Android Game Review: “Mars Defender: Space RPG”
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A new day, a new review and today I’ll be testing “Mars Defender: Space RPG” from developer Psychic Software. We recently published a developer interview with Sam Redfern, the creator of Mars Defender, so be sure to read that! In Mars Defender you’re a pilot that has to patrol around Mars. The game is set in 2130, when humankind is trying to colonize other planets. You have to protect the “Inner System” and fight (alien enemies). Let’s get ready for testing!
Graphics: Outer space in 3D
The graphics of this Arcade & Action game are in 3D and they’re pretty good looking. Especially exploding asteroids look wonderful. It’s your job to protect Mars and its colonies, so the main background is outer space and the red planet itself. You have to be careful not to be sucked into the sphere around Mars, because then you’ll crash into the planet. There’s also a satellite flying around that you have to be careful not to crash into. There are 12 different spaceships, 11 of which need to be unlocked.
The 3D graphics of this game are awesome. It is clearly visible that loads of time and attention were paid to create these graphics and that pays off with regard to the score.
Graphics: 5/5
Sounds: Techno
As soon as you start the game and enter the menu, you hear short bursts of electro/techno music. The music is entertaining and futuristic, albeit quite ‘shock-stop-shock-stop’. The in-level music is a lot quieter, it’s more exciting and it sounds as if unexpected adventures await you. Of course, there are background sounds too: there’s the sound of your spaceship exploding, a sound for shooting and a special – very recognizable – sound for danger. All in all, the sounds of Mars Defender are great for this outer space shooter.
Music: 5/5
Controls: Difficult
The menu of Mars Defender comes with four options: New Game, Load Game, Options and Quit. There’s also the possibility to change language. Mars Defender comes in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Italian. When starting the game, you’re first given a tutorial where you learn how to fly the spaceship. There’s one button on the left side of the screen that you have to fly the plane with and one button on the right side of the screen to shoot. I have a lot of trouble getting the hang of the ‘one button to fly the plane with’-button. The button is sensitive enough to touch, I just find it very difficult to make the spaceship fly the way I want. On top of that comes that the spaceship flips and changes direction easily, making it all the more difficult – for me – to be able to learn how to fly it. I especially find it very difficult to maneuver the spaceship to make it fly through a ring or to have it destroy an asteroid with only a couple of shots. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled with all the tilt control games, but I’d think that it would be a lot easier to play this game with tilt controls. Right now, I feel discouraged to play this game, I’m no good at it and I’m not getting any better and that’s extremely frustrating. On top of that, I don’t want to play the game any more, because I can’t seem to master the controls. That’s bad news and it shows in the score. There are probably going to be people that prefer buttons over tilt controls, but I’d like to ask the developer to create tilt controls and add it to the option menu. I know that I’d definitely give playing this game another try.
Controls: 2/5
Scope: Collect spaceships
Mars Defender comes with the possibility to unlock a freight load of spaceships – eleven to be exact – and numerous quests to go on. The quests go from protecting Mars and the space station from an asteroid to spaceships attacks, so there’s enough to go on. However, I’m not quite sure how many quests there are to undertake. It’s not mentioned in the game description and/or in the menu. Still, the fact that the game takes you to several places in the Inner Solar System – in their own words: “to the Asteroid Belt and beyond” – and that there are eight locations in total, indicates that there are quite a number of quests to undertake. When on a quest you meet several friendly and enemy soldiers, also enlarging the scope of the game.
This shooter game comes with 8 locations and 12 pilots to meet, since you don’t change locations for every quest, it means that this game is rather big. The not knowing how big the game really is costs one point, though.
Scope: 4/5
Atmosphere: Space, spaceships, asteroids, and planets
The looks, the sounds, the many locations and pilots make the atmosphere of this game really good. I love the way the game looks and the sounds go with the game-theme perfectly. The only thing is that I can’t progress in the game, because I find the controls so darn hard. Then again, that’s – for me – the only downside to this game’s atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 4/5
Fun Factor: Difficult, but fun
Mars Defender is a great game, that’ll most certainly attract a great deal of people and get a good share of fans. I’m a fan of the graphics and think that the developers have added sounds that are a perfect fit for this game. My difficulties with the controls make this game less fun for me. Still, this is a fun game with loads of missions and a great atmosphere, you just might have to train a bit harder to be able to play it .
Fun Factor: 3/5
Conclusion:
This is a great shooter for everyone that loves outer space , spaceships and Android games that come with missions. There are two versions of this game available, one free and another one that costs 99 Euro cents. I’d definitely recommend you to go and try it for yourself. This is a fun, challenging shooter with stunning graphics.
Reviewed by Lara van Waas.