Mars: War Logs - Demo - PS3 - Review

I almost got suckered into downloading the new EA NHL game but then I thought... Fuck EA and decided to get whatever was next on the list... That turns out to be this RPG I've never heard of before and know nothing about.

The demo weighs in around 1.5gig... From the PS store, that gave me plenty of time to down a quad dose Cheeba Chew, eat some breakfast, get comfy, watch the first episode of Ripper Street, Season 1, enjoy the Cheeba Chew kicking in, heat up the vaporizer and load it with some nice Strawberry Cough... And now I'm ready to play

Getting to the main menu brings you by a very nice splash screen for the developers and then offers the basic menu options: Start, options. guide and buy the full game

I decide to be a bit cautious and bring up the guide... Page 1 of 26... And it tells me to use the right stick to move my guy... sigh... Never mind, onto the game. I make a pit stop in option long enough to turn off the music and then it's onto Start

Yikes... The game launches into a rather lengthy and graphic cut scene. It tells the story of a 16 year old who get conscripted into some army for a war he knows nothing about. He is in long enough to learn the horrors of war and then is taken prisoner and brought by train far, far behind enemy lines to a prison camp. Right after getting off the train, he is confronted by three prisoners who want to rape him but they are scared off by a mysterious stranger... I guess I'm the stranger because he is thanking me and it wants me to do a 'select one of these three dialog' choice things. I make a few neutral dialog choices because I want to see character data.

Hitting Select brings up the character menu, it has all the standard options: Stats, Inventory, Skills, Missions and Map. The stats are pretty extensive and they appear to be upgradable by some type of points... Not sure how I get them yet, probably level up. Inventory looks serviceable and not overly complicated. Skills are divided into three trees... Again, pretty standard. Missions is clear and concise. Maps are also clear and well marked. Very nice.

The game is played in a third person perspective and while the graphics are crisp and clean, it is (at least in this section and everything shown in the first cut scene) very dark. Approaching items and/or items causes them to display the appropriate interaction button above it, and has text saying what you will be doing (search, talk, etc).

The kid I saved has apparently joined my party... There are also about 7 or 8 other people in the room but I can't interact with any of them except the kid and thats only to say 'Lets go'. We leave the room and there a guy in the hall that has a side quest... He goes on about it at length and I'm then told that side quests are only available in the full game... They could have told me that before the big speech.

On I go into the court yard where the would be rapist and some friends of his are waiting for me. The game launches into combat mode and you at first get to take on bad guys one at a time. With each one, the game has you learn a part of combat... Attack, block, counter attack and 'instruct minion (the kid following you... Though I wonder what it would have done if you had opted to not have him follow you) and then eventually goes into taking on a few enemies at once. At this point, all you have is hand-to-hand combat with a crowbar and it feel a lot like doing the same in a GTA game... Not very effective or satisfying but at least for the demo (or perhaps this training) it is wicked easy to take them all out.

Strangely... There is no way to search the bodies and they disappear before you can try to search more then one of them. You are able to search the courtyard and pick up some junk (looks like you will be able to craft things with the junk you pick up) before moving on. After the battle you are also able to level up... No clue whats good or bad so I just drop points into more life and improving my 'throw sand in their face' skill. Now it's off to the mess hall it seems.... Except that before I go more then a few feet, some guy tell me how everyone is talking about how I killed the rapist and gives me a 'cracked tube' as a rewards... Gee... Thanks.

You get to the mess hall and tell the kid you plan on escape and he joins you... Again. You then tell the kid to go get a job in the power plant so he can get information while you are going to volunteer to go into 'the pit' to fight the bugs that come up, pretty much a suicide mission, so the guards will give you a weapon... errr, wtf?

I wander about in circles for a bit trying to figure out where to go... The map is suddenly a lot less clear then it was... Or I'm far more stoned then I should be Regardless, I make it to the crater area which is where I think I'm now supposed to be. Upon entering, you see some guy in a Neo costume walking along a cat walk way above you... This seems important but it gives you nothing to tell you why. I make my way over to some guy that is talking to someone else and I have to listen to a wicked long conversation about how the guy does not know how to do anything... I mean a really long conversation... ugghh... Now it's my turn and it gets even longer... Lets save and I'll resume this later... Or not... It seems the save function is not available. OK, I'm done here.

Graphics - Not bad, not great. What you see is pretty decent but there is far too much 'dark' used to hide the engines limits. If they were using huge environments, I would be more forgiving on this but they just are not very large and at this point in the PS3 life cycle I expect better.

Control - Clunky at best. Everything is laid out in familiar ways but the reaction is slow for the few action moments they give.

Fun Factor - I'm much more of an action RPG type of guy rather then a talking RPG type of guy. Tons of conversation that tells you so very little... I just get bored and wish they would get on with it. Great if you like that type of RPG but it's not for me.

Bottom line - This covers some very adult topics but they feel like they are being put in there more for shock value then to move the story along or make any type of commentary. There is also this really disturbing focus on the kid that keeps making me feel as though he is the main character even though he is treated like an object by everyone and you are obviously playing a different character... Strange and disturbing they way it is presented. A lack of action and far more useless conversation then I care for stopped me from even finishing the demo. Me... I'm deleting the demo and not looking back. Next time they should put in some mechanics that will get the player more interested in playing rather then reading.