Review: Mars: War Logs

RPG - a terribly liberal genre, because he allows you to refer to himself projects of a different kind, from Fallout: New Vegas to Final Fantasy . The game only needs to be able to choose the replicas in dialogues and eventually develop the character. And if this is not fully, it can always be signed "with RPG-elements" and still remain involved. 

It was thanks to this that Mars: War Logs seemed interesting. Spiders did not hesitate to experiment and showed their vision of the genre, in trailers depicting the game as a cross between Assassin's Creed and "The Witcher": with a complex combat system, ubiquitous choice and interesting direction. The only thing that foreshadowed trouble is the digital distribution model, which publishers resort to usually if they are not sure of the success of the project.
The name does not deceive - the action is actually unfolding on Mars. Alas, at its fairly standard variation: history implies a war, an injustice-shrouded state and a resistance force. All, of course, against the background of red dunes and industrial plants, reminiscent of Dune and Red Faction .

The player for research honestly stands out some piece of the landscape, divided into zones - friendly and not very. In some, all quiet NPCs are ready to trade or offer a quest; in other characters are not expected, do not like and will meet together, with a particularly big "joy." Avoid this often does not work: the locations are mixed so that you can not do without a fight physically, but there is no division into groups in the game. Reputation is present, but it does not affect the "own-alien" system.

Everything is determined strictly at the script level. The main character begins as a prisoner with thoughts of escaping, and therefore his enemies become either evil cellmates, or guards in forbidden zones. After that, it will be necessary to become friends with the resistance and lose all confidence of the state, but to get allies who will shadow the slide for the main character and draw attention to themselves in battle.

The plot characters in this case for the whole game is not more than a dozen. There is no desire to count them, as well as to remember - the original personalities will not get at all, and more or less amusing situations will only be in external quests. The main line is a low-variegated rails, based on sleepers-stamps with predictable dialogues. It is interesting only because it is served through perfectly staged cat-scenes, reminiscent of the style of the recent "Oblivion", deliberately beautiful and pathos.

The script, maybe, would attract more attention, whether the player is even slightly involved in the process. Dialogue system of skim, "playing the role" in most cases does not affect even the reciprocal response of the interlocutor. Otherwise, the conversation is reduced to "let's get the quest, we'll talk about the weather - and I'm leaving." In a few moments, the choice really needs to be done, but it means no more than in The Walking Dead , - all the same everyone will die. And the writers will take us on the rails further, deciding that the very fact of choice is more important than any consequences. 

Only by fleeing the "zones of increased comfort", in the sewers and police stations, the player will be able to find interesting gameplay components. What Mars: War Logs is aimed at is the combat system and character development.

Fighting is here at the junction of Assassin's Creed and Batman: Arkham City , but even if you have passed both these games, you will not feel at ease. The principles are the same: counterattack, block and meaningful battle with a lot of opponents at once. Problems in nuances - the block, for example, is placed only at a certain angle, so the back is considered open. The same is true for enemies - "catching" one blow to the back of the head, you can drive the poor to the nearest wall, showering with cuffs. 

In conditions of such "equality" to fight is really interesting - just like in Dark Souls Even at the average level of difficulty you will have to reboot regularly, with the absolute loss happening as often as a clean and spectacular victory. The main thing is to know the habits of opponents (in total there are two kinds of animals and three types of people in the game), actively use a few special techniques and develop the character in time.

Unfortunately, the developers themselves knew perfectly well that fighting in War Logs is much more interesting than watching the story. Therefore, the ratio of gameplay time is significantly shifted: after a prison introduction, which takes a good third of the passage, the number of NPCs is sharply reduced. And the distance between them increases and is filled with dozens of identical opponents. Even if we consider that once the dead are not reborn, the massacre is too much, the experience falls like snow on a polar night, and the player is systematically tired of monotony.

Spend the spinal cord gives the system of character development, which requires an unexpectedly serious approach. Skills add useful bonuses, and upgrading the wardrobe significantly improves the characteristics - without that you quickly start to lag behind your enemies. We have to worry about the collection of resources and timely delivery of quests: stores in War Logs are very conditional, and all the outfits have to "craft" literally in the heat of battle. In the game, only about a dozen clubs and armor sets for the protagonist, so a significant part of the time has to carefully improve your favorite stick, adjusting its characteristics to your taste. On the pallet too, do not count: the firearm is the ultimate solution to problems, and therefore the "trunk" is only one and with eternally limited cartridges.

In general, there is another way of passing - stealth. But he, as in dozens of other projects, is screwed up very clumsily and works through time. In certain places, opponents meet you in the only possible corridor, or even jump at you on your head. In addition, no one canceled wrestling with "bosses", in which, as in the recent Deus EX , there is simply no alternative to brute force. Therefore, any secrecy disappears, as an element completely rudimentary - more often the player has to fight through a bunch of ill-wishers with a fight.

Imagine Mars, in every corner of which you are pursuing an orange color. The fauna of the planet is skimpy and has only two species of living beings. Due to the lack of oxygen, people have become stupid and lost all individuality - they say a lot, but monotonous and boring. And sometimes they do not speak at all, immediately throwing themselves into battle. 

Every third counter will attack you with a club (after all, the police of the future prefers brute physical force), and you will have to wag your stick for ten hours in response. You can, of course, hide or run away, but it just will not work - you will be killed, you will boot and again get into the fray. Interesting, of course. But not ten hours in a row. 

Rate: 8/10