Galaxy Trucker (Windows Phone) – Review

Board games is probably the oldest type of gaming entertainment and there are still lots of people nowadays that play these. Czech Games Edition is one of the companies that thrive to make great board games and Galaxy Trucker is one of them. Due to the overwhelming success, they decided to make a mobile version as well. If you don’t know the physical edition, this is a great way to get into the game. Get ready to face some problems while guiding your thrift shop space ship to the docking harbor.

Story

As this is a digital version of a board game, there isn’t that much background. Corporation Incorporated is looking for people that want to deliver sewer pipes to faraway and remote planets. As you’re just an adventurer that’s roaming the expansive space, you are certainly interested as you can earn loads of Cosmic Credits. The downside is that there might be some challenges you need to overcome like dodging meteors or fending off pirates. At the end, you just need to get to your destination, without losing too much of your airship.

The mobile version of Galaxy Truckers has a campaign mode, where you can accept quests although this isn’t mandatory. As this game is based on a popular board game, the developers could’ve stayed with the original state. At any rate, it is a nice addition to have some missions.

Graphics

If you know the original game, you certainly recognise the graphics. The board game has a rather comical style, especially the characters. Next to that, the different parts have their particular shapes and colors just as in the physical set-up. It is great to see that the developers have kept the digital version in line with the original game.

Surrounding wise, you’ll encounter the same type of graphics like the characters: a comical look that will take you back to a science fiction comic book. It isn’t very easy to get new elements into an older style but the developers did an amazing job.

Sound

When you think about spaceships and danger, you might think about a bit more dramatic music and that is exactly what you’ll get. The music is quite vibrant and brings you in the mood, although it loops quite fast and noticeable.

Galaxy Trucker has a set of sound effects which fit the setting completely. When you’re fighting against space pirates, you’ll hear cannons blazing. It would have been nice if some of the sounds were a bit more diverse.

Gameplay

The physical edition of Galaxy Trucker isn’t a lot different than the mobile one: you need to make spaceships out of scrap and get them to your destination. Mechanical wise, there are two big rounds when you start a new flight.  When you’re new to the game, it might be a good idea to begin with the tutorial level.

First of all, you need to build your vessel out of scrap pieces. Since you’re racing against other players (bots or online), there is a pool of cards in the middle of the warehouse which are upside down. You need to drag a card to your building zone before you can see which card you’ve taken. It could be that this piece isn’t something you can use with your set-up, so you can put it back in the pool but with the good side up and available for others as well. If you want to use the piece at a later time, you can place it on your waiting line. You only have two available spots here and once you’ve put one in, you can’t put it back in the pool.

There are a few things you need to consider while constructing your vessel. At the start, there are four big groups of scrap pieces. You can add cargo holds, crew cabins and cannons but engines is something you must get. If you don’t have any engines, you can’t get forward thus you’re out the race. Cargo holds have two different types: one normal, white one and holds that are made specific for red cargo. These red holds can have other types of cargo as well, although they’re not as valuable. Crew cargo and cannons are nice to have, especially when you want to get past several obstacles on your adventure. For instance, you need cannons to destroy large meteors and crew is necessary to raid abandoned ships. You can get an idea what you’re facing by pressing the card stack at the top left corner.

Certain parts need some extra power-ups before they actually work. There are shields, double cannons and engines but they need extra battery supplies before they’re usable. Keep this in mind, as you might have loads of elements you might not even be able to use in the end.

Building a ship might sound easy, but there are a few things you need to watch out for. Each piece has at least one connector but there are three different types. There are single, double and universal connectors, making it a lot harder to connect the right part at the most optimal place. If a connector isn’t connected to something and lies on the outer skirts of your ship, it is an easy target to be destroyed. You might think that you can pick up cards until you find a suitable one, but beware. If you’ve placed a cannon at a certain spot and you grab a new card, the cannon will be soldered and can’t be switched or replaced anymore.

Since you’re racing against time to get a decent ship, you really need to hurry and get things together. The game offers a set amount of time (the hourglass) before you can end this round. If you’re done building, you can take a number which represents your spot in the race. If you’re the first to stop, this will trigger the final seconds for the rest of the party. They have 90 seconds to finish their vessel and get the best spots in the race.

When everyone is done, it is time for your adventure. Each track has an amount of adventure cards, which need to be flipped and overcome. Some cards are positive as you can loot some planets, while others are there to destroy you so be ready to face looters, aliens and meteors. When you participate in one of these events (some are obligatory) then you might lose some days. For instance, raiding a planet will cause you to lose two days for example. This might mean that another player will jump over you as each vessel will move an amount of spaces, depending on the amount of engines you have. This is quite important, not only for the end score, but certain events are only applicable on one player so the leader of the race has the first shot.

If all adventure cards are played, the race ends and the scores are calculated. Losing parts of your ship will be negative for your amount of cosmic credits you’ll receive at the end of the road. Even more, in the campaign it could be that a quest fails.

Next to the campaign, you can also make a custom single player game, in which you compete against bots. If you’re together with some friends, you can also start a multiplayer game which supports local play. There are different rules for this setting though. The local multiplayer has something called ‘Pass and Play’ instead of the real-time building round. In this round, you have an amount of actions points you can use for doing several possibilities. You can pick a card from the deck, attach a card and so on. When you’ve done what you wanted to do, you can end your turn and the next player (or bot) can start his building round.

You can also test your building skills against players online. Making custom games also has quite some possibilities, as you can choose how many flight cards you’re going to play and the difficulty level.

Conclusion

Galaxy Trucker is a mobile version of the board game but with extra functionalities. If you have some spare time with no internet connection, you can surely have some fun with the single player. The graphics are in line with the original graphics of the board game and the overall mechanics are similar. Get your gear together and let’s go on an adventure!

AnneMieke

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