Mars: War Logs XBLA Review

 
Mars: War Logs is a third person sci-fi RPG adventure set on - unsurprisingly - Mars. The game starts up during a war between two factions, and puts you in the shoes of Roy, a badass soldier who is stir-crazy after being cooped up in a prisoner of war camp for too long. Roy wants to escape the camp, and with the help of new fellow prisoner Innocence, and a few other NPC characters, you set out to find your exit. This is only the beginning of the story of course, but it all unfolds quite naturally as you play through.

Mars is actually a surprisingly adult game considering it's an XBLA release. In the opening scenes we have a barrage of swearing and even an attempted rape! This game doesn't pull any punches - instead it throws you straight into the story from the outset. The story itself is detailed and includes a healthy supply of cutscenes, and between chapters some narration by Innocence. This gives you an interesting alternative angle on the adventure, as Innocence is practically the polar opposite of Roy in terms of strength, experience and ability.



The game tasks you with both primary and secondary quests with which to fulfill. These quests are all listed in your menu (accessed by pressing the back button), and are clearly presented and updated every time you achieve something on that particular quest. To make life easier, it also gives you a map where all important characters and quest locations are marked, so you never find yourself frustrated and looking around for your next objective. Like all good RPGs, this game sees you earn experience in order to level up. Levelling up grants you points to spend on new abilities of your choice, from combat skills such as parrying, guard breakers, and evasion; to renegade skills such as increased stealth, first aid and trap and bomb damage. Both of these areas come in a skill tree, and a third skill tree is unlockable later in the game too.

There is an extensive inventory system, which allows you to modify weapons and armour, and craft new items and supplies from bits of old junk you find lying around Mars. Also available through the back button menu is the War Log. This not only contains information on your quests, but also information on fighting skills, characters and locations as you discover them, and additionally Innocence's diary, which will give you a recap of where you're up to in the game just incase you forget or haven't played for a while. 

The gameplay itself is engaging and fun, although it does verge on simplistic. You run around from place to place completing quests, all the while keeping an eye open for junk piles to scavenge from or crates to open. Luckily these are clearly visible by being shiney (yup, that old classic!) Whilst exploring, you will get into fights which will require you to use all the skills you have learned and equipment you have crafted and upgraded.



All around Mars, you will meet characters that you will need to talk to. When in conversation, you are given different options for speech, and these are often very obviously good or evil answers. You do earn a reputation throughout the game, which can be checked at any point by checking the character screen in the menu. There are apparently multiple endings based on the choices you make, so you will have to choose wisely! With a game that revolves so much around conversation, you would expect the voicework to be decent. I'm happy to report that for the most part in Mars, it is very well scripted and produced, so there aren't really any cringe-worthy moments and the game remains immersive.

The controls are nice and responsive and great for running round and exploring the areas in Mars. The fighting system is nothing special, but does it's job well - X is your basic weapon attack, Y is your guard breaker, B is block, and A is evade. LB accesses your ability wheel, while RB, RT and LT are all for you to assign your most frequently used skills to.

My first bugbear, and probably the worst thing about this game, does however involve the combat. Throughout the game, the camera is completely manually controlled, and is roated using the right analogue stick. This is fine for everyday exploring, but when in the heat of combat it can all too often lead to you being backed up against a wall, unable to see your opponent and just wildly swinging your weapon in the hopes that you'll hit them. If you stop to move the camera, it often results in you getting hit. There is an auto facing camera that follows an enemy when you lock on to them, but I found it difficult to lock-on to the enemy I wanted during combat, and so didn't tend to bother with the lock-on feature. A simple camera that is sensible enough to move when shoved into a wall could have easily resolved this combat issue though.

Other than this, Mars suffers from a few minor issues. If you want to complete all of the side quests, there is a lot of back and forth. This isn't a huge deal as the maps aren't massive, but I can see it might frustrate some. Another annoyance is that you can upgrade so many of Roy's stats, but considering you spend so much time with Innocence (or other party characters), there is no way to modify his weapons, items or skills. I found this a bit of a weird design choice, particularly for an RPG, where customisation tends to be a critical part of the game. Lastly, fights can be pretty cheap. If you don't get nailed by the bad camera, you often get nailed by cheap AI. Some fights you will have to replay multiple times before you triumph, and then when you do it was no problem whatsoever; there is just no consistency with the difficulty of the combat. Even during the boss fights difficulty seems massively variable, so what some fights ultimately come down to is replaying them until you get lucky. Thankfully the save points are so regular that you can usually restart from right before the fight, so while this issue is frustrating and sometimes breaks up the flow of the game, it also isn't anywhere near as bad as it could be if it were make you replay masses of the game.



