Mars Alive

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. DarkStation
    Jun 26, 2019
    50
    Around the time The Martian film came out, there was a free-to-play, text-only game that had a much more engaging and well-written story than Mars Alive. There are so many excellent examples of survival crafting games that simply substituting a nearly featureless desert for a forest or undersea world isn’t enough to hold our attention, and the absolutely glacial pace of exploring and crafting doesn’t help. The game’s trailers suggest a much more action-packed, epic and graphically complex product but the reality is entirely different. The biggest survival challenge in Mars Alive is its hours of repetitious and slow gameplay.

User Reviews

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User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 7 out of 14
  1. Izzyp
    Jun 19, 2019
    4
    Nothing like the trailer. Quite bland gameplay, missing motion controls and many comfort options. The camera placement is wrong in many partsNothing like the trailer. Quite bland gameplay, missing motion controls and many comfort options. The camera placement is wrong in many parts of the game even after recalibrating. I believe there is potential here, but to be honest I was less upset with the original No Mans Sky. Wait for an update to see if it gets better, in it's current state it is a waste of money.… Full Review »
  2. GalacticGamer85
    Jun 19, 2019
    1
    Just awful. Total waste of £13. Nothing like screenshots or trailers which are clearly pre rendered. Awful graphics, tedious gameplay andJust awful. Total waste of £13. Nothing like screenshots or trailers which are clearly pre rendered. Awful graphics, tedious gameplay and horrible glitches like doors opening through the players head and your characters viewpoint sitting on the chair in the rover (yes I kept trying to re centre the viewport). Utterly horrible.… Full Review »
  3. Rangertwin1208
    Jun 22, 2019
    6
    Pros:
    - Menus are nicely designed
    - Interesting story bits - Multiple endings - Decent amount of stuff to craft and upgrade -Sound is on    Pros:
    - Menus are nicely designed
    - Interesting story bits
    - Multiple endings
    - Decent amount of stuff to craft and upgrade
    -Sound is on point.
    -Has an additional mode where you can play the game as if you were in a day in Mars.

    Cons:
    - Many environments look flat and generic. Only the interiors of your base look somewhat decent.
    - Gameplay is pretty monotonous unless you have a lot of patience like a lot of those casual VR fans that were hyping up the game's trailer on the Playstation Youtube channel lol. Mostly consist of obtaining one material, then walk slowly to another, rinse and repeat until you decide to return to the base to craft one item and read walls of texts.
    - Graphics aren't as good as advertised. Really look at times like a mobile VR game. Textures sometimes look washed out and some of the rocks look like they were made out of playdoh. If you were compare it to Unearthing Mars which was released back in 2017, this is a downgrade.
    - The weather isn't as dangerous as advertised.
    - A few calibration issues, like when riding the rover.
    - No running option, making collecting resources rather tedious.
    - No PSMove support, resorting to endure slow animations like the mining animation.

    All in all, it is yet another mediocre chinese game from Winking. Is it as bad as some say it is? Not really. I mean, it is definitely better than Martian VR and Unearthing Mars I can tell you that much. And for $17? Well, just be glad they weren't dumb enough to price it at $20 like what they did with The Walker. Either way though, despite the score I'm giving it, the real score for me is a 5.5, mostly because I played far worse games but for a survival game that was in development since 2017 and even recieved support from a studio and even NASA themselves, and recieved tons of hype from its trailer (which isfunny because the game barely got any marketing)? Don't be surprised if it gets forgotten once No Man's Sky VR hits, considering because is not like we have a lot of space simulation games were we could live in Mars aside from two. It's very average, and similar to Winking's previously published title Paper Dolls, it'll probably only get a certain small niche fraction of people who actually likes the game (who are most likely niche casual VR gamers who likes to use emoticons like "XD" and ": )", and probably also Gamepitt lol), since it'snot like wehave a lot of space survival games, especially ones that take place in Mars since the other two were mostly tech demos (kinda like how there are still people who likes Dying Reborn only because there isn't a lot of actual room escape games on the system aside from maybe 3 or 4). All those other people that were impressed with the trailer will probably end up disappointed, and will probably won't talk about the game no matter how many time you asked them lol. Get this if you don't have nothing better to do or just want to scratch that scifi itch. Just don't expect the ultimate Mars experience. Again, it's better than Martian VR and Unearthing Mars, but I'd rather play Unearthing Mars 2 for a more "fun" experience. If I were to compare it to Winking's other published games, I'd say it's better than Unearthing Mars and Paper Dolls, not as good as 18 Floors and Unearthing Mars 2, and just as average as The Walker (only because The Walker's price was dropped to $10).

    I hope for an future update for the game that adresses a few issues like the slow movement which really kills the enjoyment but seeing that this is a chinese developed VR game, I have my doubts sadly. But come on, it's Winking. They actually bothered to offer a small price cut for the game on its launch, so surely they should be smart enough to listen to the complaints, which I hope they do.    … Full Review »
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