If you've ever played Carcassonne before, then your first reaction to Amazing Space Venture (SherCo Games, 2007 – Steven LeShay) is that it's a space version of Carcassonne. The game has a retro look that reminds one of space movies from the '50s and has players take space ships, exploring the board for new planets. The game is made up of a hodge podge of different mechanics and is combined into what feels like a mutated version of Carcassonne with a healthy dose of exploration thrown in.

In a nutshell, players place three tiles each turn, putting them onto a large space board, increasing galaxies and connecting star paths to various planets. They then add probes, pirates, space stations, or new spaceships to the board, after which they move one of their spaceships, attempting to discover new planets worth many points. Players use cards to interact with each other and to help find better planets. The player who best places their pieces and discovers the most lucrative planets will win the game.

I thought that I would start with a list of problems I have with the game...

The components have a few production problems, a few tiles have odd backs, and the counters are quite thin at some points.

There are three "special quest" tiles, that when drawn, give the player an opportunity to accomplish a mission. This really has an odd feel to it – why weren't these tiles presented as cards, since there's a whole deck of them available? One player could conceivably get all three tiles, which isn't really fair, since there is no downside to getting them.

The cards have a lot of flavor text, which is nice; but there is no difference between the fonts and colors used for the flavor and for those used to explain card effects. Thus, it's very easy to miss special effects that cards have or waste time reading them all to make sure that a player doesn't miss anything.

There is a wide range of spaceships, and honestly, some of them are quite worthless – I can't understand why they are in the game. No one is going to use them, and it's never worth the time it takes to place them. Are they there to simply frustrate a player who unluckily draws them?

There is also a wide range of cards, and some will argue that the player who manages to get the luckiest combo when discovering planets wins the game. This is certainly possible, although a player can utilize some special cards to mitigate this.

Other cards are so devastating that a player can be really unhappy about them, taking a great deal of frustration because another player managed to hurt them for an exceeding amount of points by taking a large planet or destroying their spaceship.

Some will say that the tile drawing and laying is "stolen" from Carcassonne. Indeed, when placing galaxies, we kept calling them "cities" during the game, since they are scored in pretty much exactly the same way. I'm also a little surprised that the game doesn't give any acknowledgment to the designers of Carcassonne, since several of the mechanics are virtually identical.

The rulebook is fifteen pages of small print detailing everything of the game. This is very helpful, but at the same time it is a bit difficult to navigate when looking for a rule.

In a three or four player game, "down time" is a bit long and boring. Placing one tile takes a degree of thought; placing three of them takes that much longer; and a player then must decide which upgrade to place on the board, and then where to move their ship, and then what cards to play – it can be a yawn-inducing time for the other players. I would recommend that players start deciding what they will do on their own turns, but the board changes too much to do any long-range planning.

Lest you think this is a gripe fest, let me expound on what I did enjoy.

Hey, I like Carcassonne a lot! A space version of it can only mean good things, and I enjoy putting together a galaxy on the large board.

The artwork is very dorky looking and retro, deliberately a spoof upon the space artwork from an era gone by. And I enjoy it; it fits with the theme of the game quite well.

There is a good deal of humor sprinkled throughout the cards that also adds to the theme.

The choice of what kind of upgrade a player places each turn is very interesting and is often a very difficult choice. A player can attempt to put out a pirate, which can be very lucrative in the long run – but are very difficult to finish, or take the time to upgrade their ship to something faster. Likely a player will want to do several options each turn, but the decision to allow players only one forces some tough choices and keeps the game from favoring any one player.

Exploring is fun, and the movement of space ships in the game is what differentiates this from simply being a Carcassonne variant. Players can follow the paths they make to new planets or take a longer, slower time jumping around open space, just trying to get to valuable areas. Players receive more points for discovering planets on their opponent's side of the board, but it's time consuming; and they must decide if it's worth it to move over there. Movement is also dictated on how players place tiles, and a player who gets a lot of planets may be unhappy but can always go steal them from his neighbors.

I said that the rulebook is a bit overwhelming, but it does answer pretty much every question with detailed instructions and explanations of every card. The game isn't that difficult to teach – the connecting tiles part is fairly basic (especially if players have played Carcassonne before). Players take a bit to figure out spaceship movement and get a grip on what cards are in the deck, but should catch on after a few turns.

The two player game has less interaction but more turns and less downtime. It's the best way to play the game.

The game offers a lot of strategic choices, especially when settling the planets. Players must take care not to waste good cards when settling small planets – they want to save them for a juicy planet later on. At the same time, if players invest everything into one or two planets, they are easier for opponents to effect with cards.

Now, you would think that I have more problems with the game than things I enjoy, that the flaws would keep me from wanting to play it. But I like it! Why?

Once again, I love the Carcassonne mechanic.

It's a space theme that actually feels like a space theme. Always a good thing.

Every game plays out differently, and players have a lot of options per turn.

I think that the game has some problems, and with more development it could have been a truly great game. As it is, it's a bit bulky, with maybe too many cards, and rules weighing it down, keeping it merely on the "good" level for me. And I'm not sure how often I'll play a four player game of it. But for two or three players, this is a nice science-fiction variant of Carcassonne with a lot of luck and exploration. And that makes it a keeper for me.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com