Escape From The Red Planet Review (PC)

I have four solar panels working to transform sunlight into usable energy as quickly as possible (given the Martian conditions they must be very efficient). I have walls up on all possible avenues of attack, which will make it harder for enemies to get to my base and destroy it.

I quickly pop a specialized turret that can deal with incoming flyers (quite the feat given the thin Mars atmosphere) then shift to the first person to chip away at the health of a big slug-like creature that takes a ton of strikes to kill. I fire as quickly as possible and gamble on the fact that it’s slow enough that I will not have to pop down a tower to deal with it.

While my ammo regenerates, I use energy to get another solar panel out and quickly check the radar to see how many more waves of enemies are coming. Because I have a healthy reserve of resources, I build a few cannons. My weapons are back online, so I shift again and fire at the incoming Martians. Absent a big surprise there’s no way they’ll manage to overcome my defensive line.

Escape From The Red Planet is developed and published by Frosty Pop. I played on the PC using Steam. The game uses some classic tower-defense mechanics with a twist and asks players to plan and react to complete levels.

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The setup is a classic science fiction one: a person stranded on Mars has to fight to get off the planet. Our heroine is commander Abigail Blackwell, captain of the crashed Orion III. She has salvaged solar batteries and a sort of universal fabricator that gives her options to create structures that are automatically recycled.

Her only companion is the ship’s computer, who is well-informed about the Martian threat and counsels the commander on the best way to get through each sol. Initial missions are designed to teach the core mechanics. Once that’s done, the game gradually introduces more tools and threats but the title’s universe is otherwise pretty limited.

Escape From The Red Planet core is about all tower defense. Solar cells gather energy, which the player collects by clicking on the device at the center of the base. Extra panels can be added to speed up the collection rate, which is crucial in later missions. And that’s the extent of the resource management in the title.

Using this energy, players can put down buildings and obstacles in predetermined spots. Turrets will fire several shots at incoming enemies before disappearing. Later, the game adds cannons, which can easily deal with groups of opponents. Incoming flying Martians require specialized turrets.

Walls come in both normal and explosive versions and their small cost means it’s a good idea to put them down when you have a little energy left over. Martians arrive in waves, so make sure to keep a reserve of energy when possible.

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Escape From The Red Planet approach to tower defense is boiled down to the basics. The twist is that the game also wants players to shift to first person view and rain down fire on Martian monsters as Abigail herself. The commander benefits from auto-aim but her shots don’t deal a ton of damage and her weapons system takes quite a bit of time to recharge.

It’s important to try and always match the type of defense to the incoming enemies, who are outlined on the radar at the top right of the screen. The auto-aim often doesn’t do a great job of targeting the most threatening incoming opponent and it is quite slow when changing targets. The commander cannot move while building. The game really wants players to rely on automated turrets and only use Abigail in emergencies.

Escape From The Red’s Planet campaign is complemented by two other modes. Last Stand is very simple, abandoning all tower defense elements while freeing players to free aim while battling waves of Martians. Survival is unlocked by completing the campaign and allows gamers to use all their tools to battle against a constant stream of attackers.

Despite the three modes, the game lacks variety, both in terms of potential player actions and when it comes to enemy capabilities. I appreciate the streamlined nature of the entire design but the game needed extra mechanics and a stronger narrative hook.

The best part of the entire experience is the way missions escalate once all the gameplay tools have been introduced. Levels start off slow, the tension ramps up steadily, and situations seem mostly manageable. And then it gets frantic, I start to curse the slow aiming and barely remember to harvest energy. Even if the Martians manage to overcome the base, it is fun to spin many plates at the same time and quickly evaluate and eliminate threats.

Escape From The Red Planet is not a great-looking video game, even if we only take into account the tower defense genre. Abigail’s design is interesting but the title suffers from a general lack of detail, especially when it comes to the alien enemies. The interface is easy to read, which is good considering how frantic the end of certain battles can be. The sound design is on par with the rest of the presentation. It has a sci-fi soundtrack that is not varied enough and combat sounds that feel more like an afterthought.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion