A pleasant game that has an addictive quality.
This game doesn't strike you right away as something you would want to play for any extended amount of time. It takes a little getting used to, and you sort of have to get over this initial phase of dissapointment when you take in the graphics and music for the first time, but the addictive elements in the gameplay itself is what really makes this game enjoyable to play.
Once I began figuring out how the game works and learning different strategies, it actually became pretty fun. Another thing I particularly like is that it doesn't require dice or negotioating with another player. Unlike Catan (read my scathing review of that awful game), the AI can't cheapen the experience by rigging the dice to roll in it's favor (something that made me stop playing Culdcept Saga). In addition, tedious sessions of watching other players conduct trades and argue about resources is completely absent from Ticket to Ride since you don't trade train cards or routes. It's a huge relief. The game is simple. You can either build a route, draw cards, or get a new destination. That's it and thankfully that's all.
My overall complaint is the art, rather than the design of the game.
The graphical representation of the game board is bland and unexciting. There are very few ambient animations other than a few clouds off to the side of the board. The music is nearly non-existant, but it does have a gentle guitar strumming lightly in the background. Sound effects are minimal, with the only notable one is the locomotive horn and some other ambient train effects when something gets built.
The overall look isn't appealing, and I think they could have done a lot to make it more pleasing to the eye. For instance, the routes that are white and grey, or red and orange, kinda appear similiar in value, so sometimes it's an annoyance when you have to lean forward and squint your eyes to make sure you have the correct train cards (maybe I'm just getting old). However, that should not have been a problem to begin with. They could have made the hues more saturated or adjust the values so that red / orange, and white / grey were clearly different from each other. The train routes are represented by dashed lines, but sometimes the names of cities will cover one of the dashes, making the first time player think a route is only 5 trains long when it's infact 6 trains. Why not just have the length of the routes include the actual number, instead of making the player zoom the map in and actually count how many dashes there are?
Also, the trains themselves are as boring as you can imagine a train. Instead of doing something easy and simple, like making them look like actual trains, they're just bland colored boxes. Why couldn't they make them look like locomotives with actual passenger trains and a caboose? It's not what's in the actual board game, but this is the video game version of it. So why not take advantage of it's virtual assets by using more realistic looking trains when you build a route instead just flat boxes? It wouldn't have been difficult.
Another thing that annoys me is the multi-player mode. Sure, playing against actual humans is a lot more fun and requires more strategic thinking than playing against scripted AI. However, the disadvantage is that human players will take so damn long to use their turn. I mean seriously, you only have 3 things you can do. Pick a card. Build a route. Get a new destination. That's all. It's not rocket science!
Despite all my pety grievances, this game is actually a joyful, addicting experience. It certainly does have it's flaws, the core gameplay is fun and has depth. It inspired me enough to buy the actual board game, too.