‘Planetbase’: Possibly experiencing colonizing Mars – St. George Daily Spectrum

Nathan Snow, For Where It's @ 4:49 p.m. MT April 4, 2017

Highly addicting and undeniably fun, this base-builder will have you happily (or madly) clicking away for hours on end as you outwit the elements. Available on Mac or PC for $19.99.(Photo: submitted)

You could easily make the case that survival is its own genre. From literature like Jack Londons To Build a Fire, movies like The Martian, and video games like Ark, there is something special about pitting your wits against the harsh, simulated elements and coming off conqueror. That is not to say that the genre, at least as it exists in video games, is not without its flaws. Survival games have often fallen prey to hours upon hours of endless grinding or collecting copious amounts of resources to build a single survival tool. Thats why its so refreshing to see a game break the mold.

Highly addicting and undeniably fun, this base-builder will have you happily (or madly) clicking away for hours on end as you outwit the elements. Available on Mac or PC for $19.99.(Photo: submitted)

Planetbase is a combination base-building and survival game. You play as the commander/architect/city planner/interior designer of a extraterrestrial colony of people. Your colonization ship lands on the alien planet and you are faced with the extreme task of building a base and beating the odds. You are given a handful of colonists with varying specialities and a small robot to start off with. Planetbase happens in real time, so from the very first moment the game keeps you busy building oxygen generators, sleeping quarters, cafeterias, factories and other elements to not only survive, but thrive. The end goal of what you are building is a completely self-sustaining human ecosystem: one wherein food, supplies, medicine and amenities are perfectly balanced. Achieving this balance is difficult enough given the limited resources you have at the beginning of the game, and it is even further complicated by the arrival of new colonists and unexpected meteor hits that throw your system out of whack.

Highly addicting and undeniably fun, this base-builder will have you happily (or madly) clicking away for hours on end as you outwit the elements. Available on Mac or PC for $19.99.(Photo: submitted)

Admittedly it took me about four tries before I got the hang of it. On the first attempt all of my colonists asphyxiated. The second: starvation. You get the picture. But, when I finally got past those all important first ten minutes or so and had a self-sustaining colony thats when the real fun began. When you begin building bigger and better structures and upgrading your colony the games structure brings you into a wonderful situation wherein you challenge yourself to expand. Expansion brings challenges, and meeting these constitutes the bulk of the game and were most of the excitement generates. The best moments in the game happen when, after a particularly intense few minutes after you have made a major change to your colony, you start to notice your settlement reach equilibrium again, and you can move on to the next challenge and create the perfect extraterrestrial community.

Highly addicting and undeniably fun, this base-builder will have you happily (or madly) clicking away for hours on end as you outwit the elements. Available on Mac or PC for $19.99.(Photo: submitted)

There is little objectionable content, though when thieves enter your settlement your security forces quietly dispose of them.

(Photo: submitted)

Nathan Snow is a freelance writer for Where Its @. Follow him on twitter @nathanssnow.

RATING

4 out of 5 Stars

Highly addicting and undeniably fun, this base-builder will have you happily (or madly) clicking away for hours on end as you outwit the elements. Available on Mac or PC for $19.99.

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'Planetbase': Possibly experiencing colonizing Mars - St. George Daily Spectrum