Deliver Us Mars

Technical issues aside, it shows that a sci-fi action adventure can tell a dramatic, gripping tale by zeroing in on the minutia of the next giant leap, and the weight of uncertainty behind every small step. [Issue#382, p.106]

Quotation forthcoming.

Despite its good points, there are a few key factors that leave Deliver Us Mars in a state of being very good rather than great.

Even after decades of research, handful of deep space probes and a bunch of scientific rovers, humanity is still fascinated with Mars. Immersive experience of Deliver Us Mars satisfies this very fascination by serving its junky gameplay and ridiculous animations on a way too ambitious plate, while a wonderfully grand, Interstellar like music coats the imperfectly glitchy background. This results in a seemingly spectacular story with enormous set pieces, which lacks the necessary polish, mostly due to obvious budget limitations.

Deliver Us Mars is decent enough but lacks the focus and narrative strengths that made the last game such a joy.

Ambitious sci-fi investigation for clues about expatriates on Mars, which technically doesn't meet its own standards.

Deliver Us Mars comes crashing back down to Earth because of presentation failings, story missteps, and technical issues, despite a somewhat compelling personal tale involving the majesty of space travel and exploration of the red planet.

While it retains the intriguing plot and robust space atmosphere of the first game, the lack of puzzle variety, poor face modeling, and monotonous gameplay that quickly becomes repetitive make Deliver Us Mars a weak game. Despite the additions, it feels more like a step back than a sequel.

Deliver Us Mars is a decent narrative adventure, even with a fairly unmemorable story and some dull characters. The puzzles were simple enough and the beautiful environments were enough to make me want to keep going. Some control quirks and unpleasant character models did bog the experience down slightly, however. This game isn't bad to the point that I'd want to blast it into the sun, but it has enough quirks that it never fully reaches the stars like it should.

A rousing mystery brought to life by a great voice cast and nuanced character writing can't really save Deliver Us Mars from its shortcomings. Poor technical performance during cutscenes and backstory that is too often delivered by these barely-differentiated mannequins make it difficult to get sucked into this extraterrestrial world. Even when it’s running smoothly, frustrating climbing and platforming mechanics are just a chore to get through so that you can reach the more clever puzzles and rewarding exploration that break up the annoyances with moments of wonder and satisfaction. But I could never shake the feeling that Deliver Us Mars simply bit off more dehydrated astronaut food than it could chew.

If the narrative turn is not up to the playful qualities of the game, this journey to the planet Mars remains as surprising as it is interesting.

Deliver Us Mars delivers through its story and well-written, well-acted characters. But literally everything else is a drag. The gameplay systems lack logic and fun – you should probably just watch it as a movie.