Surviving Mars Reviews

goldenageoftelevision · Mar 15, 2018

SuikerBrood · Mar 15, 2018

Glorious. I'll be playing tonight.

PurelyChris · Mar 15, 2018

Really good game to be fair. Just a pain in the arse using DualShock 4 controls. Our review is here for anyone wanting PS4/Xbox One impressions - http://pureplaystation.com/review-surviving-mars-ps4/2018/03/

BringBackSonics · Mar 15, 2018

Those are pretty good scores

bshock · Mar 15, 2018

Game is awesome but you will restart multiple times before piecing together the basics on how to get a colony up and running. The learning curve is high but once it clicks, the game becomes immensely fun.

BubblegumNemesis · Mar 15, 2018

Is this based on the boardgame?

Aaron D. · Mar 15, 2018

7 more hours 'till I'm off work.

Bring it.

Rosur · Mar 15, 2018

Was expecting 7s and 8s for this sort of game. Glad to see a 9 or two.

Looking forward to playing when done with work.

bshock said:
Game is awesome but you will restart multiple times before piecing together the basics on how to get a colony up and running. The learning curve is high but once it clicks, the game becomes immensely fun.

Yeah these sorts of games tend to have that. Is there modding support for this like Cities Skylines?

Aaron D. · Mar 15, 2018

Yup.

Full modding and Steam Workshop integration.

The perfect Dark · Mar 15, 2018

I've never heard of this game? Is this Cities Skylines / Sim City on Mars?

Deleted member 13798 · Mar 15, 2018

Already bought- love Tropico, glad this turned out really well.

Sadly Omertà wasn't very good so I was hoping this was going to be special.

bshock said:
Game is awesome but you will restart multiple times before piecing together the basics on how to get a colony up and running. The learning curve is high but once it clicks, the game becomes immensely fun.

It's the same with their Tropico games- it's a little bit frustrating at first just because of how many systems are in play and how you need to manage them, but once you do it's really addicting

glaurung · Mar 15, 2018

The perfect Dark said:
I've never heard of this game? Is this Cities Skylines / Sim City on Mars?

Not quite, it's more like Tropico on Mars.

I never really cared for Tropico and this one does not seem to do a whole lot better. Solid reviews though.

The perfect Dark · Mar 15, 2018

glaurung said:
Not quite, it's more like Tropico on Mars.

I never really cared for Tropico and this one does not seem to do a whole lot better. Solid reviews though.

I've never played Tropico. What's the difference?

Deleted member 13798 · Mar 15, 2018

The perfect Dark said:
I've never played Tropico. What's the difference?

Tropico Has a lot of management when it comes to happiness of citizens, balancing political and financial concerns, making sure your constructing buildings that generate profit based on how you are attempting to play, things like that. It's hard to describe because the base concept of those games that involve city building tend to be very similar, but tropico has some unique things not only in terms of theme and setting, but with how implement some of its systems.

Gestault · Mar 15, 2018

I loved Tropico (plural), and I've had some fun with Aven Colony. I think I'm ready for this.

art_vandelay · Mar 15, 2018

PurelyChris said:
Really good game to be fair. Just a pain in the arse using DualShock 4 controls. Our review is here for anyone wanting PS4/Xbox One impressions - http://pureplaystation.com/review-surviving-mars-ps4/2018/03/

How does it compare to Cities: Skylines in this regard? And/or, what were your feelings on that with the controller, if you played it? Just curious, as it's always a worry with these types of games, but I find Cities plays surprisingly well on a controller.

The perfect Dark · Mar 15, 2018

Fury451 said:
Tropico Has a lot of management when it comes to happiness of citizens, balancing political and financial concerns, making sure your constructing buildings that generate profit based on how you are attempting to play, things like that. It's hard to describe because the base concept of those games that involve city building tend to be very similar, but tropico has some unique things not only in terms of theme and setting, but with how implement some of its systems.

Thanks. Sounds cool tbh. So it's more like The Movies where you build your own studio while the most important thing is to produce lots of movies (to make profit) and take care of your actors and directors.

addik · Mar 15, 2018

Haha just as I was asking for the embargo date on the other thread, this thread pops out!

