Surviving Mars
Review
Keep them alive
by Sean Martin
reviewed on PC
EASY TO OVERSTRETCH (cntd)
But a rocket must also be refuelled with another resource before it can be sent back, and the valuable metals require a colonist run building to mine them. This is just one example of the intricate web of conditions that makes Surviving Mars feel like such a realistic simulation. It’s so easy to overstretch yourself, to exploit and expand too fast or to forget that your stockpile of resources is only as good as the life it is paying for.
DRONES
To accomplish these objectives you are given a number of tools, the chief amongst them being the drones. Over my extensive playthrough I found a special place in my heart for the drones. I struggled to identify with the pampered colonists, enjoying their luxuries, while those tireless automatons trundled back and forth, forever ferrying resources and maintaining the fragile web keeping everything alive. For the most part the drones will automatically do what is needed, and you can change what is most important using the priority system. But they can be a bit dumb sometimes; you will use a rover to ferry a truck-load of resources to them and they will plain ignore it, going a mile out of their way instead.
They do catch on eventually, but the game could do with a way to exert more control over them, or to set their behaviour. There are a few other niggling complaints; the power cables that automatically connect to everything adjacent to them, which when you’re trying to isolate power systems, can really screw you up. No way to scrap power cables either. Also when you click on a building to be maintained, you can’t un-click it, which means if you ever accidentally do it to a building that requires rare resource upkeep, you’re wasting valuable resources. Niggling as I said, and doesn’t make a real difference on normal difficulty, but players would definitely notice on hard.
SMARTER THAN IT HAD TO BE
But those are honestly the biggest complaints I had with this game. Surviving Mars features mechanics reminiscent of so many of my favourite strategy games, such as the tactile resources of Black and White or a colony delivery system reminiscent of Age of Empires 3. It’s also a lot smarter than it had to be. Usually with space strategy it often seems like a case of build it and they will come, especially with the current trend of Mars based colonization games. But Surviving Mars is by a long-shot the smartest I’ve played. It really makes you consider the cost of human life in its current state; to me it didn’t feel like a game blindly saying that colonization was the inevitable future of humanity.
I saw all my colonists die in a meteor shower, suffocate because I forgot to maintain the third oxygen tank, saw them riot because I worked them too hard for the resources I needed to sell for their continued existence. It really made me question whether colonization is a viability for humanity or whether the cost will eventually prove too high, and I bet you that’s a question that probably crosses Elon Musk’s mind most days.
8.8
fun score
Pros
Beautiful visual design, smart strategy gameplay.
Cons
Drones can be dumb, niggling complaints.
