Mars Matrix
Amazon.com Product Description
Taking the ’80s art of 2-D space shooters and melding it with 21st-century technology, Mars Matrix fills the screen with intricate backgrounds, dozens of independently moving objects, and intense arcade action. Your tools in dealing with an onslaught of bullets from all directions are a honestly standard laser gun, a powerful pulse weapon, and a special attack that can allow your spacecraft to inhale incoming fire and return it in a fierce barrage. Ancient-schoolers will be pleased to know they can recover the spoils of defeated enemies in potential-up form, and go to a weapons shop where they can upgrade their rigs.
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If you like the type of arcade shooters that fill the screen up with bullets and are impossibly hard, you’ll probably like Mars Matrix a lot. I don’t reflect it’s quite on the level of the sports meeting made by Cave, like DoDonPachi, ESP, or Guwange, but it plays very smoothly. The graphics are more than a bit of a throwback though. The pixels seem huge, and the special effects are unimpressive to say the least. Mars Matrix is fun, but it is not a cutting edge shooter. If you are into these types of sports meeting, you should have Ikaruga, Mars Matrix is a bit second rate.
Rating: 3 / 5
I wish to make it very clear that if you are a slave to crisp, clean, detailed graphics and care not anything for the gameplay then you should not get this game. If you know a excellent game when it jumps in your face and don’t care if it has less than gorgeous graphics (and you like Galaga like vertical shooters) then you should do no matter what possible to get this game.
This game is very quick paced. The ememies come at you pretty quickly, and their bullets can leave you with very small room to go. But, part of the greatness of this game is getting your ship out of a seemingly hopless situation and still getting loads of points. A really clean part of the game is the ability to gain experience points (more like cubes) and get a more powerful laser as you level up. It’s not simple blowing up the enemy, avoiding their bullets, and gathering up the experience cubes from the vanquished all at the same time. Not simple at all.
The real beauty of this game is in the upgrade shop. There are tons of things you can buy to add onto the game. And these things are not simple to get. It takes a WHOLE lot of saved up points to afford even the cheapest items. There is so much to unlock that it will take you quite a long time to get them all. This increases the replay regard ten fold.
The soundtrack is about the only thing that is wanting. While it does capture the frantic atmosphere of the game, it can be a small on the irritating side (in particular if you are not a fan of heavy metal). Even so, it is a small price to pay for such a fantastic game.
Closing Argument: If you are in the slightest bit a fan of vertical shooters, and don’t mind if the game looks a small like an ancient DOS era game then this should be high on your list of sports meeting to pick up for your Dreamcast pool. It has all the stuff that makes a splendid shooter, and then adds some more to make it an extraordinary game.
Rating: 5 / 5
Who says this genre is dying? Mars Matrix is really one of the best shooters I’ve played in I don’t even know how long. Perhaps not since Raiden have I had this much fun with a shooter. Yes, it really is THAT excellent. The price has no reflection on the quality of the game… it just makes it that much better of a buy! Get this game on Amazon as SOON as it comes in… another AAA game for the Dreamcast!
Here’s how I’d rate it…
GRAPHICS: 90% (hooray for pixels!) SOUND: 70% (sorry, the soundtrack is weak… it doesn’t take away from the game though) CONTROL: 90% (I wish the vacuum was a bit simpler to control, otherwise the controls are dead on) GAMEPLAY: 99% (shooter bliss! so many extras!) OVERALL: 95%
Rating: 5 / 5
You will LOVE this game. It’s really wonderful, with splendid and inventive play mechanics and a “shop” mode that honestly doubles your enjoyment of the game. It also posesses the one feature that matters most – PROPER PACING. This game doesn’t start off impossible and get harder like most shooters (which is WHY the shooter is dying in the first place), rather it at a snail’s pace builds and gives you a chance to get to know the various enemies and formulate strategies on the glide. It’s a splendid, splendid game and a steal at the price. Thanks Capcom!
Rating: 5 / 5
Hey, looky here — another fantastic 2D shooter for Dreamcast! Twitch gamers have certainly had their hands, er, thumbs full with several titles on the console, and Mars Matrix is the best of the bunch.
Between Mars Matrix and Bangai-O, it’s a toss-up, but whereas Bangai-O is a quirky, free-roaming 2D shooter, Mars Matrix sticks to the tried-and-right formula of the vertical scrolling shooter (a la Gunbird 2 and GigaWing), but is an exemplary example of this genre.
Basically, the explosions are set up by a Mars colony revolting, and the Earth army (you) moves in to squash the irksome rebels. You choose between two ships — the Mosquito 01, armed with a spread shot, and the Mosquito 02, quicker but armed with a more powerful, narrow laser. The havoc starts. Six levels of the most chaos-filled shooting bliss ever conceived. You will die, and die often, but you’ll take a lot of Mars rebels with you. The graphics are more refined than Gunbird 2, the backgrounds more active than GigaWing, and the sea of enemy fire in quest of out your pitiful Mosquito is more than disheartening.
Did I say “pitiful?” Let me rephrase. The Mosquito is more than prepared for the challenge. As you ruin enemies, gold cubes are left in their wake. Pick enough of em up quick enough, and your ship’s destructive potential increases, all the way up to Level 8, when you become a veritable fountain of death. Your ship is also equipped with a small-range, more powerful cannon attack (for those irritating enemies in close proximity) and the GHB. Aka The Gravity Hole Bomb. Oh yeah. When the GHB gauge on your screen is full, activate it. Your ship becomes surrounded with a glowing vaccuum, sucking up all enemy fire, and when it’s full, you cut loose with a smart bomb that devastates everything on the screen, throwing the bullets back at the rebels. But take care using it, because the gauge recharges at a snail’s pace.
If this isn’t enough to get the twitch gamer in you going, Mars Matrix offers a 2-player mode where two pilots can lay dissipate to the Red Planet in tandem. And then there’s the glorious Shop Mode. Picking up the gold cubes also nets you experience points, which you can then spend in the extensive Shop to buy more levels, ships, continues (you’ll need em!), options like ship alacrity and GHB gauge alacrity, and even ship and social class colors. Mars Matrix has the highest replay regard of any shooter to date. It’ll be a loooong time before you unlock everything. A Score Attack mode, an Elite Mode (a rearragement of enemies — basically another separate game!) and a Demonstration mode (where you watch a CPU-controlled Mosquito navigate owing to the levels with heartless precision — VERY HELPFUL) are also available for buy.
Mars Matrix is the best shooter on Dreamcast, and one of the best 2D shooters ever. Anyone remotely interested in twitch gaming, or getting their ego bumped down a few notches, is hereby required to try Mars Matrix. With the DC sadly on its way out, this may be one of the last splendid shooters. Don’t miss it — at the price (thank you Capcom AGAIN) it’s a steal.
Rating: 5 / 5