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Mixed or average reviews- based on 201 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 23 out of 201

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  1. Apr 27, 2013
    For the price its not a bad game. Combat is harsh and unforgiving but not without its charm, character interaction is amusing and often your choices in such have an obvious effect in game. The ingame crafting allows you to alter the effects and appearance of the armour and weapons your character uses. The graphics given the games pricing can be forgiven. The voice acting is laughable at times, but the games indie background seems to have allowed the developers to go for a more adult tone in language and events which makes a change to most RPGs on the market.The only major fault is the often, tedious nature of some the quests you receive, go here, double back, route through numerous piles of garbage hidden about the level. Expand
  2. Apr 27, 2013
    I just heard about this game yesterday when it's released. I do a bit of research afterwards on how the game is developed and it looks interesting. I bought the game afterwards for $20 and I have to say, for an indie game, this is an excellent game. It's an action rpg where your decisions in game will affect the game later. I'm 6 hours into the game and I'm not even halfway finished. Graphic looks good, the people's lips are kind of stiff but overall the animation is great, voice acting is pretty good, combat is actually fun and challenging, kind of like the Witcher 2 only with clubs and guns, and best of all it's only 2.5 GB in size. Wow, 2.5 GB and the game is this long and content filled. That's a big surprise. It's definitely worth the money. Expand
  3. Apr 26, 2013
    Only played about 2 hours so far, but initial impressions are very good. Don't expect AAA presentation (graphics animations), but mechanically combat is solid and works well, being a decent challenge (once out of the tutorial fights) on hard; items are also quite useful. Character customisation is good with a range of feats (passive boosts to XP, crafting, looting and rep) and skills (three loose trees of combat, stealth items and magic). Crafting involves upgrades to armour and weapons, which have slots, and each slot can be given a variety of bonuses (and visuals) if you have the materials. The story is quite well told so far, with good voice acting and in-engine cutscenes; will be interesting to see where it leads. PC wise it feels a little like a port (mostly the mouse is a little floaty), but has enough options to please most people and it runs well on my laptop (alienware m14x) with high settings. I didn't need to customise the keyboard mouse controls (thumbs up) and there are default keys for most things (inventory, map, skills, characters, etc.) as well as 0-9 for easy to use item ability hotkeys. Like I said, and for $20, don't expect AAA, but in some ways that's a good thing (especially in an RPG) as it feels like the Devs have focused on mechanics over flash, and assuming the rest of the game is as good or better than the first few hours this is definitely a game sci-fi and or RPG fans should check out. Expand
  4. Apr 29, 2013
    Every other day or so I review the Steam new releases in hopes of finding something like this game; a 3rd person story/character-based rpg that I have not played, or read much about. It almost never happens. I follow the genre closely, and generally know what is on the horizon. This kind of game (rpg)offers a mix of development cost/complexity and mediocre sales expectations that basically has meant that smaller or indi studios rarely make them, opting for more of a sure thing, or a less resource-intensive game style.

    This game caught me by surprise, and it has been a really pleasant surprise. I really enjoy the game thus far. It certainly has its, lets cal them eccentricities, but none of them, or even they all in aggregate,effectively "break" the game. It runs well on my machine. Below I will focus on different aspects of the game, sharing my views after about 8 hours of play.

    Story: The story is interesting. I like that it is not "omg save teh wurld!" in its scope. Mars is about as dystopian as setting come, and what you do will likely not ultimately SAVE anyone for good because at the end of the day,there will still be too many thirsty, and not enough water, and little prospect for escape or giant leaps in quality of life. This is a story of trying to make the best of a really bad situation with little or no hope for a genuinely positive ending. Mars is a place where everyone is horrible to everyone. It is oddly satisfying to play hero in a plac ewhere people are hugely appreciative for hte smallest things.

    Characters/writing/VA: I have read a lot of negative reviews of the voice acting. It hasn't bothered me at all. This is what yu get when you do what you can, but do not have millions to dedicate to VA. It is servicable,and never markedly bad imo. There were instances where it caused me to chuckle, but the intonation is generally solid, so i does its part. I actually thing the PC is pretty well done. The dialogue is good in places, and never what I would call bad. The writing matches the setting and stays pretty true to the "feel" of the game. Some of hte caracters are better done than others. Some are bizarre, but that is because they were intended to be so. There are no striking failures. Mary is weird but likable, and I think that is what they were going for.

    Combat: It is a bit repetitive, or gets to be. It isn't the combat itself, which flows pretty well and is not overly easy, but som of the respawns got to me after a while, especially given the huge amount of back-tracking and how each enviroment is used for quite some time. Technomacy is powerful, but not hugely overpowered. You can never 2-shot mobs, and casting times are long enough that you have to timeyour casts well in order to avoid interruption. Like another reviewer said, you hit people with a stick...a lot.

    Graphics/animation: I am not a discerning consumer of fine graphics. I like for characters to look good, and this game succeeds in that. They focused on character faces, which I think is a strong choice. The lighting works well andthe textures on characters are pretty good. I have not even looked at the environmental tetures closely. Some of hte animations are a tad wonky. Sometimes the characters have odd facial contortions that make them appear to be craning their neck is odd wys which makes them appear to be overly-animated. All in all, I reall like the style, and many of the characters are really well-drawn.

    All in all I think they did really well. I certainly have no problem recommending this game given the $20 price point. It is very good in places and I consider it to be a really solid effort.
  5. Apr 28, 2013
    This is a game. A game about hitting people with a stick. Also, about bolts of electricity. You will combat faceless mooks on the Red Planet to gather Serum (aka money, who uses blood components as money?). With this money you can upgrade your stick. This is not phallic.

    You will meet Mary. Mary is pretty and doesn't enjoy wearing clothing. Mary will follow you while you beat people
    with your stick. You make some choices, but mostly hit people with a stick while Mary watches. This is not a game about sexual frustration or S/M.

    Really, it's fun. Also, Mary is pretty.
  6. Apr 27, 2013
    Apart from the truly appalling voice acting, terrible lip syncing, vacant NPC stares and average visuals, I am finding myself really enjoying this game. Really. The combat is satisfying and offers some RPG progression and weapon/armour crafting which I am finding very intriguing. Let's face it, who doesn't want to be a Technomancer? Cool. What an effort from a low budget team. Oh, and any game that can incorporate an 'arrow to the knee' quote gets my vote. Expand
  7. Apr 27, 2013
    As Much as I want to like a smaller production value game, the mechanics are too cliche. the Best way to describe the combat system is taxingly tedious. I cannot stress enough how boring and uncreative it is, it seems more like the combat was an after-thought. The story itself is based around is based around a task system that doesn't allow much for imagination or creativity. Overall its a very linear experience, do this, do that, get this, go here tasks are overwhelmingly boring. As much as I want to continue on the story, it is simply not worth my time.
    I personally don't hold anything against the game engine or the graphics, the controls, or the story. Its just the rest of the game that holds me back. Its obvious more time and thought is needed in multiple aspects of this game. I applaud the developer's efforts, but this seems more like a pre-release.

    At this point I would ask for a refund if Steam allowed it.
  8. Apr 30, 2013
    This game simply does not have much going for it. It has a very weak story, uninteresting characters and boring, repetitive environments. The bright spots are the combat (which is pretty fun and challenging), the skill tree (which is done well with a bunch of useful skills) and the crafting of weapons and armor (which is also pretty fun). Other than those few things it was very dull and there was not much reason, if any, to keep playing. Don't waste your time. Expand
  9. Apr 28, 2013
    Very well done game for the price of $20. They've done a lot of things right.

    The combat is fairly good, at first it may seem weird but it works well.
    The quest are somewhat interesting, some are fetch this, bring it back, but other feel well placed for the setting.
    For the lip sync you end up not realising that it's out of time and done fairly bad. Voice acting isn't the best but the
    main characters voice acting is done very well!
    The setting is great, the graphics are not top notch, but they don't have to be. I fell it adds character the the Mars setting and the fits the game very well.
    Has good character progression. Things you do can reflect on comments made by other characters. Skill tree isn't as vast as say Skyrim, but you wouldn't need anything more than what it gives.

