Martian Gothic: Unification (2000)
Genres:Adventure, Puzzle
Themes:Action, Horror, Science fiction
Game modes:Single player
Story:Martian Gothic : Unification is one of the numerous titles which came out at the end of the PlayStation lifespan. At first glance, it looks like a typical Resident Evil rip-off with a futuristic paint, a disturbing cover and bad voice-acting. Of course, the game ended up selling very poorly. But it's so much more than that.
Incidentally, it is also Creative Reality's last game. Sharing the same team and the same writer than Dreamweb, it comes as no surprise that the game heavily relies on writing and puzzles. This reliance (and a few more things) makes Martian Gothic: Unification a title to look back at.Show more
Never finished the game, and yet whenever I booted it up, I fell in love all over again. The mechanics could use updating to modern sensibilities, but the vibe, the setting, the characters, the core of this underappreciated gem is something that was ahead of its time. Imagine playing Dead Space, but you control 3 crew members at the same time, swapping between them in order to solve puzzles and transferring items via storage lockers and vac-tubes, all the while anyone can be attacked even if you're not playing them. It's a horror story, but far more than that. Mood is a wonderful character villain/antagonist, up there with AM and Shodan, but not as obvious. So much went right for this title, but it was the wrong time and place. Claustrophobic, intense, uncomfortable, mysterious, and dreadful. It's an idea that needs to be revised and relived.
I first played this game as a young child, back when I was more easily scared and disturbed by things. I had always been a Resident Evil fan, and I had been playing Resident Evil 2 for years prior to trying Martian Gothic. Playing Martian Gothic for the first time was an experience I will never forget. It gave me chills, it frightened me, a sensation I lack in my adult years. The entire concept of the game is genius, and way ahead of it's time. You control three characters on what is essentially a haunted base established on Mars.
Much like Resident Evil, you solve puzzles, defend yourself against undead and creatures, and try to figure out what happened. The ambience, the music, the environment, it's all horrifying. I wish this game would come back somehow, so I can play through it once more.
such a well made and horrifying classic. you have multiple endings and you have many ways how to do things while micromanaging the the crew members during the mission. i never played the game since it actually disturbed me so i let me best friend who enjoyed the game and watched him play it back in the day and i have watched him beat it at least 10 different times. great game but not for me lol but a classic that needs to be put in GoG classic vault.
RE on Mars but zombies can't be killed, only put down for a few minutes. Limited ammo, limited saves, trial and error sections that will upset you. Major jank even for tank controls and sometimes you'll softlock yourself if you mismanage resources. What do you mean people don't want to play it?
Oh, this game was frustrating, but I remember it fondly. I remember it as that kind of hard that made you feel accomplished, rather than just being jacked around by game devs. And the story was something.
Played this way back when, rented the psx version multiple times from the Independent video rental store i miss those things. it was only years later with the advent of the internet i finished it the game really does not make anything easy great game and ahead of it's time i think it's the first game to ever have real time character swapping.
what can i say that wont sound like im repeating previous commentators have already said. Mixing sci fi and horror has always been something of a go to for me. I would love to run through those corridors again wondering whats around the corner. forgive if this was wrong but did this also involve you playing multiple characters.
Played Martian Gothic and Resident Evil 3 at about the same time during my childhood. Ended up completing both, though used cheats for RE3... GameShark for those old enough to remember. Though there were codes on there for this game, they never worked. Sort of sets the tone that many will echo, Martian Gothic can be be a buggy game at times. Though it was nowhere to dissuade me from playing it.
The game itself is phenomenal. Space horror would have to be my favorite genre because of the sheer isolation. Music was top notch for this experience too, I can still remember it vividly. Load up some Martian Gothic tunes on YouTube and check for yourself. They are haunting, but in the best way. Though some design decisions were a bit of a miss, they hit the atmosphere right on the head and driven it home. Where RE3 left an impression of survival horror, Martian Gothic made for an impression of abject horror. It made for some tense and scary nights playing this. Like some said, it was ahead of its time and unfortunately was also saddled with being compared to RE at every turn. Likely why it was middling at best even on release.
On GOG, this game can be given a new life. It is abandonware right now. Ross made a Game Dungeon about it and even he highlighted virtues. It needs some fixing. There are online guides and patches and other nonsense, but the reality is that this thing is drifting further out from us. Further into the nothingness of space. If GOG can save it, then it could stand as an atmospheric entry into the horror genre.
"Piccolo gun; the lowest caliber in the solar system; used by old ladies to shoot mice."
I'll be honest, I really disliked this game playing through it. I played the PS1 version this year and between not being able to get rid of the actual items that I don't need, zombies that teleport behind you despite being able to move past them properly and camera angles that aren't great? Meh. But I still feel that this game is worthy of preservation, maybe from Nightdive or just from GOG itself. Combine the limited saves system from the PS1 and place it on the PC version, up the quality of life effort or even if it doesn't get remastered just preserve possibly both versions on PC? I feel like it would be cool because it has a lot of unique and interesting concepts and it deserves to be preserved as a piece of survival horror history even if it's a game I never want to touch again.
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