I've played this a couple of time all the way through, and I have to say it's a really good game.
I played this game months ago when it first came out, but by the time I got around to writing a review it had already dropped off the front page, and I couldn't remember the name. After playing the more recent game that came out that is just about identical to this game, but not as fun, I stumbled across the name and hit pay-dirt! I decided to play the first one, and I cannot say how much of an improvement this second game is over the first. There are a lot of nice additions, some tweaks, and enough depth to make this a great sequel. Instead of rambling on about everything I liked, it's probably easier to just mention the things that I felt didn't work as well as it could have.
It's been said before, but there were a lot of obstacles right from the launch pad. I feel that some kind of reprieve should be in order, especially till the first achievement because I was launching right into the thick of it, and it never changed till I was landing on Mars. I also felt that there wasn't a lot of difference between many of the upgrades for the ship. It was more about having the option of things that cost more, rather than actually needing them to succeed on the mission. Case in point the Space Cargo mission. I played that about 15 different times with different variations, but no matter how detail oriented I was as far as weight, fuel consumption, and power, it would always boil down to whether or not I would hit jump gates, and more so, whether or not I found fuel.
I also found a lot of the special gadgets, like the radar and such, were less than helpful, but I guess it depends on how you play the game. I never felt like I needed any of the gadgets during the game when money was an issue. It wasn't until I had everything I needed that I even bothered to get the special gadgets just so I could one hit the UFO's. I would have liked to have seen some kind of gadget to limit the number of objects on the map, or something that would keep the airplanes from flying in my path. I did, however, really like the fact that the higher the altitude I would go there would be different objects in the area.
After playing this game till Mars twice now I really have to say it's a great game, but it really does take some time to finish, so it's not a quick game by any means. I think some of the missions slowed things down a bit, and made the game more about finishing them rather than trying to land on Mars. Only the Return mission, had some relevance and training that would help you with the main goal, the rest were just dead launches for ship parts. I would have liked to have seen the missions tie more directly to finishing the game, which would have made it a more refined game.
The main thing is I hope there will be another, and thanks for the time-killer!