Another arcade classic by Ambrosia
In the spirit of Nintendo's hit 1942 and the sequel 1943, as well as the more recent arcade game Raiden, Mars Rising by Ambrosia Software continues the company's tradition of recreating some of the most popular classics for the Macintosh - with enhancements, of course.
Mars Rising follows the traditional top down shooter theme where the player sees the tops of everything in a 2D environment while controlling an aircraft that has the ability to fire lasers at air-borne targets, and drop bombs on surface enemies. Mars Rising's graphics lends itself to be a more enjoyable experience than the primitive ones found in many games of this genre, but at the same time they're nothing exceptional. The backgrounds are generally identical, changing only every few levels to another relatively generic theme.
The further you progress, the more enemies there are and the more they seem to distance themselves from appearing as realistic simulations of what could be possible in the year 2084. One of Raiden's high points was being able to destroy planes, boats, and tanks - machinery that you actually recognized rather than a blue object that twirls towards you and then retreats. Nevertheless, though, Mars Rising's graphics are effective in their purpose, although some more exciting enemies would increase the enjoyability of the game.
If challenge is your game, then Mars Rising will appeal to all those who enjoy spending hours playing a game with no significant progress. In fact, the steep challenge curve ends up hurting Mars Rising by frustrating the player too early. A typical game for a beginner will last 5 minutes, for an experienced player, 10 or 15 minutes.
If the vast number of enemies and turrets that fire at you weren't enough, dodging them is made even harder by the debris that scatters across the screen. Destroying an air-borne enemy, which make up the bulk of your opposition, sends pieces scattering across the screen which are similar in size to the projectiles fired by others. The result? When a wave of enemies approach, you're left virtually helpless amidst the many pieces of debris and projectiles whose color camouflages them nicely into the background. It's not uncommon to be hit half a dozen times in such a situation. Fortunately, though, Mars Rising supports 2 players simultaneously which means you and a buddy can jointly deal out destruction.
Mars Rising's greatest strength is its music which features a handful of well composed soundtracks filled with goodies like surround sound effects and more for those who have the speakers and RAM to handle it. You can even have Mars Rising play a MOD, or, for those who don't have the resources, one can pop their favorite CD in and have Mars Rising play from that which, unlike the built in tracks and MODs, won't affect the speed of the game.
The drawback of having such a soundtrack, combined with the several moving items on screen, including the debris, is that the system requirements are rather steep. An 80 MHz PowerPC should not be required to achieve playable performance in a game of this genre, but it is. This keeps 68k users, a market that Ambrosia was built on, in the dark.
Mars Rising represents a solid effort but it falls short in the enjoyability factor when compared to other Ambrosia games. More power ups, less debris, and touched up graphics would greatly benefit this game. For die hard Raiden fans, Mars Rising is the best offering for the Mac platform, otherwise you're better off sticking with the classic Space Junkie, whose reasonable requirements and modest graphics don't detract from the fundamental element of a game: fun.
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