Mars - Release Date Announced
 

Focus-Home the publishers of Mars War Logs have contacted us and let us know that Mars War Logs will be out tomorrow Friday the 26th of April, which is earlier than expected.
I'm no expert in marketing, but I don't think this is the best way to launch a game, so I expect much more 'focus' in the next days for this game.
Mars War Logs will be released for PC only for now. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be released at a later time.
More information.

I'm definetly buying it but the problem is - dunno where. No online store has it in the catalogue and the official "shop" says coming soon:
http://www.mars-warlogs.com/?rub=shop

EDIT:
Silly me, I just had to check the publisher… It's available for $20 as preorder on Focus-Home shop:
http://us-focus-store.gamesplanet.co…s-3796-13.html

It is also available on Greenmangaming (don't forget 20% off code), and on Gamersgate.

It's also available on german amazon. Okay I admit, didn't look thoroughly. :)

For those who are not sure is it worth buying I've checked their forums so a few "spoilers" from the staff (not rumors):

- (Mars) is not a free world but each maps is divided in several areas. So you will be able to travel from a map to another to explore the world of Mars and get numerous side-quests!

- Your choices will have consequences later on in the game and of course there will be several endings. I can't give you more details! It's important to let you discover your way on Mars.

- Among female characters of the game, you can also count Devotion Chase which is also a romance option. Both of them were introduced on this devblog publication (http://spiders-devblog.tumblr.com/po…ntial-romantic )

- (Steam Workshop?) We don't plan to add mods to the game but thank you for your suggestion. It's important for us to speak with developers and let them know what the community is expecting.


And min. requirements are:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

OS: WINDOWS XP SP3/WINDOWS VISTA SP2/WINDOWS 7/WINDOWS 8
PROCESSOR: AMD/INTEL DUAL-CORE 2.2 GHZ
RAM MEMORY: 2048 MB
GRAPHICS CARD: 512 MB 100% DIRECTX 9 AND SHADERS 4.0 COMPATIBLE
ATI RADEON HD 4830/NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT OR HIGHER
DVD-ROM: 2X DRIVE
HARD DISK SPACE: 3 GB
SOUND CARD: DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR THE GAME ACTIVATION

thanks guys.. I really missed this.

So it's out tomorrow?

Talk about a last minute announcement. :)

yeah and still no steam page wtf
cheapest is at gmg 16$

I just purchased it from GMG. I had $3 credit in my account for some reason, so I got it for $13 after the coupon code. (GMG20-GGN5D-FC3NA)

No Steam key yet.

Maybe they need money now so there releasing on the pc early and console later. They wouldn't be the first small developer to do so.
Thanks for the info and it's not bad for a 15 hour RPG.

uh.. waiting for the reviews. very interesting, but not biting yet.

I hope that this first release announcement (not announced elsewhere) is an indication that this is a real rpg for rpg fans. Even better if rpgwatch has the first exclusive review of this game ;).

The first review would be awsome!
And wouldn't surprise me watch beats GB on it since BrotherNone is now in some other business. ;)

And thanks guys for pointing on the juicy offer on GMG, I've put the preorder there.

Me too!

Spiders are preparing for an announcement on the game web site, so I assume its for the PC release. They even put out the support FAQ page for the PC version of the game!

Spiders' stuff is generally turn-based or at least command driven, and that's what I'd thought had been said for Mars. But having just looked at the combat video online, it looks like it's another realtime "action-combat" game like so many others, and decidedly average.

Whilst I'm very interested in the game/setting/idea, it'd be really helpful to have a heads-up on how the combat actually plays. Also, since it is a multiplatform release, is there controller support (which might help for action-combat).

From the combat video that they published, there is rolling, dodging, melee and ranged combat. There are skills that determine your combat style(s). There will be some stealth, finishing moves/choices. It does not look like its limited to button mashing as there are enemies with shields that you have to get behind to take down, or use technostuff magic to stun them before finishing them.

I assume there will be as it is standard these days for multiplatform games.

Focus says the Steam codes should be sent in less than half an hour but Steam still doesn't have anything on the game.

Got the Steam Code (from greenmangaming) and steam recognised the code but it wouldn't install (said the app was not released). Unlike other pre-ordered games that have reached the stage of giving a steam key, it doesn't appear on my games library even though if I try to re-add it, steam says my account already has it). I guess someone at Steam flipped one switch (the codes) but not another (the one that makes the game installable/have a steam page)?

The ads campaign is being launched at 12 PM pacific time. Perhaps around that time it will be available on Steam. Just guessing here.

damn.. i thought it was launched a few hours ago.
no word yet ( I guess maybe in 10 hours when the Valve people wake up

steam fails as usual

Did you receive it via email or did it just show up in your GMG account? I haven't received anything yet.


*Edit* I just received it a few minutes ago. It's also on Steam now. Downloading…

finally ! good timing
have fun guys!

I also didn't get the code on GMG yet, but on their forum they say some got it, some didn't got it yet but it will be given till the actual release.
As M already said, the release will probably happen later today.

All I hope from this game is that those mentioned numerous sidequests are not Syrimlike "clean the same dungeon all over again 100+ times". I really hope that enemies, unilke your character, are not TNO from PST who automatically gets resurrected.

man I love the theme song from main menu

An update - just got the key and I see the game is listed on Steam. :)

Yes, mine is downloading now.

Looking forward to comments about this game.. please post when you have some :)

I played through the introduction and the first few tutorials. It seems to be very much an action-adventure in the vein of Gothic or Risen. Although I can't yet tell if it's anywhere near as open as those games. Control-wise, it's most similar to Risen 2 with a camera view that can rotate 360 degrees.

The visuals are pretty dated by today's standards, and the textures appear to be somewhat low-res even with all settings maxed. That's not surprising considering the entire install is only 2.7 GB.

Music is pretty good from what I've heard so far, and I like the atmosphere. It sort of reminds me of Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, but I think the prison setting in the beginning is probably the biggest reason for that.

I can't play for a few more hours (work) but I like what I hear.
As I don't really care if graphics is not Avatar quality. ;)

Can't wait.

Only 20.00? WTH?
Nobody is complaining about quality or anything in the Steam forums so that's something. Getting more comparisons to the Witcher then Risen.
Someone reported about a 15 hr campaign. Still, I'll wait for some more Watch reviewers take on it.

Is this thread not updated because everyone is too busy playing? or too dissapointed to bother?

Our review will be up in a couple of hours.

And many of us posted stuff about it in other threads about Mars:WL.

I adored the game for example. Some found it worthless to bother with.

I hope that there will be focus on the rpg mechanics/features, choices and consequences and companion aspects which many reviewers, including RPS, seem to ignore compared to the genere and focus mainly on the graphics, voice overs and pixels!

By the way, there are now two Steam updates for the game (mainly graphical and quest bug fixes).

Any review that will focus on sometimes cheesy VO, on bad lipsync, and pretty much outdated graphics will result with 1/10.
Luckily, we're on RPGwatch. Not on FPSwatch. I hope. ;)

Well…. lets just say it is an interesting read :)