    Overall, It's a really fun game. The characters are done well, dialogue is all there(character background etc. combat works great, story is interesting. Well worth the buy!

    10/10! May seem high to some but this little title that came from no where is great
  10. Apr 27, 2013
    Mars takes a few pages out of the KOTOR-era Bioware gamebook. Search the corners, loot conveniently-highlighted piles of rubble, get ambushed at predictable intervals, complete arbitrary collection quest, repeat. The first 3 hours of gameplay hint at a detailed backstory, but there's nowhere to learn about it; the environments aren't expressive enough to offer any clues, and none of the characters are capable of speaking english above a 6th grade proficiency. Look up the opening cutscene on YouTube, and if the very first line of dialogue gives you a headache, avoid this game, because it never gets better. That said, Mars isn't horrible; it just doesn't do anything RPGs weren't already doing in 2002. Expand
  11. May 1, 2013
    Not for left handed people. The most basic function of remapping keys has been left out of this game making it pretty darn awkward for mouse and keyboard players.

    It maybe out on PC first but this lack of thought for the players makes it seem like another lazy console port.
  12. Apr 27, 2013
    The biggest faults with this game are pretty much the scripting and voice acting, sometimes a little disconnected, but the game in total for $20 its a bargain. There is a lot of depth in the crafting and combat mechanics but easy to figure it out without needing to delve into specifics and allows some great flexibility in play styles. Very much worth the cost of entry and then some.
  13. Apr 29, 2013
    By the time I've played it for now, I can surely say: this is definitely not a bad game. I can say more Mars: War Logs is surprisingly good, especially for it's price. It contains more awesome things than any sequel RPG of the past couple of years. Unusual setting reminds of Riddick stories; the story is strong, and the lore is strong too. Harsh and unforgiving combat, comparing to other current RPG games, delivers lots of pleasure. Add the crafting, huge variety of skills and perks and nice dialogue system to this. And the quests! Forget about the Skyrim-like magic compass thing, here on Mars you're on your own with your tasks. Anyway, all these goodies doesn't mean the game is absolutely perfect. Graphics are a few years outdated, animations are choppy and lacks frames. Side quests are mostly boring or just common. Roy's haircut is just awful he looks like a complete douchebag. Most cons are just about the game's appearance. So, the game is surely worth of it's cost. It's made just for you if you're tired of modern dumb ass RPGs. Expand
  14. Apr 28, 2013
    If you're looking for a game that's worth it's price this is it; however it isn't worth more than $20. The game's graphics were surprisingly as good as many console games from about 2-3 years ago. I experienced no frame hiccups except one in the slums after a quest. If you're thinking you can counter like you would in Batman Arkahm series you're gonna have a bad time and will spend half the time on your back getting raped. I was also expecting more weapon variety but all you get are iron clubs/tubes that you turn into axes etc. as far as I have played there are no guns other than the one you receive in the first level so if you wanna go John woo style and blast the baddies with a minigun you're out of luck. The technomancy tree is probably the most reliable tree hands down as I just beat the game on hard the only thing you have to do is grab overload in the master side, activate it and then spam the living crap out of lightning and watch your enemies turn into fried turkeys. The sneaking part of this game is absolutely useless do not and I mean do not invest into sneaking even with the %50 more silent instant take downs your enemies will magically hear you from across the way much like Metro last light. The voices of Mary and Innocence are emotionless however Mary passes cause her character is meant to be that way but innocence crying over losing "something very important" sounded like evil cackling rather than crying. The upgrades are also universal for all armors and clubs nothing too special. The lack of armors irritated me as i wanted to trick out some guard armor but found I could only customize civilian clothing. With that being said THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO BUY the best weapons/armor are usually found in quests and the parts needed to upgrade are easily found on the bodies of your enemies leaving the merchants absolutely useless except for buying ammo leaving you wondering WTF am I gonna do with all this cash?! The AI is a solid C that doesn't mean bad but that also doesn't mean good the majority of your companions will just be good for distractions as they all have unbearably long charge times for their attacks which means if they're facing 2 enemies at once hitting in succession consider them KO'D. The NPC AI is a bit dumb as they have no reaction to fights breaking out right in front of them think of a street fighter game where they just sit in the background just doing sit ups or eating casually while you're kicking the crap out of the police. The shield men are also a bit ridiculous because even when knocked down and you try to shoot them they magically fly back up and block your nails. The unique character traits are also a nice touch but I suggest not investing in crafting it "unlocks" new crafting recipes but in reality it does jack s**t and the only useful traits is gaining more exp from kills/ scrounging. There are glitches in quests such as on the first chapter the mechanic asks for help finding things I saw a youtube video where it says 5/5 quest done and the guy cheered. I'm here looking at 5/6 parts found and looked everywhere in frustration and me being a completionist I was absolutely livid. What really got me were the companion quests such as "get to know Mary more" I exhausted all voice options in all different ways took her with me through the entire story and even talked to her every location on the map to look for change to no avail. It also said talk to her at the resistant/honour camp in private and I found it impossible to do it. The creators also followed the cliche of putting unlockable chests or crates behind a bunch of other crates I found it humorous walking over to a bunch of crates knowing that if I look behind it i'll find a box to open. It is not as choice reliant as it says since no matter what you do you will lose a certain companion however it does change the ending and people do react to what you say or do on occasion. It is much like Bioshock infinite in terms of sides the only difference between the resistance leader Marco and General Honour is the way you spell their names. They both are negative in some aspects but positive in others. The vanilla path of good is probably Judy's path but I won't ruin it since you have to kill a certain leader to get her. But it still is slightly negative as you have to see your character kneel in reminiscence of a dead companion. Mars war logs is a decent game there are a small amount of glitches but the ones that are there are usually side quest breaking. The game as far as I have seen does not utilize good character development the only thing I knew about the main character was that A. he's a renegade technomancer and B. he's a renegade technomancer. I have no idea who he is other than he ran away from the source and magically went into the prison camp but i do admit I went brain dead in some cutscenes. With all of that said for it's price of $20 this game is better than most games with the same price on release. Expand
  15. Apr 28, 2013
    For only $20, this is an excellent game. Of course its not a AAA title or anything, but for an indie game the combat is decent, the plot is well thought out, and the graphics are pretty good. If you're looking for something to keep you entertained I definitely recommend this.
  16. Apr 30, 2013
    I am not sure why there are so many high reviews of this game with almost all of them praising the combat and story as both these aspects I found terrible. the combat was glitchy, not helped by the camera control which I dont think had one smooth pan during my whole game playthrough, it was unforgiving and even on the lowest difficulty setting It was very hit and miss with some fights I lost very convincingly in 10s and on the retry I won without a scratch, everyone keeps comparing it to witcher which I havent played so maybe you need to play that first to understand it. The story was so laughable with no explanations for NPC motivations or changes of heart, one character was a friend, tried to kill you and then offered to be a companion in about 2 mins without any explanations and that was normal for the game the main story never even explained the main characters motivation and even gives you a choice of what it was about 5min from the end. For a low budget RPG it wasnt bad but the story could really have been done a lot better, its like it wasnt even proof read and was full of spelling mistakes in the dialogue. Expand
  17. Jul 13, 2013
    Mars: War Logs is perhaps a great example of how a indie team with a limited budget can surprise the masses, with a rather incredible and vivid game.

    The storyline is well written, and there is plenty of lore embedded in your menu to read up and understand the setting that takes place. The game is inspired by some other similar titles, but does a excellent job at being unique from those
    other ones.

    The Graphics are very good; I play the game on three monitors and max settings; it is a well-rendered for the mars environment. The engine they use I have not heard of before, but it seems bug-free.

    The Game-play is also catered in a unique light. The game has a bit more of a emphasis on melee, but does have guns. The player will find himself in the beginning trying hard to save resources, since the life of a mars inhabitant in the state of this game can be quite unforgiving.

    The RPG elements are acceptable; there are moral choices and different dialogue options with many people in the game. The skill tree is oriented in three different paths, and skills give you perks.

