As a long time fan of Reiner Knizia games (no I don't love all of his games, but he does have some great ones), I was surprised by the theme and look of MLEM. While Knizia's games are brilliant and tend to have very solid mechanics they aren't often very much to look at and any theming is usually very pasted on. While I wouldn't call MLEM highly thematic, the push your luck system works well with a space voyage theme and leads to interesting decisions on weather to take what you've got or push on in hopes for a better score. Where the theme does really shine here is the artwork. I adore the look of the planets in this game, and love the scoring tokens with their cat toy theme. Overall MLEM was a pleasant surprise to me in a number of ways. Can you think of other games that aren't really tied to there themes all that much, but it still works for you? I would love to hear about them.
As a long time fan of Reiner Knizia games (no I don't love all of his games, but he does have some great ones), I was surprised by the theme and look of MLEM. While Knizia's games are brilliant and tend to have very solid mechanics they aren't often very much to look at and any theming is usually very pasted on.
While I wouldn't call MLEM highly thematic, the push your luck system works well with a space voyage theme and leads to interesting decisions on weather to take what you've got or push on in hopes for a better score. Where the theme does really shine here is the artwork. I adore the look of the planets in this game, and love the scoring tokens with their cat toy theme.
Overall MLEM was a pleasant surprise to me in a number of ways.
Can you think of other games that aren't really tied to there themes all that much, but it still works for you? I would love to hear about them.