Will go through the reviews and see if I'll go ahead and buy it tonight. Good score at a glance though.

Theorry · Mar 15, 2018

Good stuff.

Monkey_Plunkett · Mar 15, 2018

Had a quick go at this last night and it seems really good so far, gonna be a nice relaxing chill out game to enjoy.

The perfect Dark · Mar 15, 2018

Monkey_Plunkett said:
Had a quick go at this last night and it seems really good so far, gonna be a nice relaxing chill out game to enjoy.

Reviews are saying it's the opposite,lol.

Rosur · Mar 15, 2018

Aaron D. said:
Yup.

Full modding and Steam Workshop integration.

Awesome :)

Monkey_Plunkett · Mar 15, 2018

The perfect Dark said:
Reviews are saying it's the opposite,lol.

LOL, my first hour went so smoothly, I bet its those damn humans that eventually muck everything up. They always do.

HBK · Mar 15, 2018

The perfect Dark said:
I've never played Tropico. What's the difference?

The short version would be that city builders tend to be "easy as pie" as the goal is to let you build your city more than to challenge you.

Tropico games add difficulty on that with various forms of "game overs" way beyond bankrupcy.

tyfon · Mar 15, 2018

PS4 version is downloading now.
It's really a game for the PC, but my poor arm/wrist can't handle mouse gaming anymore :(
Native 4k is nice though.

bshock · Mar 15, 2018

art_vandelay said:
How does it compare to Cities: Skylines in this regard? And/or, what were your feelings on that with the controller, if you played it? Just curious, as it's always a worry with these types of games, but I find Cities plays surprisingly well on a controller.

It plays very similar to Skylines/Tropico on a controller. Takes a few mins to commit every thing to memory but there's a button layout screen easily accessible.

Really the only glaring issue for me playing on Xbox is the small font. I have a 50" screen I sit about 10 feet from and it can be a strain on my eyes after 30 mins or so.

DocSeuss · Mar 15, 2018

bshock said:
Game is awesome but you will restart multiple times before piecing together the basics on how to get a colony up and running. The learning curve is high but once it clicks, the game becomes immensely fun.

Sounds like a traditional city builder.

Possumowner · Mar 15, 2018

Damn,those reviews are better than I was expecting....and bought

Gabora · Mar 15, 2018

Bought it this morning, can't wait to get home and play it.

PurelyChris · Mar 15, 2018

art_vandelay said:
How does it compare to Cities: Skylines in this regard? And/or, what were your feelings on that with the controller, if you played it? Just curious, as it's always a worry with these types of games, but I find Cities plays surprisingly well on a controller.

I've not actually played Cities: Skylines, so I can't make a fair comparison. But I have played the Tropico games, made by the same developers, and if you can get through Tropico on consoles then you'll be fine with Surviving Mars. It's just a bit fiddly having to press multiple buttons/triggers to get an action going.

Dekuman · Mar 15, 2018

So we'll ve buying $30 expansions yearly with minimal content? Skylines really soured me after snowfall

The perfect Dark · Mar 15, 2018

bshock said:
It plays very similar to Skylines/Tropico on a controller. Takes a few mins to commit every thing to memory but there's a button layout screen easily accessible.

Really the only glaring issue for me playing on Xbox is the small font. I have a 50" screen I sit about 10 feet from and it can be a strain on my eyes after 30 mins or so.

Fuck, not again!
I want to buy this game on Xbox One but I hate small fonts.

Xando · Mar 15, 2018

Dekuman said:
So we'll ve buying $30 expansions yearly with minimal content? Skylines really soured me after snowfall

Rule 1 of Paradox games is to never buy their expansion passes and only buy DLC that interests you and/or is good.

Anyway, installing now!

AcridMeat · Mar 15, 2018

Holy shit didn't expect such high praise, I pre-ordered over the weekend. Excited to get into it tonight.

The Almighty Tria · Mar 15, 2018

Oh shit, the Tropico devs? Thank God. Tropico needed a rest so fucking hard.

This looks dope as hell.

SoyUnPixel · Mar 15, 2018

I didn't know this existed, I'm intrigued.

