Muddy waters
Terra Nilis a puzzle-citybuilder about reclaiming the environment.
Getting to that point, though, is an often repetitive experience marred with frustration.
The first stage always involves painting that beige box with some vivid verde.
You do so using buildings that appear in a row along the bottom of the screen.
Whack beehives on trees to make fynbos, or chuck Hydroponiums on top of Irrigators to create wetland.
Do enough to fill the percentage bar, and your job’s a good’un.
Others are slightly more complicated.
One’s better for dunking, you might scream, and one has slightly more crunch.
Sure, they have different names and appearances, but it all feels like I’m just chasing numbers.
All buildings cost leaves, which is the generic resource you gather while spreading greenery.
If your resources drop to zero, you’ll need to start again.
I found the answer to simply be efficiency, using as few buildings as possible to achieve my goal.
Only then can you jet off and claim victory.
Terra Nil is, at the very least, peaceful for its first three stages.
Calming music plays, rivers flow, vivid colours replace dreary wasteland.
Until, that is, you get to the fourth level.
The first stage passed calmly, just like the last three levels.
Radiation spreads, and, despite the music resuming its previously peaceful melody, the calm is gone.
There are also a few bugs that cropped up in this level, shattering any final strands of relaxation.
By the time I launched my final rocket from Terra Nil, I was happy to leave it behind.