    There is also crafting, recycling, trading, side quests, and nooks and crannies to explore that will keep you busy.

    9/10 Excellent budget indie title!
  18. Apr 28, 2013
    It's a little rough, but a fun game. Combat is satisfying when I'm not facing the wrong direction and therefore can't attack. Animations can be a little rough sometimes. The voice acting is good but not up to top-shelf standards. The writing could also be a little better for a game with so much dialogue and I didn't always get the sense of exactly what I would be saying from the options available, but overall a pretty fun budget game and worth the $20. Expand
  19. Apr 27, 2013
    great game. yes people, graphics suck, voice acting is hilarious, but i rather play this over most triple A CRAP we get these days. An awesome game with great crafting, great HARD combat, choice, romances and a very interesting storyline.

    Deal with it haters, this is going to be an underrated gem and it will become a cult classic.
  20. May 3, 2013
    I enjoyed the game. The first few hours in the first level were great, and the game felt in its own clunky (indie) way fresh compared to the bland FPS & RPG AAA titles we get nowadays.

    Unfortunately, as you progress the game the quality deteriorates fast. The gameplay mechanics which held the game together the first few hours start to feel boring and repetitive. There's no excitement
    to explore places since the loot has no variety, and it becomes just a requirement for progression. The combat becomes too easy as your character gains experience and even your gear fully upgraded starts to feel old, since there's a relatively small amount of different equipment in the game. However, the story and character leveling keep the game interesting enough to the end, even if you eventually start hoping to reach it already.

    For its price point (20 euros) this game is still a good recommendation. The first few hours are worth it, and its a low cost for supporting an indie team which has this much ambition. Hopefully we'll hear more from them in the future.
  21. Apr 27, 2013
    Played for about 2 hours, maybe a little less. The voice acting/dialogue and lip sync is sub par, wouldn't go as far to say it's terrible, there is defiantly worse. Animations are pretty good, for the most part. The graphic quality is very good when maxed out, although the frame rate appears to be capped at 50fps, which is extremely odd. There is no option to disable, this could easily be patches/edited. The combat and story, both of which are the meat of the game, are sub par. The fighting feels kind of spammy at first, but as you progress it gets better. It appears melee combat is the main focus of the game, with weapons,ect. being accessed by first equipping the item to a hot key and your character uses it briefly when pressed. The story so far is interesting, I look forward to playing more. Expand
  22. Apr 27, 2013
    I was pleasantly surprised when I played this game. Yes it is a little rough around the edges, but overall I am excited to see what else the studio can produce. I like the game World they have created, and I wouldn't mind a second game on Mars.
  23. Apr 28, 2013
    Before noticing the release on Steam I had not heard of this game at all. I was in doubt wether to buy it, as I usually wait a while for reviews and playthrough sessions. Either way, I took the gamble and am now about 8 hours (pretty much non-stop) in. My conclusion so far, it's exactly what I was looking for!

    It pushes all the right buttons for me, with many similarities to Witcher and
    Mass Effect and also a touch of that Risen diamond-in-the-rough feeling. Combat takes some getting used to, but so did the Witcher. The neccesity of blocking, dodging and alternating attacks keep the combat hectic and the addition of technomancer powers make it so much more interesting. Technomancer powers are basically a copy of the Witcher though, but that doesn't make them less fun.

    The graphics are decent, nothing special but the atmosphere works. Lots of brown, but hey it's Mars. Same goes for the voice-acting, it's fine for me (I saw this mentioned as a con at other reviews). The story might be slightly cliche, but there's plenty to read (codex style). I love the customization options for your weapon and armor (though as effects are applied, you're kinda bound to one rather than it's visual appeal). The unlocking of skills is very satisfying (they make a ton of diference in combat, so you have that classic RPG 'getting stronger' feeling).

    Overall, this game does a little bit of everything and does them well enough to keep me entertained. For its price you can't go wrong either. I certainly hope for more of these games to follow from Spider Studios (or is it Focus Home Interactive?).
  24. Jul 14, 2013
    Kind of a mix between Mass Effect (character dialog choices and reputation system), Fallout (loot, overall setting and crafting) and Skyrim (real time combat but with dodges and parries) this game is a severely over looked and under rated gem.

    The level design does leave a lot to be desired and even the updated voice over and dialog is still not great. But the atmosphere, the story, the
    characters, the combat, the crafting and anything else you can think of are all very interesting and fun.

    Sure it's not the longest game, but at 1/3rd the price of most new games, I can't really complain.

    Hope to see a bigger sequel from the same developers.
  25. Jul 14, 2013
    This game is great I'm in love with Spiders studio. It appears to have the same engine as Of Orcs and Men and yes, it's indy, and no it's not triple A. But it is a bunch of fun, with different combat mechanics, an enjoyable story and they have just released a whole new voice over for the english (translation was bad before).

    Give it a try.
  26. Apr 27, 2013
    Well, for just £15 on steam this was a bit of a find! Mostly using "technomancer" arts as its got a different name to the usual RPG ones! The textures are a bit iffy, but then it is only half the price of the big studio games so I'm happy. The conversation choices are ok and do add a bit of feeling to the game.
  27. Apr 27, 2013
    Mars: War Logs is a 3rd person action role playing game, with a great combat system and interesting enemies. Set on the politically fractured planet of Mars, where Guilds (kinda like nations) fight each other over territory, water and other resources. A great setting, eerie sound track, characters and monsters make up a large portion of Mars: WL. You play Roy or "Temperance" who is a prisoner of war to a rival Guild and you start off at Camp 19, A good mix of characters and creatures inhabit this initial area, along with a young man called "Innocence" (those particular names, you'll come across constantly. They help define you as part of Aurora, the newest Guild) Innocence was drafted by Aurora to fight and was captured an bought to camp 19, he meets a group of not-so reputable people and is saved by Roy, from there your choices in dialogue and actions color Roy's past and personality. You can choose to be honest or a liar, patriotic or resentful, a nice guy or a prick. As you, along with your new buddy Innocence, devise a plan of escape, you learn how to operate the incredibly smooth and fluent combat system, the enhanced crafting feature and, ofcourse your means of freedom. You encounter a few tough fights and then your off to a Auroran town, in which I thought Roy's previous prison life, was not so bad in comparison with Shadowlair. A vile looking place that is where Roy's political career a manner of speaking...I'm not gonna continue into the story, though it's reasonably solid.

    Roy He's pretty cool, like if renegade Fem Shep had a kid with Han Solo, not in looks, but attitude.

    Companions, Innocence Not all players will enjoy Innocence and his kind nature, but his name is very symbolic in this world, there isn't much Innocence anywhere, it is all consumed by greed and power, a poetic combination.

    Locations This game has many environments that reflect it's atmosphere, in color, appearance and lighting. Thieves, killers and ladies of the night are consistent in populated zones.

    It's on Mars What more can I say, it's on Mars, i'm happy...and it looked really good.


    Repetition Is frequent in enemies, encounters and characters.

    The Voice Acting A majority of characters are poorly voice-overed, even some of your companions are to scripted, rarely revealing emotion. Roy can sometimes get away with it because he is a bit of a cynic.

    Round up:

    Story: 8/10 not totally engaging or interesting

    Graphics: 9/10 no Crysis, but it has a charm to it, the style suits the atmosphere.

    Sound: 7/10 the Voice acting kept this down, but the music and sound effects are nice and fitting.

    Content: 8/10 Only offers a single player campaign that spans 5-7 hours (I only completed around 80% of total content) With many options of weapon and armor customization, along with a reputation status, a few companions, many side quests and decisions that will later come back and bit you in the butt.

    -A fun game, easily worth the $20 on Steam, i recommend this game if you like dark, eerie action orientated role playing games. One of my favorites of 2013, I hope for DLC!

  28. May 13, 2013
    Jut because it's not large company. doesn't mean it deserve better ratings.

    Same applies fro the price. BUT if the game is not expensive people usually find re rating acceptable compared to the price.

    compensation score 1, because morons.
  29. May 4, 2013
    Long review short: it's not bad! But it's definitely not good either. It's mostly just "meh".

