I spent far too long trying to figure out how to start things off. Do I post a review of one of my all time favourite retro games? Maybe I look into what’s the current flavour of the month and try and piggy back off some new release/controversial news story? Or, what I’ve eventually decided on, by writing something up for (one of) the games I’ve been putting a reasonable chunk of time into recently.

I’ll not spend too long on the history of Life on Mars. Originally released on the MSX2, it’s also been brought to the Mega Drive/Genesis. But the version I’m looking at is as a part of a double pack Evercade cartridge, alongside Metal Dragon which I’ve yet to actually play. Checking my receipt, this cost me a whopping £13.99. I’m playing this on the Evercade VS-R which is essentially a console that’s hooked up to one my PC monitors. The rest of the Evercade family I feel is something I’ll get into in future reviews. I’ve also discarded the not especially nice controller that came with the console (maybe that’s a review for the future as well, hmm?) and instead used a PS5 DualSense pad.

With that out of the way, what is Life on Mars like to play? For all intents and purposes it’s a simplistic Metroidvania style game. Though with greater emphasis on the exploration and upgrading your weapons and health than obtaining new skills. You’re not going to be morphing into a tiny little ball and bouncing through air vents here.

Instead the barriers that are causing you to progress through different floors are in the most part down to the amount of damage you can withstand before you forced to reload your last save, or that enemies are simply almost impossible to beat until you’ve got a few more damage upgrades and you can finally make a dent in their own health bar.

It’s a simplistic gameplay loop, and it fits in with the modern roguelike style of constantly upgrading your abilities in order to progress. And for the most part, it’s plenty of fun. While the main weapon you begin with is the same that you’ll be wielding all the way through the game, it does get more powerful. And it does come with that real satisfaction of sections where you initially struggled, you can rush through merrily causing destruction half an hour later. Plus you do get to unlock additional secondary weaponry, which will soon become important to use as you get to some of the more powerful enemies. Though as only certain terminals will upgrade certain things, you’ll thank yourself for making a note where each is.

The first problem with this is at times it can cause – and this may be partly due to the players abilities here too – points in time when you have to grind. You’ve got to earn more of that currency to use to upgrade. And the way to do that is replay the same areas and zones, blasting the same enemies attacking you in the same patterns repeatedly. And some of that can be quite entertaining. But when it comes to things like boss battles, it can feel a touch frustrating when you want to get into the next section of the game.  

The enemies themselves are well mixed. From lumbering heavy damage wielding behemoths, through to tiny little speedy mechs and even ones that fly and drop what appear to be grenades on you from on high. You’re kept on your toes, unless you’re massively overpowered for that section. Nothing overly different from what you’d expect of any game of this style, but they suit the mood.

Same with the boss fights. They each have a pattern they follow, and your task is to learn it, make sure you have enough firepower and health to get through it, and then move on. Again, a simple traditional gameplay loop, but it’s one that works.

The graphics and sound feel very 16-bit era in my opinion. It’s all very chunky, dark, and solid. You’re not going to be wowed, but you’re never going to feel short changed either. And yes, your character does have a striking resemblance to Halo’s Master Chief.

Verdict: Worth a look

If you’ve got a handful of hours for something quite simplistic to enjoy with a solid gameplay loop, you can do a heck of a lot worse.