StereoVSN · Mar 15, 2018

The game looks pretty good but I think I will wait for some patches and possibly DLCs to even out interface issues and add more tech/options/etc...

visvim · Mar 15, 2018

The perfect Dark said:
Fuck, not again!
I want to buy this game on Xbox One but I hate small fonts.

Sorry guys -it's my fault. I got some new glasses this week and the universe likes to troll me.

goldenageoftelevision · Mar 15, 2018

its out on steam now!

Poppy · Mar 15, 2018

dang i need to give this a look see

paradox though, maybe i will wait. i havent been gripped by their games much yet

Deleted member 13798 · Mar 15, 2018

Dekuman said:
So we'll ve buying $30 expansions yearly with minimal content? Skylines really soured me after snowfall

Unlikely. The Tropico DLC is hit or miss in terms of pricing but I usually found it fair for what's offered, and there was good stuff added overall.

Current season pass also lists generally what to expect

lordkosc · Mar 15, 2018

Dekuman said:
So we'll ve buying $30 expansions yearly with minimal content? Skylines really soured me after snowfall

The season pass mentions 2 expansions and 2 content packs. That is in addition to the free dlc content packs the dev's have mentioned.

bsigg · Mar 15, 2018

The devs mentioned (somewhere, can't seem to find it) they were looking into mod support for Xbox (consoles?). Definitely picking this up though and with City Skylines hitting Game Pass next month, I'll be full up on city/colony builders.

Aaron D. · Mar 15, 2018

Poppy said:
dang i need to give this a look see

paradox though, maybe i will wait. i havent been gripped by their games much yet

Paradox is the publisher.

Haemimont Games (Tropico series) is the developer.

Poppy · Mar 15, 2018

Aaron D. · Mar 15, 2018

Bio · Mar 15, 2018

glaurung said:
Not quite, it's more like Tropico on Mars.

It's actually not very much like Tropico. Tropico is almost entirely about your citizens, whereas in Surviving Mars you may not even land a colonist for the first 3-5 hours of the game, depending on a variety of factors, and their morale, demands and needs don't take center stage until the start of the endgame, which revolves around one of several different mysteries that your colonists react differently to. In my various plays through the game the onset of that particular event happened anywhere between Sol 100 and Sol 127 (each Sol is one in-game day that, depending on the speed at which you are playing, can last between 2-6 minutes).

For the most part, in Surviving Mars, you don't have to worry as much about your colonists as you do the infrastructure they depend on to survive, and in fact you can manage most of their morale through your building and maintenance choices. Various buildings provide differing levels of 'comfort' that is the primary driver in how happy your population is.

Overall a fantastic game.

Bio · Mar 15, 2018

art_vandelay said:
How does it compare to Cities: Skylines in this regard? And/or, what were your feelings on that with the controller, if you played it? Just curious, as it's always a worry with these types of games, but I find Cities plays surprisingly well on a controller.

Surviving Mars is surprisingly fluid on a controller, for the complexity it involves. It's not perfect but it's much better than I anticipated it being.

Building things is especially easy. You bring up your build menu with Triangle, and you can quickly sort through the main categories with R1 and L1, and then drill down with right and left on the d-pad. Very easy, quick and efficient. You can scroll through things very quickly.

Maintaining, repairing and salvaging buildings and/or managing your colonists is less fluid. You have to highlight the desired building/object/person and then hit R2, then right on d-pad to even get into the submenu for that thing. You have 2-5 horizontal subcategories and 5-6 vertical ones, and you can't drill down on the vertical ones unless you're at the left-most horizontal option. In this case how quickly you scroll through menus hampers rather than helps you.

Late in game it can get annoying if you have a ton of shit packed closely together, because the control stick just isn't as accurate as a mouse so you'll accidentally highlight the wrong thing and then have to mash X to scroll through all nearby objects until you get the right one.

I don't think you'll have any trouble on the PS4.Xbox if you want to go that route. It's can be weird at times, and a bit ungainly, but for the level of control they give you I'm not sure how they could have done it much better.

Nyx · Mar 15, 2018

I'm in my first hour of playing and have no idea what I'm doing, but happy that reviews are good.

SuikerBrood · Mar 15, 2018

Downloading.

Surviving Mars Reviews

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