Mars: War Logs

I was pretty much out of new games to play outside game pass and thought that I should buy The Technomancer, the Spiders game I had skipped. However, before getting to play it, I read that another, even earlier game by the developers was set it in the same universe. The story of Mars: War Logs is not directly related to The Technomancer, but I reckoned I might as well pick it up too since it was cheap and going back to an older game after playing a later entry in a series is rarely pleasant.

A budget scifi action RPG

Mars: War Logs was released in 2013. Knowing Spiders, I went into the game with low expectations: a low-budget Xbox 360 title with simple everything. I was surprised though that difficulty wasn't as punishing as in the following Spiders game, Bound by Flame, that had been annoying even on Normal.

The graphics of Mars: War Logs are not very interesting or colorful. I feel it looks better in the few screenshots I took than what it looks like while playing. Everything is brown and gray, there are a lot of similar corridors and other environments. Story and game mechanics likewise are simple: a Spiders game before years of more experience.

It's somehow delightful how similar Mars: War Logs is to their later games. Spiders are not in anyway unique in how they reuse and improve old game elements but I like when you can so clearly see even the same skill trees, just not as expanded yet. The few companions there are as useless as I was expecting, functioning as decoys at best, and being down in a few seconds into an encounter at worst.

In the game, humankind has colonized Mars. Earth itself apparently hasn't been heard of in a while though, and maybe that's why things are in shambles. The factions of Mars are warring with each other but currently there's a truce of some kind. Exposure to direct sunlight also seems more hazardous than it should be on Mars.

You play as Roy Temperance, a prisoner of war. With his sidekick Innocence, he first escapes prison, hides from authorities, and then gets involved in some plot about artifacts and technomancers. It's all pretty light stuff, although I think there's at least some story branching. The game's morality system might affect that too.

Human enemies defeated are not killed, just knocked out. You can then drain them for serum (which is the currency used) which is lethal for them and also lowers your karma. Karma affects the availability of few perks and I guess Innocence might dislike you having low karma. I never found it necessary to drain for serum: I had plenty from running through respawned enemies, which is a common occurrence in Spiders games.

Playing Mars: War Logs wasn't the worst experience but anyone tight on time should probably choose a better game. And there are plenty of those out there.