    When I saw this on steam, I was optimistic. It had many of the things I love. Cyberpunk setting, RPG elements, martian colonies and a promise of choosing sides in a corporate war? Awesome.

    And the game started out promising, with a narration of a confused youth detailing how he was lured
    into joining a corporate war in the hopes of money and maybe adventure, but then slowly becoming disillusioned by it all before being captured in battle by enemy forces. For the first few scenes of the game, I thought I was going to be treated to a "rags to badass" story as the narrator goes from a lowly POW to a major player in the war. (I am an eternal optimist.)

    Alas; this was not to be.

    Once the game starts we're introduced to the REAL protagonist of the game in a scene that really drives home how a character shouldn't be introduced. It's not helped that it goes on for way, way too long. It starts the trend of almost getting things right, but not quite managing it.

    The story had promise, and if more time had been devoted to letting things unfold and getting information out it would have been great despite its brevity. (I finished the game in about 11 hours, and I was taking my time.) The game does a good job of things at first, but once you're out of the prison things start getting worse and worse. This isn't helped by the at times ridiculous dialogue, which runs gamut from bad to good.

    The setting is interesting, because as I said before I love me some cyberpunk. And Mars. But for a long time I was confused about where to find out information about it. And even then, this isn't exactly Bioware-levels of depth. It was only late into that that I realized that the corporations were actually guilds, and what exactly a 'dowser' was, and by then I had long ago given up hope that I would be told what these things were and resigned myself to seeing where things were going.

    The characters are a mixed bag. The companions are, for the most part, pretty bad. They're main function is split enemy attention in battle so that I don't get mobbed, and maybe spit out a funny comment or two. This wouldn't be so bad, but a lot of the time my relationships with these characters doesn't develop so much as I'm informed that it's happened. Like the brother-relationship I apparently had with someone at the end of the first level. On the other hand, a lot of the NPCs are done very well. The brothel madame and her prodigal whore were nice, as were the two bickering prisoners who helped me kill water-seeking mutant mole-bugs. (Because if you can't have mole-people on Mars, mutant mole-bugs are just as good.)

    The game's real strong point is combat, as there are few things less enjoyable than seeing the feats, armaments and mods you pick in action. The lack of enemy variety can make combat a bit tedious, but that's not a deal breaker. Some things in it can be frustrating, but they're easily dealt with.

    The music is also good, as it's a nicely done techno soundtrack that really works it combat. I can't really remember it much in other places, because I wasn't really listening for it, but when it does appear it does a good job of setting the tone of things. I never once felt that it was out of place.

    On the whole, it's a game with a strong start that slowly lets itself down. I don't regret buying the game, but I'm pretty sure I won't be playing it again in the near future.
  30. May 13, 2013
    nice graphics, broken game plain and simple.

    Despite not being a big gaming studio, this doesn't deserve better credit.
    No proper controller support,
    no visual feedback depended on you control device, be it keyboard+mouse or game-pad., it's set default to xbox controller. So if you don't have one, you kind of are forced to buy one, but to be honest this is by a by a majority of games.

    nonetheless, I will go opposit of the guys throwing out a 10 or a 9, and throw down a 1 just as easy.
  31. Jul 14, 2013
    A lot of people (see: critics) are being too hard on this game. If you buy it expecting a AAA game you'll be disappointed because it's not made with a AAA budget by a AAA studio. Given the budget and the size of the team they must have had they did a remarkable job on it. Though I have only played about two hours so far the story has me wanting to see more and the gameplay mechanics are pretty solid. The graphics are actually better than what I'd expect from an indie developer. The voice acting is pretty hit and miss but if you've played a lot of indie games you know to expect that.
    You can search the environment and find salvage you can use to craft upgrades for your equipment that not only give you different boosts to your character but also show up on your character in the game. Even in cutscenes!

    If you played the original Witcher and liked it you should give this game a try. For the price it's not a bad game and reminded me a lot of the original Witcher. The only gripe I really have about the game is the ridiculous names some of the characters have but it's explained in the game as a part of the lore. Even the main character makes a comment about it.
  32. Sep 19, 2013
    this game is completely underrated. good story, quite nice gameplay, if repetitive at some point. i loved the characters and the steampunk settings. if you didn´t play it yet, don´t hesitate. it´s a bargain!
  33. Apr 27, 2013
    A very pleasant surprise. This game came out with nearly zero hype or advertisement but if you're up for a good action RPG, you won't regret picking this one up. The writing won't win any awards, sometimes the areas feel a bit claustrophobic and the voice acting is pretty bad but the rest of the game is up to snuff. The progression is structured like Jade Empire for example: you are in interlinked hub areas and there are a healthy amount of sidequests you can pick up before you progress the main quest to a new hub area. The game takes a lot of inspiration from the Witcher 2; you'll have crafting, almost exactly the same combat and character progression systems, and a decision that will make your endgame play out from a different perspective.

    A good game. At its budget price, it's a highly recommended purchase for anyone who likes action RPGs.
  34. May 4, 2013
    This game would've gotten a higher grade, if it weren't for the fact that it managed to dissuade me from playing with it's pathetically nonsensical dialogues and childish plot. Pointless cursing, weird screenplay and not much else to go around make this game a waste of money. I liked "Of Orcs and Men" better.
  35. May 4, 2013
    I don't now what do people expect from a low budget game Within their limit they have produces a fantastic game for new developer.Combat was extremely fun..reminds me of batman and graphics was even though recycled a bit but good..and the story was also ok ..All in all this game deserves a solid 8 or 7.
  36. Apr 29, 2013
    This game first and foremost should be played on the PC with an X-Box controller. It runs very smoothly and the graphics are great. The limited budget was well contained into 3 main areas allowing for the sets to be highly detailed, even if you have to traverse the same area multiple times. The lip sync is off for the most part but that is true of most AAA titles as well. The story is dark but original and very enjoyable. The voice acting is a little off in places but is general okay. The combat is really solid. While the main story line is supposed to only last 15 hours I played all, or as many as I could, of the side quests and got 27 hours of playtime on the first play through. The tension that builds of whether to take a like or not, to have those few extra resources that you need or let them live is well done. I felt like my actions mattered and that is refreshing. The game is VERY much set up for a sequel and I truly hope Spiders can get a bigger budget for the sequel and that there is one.

    I really enjoyed this game and as a first release for Spiders, I think there is a great future for this studio.
  37. Apr 30, 2013
    Worth playing.
    Decent. That word probably describes the game best. The setting is interesting, but the story is a little dry, it definitely has a potential to be so much more. It's mostly linear, but I don't see it as a flaw. The game mechanically resembles KotOR, Jade Empire, Witcher, etc. Graphics are not stunning but they are Ok. RPG system is very simple. Combat is more action that
    tactics. I haven't found any bugs that affect the gameplay. Probably the main weakness of the game is that it lacks polish. Overall it's a good effort and I wasn't disappointed. Expand
  38. Jul 12, 2013
    I usually never write reviews on game. Because I think that game does not deserve some of the bad review it received.

    First of all the graphics are pretty good, it match most console graphics game. Its not a AAA game graphics like Call of Duty, but it doesn't need it neither. Its a RPG not a FPS.

    The gameplay is great too. The combats are fun and the control are easy to use (play
    well with a xbox controller and with the mouse/keyboard). The fight are a little bit like dragon age origin where u can click a button who slow down the game and let use pick a special skill.

    Finally the story is awesome, with lots of details, once again a little bit like dragon age (with a lore book ).

    If you are a RPG player and you don't mind the half real time combat of dragon age origin you will like that game.