Appearance-wise, the game looks fairly good. Character models are solid and the scenery and levels are nice and detailed, although with the amount of red onscreen, it can all look a bit washed out. Then again, the game does take place on The Red Planet, and to be honest the graphics are more complex than a lot of XBLA releases anyway.

The achievement list in Mars is a nicely varied selection. Most will come during regular play - completing chapters and opening 50 crates for example. The last two achievements however (worth a combined 150G) will require a further two playthroughs and at the higher difficulty levels. If you're a completionist this could be a bit of a turn-off, but I suppose the reputation system and multiple endings means that it won't be unbearable to run through again.

There is nothing massively new in Mars: War Logs. Most of the ideas and features are lifted from other games, and it does feel like it has all been done before. Having said that, the game does pull it off very well; it has an engrossing storyline, and is very accessible and well made. To be honest, this could probably just about pass for a retail title. I would even dare to say that the game is comparable to a light version of Mass Effect. So, for 1200msp you are getting a great deal of value for money, with the game taking more than 20 hours to run through just once. Bolt on the extra endings and you have a pretty hefty XBLA release.

Score: 8.5/10

Sounds pretty good waggles. Its now on my radar the next time I am in the market for a new RPG.
Great stuff lad.

Markav wrote:Sounds pretty good waggles. Its now on my radar the next time I am in the market for a new RPG.
Great stuff lad.

It's addictive! Raptr is telling me I have 13 hours on it already, and I only started it on Friday...

I would guess I am roughly half way through.

Very nice work indeed young Waggles! 

You've been slightly more generous than most other reviews it seems. I'd rather take the word of GSA reviews over some of the tripe i've read lately on the web.

Well done sir.

Colne Crusader wrote:You've been slightly more generous than most other reviews it seems.

I hadn't actually looked at any other reviews, but yes, apparently I have given it a higher rating than most. I stick by it though - after reading some, it seems a lot of reviews of the game complain about things like small maps, and the worlds not being as richly filled with characters etc as they would have liked. It appears to me that a lot of reviewers fail to realise that this should be reviewed as an XBLA title, however much it might aspire to be just like a retail title. We can assume it had a lower budget than a retail title, and for the £12ish price tag you shouldn't expect the same experience that you would get from a £40 retail title like Mass Effect. If it were a retail title, it may well have lost a point or two, but as an XBLA title it is extremely well developed and polished.

Great review waggly.

Great review.

I will 100% play this solely based on your review

Thanks for your hard work mate, I can't wait to move to mars and have a log!

Excellent review Waggles, sounds like a solid 'budget' RPG.  Love that middle picture  I will give the trial a whirl and see if its for me.

KENT HAMMER wrote:I can't wait to move to mars and have a log!

So wrong...

KENT HAMMER wrote:I will 100% play this solely based on your review

TreeMunky wrote:I will give the trial a whirl and see if its for me.

Cool, be interested to hear what you guys think of it.

Waggly Bean wrote:

Colne Crusader wrote:You've been slightly more generous than most other reviews it seems.

I hadn't actually looked at any other reviews, but yes, apparently I have given it a higher rating than most. I stick by it though - after reading some, it seems a lot of reviews of the game complain about things like small maps, and the worlds not being as richly filled with characters etc as they would have liked. It appears to me that a lot of reviewers fail to realise that this should be reviewed as an XBLA title, however much it might aspire to be just like a retail title. We can assume it had a lower budget than a retail title, and for the £12ish price tag you shouldn't expect the same experience that you would get from a £40 retail title like Mass Effect. If it were a retail title, it may well have lost a point or two, but as an XBLA title it is extremely well developed and polished.

 I'm with ya! They're full of shit half of em! Too narrow minded to see the whole picture. I doubt half of them play the games enough either to warrant a fair review. I was reading Resident Evil 6 reviews on sunday and I couldn't believe what I was reading half the time.

Aye been looking forward to this for awhile, love this company as they gave us Of Orcs and Men and Game of Thrones which were both Solid RPG's if not to everyones taste. Looking forward to getting into this one at some point too!