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Review Mars: War Logs Review at RPGWatch

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Mars: War Logs

Our sworn enemies at RPGWatch have reviewed the latest shovelware RPG Mars: War Logs and weren't too thrilled with it, awarding it 2/5 stars and calling it a cheap Mass Effect knock-off. They do have some positive things to say about the combat, weapon customization, and skill trees though:

What did make combat worthwhile was the fact that every encounter is dangerous. You will find yourself reloading quite a bit for some of the trickier fights, yet after you reload and try it again, you will often find that things are turned in your favor much more when you apply a little strategy to the battle. Getting surrounded by enemies is a sure-fire road to a reload. The end result is a combat system that is pretty fun to play and challenging, and you actually look forward to bashing in some skulls with your copper pipe that you fashioned into a makeshift war axe.

Yes, you can wield a makeshift war axe. The game features a fairly deep item customization ability that allows you to upgrade weapons and armor using spare parts that you scavenged in the game world. There are many different options for upgrading and you can definitely have some fun combining these options and crafting a new, interesting and powerful weapon or armor. The bonuses you get from item customization make a big difference in how the combat plays out and it’s cool to see your weapon or armor change based on the choices you made in upgrading it.

Another solid aspect of Mars: War Logs is the skill tree. It’s done well, and every skill and passive ability you invest in actually feels like it has weight and makes a difference. Often in RPGs with skill trees, I sometimes feel as though there are not enough worthwhile investment options , or I’m just not too excited with the skills themselves to really want to use them. In War Logs, seemingly every skill was interesting, and I often found myself having to make tough decisions between a few different skills that all sounded good to me. Thankfully, the game does a good job of supplying you with enough skill points that you can easily upgrade the skills that sound interesting to you and jump right back into the gameplay, a bit stronger and better equipped for battle than before.

The bottom line with Mars: War Logs, is that the game fits the “budget title” label to a T. It’s as if you’re playing a Mass Effect game, only one that had about 1/10th of the budget and polish of a real Mass Effect game. If you like developing your character and participating in fun combat, then you will find some fun here for the 14 or so hours it lasts. However, if you’re looking for a compelling story, interesting characters and exciting locations, you’re not going to find that here. I had to force myself to finish it and near the end I really wasn’t enjoying myself too much.

Verdict: The combat is fun, but you’ll really be missing a story or any reason at all to keep playing. Skip it.​

"The combat is fun but the story is bad. Skip it." Sounds like a typical RPGWatch verdict to me.
 

Baron

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Graphics whores detected at RPGWatch. Also I threw up a little in my mouth reading their review and had to read in fragments until my stomach settled.
 

Konjad

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RPGWatch :lol:

Wait, what is this, some kind of a collaboration? DU, better ban Crooked Bee before it's too late.

I'm awaiting Codex review.
 

Baron

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RPG Watch said:
Now, on paper, the setting of Mars sounds wonderful. However, in execution, the game simply fails to deliver. The locations are dull, and 90 percent of the map is comprised of closed-in corridors.
Well obviously it's the Martian canals.

Why do RPG Watch insist on punishing game developers for including gritty realism in games? Once again RPG Watch poke their head above the mole hole of sensible games journalism and have it firmly smacked down.
 

Grunker

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Verdict: The combat is fun, but you’ll really be missing a story or any reason at all to keep playing. Skip it.

o_O

Pros
  • Interesting skill tree with some useful skills
  • Fun and challenging combat
  • Crafting of weapons and armor
Cons
  • Uninteresting and muddled plot
  • Poorly written dialogue
  • Dull, repetitive environments
Score: 2/5

:lol:

This game might very well be shit, but I doubt it's worse than that review.
 

Baron

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Mind you, I don't mean to cast aspergions on a fellow rpg site, afterall, one's opinion is one's opinion.

RPG Watch said:
RPGWatch Game of the Year Awards 2012 - Best RPG
Gamers' Choice
Rank Game

1 Mass Effect 3
2 Dark Souls: Prepare to Die
3 Dishonored
4 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
5 Risen 2: Dark Waters
6 Torchlight II
7 Borderlands 2
8 Kingdoms of Amalur
source : http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=202&ref=2&id=1
 

Grunker

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vomit-smiley-020.gif
 

Konjad

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Mind you, I don't mean to cast aspergions on a fellow rpg site, afterall, one's opinion is one's opinion.

RPG Watch said:
RPGWatch Game of the Year Awards 2012 - Best RPG
Gamers' Choice
Rank Game

1 Mass Effect 3
2 Dark Souls: Prepare to Die
3 Dishonored
4 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
5 Risen 2: Dark Waters
6 Torchlight II
7 Borderlands 2
8 Kingdoms of Amalur
source : http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=202&ref=2&id=1
And some people still don't believe me that RPGWatch is the worst that could happen to RPG community.
 

Jashiin

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Rpgwatch wouldn't know a good game if it fucked them up the ass. I'll keep an eye on this now, might be worth it on a steam sale.
 

MurkyShadow

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RPS and the Watch didn't liked the game? It could be good...

It's a trap!

If you were looking to update your definition of 'clunky', Mars: Warlogs may just be your long journey's end.
The combat is fun, if running in circles, while auto-regenerating is your kind of thing. While it surely is
challenging, running these beautiful, perfect circles.
 

himmy

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RPS and the Watch didn't liked the game? It could be good...

It's a trap!

If you were looking to update your definition of 'clunky', Mars: Warlogs may just be your long journey's end.
The combat is fun, if running in circles, while auto-regenerating is your kind of thing. While it surely is
challenging, running these beautiful, perfect circles.

Well, from what I understand, the problem is that Mars doesn't have an AAA polish, so those circles lack anti-aliasing, which makes them less than perfect. The game promises running in circles, but only delivers jagged oblongs. :decline:
 

Burning Bridges

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From what I could gather, this is a popamole but without the AAA polish, right? I no more see the point in wasting time with watching videos etc, before I see proof that the game even has a user interface..
 

FuelBlooded

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I watched Eldergeek's review and it sounded quite fair to me, since it's from a small studio.

 

Zed

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The review wasn't horrible, but they should skip that stupid summary box.

The game is fucking horrible. "The combat is fun?" Seriously? It's not fun anywhere.
If you played this and think it has potential, get Chronicles of Riddick. It's basically what this game tries to be, but without shitty followers and some fun gameplay.
 

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