Alone on Mars

Absolute rubbish. Thankfully I only paid £0.39 while it was 90% off. I was attracted by the title of the game because I'm obsessed with mars (I even purchased a 10'' reflecting telescope together with several hundred pounds worth of eye pieces) so that I could observe Mars). Stupidly, I didn't bother checking the reviews, seeing the positive rating a couple of the images from the Steam store and the 90% off persuaded me to buy the game. When I booted the game up, I was presented with a medium sized window with no option to play in full screen. When trying to play the game my mouse pointer was constantly leaving the game area and freezing my astronaut. As enemies were coming from both sides, I basically kept dying as I couldn't turn around quick enough to shoot them and repeatedly wandering out of the window and freezing again and again. It was at this point I checked the reviews and saw my friend Obey the Fist's review; oh how I wished I'd seen it earlier as I trust his reviews implicitly. He said, the reviews are likely posted by paid for reviews and from the ones I read I must agree; apart from a few negative reviews all of the positive ones were just …

it feels like a well-made student project. the gameplay is repetative, and neither the available upgrades, nor the variable enemy types do much to change the gameplay

This is one of those games I wish there was a middle option on the reviews. not recommended but not a full on dislike either. The basics of this game is you play an unnamed astronaut sent to Mars to investigate an SOS and the loss of contact with the residents on the colony there. Once arriving, he has to defend various generators from mutants/aliens/Martians/something. It's not really clear what they are, and only one of the cutscenes references them as "mutants". The game looks like a typical Flash game of old and not very complex. basically a 2D wave survival game with you against a bunch of mindless enemies that only walk back and forth. there's different types of mutans, starting with just the red ones. but every few levels or less, a new variant appears, from green ones that tank 4 times as many shots, to speedy blue ones that much faster but can't take a hit. and flying ones that move slow but do a lot of damage. The enemies will path find towards the generator on each mission and start attacking it, or if you get close enough to them they will attack you also, however they never specifically go after you, even in the last level that has no generator and you just have to k…

Feels like a demo game writing tutorial released as a game Not enjoyable to play

Alone on Mars, developed and published by Gnelf, combines survival mechanics, side-scrolling action, exploration systems, and defensive gameplay into a science fiction experience centered around mystery and isolation. Set on a hostile version of Mars where something has clearly gone wrong, the game places players in an unfamiliar and dangerous environment where survival depends not only on combat ability but also exploration, preparation, and uncovering the truth behind a failed mission. Built as an independent project, Alone on Mars focuses less on cinematic presentation and more on creating an atmosphere of uncertainty supported by layered gameplay systems. The story begins with a distress signal originating from Mars, forcing a sudden diversion toward the planet in hopes of rescuing survivors and discovering what caused the emergency. Upon arrival, it quickly becomes clear that the situation is far worse than expected. Scientific outposts stand abandoned, danger lurks across the landscape, and whatever happened to previous expeditions has transformed the mission from rescue operation into survival challenge. The unanswered questions surrounding Mars become a major driving force…

Played for a bit and wasn't feeling the gameplay, needs to be improved and rework some systems.