    I hope they will make Mars log 2. This game is a real hidden gem.
  39. Apr 29, 2013
    Just started playing it and i think i picked up on how i feel about it.. It's not so bad, sure the fighting reminds of how you fight in sleeping dogs but atleast its not all that kung fu fighting, its just got the feeling is all. The missions i really like. One heck of a very long cut scene at the beginning but its a very good thing they put in the skip button or i would have taken off a quarter to a half of my score off due to it.. It takes me back to the game RAGE witch was another really cool game but they are not the same at all as i can already tell but the GFX and such look exactly the same so I'm gonna have to give this a score of 9 not just because of the GFX, GFX only have a very small partial of how the game should be scored. Good game so far! Expand
  40. Apr 27, 2013
    Very solid RPG from new dev team. Atmosphere and story are great, only voice acting is kinda average in English (it's a French game) but still very understandable, the main character (obviously the most important one) is well voiced and for $20 can't complain.
    Graphics are likewise good, the engine is homemade and very smooth even on low power PCs.
    But most interesting are the discussion
    system and the quests, very cannon RPG (think KOTOR), engaging and with depth. Combat is suprisingly smooth, with different play styles and skill trees. No-nonsense crafting system that allows you to combine items and improve weapons and armor. Quicksaves when you hit F5, no stupid checkpoints. Engaging difficulty even at medium level. Several story choices with a reputation level. Level design cleverly done even with the limited budget the team had.
    Overall a great suprise from a new team, very convincing first try. Keeps me wanting to play more and more, something AAA games lately mostly fail to acheive. Best $20 you can spend on Steam if you are even remotely interested in sci-fi RPGs.
  41. Apr 27, 2013
    A great game with lots of depth. Combat is smooth and intuitive as well as being challenging at the same time (don't expect to just button mash your way through every combat without dying). The crafting system is intuitive and easily understandable. Dialogue, whilst being a little unnatural in some places in the English version due to it being a French game it's enjoyable and understandable, giving a clear description of the game world. There are minor bugs such as the rare enemy AI getting trapped and momentarily having your character stuck on a step but over all for £15 on steam it's a great game, being better than many games double it's price. Expand
  42. Apr 27, 2013
    This game might be one of the biggest surprises this year. Almost unheard of yet it delivers a huge pack of fun for an amazing price. Mars: War logs might have some flaws such as not-so-great voice acting and maybe not so unique story but it's combat, crafting system and skill tree easily cover them. For 20 bucks, this game is totally worth it. Indie low budget game, yet it easily beats some triple As.

    Go for it, you won't regret.
  43. Apr 27, 2013
    Great game for 20$. Kind of like the witcher 2 on mars. Grey morality so far no clear cut good and bad guys. A few rough edges but that's to be expected for only 20$
  44. Apr 28, 2013
    For a $20.00 this game is great, game play is alright the voice acting is quite bad but the story is good. The whole role model to innocence aspect was nice, the lore was a little cliche but i really liked the techromancy.
  45. Apr 30, 2013
    First of all, I've had much fun playing this game, but there are a few things i didn't like. -Endless backtracking. I've stopped doing side-missions because it meant more running through all the same tiny levels again and again. - Every locations looks exactly the same. I know this isn't an expensive AAA title, but a bit of variation should be possible. The games Story is OK but not great, as well as the gameplay.
    My score would be lower if this was a full price title, but i payed only 20€ on steam and for that it's ok.
  46. Apr 28, 2013
    Just finished the game and kind of glad it's done. I read a lot of positive reviews shorty after it appereared on steam and thought let's try. It was compared to the witcher and i think this is quite fitting and if you like this kind of game you will probably enjoy it (at least a little bit The story is ok but i was disappointed because of many parts not resolved in any way. The levels were nearly all the same but well you probably can't expect much diversity on a barren planet full of red sand. Nevertheless i kept hoping for something new and interesting until the end. Combat and skills are done quite well in my opinion but you see more than enough of this part because of respawning enemies. There seems a kind moral system but it didn't work for me trying to be the good guy. I can only recommend to go for the dark side which may offer some advantages if it works at all. I could continue with crafting or companions but let's stop. Overall it's no bad game and i don't regret buying it but sadly no single aspect reaches it's full potential. Expand
  47. Apr 28, 2013
    This game is basically a mashup of Rage, Dune, Firefly, and Chronicles of Riddick, with The Witcher 2's combat and classless RPG system with 3 skill trees. The graphics and production value are quite impressive for a 20 dollar budget indie game, but don't expect AAA. If you can get past lipsyncing issues and bad to mediocre voice acting, there's a decently enjoyable story in there, if you're down with campy dialogue. The crafting system is decent, but nothing special. The combat is pretty fun and the skill trees allow you just enough flexibility to focus the gameplay into your preferred fighting style, though you will never be able to completely change how fights play out. I'll also commend the engine for running really well. I haven't had a single issue with it yet. It's not AAA, it's full of cliches, it's fairly linear, but there's a lot of low budget charm to this title, and most importantly it's fun. For the meager asking price, this game is well worth it. Expand
  48. Apr 29, 2013
    I had to make an account just to defend this game. Mars: War Logs is an amazing RPG set in future and as the title says, it's happening in Mars. Before buying I read other reviews here and watched videos about the game, Youtube user "indeimaus" made and Let's Look clip about War Logs and that really was the one that pushed me to get it (Link: I strongly recommend for others to gather information and check if this game really is for them.

    Like others have said this game really reminds me of Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (combat and other mechanics), Red Faction (Mars of course), Dragon Age (Minimalized buddy-system) and maybe a little bit of Arkham-series (combat). But really people have different experiences.

    For a 20€ (I'm European, but it's also US 20$) getting this game is a steal. War Logs was developed by Spiders, a studio I've never heard of but they did solid work.
    Like I said, the mechanics work really well and remind me of other games (not a bad thing, trust me!), the protagonist is a badass and is voiced like one, discussion options offer a lot of information and apparently these can change the way NPCs see you (good, bad, neutral etc.). Some have criticized other voices but personally I enjoyed them (other characters, their voices and animations too reminded me of Witcher 2). All in all the graphics are really nice and suit the setting really well.
    Story is interesting and catching, it offers somewhat realistic look about this escape plan that the protagonist is driving forward.

    Recap: Downloadable title which is incredibly cheap for such an interesting game with great story, fun gameplay, very good graphics and a little tacky (which didn't bother me) voice acting beside the main protagonist. REMEMBER to read other reviews and watch videos that don't spoil the story to decide would you like this game or not. If you are a fan of gritty scifi RPGs like I am, you won't be disappointed.
    (I'm sorry about the grammar, I'm not a native English speaker)
  49. Apr 29, 2013
    Completed the game, it is a new IP from an Indie developer. Overall the story, combat and graphics are very good, unfortunately the voice acting is horrible in a number of places and lore is very blinkered. For $20 it is definitely a must buy for a very good budget story focused RPG.
  50. Apr 30, 2013
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game ideas are pretty good.
    The history is interesting and drives people forward to see what will happen, despite some characters being annoying. Exaggerated innocence from some of them are just out of way in what the game shows Mars is.
    For the game, the combat system is very good, but the dive and block system can be very trick to use, and sometimes, the NPCs do some unbelievable movements hiting you far away and sometimes pretty much useless. As are your companions most of times, mainly during fight with mobs. Only one function does work good in Companion Order (defend), others only will lead them to die. Also, for the one of these companions, bring her along could lead to increased difficult, since her attacks never stop after the animation started, leading to friendly fire.
    The button configuration are a mess. 4 buttons doing interactions, sometimes E, or R, ou LMB or RMB. Leading to point where trying to collect a item on ground only make Roy go combat ready".
    Graphics are good for a low budget game, face animations are ok.
    Game main story line is short, but god a small but good and well done side quests.
    Also, the plot ends leaving you wondering if will be more games to this saga.
    But, some side quests doesn't start, continue or end with no reason at all.
    For the game price on Steam, worth to get it. But the game does need some polishing in upcoming patches we hope it will get.
  51. May 11, 2013
    Sweet game for the money. Lots of fun.
    To quote another "I have to say, for an indie game, this is an excellent game. It's an action rpg where your decisions in game will affect the game later."

    Fast to play. Good story.
    Hoping to see more Mars: War Logs.
  52. May 13, 2013
    The degree of freedom of choice given to players in customizing items is a great addition to the game. What I liked most was the game's Mass Effect/SWKOTOR-esque style of decision-making. What you would say would literally influence what your character would be able to do. The game's replayability is good, but doesn't offer a new game+ which I was disappointed in. The story was satisfactory and some of the characters were quite intriguing such as that of the Technomancers but don't expect the game to be at par with EA's Mass Effect because this is an indie game.

