Galactic Cruise

Galactic Cruise arrives with O'Toole's art and presentation already doing half the work. It is the sort of lavish euro that seems to have concluded a space cruise requires six separate control panels. The resemblance to Gallerist is not merely cosmetic; it is a related sequencing logic in different overalls.

At its core, you build cruises, advertise them, staff the ships, and then run them, through six smaller systems which feed one another. The interesting decision is how you construct your own action order: you need not copy an opponent's sequence, and the design leaves considerable room to recover from a less-than-perfect play.

Cards are the principal source of instability. They can be used as events or resources, while their market rewards timing and, occasionally, a well-judged snipe. Early on, though, when access to that market is restricted, the gap between a useless card and exactly the resources one needs can be uncomfortably large, particularly because the rest of the design is almost luck-free. The available-action layout can also make certain spaces very powerful, especially with a gear involved; mercifully, there is more than one way to adapt.

On the first outing, that variance was enough to leave me cautious, and the pile of expansions looked more like mild alterations of challenge and strategy than meaningful additions. If the cards do not trouble you, however, the base game is elegantly connected and plays extremely well.

Updated session

A second game at four, with a firmer grasp of the system, changed my view plainly: it was substantial, competitive, and decided on the margins. What had first looked chiefly like an unfair swing instead revealed a game with several tools for answering strong spaces and other players' fortunate cards. Price aside, Galactic Cruise is the essence of the generous, feelgood euro: win or lose, you leave the table pleased.