Unearthing Mars VR

It's completely not what I was expecting. It had technical problems from the start, like haptics getting stuck on for extended periods, when I first started it didn't detect my HMD height correctly and I was a giant and had to restart everything. It doesn't tell you which chapters are a seated experience and which aren't, which ruins the seated parts as you're sat in a seat in the game and stood up in real life. If it just gave you a heads up for each chapter then you could move a chair into place before it starts. You have to teleport to predesignated spots which appear very slowly at times making it frustrating to move around. There's a part where you think you'll be driving a Mars Rover and it turns out you're floating in the air behind it with a remote control driving it like you would an RC car, totally ruining any excitement of driving a Mars Rover on Mars. The voice acting isn't great, the voice for the robot is laughable, it sounds like a badly voiced Dalek. The lip syncing with the character models is terrible. The game seems to be designed more for children than adults in my opinion. The graphics are OK, but I was expecting better, higher res textures etc. No matter how much I wanted to enjoy this game, I just couldn't, which is a shame, as the trailer made me really look forward to playing it.

No freedom whatsoever. It's a linear storyteller. And the story is not that good. Your controls get disabled when they talk so half of the time you just stand there. Here comes an example: In one of the first chapters you are in a room with three buttons and one item to pick up. Over the course of 6-7 minutes you press these 3 buttons, and give that one item to an NPC. When I got to the mars rover (the one they're bragging about in the feature section of the games description. The one they say you can explore mars with) I drove 300 feet, the rover stopped and they talked for about a minute. I was allowed to drive another 300feet in complete silence. The rover stopped and they talked again. I don't like that. Minimal gameplay, Just standing and looking. 80% of this game is standing still with controls disabled. If you like that then this game is absolutely gorgeous for you. The animations aren't half bad, and the models are good quality.

"Unearthing Mars VR" ist ein extrem geradliniges, überaus kurzes Adventure-Game, welches in 10 Teile erzählt wird und eigentlich nur Spieler anspricht, die dem Thema Mars nicht abgeneigt sind. Ein paar Akte sind toll und atmosphärisch, die meisten sehr mittelmässig und einige wenige ein Witz. Wäre es nicht VR, gäbe es schlicht kein Kaufgrund. Durch und durch Durchschnittlich in Gameplay, Präsentation, Story und Sound, aber ein Daumen nach unten wäre unangebracht, da sich das Spiel keine Schnitzer erlaubt und an sich beileibe niemanden ärgern wird (höchstens vielleicht der Preis). Ich hatte das Spiel in 116 Minuten komplett durch, hätte es also bei Steam wieder zurückerstatten können. Darauf habe ich jedoch verzichtet, möchte allen anderen Neugierigen jedoch empfehlen einen SALE abzuwarten um dann einen Blick zu riskieren.

I picked it up in Summersale and am at Level 4 now. I love it so far. I always assumed that with VR the entertainment industry would develop new formats that are more experience orientated in addition to the very fast and stressful game-play oriented formats that are the mayority right now. "Unearthing Mars" is very much in that direction, it gives you time to take in the environment and slowly develops the story. The graphics of the "War of the worlds" waveshooter first Level were truly breathtaking and among the best VR experiences I have had so far. What could be done better? Well, the abrupt level endings would be my main critique-- all levels so far just abruptly ended without a visualization of the end and then the next level would load... the transition could be made more organic so that the immersion is not destroyed each time a level i completed. Keep up the good work.

Had no problems with this game/story, as it is more a story that you experience than a game. I quite enjoyed the experience but would say it is too short. Completed in less than 2.3 hours but did find it engaging. Not something I will go back to but worth sharing with a friend.

Unearthing Mars is an interactive adventure in 10 acts arrived on PC after his PSVR release. I realize why it received some mixed reviews, isn't flawless and it's in some way unexpected but I liked it, 14.99 is a fair price for the amount of quality and longevity offered. I used the interactive adventure definition because you can find different things: 1) story driven situations, when things happens and you need time to time to do a single action to progress (most commons); 2) driving and exploring situation, when you drive your rover like an RC car (my favourites); 3) puzzle situations (rare); 4) fighting situations (rare). Many textures are low res, I suppose for his PSVR heritage, but the overall graphical quality is interesting with some detailed polygon models and spectacular views in externals, it's clearly a production with a budget. Lack some polishing and has compromises in UI side, for example mixing seated and standing acts without suggesting you to reset head position (menu button). As I wrote before, being a cinematic experience for the most part, those who aims for action will be disappointed. Think about a sort of Apollo 11 with additional interactions and a very fictional story (Have you noticed the pyramid in the backing of the main banner, right?).

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift[/h1] You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/iXB4pOupQnY This is really a space-themed walking simulator, without the walking. You teleport in some parts of this game, but mostly you're just watching the cinematic scenes play out. The controls are awful and you can tell this is a PSVR port. There are also some light puzzle elements. The game takes about 90 minutes to complete. This could have been a much better game, if they had hired better voice actors. One of the main characters sounds almost as robotic as the actual voiced robot in the game. Unfortunately, the writers of this story did not help her out. There is not much depth to the characters or to the plot. In fact, the story starts out very much by the numbers, then suddenly takes a turn into left field. Just when the story starts getting weird and interesting, the game ends. You do have snap turning, but you have to press in your joysticks. You control a Mars rover-type vehicle, but the controls are terrible. You have like an overhead view of the vehicle while you're controlling it. Then the voiced parts have you clicking one of 2-3 answers to respond. Overall, the controls are pretty bad except for the puzzle portions. While some puzzles were too easy, some of them were nice. Definitely casual type puzzles so don't worry if you are bad at puzzles. Overall, I did enjoy this game, but I often felt like I was fighting against the controls. There's also terrible wave shooting sections in the game, but thankfully, they are not too long. The game ran smoothly on my 1060 GTX and I was getting a steady 90 frames per second. The visuals, while not great, still hold up in 2020. [b]Rate 6/10. Buy on deep sale recommendation only. Definitely better than the average walking simulator in VR.[/b]

it is terrible and scaling is shifting evertime you move. people feel like they are shrinking at the slightest movement and nothing is explained. the minigames are also not fun and the visuals are bland.

A really slow start (chapter 1-5) but the story progression picks up during the last half of the game. It is not an action game but does provide a pretty epic feel during the opening and later part of the game (though, short). Voice acting is kinda bad but decent at other times, but there are small moments towards the end of the game that are really cool to experience in VR, because you're not just watching a story being told, you're experiencing the central characters journey and emotions, that although are not anything exceptional, it still has an impact to experiencing it as the character does. Music and sound effects are great and if you can stick past the first half of the game and not go into it expecting an action adventure game, it's a pretty decently put together, story-driven VR experience that is rare right now. Give it a chance.

Good adventure simulator game. Allows you to interact and be part of the story. Graphics are very nice. Controls are fairly easy. Tutorials show you what to do whenever you have to do something new. I didn't finish the game yet. I think I made it to chapter 4. At the beginning of the game you start off playing chapter 9 so I guess there are at least 9 chapters. Overall, a nice fun immersive experience, on Mars. There is no locomotion except teleporting to predetermined spots which, yes, isn't great but it did not take any enjoyment away for me. The environments were enough to suck me in. There is no real purpose to go traversing the Mars lanscape with specific missions being done anyhow. For $15 dollars it is worth a buy if you like adventure games, simulators, Mars , robots, controlling rovers and having a nice looking pilot flying you around. On sale this is a definate buy. From what I played so far I give it 8/10. Video of first play here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1324515967