    Overall, the replay value as well as depth of customization makes this game quite good despite its shallow and almost cliche story line. The price of this game is worth it if you like customizing your character, but if you are more on storytelling, Mars: War Logs will disappoint you to a certain degree.
  53. May 15, 2013
    I'd love to tell you how the game plays, but I can't the cursor keys don't work for moving forward back left right, and you can't remap ANY controls whatsoever! The controls menu simply shows what keys do what it doesn't actually allow changes. The PC version even has a picture of a console controller in the options that's how bad the PC port is.

    I know this isn't a AAA game by a
    major studio, but even so, there is a reasonable user interface baseline which quite frankly, this game doesn't even meet 1990's "shareware" games standard (even "Doom" in 1993 had standard cursor key controls). WASD vs cursor keys flexibility is for left vs right handers and variable mouse position to the left vs right of the keyboard (and even then many right handers prefer cursor keys some right handers also use the mouse with their left hand). This is not exactly a "new thing" and has been known to PC game designers for what 20 years now? Not being a major studio is no excuse This is by the far the worst game interface on any game in years. Expand
  54. Jun 7, 2013
    Mars war logs est le premier jeu créé de toutes pièces par Spiders, petit studio français qui prouve qu'il a l'étoffe d'un grand, le jeu présente toutes les qualités qu'on attend d'un rpg: Système de combat tactique et dynamique et assez riche. Evolution intéressante. Scénario et univers travaillé ainsi que certains personnages. Atmosphère réussie avec une bonne ambiance. Et surtout une durée de vie satisfaisante (quinze heures) avec une forte rejouabilité!
    Les défauts notamment technique (pnj clonés, environnements répétitif) ne sont pas les résultats d'un manque d'envie mais de moyens! Si Spiders avait les moyens de libérer pleinement le potentiel de leur jeu, on tiendrait surement là une valeur sûre de RPG futur!
    N'hésitez donc pas! Pour 20 euros vous jouerez un excellent RPG et encouragerez Spiders sur la voie de la qualité!
  55. Jul 19, 2013
    I'm really impressed with this game, coming from a studio that employs 20 people, it is really well done. This isn't a triple A production, and as such, it does not have the kind of polish or cutting edge technology one would expect from high dollar productions. That being said, it is a wonderful little game with a good story. The mechanics are a bit clunky and dated, but at least it is challenging enough to hold my interest. The story is where this game really shines though. It pulls a lot of the elements that I loved about the first KOTOR and allows the player to make decisions that affects how your companions react, and who you get to play with. Granted, the game is a bit on rails, so it tends to play out like a movie rather than an adventure. If you enjoy Sci Fi, and you're looking for an interesting take on the classic Mars colony theme, this is a wonderful game. The price is fair, and I would recommend it to others. It has some replay value, though two runs is going to be about as much as I can give. I would love to see a sequel with a bigger budget and more exploration and immersion of the world, but please no multiplayer aspect. All in all, a good title. Expand
  56. Sep 12, 2013
    I was rather annoyed when it ended, as I started to enjoy the story and the character development. It is a very good game for its price, and if it had twice the size it could easily be a full title. The pre-made character works well, and the combat is stunning. All in all a good game, especially for its price.
  57. Oct 7, 2013
    War Logs starts fairly strongly, and I was waiting (hoping) for the game to open up but rusty industrial shanty towns is about all you get. Admittedly it is an excellent effort for such a small studio that recalls older BioWare games (KotoR, Jade Empire) as well as newer ones like Mass Effect or CDPR's Witcher. Unfortunately the monotonous gameplay (fetch-quests) begins to grate after a while; travel to D via A, B and C fighting the exact same groups of goons each time. The combat is frustrating and consists of 1. hitting people with a stick, or 2. shocking them with magic (Technomancy) facing more than 3 foes is a complete interrupt spamfest (whether casting or melee), the camera is a total hindrance, especially in confined spaces, (God help you if you get stuck in a corner) and the companions are f**king useless; when they're not getting KO'd they're KO'-ing the player with their AoE spells. Good effort, but am I glad I bought it? Not really. Expand
  58. Jun 10, 2013
    Not a bad game, certainly, but also there is not much fun in playing this title. I found the combat to be rather annoying and dull, also it seems to be based on Witcher 2 combat, which I didn't like at all. The graphics are bad (however this is an indie title so it's nothing surprising), animations are fine though.
    I found the main charater lacking in personality and even annoying
    sometimes. Party mechanism is
    completly broken with your party member being knock out the second the combat starts. Crafting system
    is best described by "meh" and so is the character development.
    Overall nothing really bad about this game, but also nothing really well done.
    Average cRPG hence the 6/10 score.
  59. Dec 4, 2013
    A good, short RPG that's well worth its lower price.
    It hits all the right notes, the combat at first is a challenge but once you level up a few times, get some gear and develop a system it becomes a lot of fun. The game also has a good story although the end is a slight anticlimax but still good enough. A single play through lasts up to 12 hours but it has enough replayability for a
    second run due to in game choises and combat branch. Expand
  60. Jul 14, 2013
    Hi there,

    I relogged in to increase the score from 8 to 10 and rewrite review. From official critics reviews I had my doubts about this game. Once I seen it on Steam for 10$ on weekend's deals I watched YouTube vids and it seemed like something I might be interested in. C'mon it was worth a try for 10$. That was the best ever deal I got off Steam. I mean it.

    I got almost Triple-A
    title that seriously have the feel and touch of KOTOR and Mass Effect combined and yet stands out as unique world. Now I got your attention. :-)

    If the graphics be on latest Crysis level this game would solidly be a Game of the Year. But even with current graphics its great game. This game is really a breath of fresh air among all the crap that is out there in Sci-Fi lately. It aint no Mass Effect or KOTOR but resembles both of these. Not by copying something. Just a feeling like a momentary fragrance of perfume from beautiful woman passing by. That is as close as you can get without huge investments of AAA titles. Very similar in terms of RPG. Graphics are 7 of 10, well may be 8 of 10. After I played it for a while I totally excuse that part especially that it is indie studio and for indie it is real great product. The game itself is enjoyable and keeps you interested. Some say it lacks story... it have hell of a lot better story then Star Trek game that's for sure. Audio not bad and the game itself is not for kids. Quite adult language and other stuff. I liked that too. Got tired of sweet blue puppies and even sweeter stories in video games if you know what I mean. Vast choice of fitting options and dialogues that really matters how you will proceed further. Main character and companion is really decently written and played. Developers managed to create believable world that is actually living around you and change as you proceed through the game. Personally I do recommend this game above all that is out on market. If you loved KOTOR and also into Mass Effect this game is a must have!

    Developers if you ever read this, please do make more of this kind! Next one I buy full price from Spiders. Thank you very much for this game!
  61. Apr 29, 2013
    A really fun indie game that outshines many higher budget rivals. The story is good with a nice twist on a traditional Mars based setting. Combat is reasonably simplistic yet works well and the crafting system is surprisingly deep. My biggest irritant is looting foes is difficult and placement of yourself when achieving this is a little fiddly. Equally the camera could have done with being a little further away. Despite these minor griped Mars: War Logs is a fun game that's excellent value for the asking price and one that's well worth picking up. Expand
  62. Oct 12, 2013
    This game is for the endearing player who is willing to try something new, even if it means that some compromise has to be taken and some flaws have to be accepted. But it is a decent game overall. Just take healthy breaks between playsessions and keep playsessions shorter than 5 hours to avoid repetition kicking in, ruining your fun.

    Story 6.5 10: Overall not bad, but holds a few
    clichés and a cheesy main character. What might be a bit offputting is the developers fascination of abuse, physical as well as mentally. You get Innocence, one of the main characters and his prison shower arrival scene, a full questline about finding and dealing with a r*pist and eventually you meet Mary, a character with the background of an abuse victim.
    At first it might also be difficult to get a feeling for the main character and how he argues with all the morally rotten people living on Mars. However, if you keep playing and look past the abuse motif that appears a few times, you will eventually immerse yourself in the world the developers want to show you.

