“Metroidvania (n) – a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on guided non linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression. The term is a portmanteau of the names of the video game series Metroid and Castlevania, based on the template from Metroid (1986), Castlevania II (1987), Super Metroid (1994), and Castlevania : Symphony of the Night (1997).”
That explanation, lifted wholesale from Wikipedia, should tell us all we need to know about QUByte Interactive’s MARS 2120. You see, this is truly a classic Metroidvania. But is it any good?
The story is a little on the lacking side as we begin our run, I think it is fair to say. We are Sgt. Anna “Thirteen” Charlotte (although I’ve yet to hear any kind of reference to her name) and we are on Mars, slap bang in the middle of a Martian Colony. The thing is, something has happened – as it normally does in these types of games – and we are sent to find out what. Can we make our way through the colony, deal with the threats and return home in time for tea and medals? Well, that’s up to you!
Presentation of MARS 2120 is on the retro end of whatever scale these things are measured on. While it isn’t pixel art, it is definitely more of a throwback to the classic sprite based action games from an earlier time. Anna herself is pretty well designed, with a kind of battle suit that can be upgraded as we go, and the enemies are also not a badly designed bunch. The bosses are suitably massive and threatening, and while the backdrops to the levels are a little dull and fairly formulaic, overall the presentation does kind of work.
Sound is another area where the game is serviceable – the battle audios and so on are okay, if uninspired, while the voice logs we can pick up are nicely recorded and acted. So, all in all, not too bad.
Now, let’s have a look at the gameplay, and here the news is also not massively surprising. Metroidvania games’ whole raison d’etre is to make you go back through areas that you have already visited, but armed with new abilities to open new paths forward. And this is certainly the case here, with Anna able to grab new upgrades that are based around the elements of fire, ice and lightning. Lightning can be used to power door switches, for instance, and so in this way you can see how it can come in handy. Finding out where to go, utilising any new found powers is a whole different matter, mind.
Anna has a nifty double jump straight out of the box, and once she has found a few upgrades, she is ready for action – sliding down walls, jumping between them to reach new heights, and also powering her gun up with different elements. The gun that Anna has comes with a kind of twin stick shooter feel to it, in that it can be aimed in any direction while she is also running and jumping about. Helpfully, it also has a laser sight on to show you where you are shooting, as well as featuring a hit counter, letting you know how many times you have hit a particular foe without being hit yourself. I got the achievement for 100 consecutive hits in the first boss fight, which goes to show what bullet sponges they are.
Combat and exploring are all pretty good, but there are bits of MARS 2120 that aren’t quite so slick. One thing that could use improvement is the map. Normally, in these types of games, if there is an area that we haven’t been to, the map will be blank, giving us an idea which way we need to head. Not so here, as even if a room is a little taller than the usual corridor, it appears on the map that the room has only been half explored, leaving blank space. I only figured this out after visiting the same room three times while looking for where to go. It certainly isn’t obvious where we need to go, that’s for sure.
And my second complaint is that a little more signposting would be good, as trying to find out where MARS 2120 thinks we need to be next is almost impossible. I know the main point of Metroidvanias is exploring, but I have never felt so lost in one of these games as I have here.
But in conclusion, if you want a Metroidvania with absolutely no hand holding, where you are left to your own devices, you’ve found it in MARS 2120. Personally, it feels a little too opaque, frustration sets in, followed by a brief glimmer of hope, all before the circle completes. Yet whilst there are better Metroidvanias out there, MARS 2120 certainly makes a decent fist of things.
