Mars First Logistics, released in Early Access on Steam last week, is a game with a very simple structure. They drive small robotic vehicles across the surface of Mars and perform tasks for humans. These tasks require you to build your own cars (or whatever!). in a way that gets the job done.
Let’s say you get a job where you need to transport a steel beam from one small Mars base to another. You open up a neat little building screen – one very reminiscent of LEGO instruction manuals – and you can start building with a limited selection of parts. You’ll need something to hold the steel, which ideally can also transport it across the surface of Mars, and you’ll also need something to reposition the steel when you get there for delivery.
So do that – or at least something you do think I’ll do that – and drive off. And within 20 seconds you know you made a mistake it on. This little car won’t be able to transport anything, it’s a disaster, your wheels are spinning, the steel has fallen out and not for the first time in this game you’re going to be back spending a lot of money on the drawing board time.
Mars First Logistics is a physics puzzle at its core. If you’ve ever blown up a rocket on the launch pad Kerbal space program or drove a misshapen buggy off a cliff Tears of the Kingdom, here you will feel at home. It’s not the challenge itself that you really want to overcome, but the way that challenge is presented in a world unsparingly aware of its own gravity:
All the rattling, broken cars and repeated failures could have been a recipe for frustration, but as the video above shows, Mars First Logistics is anything but. Thanks to a combination of floating gravity, happy visuals and – I can’t put a number on it, so just trust me –Cute Handling, playing it for long periods of time means being at the controls of a delightful little breakdown reel, with each stuck payload or spinning set of tires eliciting a “haha, we’ll get those next time” rather than a “shit” that, I hate it”.
Please note that I do not wish to belittle or dismiss in any way Mars First Logistics’ enigmatic references by focusing solely on the fact that it’s funny (even if it’s a comedic masterpiece by gaming’s deeply unfunny norms). It’s funny Because
See, Mars First Logistics is not an instant sandbox game, it’s earned. You don’t start with every tool at hand and every part available in unlimited quantities. You get money for completing courier jobs and then you can spend that money to unlock more parts. So there’s an economy that allows you to focus on the types of vehicles you want to build and how fancy you want them to be.
I spent most of my time not in the game’s open world but in its LEGO-like build screen, endlessly tinkering with wheels, control arms and servos that can be arranged however you like, or at least the way you think you’ll be able to. a job to do.
It’s fun to play around with and can allow for creations of immense precision, but I think it’s really fun Mars First Logistics is that you don’t have to be perfect. Of course you can shoot it, but at the end of the day you’re here to get a job done and as long as you get it done the game is fun.
Take the steel beam order mentioned above. I could I’ve spent ages racking my brains over the most fuel efficient and functional vehicle the game certainly allows for and a path some players may feel compelled to impose. However, in the end, after a few incredibly clumsy failures, I built a buggy that could tow the beam dangerously across the landscape, which worked as long as I drove Really carefully.
A good video game would have compelled me to create the inexpensive and functional game. I could do whatever I want with a very good one. A great video game lets me do whatever I want And makes it fun while i screw it up.