    Gameplay 8 10: Definitely the strong point of the game. It features a good batch of mechanics, but sadly a few of them don't go much into depth and some abilities cearly trump others. The combat is rich of action and often challenging, but you will quickly learn that guarding parrying is for the weak on the red planet and that even a technomancer has to use his baton. It's a game with a heavy focus on melee combat. Everything else that you will learn or find will be mostly there to diversify the melee fighting. Your gun is mostly an emergency button for block breaking. Various spells are there to enhance melee combat, so is stealth and placing traps. Be aware of that when buying the game. It will always be a game about beating people with sticks, from start to finish.

    After you have beaten your enemies into coma, you may decide between leaving them there unconscious or finishing them off for extra serum currency. Based on your decision it will increase or decrease your reputation, but the morale system sadly leaves a lot to be desired as it simply hands out different passive skills (+crits when being evil; +discounts for merchants and improved companion when being good). It also changes a few dialogues, but you can always work around it if needed.

    What makes the game somewhat unique is the crafting system. Unlike other RPGs, you barely find equipment. Instead you often find scrap metal and other parts you need for the crafting. Most useful items have sockets and you change then the attributes of your weapons and armor by adding certain enhancements. Variations range from raw physical damage and armor over critical strikes to improved electric damage and protection and several combinations of those.

    The dialogue system is interesting and choices do actually matter, which is another plus. For instance, leaving a certain troublemaker in a quest alive instead of killing him will later lead to said troublemaker reappearing and giving you more trouble. Some enemies can be convinced to give up their cause, you then don't have to fight them. The game could have featured a few more of those decisions, though. At the very least they are not "bogus" decisions like other games often offer players. Replaying the game doing things different you will eventually experience changes in the environment and NPCs attitude.

    Visuals 9 10: I personally found them to be quite good, but then again I don't have the highest of standards when it comes to visuals. More importantly, the game runs relatively well on my machine and it's about 4 years old. So, not only does it look good, but it's not too hardware demanding. The character, weapon and armor models are especially nice. The dirt on the faces, the rust on the metal pipes, the rough leather patches of your clothing, it all looks convincing.

    Level Design 5 10: Sadly leaves a lot of desires unfulfilled. It "makes sense" in the game's context, but it has a repetitive scheme. You have about 3 hubs, each with 1 or 2 dungeons tops. Each Hub dungeon is split into "rooms". It is rare to have more than 1 encounter in each room. Think of Monster Hunter. It does give the player the feeling of a restricted world. Also, there isn't exactly much to discover. Clearly a weak point of the game.

    Sound 7 10: Sound effects sound good and never really out of place, but the voice acting isn't always convincing. The main character sounds believable, though.

    Soundtrack 8 10: Mostly depends on whether or not you like electronic stuff and synthesizers. I personally found the music to be very suitable, given the game's background. Every environment and battle had its own sound to it And it sounds very dirty and rough. The frequent use of percussions and drums might be offputting for some. The soundtrack was also made available for free by the developers themselves, so if you like it you can actually download it.
  63. Feb 21, 2014
    It is as though the Devs played Kotor and Witchers and tried to make a hybrid Futuristic RPG with a post apocalyptic steampunk theme, and they didn't do to bad a job of it really.
  64. May 7, 2013
    this is the best 20 bugs i have spent for games in 2013, i find it worth even more value than some 60 bugs AAA game. and these dates you just cant listen to listen to game press's critics. how they rate game has just so many aspects are not associate with the game itself. See what happen with D3 and you know what i mean
  65. Jul 24, 2013
    I've watched game play videos of this, I watched the developer videos. I decided, despite the negative comments about this game, I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did. This game, while the controls aren't perfect, has a nice atmosphere. I loev the art, the music, and the voice overs have their own style. The voice acting is humorous, and enjoyable. The combat, skill, and crafting systems are nicely made.

    War logs is worth the time.
  66. May 1, 2013
    Quite enjoyable RPG. Graphics and voiceover are acceptable. Keyboard-action mapping is good, although can't change key assignments. Mechanics are good as well. I liked the story. I finished it in 12 hours.
  67. Jun 23, 2013
    This is really mediocre game. Game play is nothing special, but the main problems are weak characters and quite boring story. The saving point of this game is its combat, witch is not bad for a low budget RPG.
  68. May 5, 2013
    The game's alright, but probably only worth a $15-$10 price tag. It has decent voice acting, an interesting setting and back story, fairly fluid combat and an interesting upgrade/inventory system. But, The game's story is obviously rushed, it conflicts with the codec entries which make up the interesting back story at times, the combat has some horrible flaws, and there are useless systems in the game like morality perks.

    The game's story looks like it will be long during the first couple sections of the game, but then it hits you that the story is outpacing the codec entries and back story. Factions that are talked about frequently as possible threats and are mentioned in the codecs are never actually talked about, described or even named. It might be planned content for a sequel, might be cut, but it left an unsettling feeling that only got worse after one point. This game is about people on Mars who fight over water, which is a rare resource while trying to survive killing heat and sun, mole people, all while using bare bones equipment it looked like they salvaged 3 days ago. All of this requires a bit of suspension of disbelief. The game removes that suspension immediately at one point as it sprints towards it's finish by introducing technology which was never shown, mentioned or used and was assumed to have been replaced by a worse, more complicated improvised piece of equipment. This piece of technology is used in a cutscene as a plot device and then it's never seen again. Not in a boss fight, not in another cutscene even, just gone. After that the story of the game drops the pretense that it's not running on empty and just dives for the finish line. All this cool detail the codec brings into the game gets either ripped out or seemingly ignored giving the story a shakey feel.

    Combat also has it's flaws, namely the usefulness of companions and the number of enemies you encounter. You get a decent selection of companions with a wide range of personalities and belief systems, which is pretty neat for an indie game. Problem is you can only have one companion go with you at a time. The other problem arises in the usefulness of said companions, with most of them only being able to win a 1 on 1 fight and slowly die in a 2 on 1. The problem is magnified by the fact that the game throws a lot of enemies at you at once. 3 enemies at a time is considered an easy low-key fight. The game will sometimes throw upwards of 5 enemies at you at once. Your companions are generally measured in usefulness by how many enemies they can distract while in a defensive mode while you beat on the rest of the enemies trying to kill you. There's one companion who has stuns and special abilities that are all very useful and elevate them above "meat shield distraction" status, however they will often hit you with an AoE stun ability, making them sometimes more of a burden and nullifying their otherwise obvious advantages over other companions.

    But so what? All the more challenge for that sick combat system, right? Not really. The open fist to face combat relies mostly on parries, dodge rolls, blocks and guard breaks. See an attack coming? Parry or block. See a guy blocking? Guard break. See a guard break coming at you? Dodge roll, cause you can't block or parry it. All very rock, paper, scissors and balanced until multiple enemies and skills are thrown into the mix. There are skills in the game that allow you to literally block/parry everything from bullets to lightning bolts, and there's no stamina meter or way of getting around a block other than a guard breaker. So, it reasons that enemies would have one in order to stop players from just blocking. However, every enemy type has one and they also all have an alternate lunging/jumping/ranged version which is hard to avoid. It only gets worse when your companion has 4 people on them and you have 2, they die and you suddenly have 6. Even with the divine wind of Lu Bu at your back and some ludicrously good parrying to mitigate damage while doing damage some enemy will plow into you with one of these guard breakers and leave you open. At the highest difficulty one hit from a guard breaker may give a crowd of 4 enemies enough time to kill you or nearly kill you while stunned. Then there's the fact that multiple enemies will guard break you, not at once, but in SERIES to stun lock you.

