Waking Mars

This is an excellent game based on a novelty idea. You have to discover a huge cave system on Mars and the lifeforms that inhabit it. You can actually grow most of those plants (animals?) by obtaining and planting their seeds. It is very easy to learn to play and control the game and the gameplay is excellent. Up until the very end, as in the last hour or so it turns a bit chaotic (too many lifeforms interacting with each others to many different ways). But despite of this it would still deserve five stars if it wasn't for the very poor voice acting of your character. The guy sounds like as if he just read everything he say from a book. (The girl is okay.) Definitely worths a try. And works perfect even on entry level / Intel video chipset laptops as well.

There are two negatives of this game: it's very short and it's very easy. It was originally a mobile game, so I guess, it was meant for casual players. And being short isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just means I want more from this, but when you look at the price, jut don't forget that you can easily finish this game in the freetime of two workdays. That said, the content itself is great. The game is about exploring the behavior of alien life forms and building an ecosystem. And I have to say, I was extremely curious all the time what I will find next. Thus, it simulates very well the research. Most of the time it isn't really about getting out of the cave, it's more like finding out more about the lifeforms. And it's important to note that this game is scientifically sound. Yes, when you look at the trailer, it doesn't look very realistic. But the scientific concept behind it that's in the dialogue, will seem almost too accurate after playing so many silly games and watching so many sill y movies. My only annoyance was that I got some information from the dialogues in the wrong order (I rushed ahead and the characters discussed things I could've disovered by then, but didn't) and the game doesn't indicate if your character has something to say or not. Also, some dialogues may be repeated. This is the only thing that destroyed my suspension of disbelief. I'm happy to own this game, but I wish there was more of it.

Bought this yesterday, just finished it today and loved every minute of it. Original concept. Intelligent writing. Fun gameplay. Atmospheric soundtrack. Alluring graphics. Simple but very effective, I highly recommend it.

Bought the game on GoG, but could not get it to work on Linux. The co-founder at Tiger Style Games let me have the Linux version of the game instead. Outstanding customer service. As for the game itself, it took me back to the days of SNES gaming and weekend rentals at video stores. Really neat game you can't put down. Worth a buy.

Waking Mars is a puzzler that has some elements that work, and some that put me off. The characters are likable and well-voice acted for the most part, while the robot character, although the cliche "I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS "EMOTION" YOU HUMANS SPEAK OF YET I'M CUTE," is used throughout. Story is great and well-written. The visuals are original and real nice, yet can feel a little subpar during puzzles that take a while as everything begins to pasted over a background, which isn't always bad, but gets old when you've been looking at the same background for a while. The puzzles and gameplay feel weird however. The concept is wonderful: create a vibrant ecosystem filled with imaginative martian organisms. It works and it doesn't. You have a limited amount of seeds and ways to get the seeds back, thus making the puzzles almost feel like you can get stuck and have to reload, or travel back a few levels to get more seeds. It feels like it punishes you for trying. Succeeding at the puzzles doesn't give much satisfaction, as sometimes it's solved on shaky "I don't think I'm doing this right," pretenses. The herding AI creatures can be fun, yet hilariously frustrating as they leap to their death. The levels within the puzzles always feel cool to adventure through, yet tough to figure out how the devs would like you to solve them. Overall, Waking Mars, although can make the player feel lost and stuck at times, is a fine game.