Mars: War Logs Reviews
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RPGFan, 70%.
The first sentence uttered in Mars: War Logs' opening cutscene doesn't make sense, but for that and its hundreds of other errors, War Logs is a miraculously un-frustrating game. I never threw a fit while playing it (although I threw a few swears during the tougher fights), and I never pleaded for it to end. No doubt its modest length has something to do with that, and the side quests and choices make the game longer for those who want it. Mars: War Logs is derivative, underdeveloped, and features one of the briefest, most rushed final chapters I've seen, but it's also completely playable and even charming in a B-movie kind of way.
Capsule Computers, 8/10.
Despite the quirks and rough coat of paint, Mars: War Logs is still a worthy effort. Anyone who enjoys WRPGs like Mass Effect, The Witcher and Dragon Age will find something to take from here even if it's all been done before. One thing that surprised me was the almost complete lack of bugs. Normally we find glitches and even game-breaking bugs in AAA titles, but War Logs is almost rock solid.
At the end of the day this a downloadable title at value price, but one that offers a pretty robust, action RPG experience. The game follows conventions almost too much though, and in the future I'd love to see the team carve out an RPG that stands apart from the crowded market. In the meantime, welcome to Mars and enjoy your stay.
Flesh Eating Zipper has an impressions article:
You'll collect tons of scrap, you can craft things, you have talent trees to dump points into. You have quests, you have dialogue trees, you have NPCs that are largely useless. The game brands its Silk engine up front, but it's nothing special; the game looks old. Characters have no inertia, they simply run, walk and snap into the directions you point them in. I have an Xbox 360 controller handy, but a cursor kept popping up on my screen from time to time before dismissing itself.
So how did I get stuck? The game's combat isn't that far off from the attack/parry/counter-hit system of Assassin's Creed (which I've played) and The Witcher (which I have not). At a point about two hours in, you're sent off to an area called The Cisterns and what seemed like a relatively pleasant difficulty ramped up immediately. No matter of rolling, timing, or hitting would let me defeat these clumps of enemies. It leads me to believe that you can skill your way into a corner from which no amount of strategy or button mashing will help. Unlike Assassin's Creed, where enemies will queue up for your disposal, watching Roy slowly animate himself back to a standing position to continue the battle while four or five moles cluster around him is no fun matter. Remember camera issues? This game sure has them, even with a lock on feature one that likes to flip to other enemies at inopportune times.
