GALAXY TRUCKER Review: Horrible Ships Are Terribly Fun

Steam code provided by CGE

Galaxy Trucker from Vlaada Chvátil and CGE Digital is a wonderful adaptation of the tile-laying board game in which almost all ship-building is an exercise in futility, with absurd and laughter-inducing results.

The award-winning game is available on Steam, and it faithfully translates the frenzied and slapdash construction of spaceships, as well as the (mostly) luck-based space adventures that each convoy of galaxy truckers will encounter on the way to an eventual payday.

Playing individually or with other players is all good fun, and it brings all of the inanity of the tabletop game and dials it up to eleven for this digital adaptation. CGE has brought the well-designed hilarity of Chvátil’s intergalactic transportation game and elevated it with all of the technical wizardries that you can infuse in a video game.

Players can build space ships, fend off space pirates and slavers, dodge or destroy meteors, and compete to make the voyage with some cargo or valuable assets intact for a tidy profit.

Galaxy Trucker is silly. It’s fun. And it’s something that deserves a closer look.

STORY

Did you think that everything in space is generated, teleported, or otherwise conjured for your convenience?

Nonsense! Things have to be transported, just as always. And for that, you’ll need some truckers. Galaxy truckers, that is.

If you have the know-how to build a space ship from sewer pipes or the nerve to face off against space pirates, smugglers, slavers, and all kinds of environmental hazards, then you might be just the individual that the Corporation Incorporated is looking for. Whether your engines are disabled, your lasers are out of power, or your space ship is down to a skeleton crew, it’s all about making it to the destination.

After all, what matters is getting paid. Corporation Incorporated promises diverse co-workers, copious adventure, and a bonus pay if you’re able to arrive at destinations promptly.

That is… if you arrive.

GAMEPLAY

In the board game version of Galaxy Trucker, players will proceed through two phases: building the space ships and flying them. The end goal is to have the most credits after repeating those two phases three times.

Each time players can build a bigger ship and play through a larger deck of encounters, good and bad, before cashing in at the end of a run.

For the digital adaptation, the traditional multiplayer mode reflects that same experience, though there is also a campaign that is definitely worth your attention if you are playing solo.

And one of the benefits of playing digitally is the ability to customize the rules of each game. Want to play with your friends while on a video call? The real-time mode will simulate that frantic scramble for tiles as players attempt to construct the most efficient spaceship, hindered by time limitations and the grabby hands of their opponents. Would you rather take it slow? Switch over to the turn-based mode.

The ease of a digital board game is that all of the rules, the logistics and the math, the infrastructure—that you frequently have to keep track of in a tabletop game—is handled behind the scenes so players can just enjoy the experience.

Lost your last engine? Don’t worry. The game will remind you when you hit the next Open Space card and your ship is thrown out of the mission. Placed two connectors side by side that aren’t compatible? It’s fine. The game won’t let you orient the tile that way.

And that virtual freedom benefits the players in more ways than one. Not only do players not have to focus on and remember the rules that dictate how space ships are built or what happens on a freight mission. They also can enjoy the animations and turbulent events of Galaxy Trucker as they happen to every player in the game.

Meteor showers are much more engaging as you watch your laser cannons blast them out of space while other meteors break off half your opponent’s ship. Slavers are much more terrifying when you see them dragging crew members of your space ship. Rebuffing the attacks of space pirates feels that much cooler when your ship turns to face them and unloads a barrage from the laser cannons.

That’s not to say the board game wouldn’t provide a similar experience on the table. It would. But the digital version of Galaxy Trucker lets you decide how you want to play. Tweak the rules to match your preferences. Play with your friends or against other online players. Set up games with AI opponents of varying difficulty. Embark on a solo campaign exclusive to this version of Galaxy Trucker and enjoy hours of gameplay.

It’s not as strategically demanding as Vlaada Chvátil’s masterful civ-building game, Through The Ages. But that doesn’t really matter. Because half of the fun is being bad at the game. I spent more time laughing during the ludicrous missions in Galaxy Trucker than I have in a while during board games.

It’s the joy of watching helplessly as your perfectly-built spaceship is hit by an errant meteor in the one structural weak point that splits your beautiful vessel in half. Or cackling as your opponent is bombarded by pirates and raided by smugglers back to back.

Galaxy Trucker is a good time. And, sometimes, that’s all board games should be about.

VISUALS 

The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the cartoon artwork matches that sensibility. Building ships is made easier with bright colors popping against the metal framework of parts and connectors. The dark void of space is populated with vivid splotches of color as planets, enemy ships, and other encounters pop up on the screen.

Galaxy Trucker lets you zoom in on just about everything to easily read what’s going on and see the effects of your choices and the other players’. Read more detail on a card to determine the best course of action. Get closer to your opponent’s ship to watch as they fight off attackers.

But all that information isn’t in your face. Unless you want it to be. It’s a simple visual UI, but it packs all of the necessary details that you’ll want as you’re playing.

REPLAYABILITY

 One substantial factor in considering the value of the digital adaptation of Galaxy Trucker is the inclusion of a campaign. It’s exclusive to this version of the game, and it’s more than a tacked-on feature. An addition like that is unique to many digital board games, and it’s a narrative that takes players on an adventure around the galaxy. It’s not a Frankenstein monster of the game’s mechanics. The designers took the time to add some extra for players to enjoy.

And if you add that to the freedom of online play, where your friends, random players, and AI opponents maximize the potential of the game, then Galaxy Trucker is a game with lots of hours of gameplay before you get bored.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

There were times when one player would observe events in the game before others, and with video calls, that meant that someone was losing out on the novelty of the moment by having other players experience stuff first.

That’s hard to criticize CGE for—since it involves server connections and all of the other intricacies of remote play—but it’s a part of the experience that I don’t anticipate going away. I’ll enjoy playing Galaxy Trucker as a solo experience in the campaign or against players I don’t know. But the best time is when you’re in synchronous play with friends and everyone is witnessing the same shambolic space travel and reacting to the chaos.

And if players are experiencing the game at slightly different speeds, then someone is always behind the action.

Also, part of the joy of Galaxy Trucker is also its weakness. No matter the preparation or the strategic decision-making you feel you’re incorporating into the gameplay, so much of the game is luck. As I mentioned earlier, your space ship could far outstrip your opponents in every conceivable way, but yours be the one to get shellacked by pirates and your opponents could fly by scot-free.

While it’s an easy game to learn, a fun game to play, and one you’ll come back to, it may not satisfy your tabletop or digital board game expectations all the time if you’re wanting a challenging, strategy-heavy experience or a cunning cooperative adventure.

VERDICT

Galaxy Trucker is a blast. It’s one of the few games where it’s just as fun when you’re losing. It’s okay to be bad at this game.

And during times like these, it’s refreshing to have a simplistic game that makes you laugh. You may not want to play it all the time, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t enjoy the experience when you did play.

CGE has been doing a fabulous job with their digital board game adaptations, and Galaxy Trucker doesn’t disappoint.