Mars Attracts is the latest offering from Outlier Games (The minds behind the award-winning “This Means Warp” game), breathing new life into the beloved Mars Attacks! universe. If you’re a fan of dark comedy, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi, and classic management sims, this title is likely to tickle your fancy. Drawing inspiration from both the cult 1996 film (itself based on the Topps trading cards) and the legacy of tycoon games, Mars Attracts manages to channel the best of its influences while adding its own unique blend of chaos and Martian humour.
The game’s art style stands out immediately, capturing the quirky and exaggerated spirit of Mars Attacks! with aplomb. From caricatured Martians to the hapless humans snatched from history, everything is brightly rendered and full of character. The opening Menu is thoughtfully designed, and the Settings offer a range of options for all. Such as keybinding customisation and localisation options in a number of languages, including Martian, so for those who feel Duo has helped you master the language in your daily lessons, go for it.
Mars Attracts comfortably sits within the “Theme Park Tycoon” genre, inviting comparisons to classics like Theme Park and Theme Hospital. The first main campaign, entitled “First Frontiers”, guides you through building a Martian tourist attraction, where humans are the exhibits and Martians the paying customers. The mechanics are satisfyingly complex: building enclosures, managing amenities, laying water and power utilities, hiring staff, and keeping both guests and specimens content.
There’s a charmingly macabre focus on experimentation, with observation posts allowing you to conduct research (often at the expense of human comfort) to unlock new rides and decorations. The game actively encourages you to experiment on your human exhibits, disassemble them for parts, or recycle them into rides with a sense of dark humour gained from its source material. Martians are entertained by a variety of traps and odd contraptions, and the park’s success hinges on keeping both your alien clientele and your human-livestock stimulated and secure.
As you proceed to the next mission, you will find that the difficulty has increased slightly, and you may need to re-unlock items you previously unlocked in the last mission. I found a bug where, if you are in the same play session, buildings you unlocked in the previous mission are still buildable. However, if you are not in the same session, you need to re-unlock them.
Waiting for enough money, research points, or an expedition to last long enough can be tedious. In such cases, you can fast-forward; this is fine, but it can get tedious.
Sound design is solid, with pleasing feedback for menu actions and some delightful effects. That said, several animations still lack accompanying sounds (notably some experiments and contraptions), which occasionally breaks immersion. The developers have acknowledged this, and it’s clear more polish is on the way.
As an early access game, Mars Attracts has its share of rough edges. Some placements of pathing are fiddly or buggy, certain features are not yet implemented, and the odd UI quirk remains. The process of assigning staff and managing enclosures can become a bit unwieldy, and some tasks (such as disassembling humans) are more repetitious than they need to be. Performance was generally solid, but there are moments where the game would benefit from additional polish.
Mars Attracts is shaping up to be a wickedly funny and inventive spin on the tycoon genre, with a genuinely unique premise and heaps of personality. The developers have clearly drawn inspiration from genre classics while injecting a fresh (and deliciously twisted) sense of humour. While the game is still in development, with some features unfinished and a few bugs to iron out, it’s already a promising and highly entertaining experience.
Fans of management sims, Martian mayhem, and dark comedy will find plenty to love here. With further development and refinement, Mars Attracts could easily become a cult classic in its own right, much like the film and card game it’s based on.
Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co
