Pyramid Review
Vanished Planet
Published by Vanished Planet Games
Full-color boxed set with mounted foldout map board, 55 Creature tokens, 60 small wooden tag tokens (10 each in six colors), 18 large wooden tag tokens (three each in six colors), 20 Goal cards, 29 Event cards, 11 Creature Growth cards, 100 Resource cards, 50 Personnel cards, 30 Technology cards, 18 Upgrades cards, 12 Equipment cards, Resource score pad, & rulebook; $39.95
Many games ask players to do lofty things like save the world. Vanished Planet demands an additional step: First, find the planet.
The object of the game is to put the Earth back where you found it before a mysterious entity destroys the sector.
One to six players portray various Earth neighbors. Their homeworlds sit in the six corners of the hexagonal macro-map, but Terra no longer resides in the center. A massive accident has switched it with an amorphous Creature whose expansion threatens the sector. Communication with Earth is possible through a series of old Satellites; these dispense missions in the form of Goal cards, offering some task the human scientists need done to restore their planet. These relays are threatened midgame, and if the Creature wipes them out someone has to build a replacement.
Most missions involve transporting Resources, trained Personnel, or Equipment somewhere on the board, and travel is increasingly difficult as the sextants (sections of the board) are cut off by the expanding monster. On his turn, a player sends Ships . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 12, 2008
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