Gaming

Jupiter & Mars review – Ecco location


Jupiter & Mars (PS4) – dolphin friendly

The spirit of Ecco The Dolphin lives on in a new PSVR-compatible game that has you exploring a different kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Despite video games’ love affair with post-apocalyptic worlds the reason for that apocalypse is most commonly nuclear war or some kind of zombie or supernatural outbreak. And that’s probably not how the world is going to end. Environmental disaster isn’t an uncommon backstory but it’s rarely more than that, with little done to position games as cautionary tales of a possible future. And that’s one of the reasons why, despite its flaws, Jupiter & Mars is still strangely compelling.

We’re not sure such an odd name was necessarily the best idea for Jupiter & Mars, as the whole point of the game is that it’s set on Earth. Jupiter and Mars are the names of two dolphins, exploring the undersea world of the future, where humanity has left the planet thanks to catastrophic climate change. Most costal cities are now completely submerged and the seas are full of the detritus of mankind.

On the positive side, the story takes place long enough after their departure that sea life has begun to recover, in terms of everything from coral reefs to a group of god-like whales who recruit the two dolphins to shut down the remaining human-made machines still polluting the oceans. It’s obvious that Ecco The Dolphin was a key influence on the game’s design, but while the similarities are actually fairly superficial it’s still the closest thing we’ve ever had to a spiritual sequel.

Jupiter & Mars is clearly overflowing with good intentions, but none of that matters if the game itself is not interesting. You control Jupiter, with Mars acting as your computer-controlled partner, as your tour the world, from New York to London, trying to find machines that need to be shut down and doing the occasional side quest for friendly sea-life you meet along the way.

Viewed from a first person perspective, the game takes an obvious visual nod from Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez, with very simple textures and lots of neon-coloured outlines rather than any attempt at photorealism. Even with the story’s fantasy elements that does seem a slightly odd choice, considering the game is trying to make a serious point in terms of the story, but we suspect it’s due to budget constraints more than anything.

It can still look impressive at times though and the effect when you use Jupiter’s echolocation is particularly nice (and once again begs the question of why no action game has used it as a central gimmick, especially as there is more than one superhero who is blind and uses a similar ability). In this game though echolocation has a fairly mundane use, for spotting secret pathways or useable objects.

Any interaction is achieved with a water pulse you can shoot out in front of you, although Mars can also be instructed to break through tougher obstacles. All of which seems a perfectly reasonable set-up for a sci-fi dolphin simulator, even if it soon becomes obvious that the game isn’t really interested in evolving any of the mechanics further and that for a lot of the time there’s not actually that much to do.

Jupiter & Mars (PS4) – those damn, dirty apes

The different areas are fairly large, but apart from the animal-aiding side quests and some collectibles there’s very little actually going on in them. There are enemies to be avoided, primarily in the form of drone-like machines whose power generators you have to smash, but apart from jellyfish there’s only a few other notable opponents to worry about.

Jupiter & Mars seems stuck between being a Journey-like experience, where you’re just exploring the world and letting the scenery and interactions tell the story, and a more traditional video game. There are elements of a Metroidvania, in the way you gain new abilities like being able to swim deeper, but they just act as simple gateways to other areas of the game and are never very interesting in themselves.

It probably would’ve been a better idea to move more firmly in one direction or the other, but unfortunately Jupiter & Mars is stuck awkwardly between two stools. That doesn’t mean it’s a complete failure though and the arresting visuals and unusual backstory do keep your interest more than you might think, especially if you play the game in the optional PlayStation VR mode – although that downgrades the visuals even further with the lower resolution and lack of anti-aliasing.

Jupiter & Mars gets its environmental message across without ever appearing preachy, but the fact that the game itself is so frequently uneventful does the whole experience a disservice. We’re sure they didn’t want to turn its cautionary tale into a shoot ‘em-up but as a video game it needs more of something, whether that’s story, action, or puzzles.

Too often video games make the post-apocalypse seem like a fun place to hang out, and while it’s a good idea to explore what it would really be like it would’ve probably been better to imply it’s something other than slightly dull.



Jupiter & Mars

In Short: A well intentioned attempt to mix Ecco The Dolphin with a more urgent environmental message but the end result Iacks any real excitement or variety.

Pros: Simple but attractive visuals and the story is got across clearly and powerfully, without feeling overly worthy.

Cons: Dull and repetitive gameplay, with too little to see and do in each area. Underdeveloped Metroidvania elements and low-tech visuals in VR mode.

Score: 5/10

Formats: PlayStation 4
Price: £19.99
Publisher: Tigertron
Developer: Tantalus and Wicked Witch
Release Date: 23rd April 2019
Age Rating: 3

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