Set ten years after Deliver Us The Moon, Deliver Us Mars continues the sci-fi adventure as you try to save humanity from its slow demise on a dying planet; though, it should be noted that this is not a direct sequel.
This game does so many things right, but it also gets a few things wrong as well. A few of the common complaints about Deliver Us Mars are not for minor annoyances either - some of them are for major parts of the game. This list will identify eight aspects of Deliver Us Mars that could be improved.
8 Puzzles
Deliver Us Mars is, at least in part, a puzzle game. There are many types of puzzles in the game; so, in terms of variety of puzzles, the game delivers. The puzzles are on the simplistic side, as many of them are simple 'point the laser at the target' puzzles most of us have encountered many times already in other games.
The placement of the puzzles is another point of contention for many, as it's a little derivative. Like many games before Deliver Us Mars, puzzles are used in specific, familiar, (some might say cliché) scenarios. That door needs to be unlocked - solve a puzzle. That elevator needs to be activated - solve a puzzle. Adding a ticking clock and a time limit to some of the puzzles would help take add another layer of tension to the puzzles, and elevate the game.
7 Rock Climbing
Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 know all too well how rock climbing can be used to pad out a movie. Many have already sounded off on the fact that there's an excessive amount of rock climbing in Deliver Us Mars. In truth, however, it's not as frequent as games like the Uncharted series.
The rock climbing is actually implemented well. In many games, the rock climbing action is performed by moving the analog sticks in opposite directions, or alternately hitting the shoulder buttons on the controller. It is essentially a quick time event in disguise. Deliver Us Mars' method of rock climbing is much more interactive and realistic; there's just too much of it.
6 Pacing
The player character moves in an odd manner; the jogging animation is painfully slow; it almost feels like the character is moving underwater at times. The running animation speeds up the pace, but it's still slow. Travelling from point A to point B often takes up more time than it should.
Cutscenes drag on a little too long as well. Many of them are several minutes long - long enough that you will be eager for them to end when they're only halfway through. It's not as bad as some games, but it hampers the flow of the game at times. There are vehicles you can use at times; the developers could have made these more accessible to spare us from walking everywhere.
5 Platforming
There is as much platforming as rock climbing in Deliver Us Mars. Unfortunately, this isn't as well implemented as the rock climbing. These segments will cause you moments of frustration as a jump is missed over and over. The character's slow movement only serves to make the platforming sections more of a chore than they needed to be.
The (at times clunky) collision detection and large hit-boxes don't help either. Ledges are placed just far enough away that they can only be reached by performing near-perfect leaps of faith. Fortunately, you are able to grab onto ledges and pull yourself up, as, without this, the precision required for the platforming in this game would have been deal-breaker.
4 Melodrama
The voice acting in Deliver Us Mars is quite good. The dialogue itself, however, delves a little too much into the personal problems of the main characters. At times these personal conflicts play well against the backdrop of the overarching plot of trying to save humanity, but sometimes it encroaches into TMI territory.
Of all the problems on this list, this is probably the hardest to theoretically fix. It's not a matter of tweaking the design or making puzzles more challenging. This is a problem that you'll have to tolerate, and hope that a third entry in the series derives its personal conflicts in a less melodramatic fashion.
3 Performance
Deliver Us Mars has a few graphical problems that should have been fixed before launch. The most noticeable of these is texture pop-in; which doesn't help immerse you into the game.
The other obvious performance issues are an inconsistent frame-rate, and a less-than-desirable draw distance. The developers used the age-old trick of adding fog to obscure objects in the distance in an effort to minimize the impact of the short draw distance.
Frame rate issues are normally encountered in multiplayer games where dozens of players are participating. A slow-paced game like Deliver Us Mars should not have such an inconsistent frame rate.
2 Game Length
This game takes a fair bit longer to complete than Deliver Us The Moon. While that could be completed in around five to six hours. Deliver Us Mars takes between eight and ten. This is good, but it's still somewhat shorter than other, better games.
It doesn't help that the slow pacing artificially lengthens the game by about an hour. With any luck, we'll get some reasonably priced DLC content to add a few additional hours of gameplay.
1 Lack Of Instruction
In Deliver Us Mars, there are times when you will be required to perform an action which the game not only fails to inform you was possible, but does not let you practice beforehand. This trial by fire approach isn't necessarily a negative; however, it does cause moments of frustration here and there.
One obvious example of this is the ability to perform a backwards jump off a rock wall. It would be helpful if there was a practice area, accessible at any time, in which players could "git gud" at performing actions needed to complete the game, before it becomes necessary under the pressure of Mars' harsh environments.