the advantage.
Pro Easy to teach your friends to play
While there are intricacies and strategies that are learned over time, the basic premise and simple rules are very easy to teach. Getting your friends into the game is quick and easy, even if they've never played before.
Pro Tense thanks to a hidden scoring system
Score chips are placed face down on the table and are worth 1 or 5 points. Only you will know your own score. Even if you know how many chips your opponent has, you won't be able to tell their point total since the chips are worth variable points. This keeps things tense from start to finish.
Pro Everyone can participate
Time wise, the game never feels dominated by a single player. Everyone gets to choose a role for their turn and there's never any scenario or situation where a player is left out or forced to sit out a round. This makes it a great game for any group or get together.
Pro Exciting feeling of progression
The constant anticipation and sense that you're working towards a goal is very pronounced. At the start of the game, you'll have limited money and resources, but as the game progresses and these resources accumulate, you can start to do more and more things each turn. Seeing your strategy slowly start to pay off as your corporation grows, and knowing you'll soon have the resources to unleash your big play helps to keep you excited for the next round.
Pro Theme and gameplay gel well
Pro Huge amount of strategy
Juggling your resources, money, and production against your opponent's actions as you try to satisfy the win conditions (getting the oxygen, temperature, and ocean coverage to their desired levels) can be pretty intense. Always having to think several turns ahead will definitely appeal to people who like a game that makes them strategize and prioritize. Choosing which cards to buy each round, what to spend your resources on, and how to terraform the planet without giving too much leeway to your opponents creates plenty of situations to outplay others.
Pro Loads of replayability
There are over 200 unique project cards in the game that represent all of the terraforming projects available such as introducing plant or animal life, greenhouses, new buildings, and more.
Since you'll be drawing random cards in a random order each time you play, each and every game session turns into a unique experience. Even if you've seen a card in a previous session, the conditions on the board (oxygen levels, temperature, and ocean coverage) will most likely be different than the last time you saw that particular card, meaning you'll be calculating the cost vs. benefit of playing that card in a brand new way.
Additionally, each player-controlled corporation has its own specialties. Some examples are being able to substitute certain resources for money, or perhaps having an increase in production for specific resource. Each one plays dramatically different from the others, so something as simple as choosing a new corporation on your next playthrough will change your strategies.
Pro Great balance in the game systems
The win condition states the oxygen, ocean levels, and temperature must reach a certain level. However, all three of these parameters are interconnected with one another, meaning you'll have to focus on all of them rather than just trying to brute force one.
For example, if you want to build a water production facility, you will need at least 2 ocean tiles in play. But in order for those ocean tiles to come into play, the oxygen and temp will first have to be satisfactory.
Overall, the game systems are very deep and complex, but the takeaway is that everything has a condition that needs to be met that is reliant upon all three parameters. This results in a very balanced experience where you need to pay heed to everything equally if you want to succeed.
Pro Lots of great expansions
There are several expansion packs which add new moons and planets for you to terraform. The rules and game flow is the same as the vanilla game, but they add new cards and corporations. The most interesting twist is that the board layouts are completely different for each expansion - with heat sources, oceans, etc in vastly different spots. They are an excellent addition that take the fun and excitement of the base game while giving you an all new playing field full of new possibilties.
Cons
Con Takes a long time to set up
It takes longer than the average board game to set up. This is compounded by the fact that each player has their own board. When playing with multiple new players, helping each one set up their board for the first time can be quite a time sink.
Con Not a lot of visual appeal
The board colors are washed out and very bland. Buildings and other resources are simply cards with text. It's definitely not an exciting game to look at, and that may make some people hesitant to want to play.
Con Requires a minimum of three players
You will need a minimum of three people to play, however even with this number, the game might feel slower than intended due to all the unused roles every round. The game is played best with 4-5 players so that more roles are filled and the game can speed along.
Con It's hard to catch up if you fall behind
It's very easy for more experienced players to quickly take the lead with proven strategies. New or inexperienced players that are trailing behind may never be able to catch up. Since everyone can play all the roles, there's not really any random luck that will allow you to take the lead out of nowhere.
Con Games can feel very long and drawn out
The sheer amount of things that need to be tracked is fairly high, and continually grows in complexity as the game goes on. Keeping track of cards in play, actions, awards, milestones, map, resources, money, etc. can lead to some intense calculations. Most players will want to carefully ponder their strategy each turn, and the end result is a game that often seems like it comes to a grinding halt.
Con Not suited for large groups
Regardless of how many players you have, getting the oxygen, temperature, and ocean levels to their goal level to satisfy the win condition is the exact same. The more players you add to this equation, the longer the game will take as each person has to contemplate and think their strategy each turn. As such, this game is best played in only very small groups and doesn't lend itself well to larger parties.
Con The board is flimsy
The game board itself is very thin cardboard with no linen finish, and tends to dent easily. After enough wear and tear, the game tokens/pieces won't stay in place due to the lumps and pockets that form in the cardboard. The board must be handled carefully at all times due to its low quality or you risk damaging it.
Con Game pieces are cheap and wear down easily
The little game cubes (the tokens/pieces that represent resources) are coated with a metallic finish that chips and wears away easily. This leaves you with some rather ugly game pieces with flaking and peeling paint, especially in the corners.
