For the past few months, my most anticipated PSVR game has been Jupiter & Mars. It was announced in 2017 at the Playstation Experience. And now the game is finally out! So, Is Jupiter & Mars any good?
Jupiter & Mars is a game about two dolphins called Jupiter and Mars. The story is about the ocean in the future. Bad things happened, cities are now submerged, and mankind has disappeared. But there are still so many machines harming the ocean, so it’s up to Jupiter and Mars to help save the ocean! The story isn’t anything mind blowing, but it gives a good message.
The dolphins themselves can do two things. They can use echolocation to locate objects, and they have a dash attack. You won’t be doing any fighting with the dolphins, but you’ll need to destroy some objects to get to new areas. The dolphins get stronger as the game progresses though, and you’ll be able to access new areas.
This game is all about exploration. Often you’ll have to go around the environment and find stuck animals. And other times you’ll be avoiding technology waves, left from the remains of mankind’s creations. Occasionally you’ll come across unique situations, that I won’t spoil here, which change up the gameplay a little.
The areas themselves are varied and unique, but I only really enjoyed a few of them. I thought that the first area was dull and every section looked the same, which led to me going around in circles because I couldn’t remember where I had and hadn’t been. Which ended up leaving a bad first impression on me. But as I continued to play I found some enjoyment in it. I particularly liked the darker sections of the game, where the lights underwater really come to life.
But my biggest problem with the game is the gameplay itself. I really didn’t enjoy constantly going around looking for animals to save. A lot of the areas just look the same, and I found it very hard and sometimes annoying to explore because of that reason. There are pebbles on the floor to help guide players, but I still found myself getting lost. It’s really just a mixed bag for me, there’s a lot of wandering around before you reach an exciting moment. I think I would have preferred a more linear approach, which is what I thought the game was going to be like in the first place.
And the final point I would like to touch upon is the graphics. The textures themselves are detailed and the environments look great, but it’s really blurry. It kind of looked like a launch title.
So Overall, Jupiter & Mars is decent. It has some enjoyment to be found, but it was just too sparse for me. Some might like this type of gameplay, but I just got annoyed wandering around the same area looking for that one sea animal. The music, environments, characters, and message are great. But as much as I wanted to love this game, I just couldn’t. In my opinion, you should wait for a sale on this one.
