Waking Mars - exploration/jetpacking/gardening sim for iOS - NOW AVAILABLE FOR PC

Briareos H on 28/11/2012 at 10:54

I've been playing this quite a bit since it came out on Android and I like it very much. It really is one of those rare new, innovative games that feels like nothing else before, even if the core gameplay idea is very simple.

I, however, have to second the frustration at both the game frequently crashing and the awkward controls on a mobile device. It's not going to stop me from playing though, if anything the frustration allows me to put the game down for a longer time than I would have in other conditions and makes it so pleasurable to come back to it after a few days.

Chimpy Chompy on 28/11/2012 at 11:05

The mobile controls feel pretty clumsy, yeah. And I'm never a fan of having my own fingers obscuring bits of the screen. Most of the time it's acceptable as you don't need to react too quickly and precisely. Usual touchscreen issue, really.

henke on 28/11/2012 at 13:01

Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it, but play it on PC if you have the chance. It's much more immersive when you can just lose yourself in the game without even having to think about the controls.

Quote Posted by Chimpy Chompy

the story is fairly short but I'm pretty ok with that in these days of accumulating dozens of games for £sod-all. I don't have time to spend 20 hours on one.

I know what you mean. With a huge backlog building up, these days I'm starting to feel like a short campaign is more of a feature than a flaw.

faetal on 28/11/2012 at 19:40

Ok Henke, you win.
Installing on PC now.

[EDIT] Really enjoying this so far. The whole mood of the game is just so relaxing.

Briareos H on 2/12/2012 at 17:54

Restarted Waking Mars on PC and it is indeed so much more atmospheric. I turned the music off completely for added impact.

I can't think of any other game doing the concept of alien life ("alien" being not just "extraterrestrial" but also deeply mysterious and unfamiliar) so well before, except Lucasarts' The Dig. Both games share a few concepts and a lot of atmosphere.

The puzzle game core becomes slightly overwhelming and tedious by the end but it might be my 2012 favorite for narrative and exposition. The dialogue in particular is wonderfully written yet brief and to the point.

Chimpy Chompy on 2/12/2012 at 18:10

Got to admit I hit a few points where the Green-pod things were constantly feeding a cluster of spider-things, thus giving a slow and steady biomass rise, so just put the tablet down and let that continue. To save myself the hassle of doing some more planting. Although with about 50 of the buggers crammed into one little cavern my tablet went lol nope and the framerate went to hell.

One thing I frequently find myself wondering is if I want more spiky-things. They're a quick biomass boost but destroy spider-things and floaty-things. Turn their soil alkali and you can plant green-pod things and water-pod things which are less biomass but can feed other stuff.

(I'm never going to remember all the biology-ish names)

faetal on 2/12/2012 at 19:16

How do you turn the soil alkali? I know those spores can do it, but doesn't that just replace them with the spore plant?

Chimpy Chompy on 2/12/2012 at 21:07

Nope, you only get a new spore plant if the spore matches the current soil type. Otherwise it just converts the soil.

[edit]really wishing I'd planted a few alkali-spore plants right now, am low on spores. There's one cavern with stacks of the spore-plants but they all convert ie each other back and forth (cos they line the sides of a vertical shaft), and in my game acid has almost totally taken over.