Deliver Us Mars

by Howie Howard
reviewed on PC
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Deliver Us Mars is the new action, science fiction adventure PC game from Indie developer KeokeN Interactive. Although the game is billed as being an action adventure game, I found it would be better characterized as an action platform adventure with puzzle driven elements. The game does feature some great voice acting and consists of exploring, wandering around and climbing. Mostly on planet Mars.
A very special actress
The action and story-based chapters consist of nine chapters with an ending epilogue that serves to wrap up the adventure. All of the chapters require the game player to possess the ability to figure out and then accomplish puzzle-solving tasks while climbing and jumping around on various obstacles. Once a chapter is completed. players move on to a well created cut scene that contains excellent voice acting.
Ellise Chappell is the voice of Kathy Johansen the games main character and she does an amazing job in the role. Deliver Us Mars is filmed entirely in motion capture with actor’s actions and voice recorded simultaneously. Doing it that way allows for facial expressions to be matched up with the voice. Ellise Chappell's ability to convey the various emotional voice tones required for a convincing performance in various circumstances is what makes her performance be so special. Deliver Us Mars is Ellise’s first video game appearance after previously appearing on stage and screen, but hopefully, it won't be her last because she is that good.
Mars can sometimes be very puzzling
The puzzles are rather easy in the beginning, but they get progressively harder as the story moves forward. The first chapter - Moonbear - is intended as a way to familiarize players with game controls. It also serves to set the story in motion, introducing the main protagonist Kathy Johansen with her father as the villain. We go from Kathy's happy-go-lucky existence as a child with her adoring father to Kathy wanting to find out why her father did what he was accused of doing. Ten years after her father abandoned her, Kathy becomes an astronaut and takes a ride on a rocket ship to Mars with the sole purpose of finding the ARK colony ships that her father had been accused of stealing. These colony ships were designed to save humanity and Kathy doesn't believe her father is guilty of the crime and becomes determined to find the truth.
With the above said, Kathy's voice dialog in the cut scenes and her interactions with other characters during game play is worth the price of admission alone. Deliver Us Mars, the sequel to 2018’s Deliver Us The Moon featured humanities first attempt at saving itself from environmental disaster. Kathy was mentioned at the end of the first adventure but the character wasn't fully developed until this sequel. Playing Deliver Us The Moon first isn't necessary, but it could serve to help you understand the overall concept of what is going on a bit better.
I want my invading aliens back
Deliver Us Mars is another example of a computer game on the growing list of, "humans have totally destroyed Earth's environment and it needs to be fixed" epic adventures. In past adventure game productions, aliens were generally the main threat. Now with this new environmental disaster concept, the tried-and-true alien invaders as the main culprits have been replaced with human beings as the evil doers. In Deliver Us Mars, players won't see any combat or fighting sequences in the game. Everything is puzzle solving, action platform sequences and climbing.
The developers have also created an excellent climbing game mechanic with star of the show equipped with two climbers pickaxes and ensured that she was featured in as many climbing situations as possible. Learning how to climb in the game is like going through on the job training while not knowing anything about the job. In real life, if you fail on the job training you either quit your job or you are fired. In Deliver Us Mars, you either learn to climb or you start over until you do learn. So, a lot of practice is needed to get it right. Manual in game saves would be a nice feature to have instead of the automatic end of chapter game saves only. If your climb fails halfway up, you die and need to try again.
Mars has been delivered
Obviously my action platforming game skills have waned over the years, but I admit that I did get a bit frustrated at times by having to restart sequences until I got it right and could move on. Some of the action sequences, especially climbing, doesn't seem to be all that intuitive. Since climbing can take time to complete, maybe having difficulty settings or tips would help to even game play out. Perhaps a training facility where Kathy could go to learn how to be a better climbing astronaut would be helpful? Unfortunately, frustration can take some of the suspense and intrigue away from a great story but luckily, Deliver Us Mars delivers more than just Mars. It delivers a splendid story voiced and acted out by a lot of very talented actors.
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8.5
fun score
Pros
Voice acting, especially by the games star Ellise Chappell is very convincing and excellent
Cons
Some action sequences don't seem to be all that intuitive and climbing can be difficult at times