MARS SIMULATOR - RED PLANET

Mars Simulator is somewhat more game-like than Take on Mars (TKOM), and within the limits imposed by the user interface, easier to play. Landing is especially difficult as the lander does not respond well to the key commands. When you start the actual landing, get on the W and D keys immediately or you won't make it to the target zone. My only other complaint is that the rover moves far too fast to be realistic and you must do all the driving; there's no instruction programming interface as there is in TKOM. There is no manual and no instructions other than what appear on the screen as you play, so I've extracted them, slightly edited, from the game files. The capsule carrying the rover has entered the Martian atmosphere. Prepare to land the capsule safely in the landing zone using the arrow keys or the W,A,S and D keys to steer the capsule towards the landing zone. When the capsule is close enough to the ground, open the parachute with the spacebar. When you have control of the rover, move it forwards and backwards using the W and S keys. Use the A and D keys to turn left and right. Change the camera angle by pressing and holding the right mouse button and then moving the mouse. You can zoom in and out using the mouse wheel. Take the rover for a test drive to get used to the controls. Drive to the circle indicated on your screen. Next, take some photographs of the surroundings. Press 2 to switch to camera mode. Take 15 photos of the area by pressing the spacebar to take a photo. Zoom in and out with the mouse wheel. Since you can take a maximum of 50 photos before running out of memory, transmit your photographs back to Earth after each expedition. To successfully transmit them you’ll need to ensure that you’ve got full reception. On the lower left of the interface you’ll see a signal strength indicator. Drive around with the rover until you’re able to get a full signal (five green bars). When you find a place where the reception is good enough to transmit your photographs back to Earth, click on “inventory” on the lower left of the interface and then on “photos”. View your photographs, delete any you don’t like, then transmit the rest to Earth by clicking on the “transmit all photos” button. Now drive back to the green circle to start the next mission, rock hunting. Collect some rock samples. Find a small rock and maneuver the rover so that it’s within reach, then press 3 to use the claw. Use the A and D keys to rotate the arm left and right. You can raise and lower both parts of the arm with the Q,E,W and S keys. Press the spacebar to pick up an object. Now you’ve got a rock. Press Enter to place it in your inventory. You can then view the rock in your inventory by clicking on “inventory” on the lower left of the interface. Collect four more rock samples using the claw. Take soil samples next. Press 4 to use the drill. Using the A and D keys, rotate the arm left and right. Raise and lower both parts of the arm with the Q, E, W and S keys. Press the spacebar to activate the drill. As you drill, the dust you extract will be placed directly in your inventory. Drive back to the green circle to start the next mission, which is to take a closer look at the terrain. Satellite photos of this area show a number of strange objects. Explore the valley to the south and find them. Sounds from unknown sources have been detected in this area. Maybe they’re connected to the strange objects in the satellite photos. Explore the area. You should be able to see glowing rocks ahead; they must be the strange objects in the satellite photos. Use the claw to take a sample. Satellite photos show three more glowing rocks. Find them and take samples of each for a total of four samples of these artifacts. Take 25 more photos and transmit them back to Earth. The entrance to a large cave lies to the southeast. Drive there. It’s dark in the cave and visibility is poor; press the N key to switch to infrared mode. Explore the cave, carefully. Since no sunlight reaches the interior of the cave, the solar cells can’t be recharged. The yellow glowing mineral crystals seem like they may be an energy source; you might be able to charge the solar cells with them instead. Collect 10 samples. Sensors indicate that there may be frozen water nearby. Take a core sample if you come across any ice. The seismograph just recorded a powerful earthquake. Get the rover out of the cave as fast as you can before it caves in. Storage containers for the samples are all full. The samples must be transported back to Earth. Return to the landing zone. Watch out for whirlwinds on the way, and drive the rover onto the platform. The return capsule is ready to take off but it's very windy. Use the arrow keys to steer against the wind and prevent the capsule from crashing.

