Space games, and more specifically 4X games (eXplore, eXploit, eXpand and eXterminate), are kind of the final frontier for me. They do contain most of the aspects I love in gaming, but most of them seem to be too long for the final payoff. They tend to follow the same pattern, with players building up their forces, turtling in the corners to go into a massive combat which, most of the time, is really unsatisfying. On the other hand, the parts that work are so thrilling: the building up of technology, the slow build up of your empire as you gain more resources and build an economic engine, the figuring out of different strategies and the alliances. So much fun.
There have been many attempts at the perfect 4X game, similar to the quest for the new Civilization game that doesn’t take 18 hours to play. Many have taken the brute approach (Twilight Imperium comes to mind) and some have tweaked the formula just a bit, attempting to make a playable 4x. And then comes Quantum, a game that prides itself on its modular approach and the speed at which it can be picked up and played. Does it succeed at what it sets out to do? Is it really a 4X game or just another game that uses part of the formula? Let check it out!