    This leads to an odd spectacle of a man doing extended dodge rolls in circles for a minute around a group of 6 mole people in a narrow cavern chamber while Benny Hills plays in his head in order to regain enough health to attack the weakest one once or twice without running the risk of being stun locked to death. This is a small issue on lower difficulties, but it is a crippling problem on higher ones unless you've upgraded the perfect skills. There is a major problem with your combat system when the mob of trash enemies before a boss is significantly harder than the boss.
  69. May 25, 2013
    Graphics are passible if you use an SMAA or FXAA injector. Very very very poorly done. Character creation is sad, and is male only. Voice acting is so bad they should have stuck with subtitles only. Game is not an RPG it's an extremely linear 3rd person shooter with a clunky interface and some very limited elements of crafting. NOT worth what they are charging, wait until this is on sale on steam for $2.99.... and even then, pass. Expand
  70. May 9, 2013
    Very solid RPG, only second to tittles such as The Witcher and Mass Effect(back when it was still good)

    It does feels a lot like The Witcher 2 from time to time, but hell, cant say that is a bad thing... the only real flaws this game has it's its not so good voice acting and well the graphics ain't exactly top of the line, but over all it balances up with a good story, mature setting,
    a deep character development, interesting companions high variety of customisations and upgrades for weapons and armour.

    I would resume it as a combination of The Witcher Riddick Fallout.

    I give it a solid 8/10 for only 20 bucks is a must buy if u enjoy good RPGs! Am looking forward to see more of it, and i would definitely love if Spiders(the company behind it) would release an Enhanced Edition in the future....
  71. Apr 29, 2013
    PC version review A pleasant surprise for a first game from new developer. I don't know if they're based in Europe or someplace else, but you can feel the european hand in the making. It's not high caliber, it's polished just enough and it's more content over explosions. You play a prisoner on Mars who knows more than he shows.The planet is inhabited in the future and controlled by four houses who have water under their control. People have
    names like Faith, Charity, Innocence... and explains their personality in a way.
    The first thing you do is plan a break out of the prison with your new protege
    Innocence, a young prisoner. It's a RPG game, but a fairly simple. You fight with
    sticks, rods, crowbars and other hitters. You fight in real time, you can dodge, you have
    a normal strike, a block-breaking strike and you can slow down time to select special action,
    like throwing sand in the eyes. Only gun is a nail gun that can help you in a jam. You have three
    ''jobs'' to level up, direct approach, silent approach and later on you get magic. To be a fighter is easier,
    but even silent approach has few uses. Selection of enemies is weak: you have humans (prisoners, guards,
    magic users), dogs you can only hit from behind and mole animals. Another nice addition is item crafting.
    You can make ammo and health packs and enhance weapons. Enhancing is very easy, you just have
    to have certain items in you inventory for desired effect. You get them from looking in trash heaps or crates. They all have a nice shine so you can't miss them. The money in the game is called serum. At first you don't have it much, but then you get a gun for serum extraction. You can use it on defeated human enemies to finish them off, but your reputation takes a hit. Good or bad reputation brings little benefits,
    so that's not very well made. There's a nice ammount of missions and side missions, some can
    be done peacefuly or with a fight. Locations are not very rich, this is Mars after all. The game
    can get repetative very quickly, depends on how much you play it. For low budget game you get
    more than you asked for.
  72. May 4, 2013
    Just finished this game and i gotta say, it was pretty good, very enjoyable game, the graphics weren't breathtaking or anything but not bad either, decent story although the ending did seem kind of abrupt, and some issues unresolved. but overall compared to many, dare i say overrated games i have played it was very good, if you are looking for a good indy game this is one to try for sure.
  73. Apr 30, 2013
    This is an ambitious title that has a great potential and a solid base, it's shortcomings can be overlooked by the fact that it posses a great and young universe that I would be overjoyed to be able to explore, for a cheap price of $20 I'm more than willing to support the creators hopping that in a near future this can become a bright franchise.
  74. Oct 9, 2013
    Pretty average game in every aspect but good enough to make you want to play till the end. Its a 3rd person action rpg. You can craft items. improve your weapons and armor, make your own choices that affect the story and how it ends.
  75. May 4, 2013
    I usually have such a hard time finishing games but this one was able to keep my attention the whole time. The game was a little short (took 11 hours), but the combat was fun. This game was worth more than 20$ in my opinion as this is by far one of the best indie games I've played.
    I went with medium difficulty which was a little too easy. They definitely reward you if you enjoy looking
    in every corner, as you can almost guarantee loot.
    Voice acting wasn't as bad as I thought it would be from all of the other reviews. Although they did pronounce egotistical wrong (like 'leggo my eggo'-tistical) and that gave me a laugh. They also didn't always follow the subtitles either (only minor differences).
    As far as the story goes it was pretty good and doing the side missions were enjoyable instead of a grind.
  76. May 8, 2013
    The best RPG I have played in recent years. It has all what I look for in this genre: good argument, exciting atmosphere, charismatic characters and a deep combat system. Highly recommended, believe me!
  77. May 14, 2013
    Base line: If you played and liked other Spiders games (Of Orcs And Men) or the Game Of Thrones RPG, you will LOVE this one.

    The story is interesting and very well told (even more so considering this is not a AAA title!), the game's combat is challenging and fun, the character system allows and supports different play styles and the atmosphere is well done.

    Of course, you can see the
    title's lower budget constantly. The facial animations are somehow awkward, the graphics are as said atmospheric, but not very detailed and so far, there does not seem to be much branching in the storyline (like in The Witcher, for example).

    So, yes, you could go through the game, constantly nitpicking about ultimately unimportant stuff. But if you play games that way, you won't have any fun with anything but the highest AAA titles anyway. If that is the case, skip this game. If that is not the case, BUY IT and PLAY IT.
    It's a really good game.
  78. Jun 24, 2013
    Short Review:
    Good game. Fantastic value! Played the whole thing over a weekend and had a blast. Fights were fun.
    Long Review:
    I'm not sure what all the negative scores are about. I did have a game pad issue when I first started but it was resolved in 6 minutes. I proceeded to play the entire game over one weekend (about 19 hours with most side quests). One really obvious geometry bug
    comes to mind but it is really late in the game (who cares?!). The story can be a bit weak at times, but it is better than anything I have written. Some of the writing was pretty funny.
    Possibly the worst issue was not finding a playable tutorial regarding the crafting or upgrading of armor/weapons. There is probably something in the manual/guide. I eventually figured it out without either and felt pretty dumb.
  79. Aug 2, 2013
    For a indie game it was very well made. I hope that they can make a sequel and for 20 dollars its a must!!! The combat is really good and you can tell that the developers put alot of attention into it. I know its not a AAA title but its uniqueness and price tag make it a great game!!!
  80. Nov 1, 2013
    I really like this game. Story interesting. Gameplay like in old days, but not very hard and since the game is short, no time to get bored with the monotony..
  81. Oct 15, 2013
    What an absolute little GEM. I've made an account to give some well deserved high praise & to give the game a fair view to potential players despite it's relatively low score here..

    I played on PC max settings, Xbox Controller 120hz no probs. No glitches, no stuttering etc.
    HIGHLY recommend enabling Ambient Occlusion and SMAA within RadeonPro (or its equivalent). It adds a lot to the

    Keeping in mind it is made by a small studio, with considerably less resources than AAA devs, I feel it deserves a Ten, when compared to the cheap thrills that larger studios blow their advertising wads on these days.

    War Logs is an actual RPG, not just in namesake like most 'RPG' games recently which have been crafted to within an inch of actually being a First Person Shooter.(barely any RPG elements). ie. Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 etc.
    It ends up playing like a meld of KOTOR, Jade Empire & Mass Effect.
    Like any of those games & you'll probably enjoy this too.

    War Logs:Mars is great value for it's price, it just needed to be fleshed out a little more, both in content and scope. However, the foundation has been set for a great successor to be created.
    I hope to see a more expansive War Logs game in the near future!
  82. Nov 27, 2013
    For an indie game, this definitely takes the crown! Excellent gameplay, good clean fun. For the price/quality ratio, this is, for sure a game NOT to be overlooked!
  83. Jun 7, 2013

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 32
  2. Negative: 3 out of 32
  1. Aug 6, 2013
    What remains is a fatal vortex of wasted opportunities.
  2. Aug 5, 2013
    Quotation forthcoming.
  3. Jul 23, 2013
    Amongst the many sins of Mars: War Logs, the total lack of originality is the worst one.