"MARS SIMULATOR - RED PLANET" ist eine Mars-Rover Simulation. Die ferngesteuerten und mit reichlich Messgeräten ausgestatteten Fahrzeuge wurden bereits viermal erfolgreich zum roten Planeten geschickt. Sie werden im Wesentlichen per Funk von der Erde gesteuert und senden regelmäßig ihre Messergebnisse zum blauen Planeten. Zugegeben, eine Mars-Rover Simulation klingt an sich schon nicht wirklich nach einem Ausbund an Action und Unterhaltung. Allerdings sind die Missionen in der Realität aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht höchst spannend. Leider zeigt diese Pseudo-Simulation von dieser Faszination so gut wie gar nichts. Das liegt nicht an der ziemlich schlechten Grafik mit reihenweise matschigen Texturen und Überblendungen oder am - zu erwartenden - sehr gemächlichen Tempo. Das liegt an der kreativlosen und albernen Struktur der Missionen. Und das nicht etwa, weil diese Missionen in der Realität so viel spannender wären, sondern weil die Missionen den Spieler weder fordern noch ernst nehmen. So sollen wir zum Beispiel 15 Fotos schießen. Ob wir nun herumfahren und besonders interessante Formationen ablichten oder einfach 15 mal hintereinander abdrücken genau dasselbe Motiv aufnehmen, ist dem Spiel völlig egal. Dafür ist es erstaunlich wählerisch, von welchen Brocken wir denn Gesteinsproben zu nehmen haben. Auch wenn alle Steinchen an sich gleich aussehen, dürfen wir natürlich nur diejenigen anfahren, die grün blinken. Natürlich. Ist in echt ja auch so. Fast froh ist man, daß der Inhalt des Spieles sich bereits recht rasch seinem Ende entgegenneigt und die zu erkundenden Areale doch recht übersichtlich geraten sind. Schade eigentlich, denn die grundlegende Atmosphäre wäre eigentlich gar nicht mal so schlecht. Eine ernsthaftere Simulation hätte durchaus begeistern können. [h1]Wertung:[/h1] 6/10 Atmosphäre 3/10 Story 4/10 Grafik 4/10 Sound 4/10 Spielmechanik 5/10 Balancing 5/10 Spielspass [h1]Fazit:[/h1] Mars macht mobil. [h1][b]5/10 Gesamtwertung

With a title like Mars Simulator, you would expect a simulation of Mars. Alas, Planetbase or Sol 0 do a far better job of simulating the red planet. John Carter of Mars did a better simulation. The game thinks so little of its subject matter that it relies on fantasies of alien artifacts and glowing crystals to stretch the content beyond 4 missions. The lexicon is limited to a short list of statistics, condensed from Wikipedia. The mars rover, the star of the show, doesn't handle as well as my lawn mower. But it does have the same navigational system. Scratch that - with my lawn mower, I can at least follow my tracks. Imagine the thrill of exploring Mars without a sense of direction (no compass) or location (strategic map looks like a square of sandpaper, with blots). Where is south? Which blot is that cliff wall? But now I am just getting snarky. If you must buy this, wait until the price goes down to, say, $1.50 Cdn.

Описание игры полностью описывает геймплей. Сели на Марс. Отобрали образцы камней и грунта. Сделали несколько фотографий, отправили их на землю. ВСЁ! 40 минут, 37 из которых - это унылая и неторопливая езда из пункта А в пункт Б. Графическая составляющая отвратительна, единственное разрешение при котором картинка занимает весь экран 1280*720, текстуры однообразны, физики нет (да и незачем). Единственный положительный момент - это наличие в меню подборки информации о Марсе, но платить 5$ за несколько строк из Википедии.....

Could be an awesome game. Sadly, I already have issues upon starting the game, despite I haven't tried and played the game as of yet (which I won't do either). The game starts in German actually, and menu opens in English. Graphical settings won't allow me to go to my native resolution of 1920*1080 for my monitor, it's max is 1600*1050.... If you want to play this at a native resoultion above 1600*1050 good luck's wishes, you won't. Now the game itself: Pro's: - Graphics are alright - Controls are neat - Surroundings and actions look nice - Missions are nice too Con's: - Resolution changing - Voice acting (if it's not just a text-to-speech thing) - Driving is slidey - Feels like it's ripped off from somewhere (don't know, just the feeling)

Итак я прошел эту игру, и что же я получил, потратив целых 40 минут своего времени? [b]Конечно же, тонну положительных эмоций!!![/b] Я не только почувствовал себя настоящим работником NASA, словно я первопроходец на загадочной красной планете, но и проникся этим ни с чем не сравнимым чувством мистики, которое так аккуратно создаёт это великолепная игра! Что это за звуки, будто из недр планеты? Что за светящиеся камни? Минералы с энергией? Вода??!?! На эти и многие другие вопросы игра вам [b]не даст[/b] ответа, но ведь в этом ведь вся и прелесть, верно? Лучшая загадка - это загадка без ответа. Словно фильм Нолана, игра оставляет открытую концовку и даёт игроку право додумать ответы. [b]10 собранных минералов из 10[/b]

Une grosse ARNAQUE, 7.99 pour un (jeu) qui est plus une demo. Toute les missions sont terminées en moins d'une heure. Vraiment déconseillé.

Graphiquement, le jeu est très bien, mais je le trouve beaucoup trop court ; j'ai cru que j'avais fini le tutorial, mais en fait, c'est le jeu que j'ai fini...

no card's

Mars Simulator is what I have expected: A Mars Simulator. Small and funny missions to solve. Overall good as long as you don't expect a huge open world Simulator.