Mars 3D - The Weird Unreleased 1997 FPS
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- In this video, I will cover Mars 3D, an FPS that was formerly lost media. After being lost for 16 years, it was rescued from eternal obscurity (though that's not to say it's popular) and released as freeware. I will analyze it to see if it's worth playing, or if it's nothing more than an amusing little curiosity.
Mars 3D Official Website: mars3d-game.wixsite.com/index
My Email: mailedtomychair@gmail.com
My ko-fi: ko-fi.com/marriedtomychair
00:00 Intro
02:59 Story
05:22 Controls
08:14 Presentation
12:45 Core Gameplay
17:04 Weapons
22:59 Campaign
38:08 Concluding Thoughts - Hry
Hello everyone - I have both a correction and a small channel update.
I mentioned that this game doesn't have a source port. Well, about half an hour prior to this video going up, I discovered that it does have one. I distinctly remember searching Google and not finding one, so sue me. However, judging from the footage its developers have published, it's not exceptionally accurate to the source material. So I'm content with this video focusing on the 'Marsnilla experience', as I called it. It's probably good if you want mouselook and a modern control scheme though.
Apologies for my longest absence yet. I underwent some gaming ennui, and decided to take a break from both games and making videos for a short while. I cancelled three episodes in this timeframe because I wasn't happy with any of them (though I will return to one of these if I make another surreal games video). I am hoping to regain some speed for a bit.
I originally wanted to make a Halloween special, but the game I wanted to cover also fits the bill of a Christmas special (it's admittedly a bit of a stretch). I just keep putting it off because I despise its combat. For the time being, I will say that there's a Vietnamese FPS and a Thief clone in the near future.
My brother in Christ those are the standard controls that every single FPS under the sun used back in the 90's. In fact, Duke Nukem 3D use those exact same bindings. Everyone was used to it back in the day. Nobody wants to change weapons WHILE they're shooting, also, which is how we did it back in the day.
You're the third person to comment this! You don't win anything cool, unfortunately, but you do get the same reply I gave to the other people:
I'm aware. I emphasized the controls to show how janky Mars 3D is to play at a fundamental level. FPS vets are keenly aware of those controls, but other people may need the reminder that the genre used to play like you're operating a deadly RC car.
Also worth noting that we also have patches to fix those games today. But there's nothing to fix Mars 3D except maybe the one janky, inauthentic source port.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but I'm unsure what you mean about "changing weapons WHILE they're shooting". Swapping weapons in the middle of combat is an integral part of FPS games, ESPECIALLY games that released in Mars 3D's time. Sometimes, you just need to quickly swap to an automatic weapon or a shotgun. In fact, in Quake 1, weapon swapping was so fast and responsive that you actually could do it while shooting. Maybe you don't, but I want quick and easy weapon swapping. It keeps things fast-paced and makes me a lot more likely to use weapons deeper in my roster.
That was definitely weird and interesting. It’s crazy how media can be gone for so long only to show up years later (the two I’m most happy leaked are Dinosaur Planet which is the N64 game that turned into Star Fox Adventures, and Duke Nukem Forever 2001/e3. I hope that we get the cancelled Half-Life expansion Hostile Takeover at some point. One of the lead devs said he has the rom somewhere and might release what he has. Let’s hope that happens). I doubt I’ll try this one because I’m not a big fan of of Doom clones (I think the reason is because a lot of them lack modernizations like mouse look. Ones like Marathon, Blood, Duke Nukem, and a few others from this era are definitely on my to do list). It’s funny how bad the balancing in this game is. It’s also funny how bad the game’s balancing is. I also thought it was hilarious how the aliens are clearly just Predators. I’m sure a rebalancing mod and some changes to the level could fix this game’s flaws.
Great video. I’m glad that you’re channel revolves around reviewing all these old and obscure games. Keep up the good work.
"Imagine your last words being 'Kiss my ass!'."
That reminds me, in True Crime: New York City, one of the NPCs tends to say this upon dying or being knocked out.
I also want to mention the troopers originally didn't have the Shadow the Hedgehog-esque voices. In the original Chinese version, they (And the player, to an extent) sounded more hammy and weirdly-accented, i.e. they sounded like they were trying to transcribe the sentence to Japanese.
The player pain noises were also much more obnoxious, as a result.
Jet Hunter is without a doubt the greatest protag name in anything ever and I'm not kidding in the slightest
It's so much better than all the John *last name*'s we have in so many shooters. John Chaser gotta be the worst name of all time
@@jaaaaacob Don't forget about the esteemed "John Blade" from the SiN games. That's my personal favorite canon protagonist name, but Jet Hunter is now a close 2nd.
@@marriedtomychair John Blade my beloved 💗💗💗
Sounds like a cut MGS boss.
Even more than duke nukem?
to be fair that was the standard keyboard setup for most games like dark forces or rise of the triad
I responded to a similar comment with the following:
I'm aware. I emphasized the controls to show how janky Mars 3D is to play at a fundamental level. FPS vets are keenly aware of those controls, but other people may need the reminder that the genre used to play like you're operating a deadly RC car.
Also worth noting that we also have patches to fix those games today. But there's nothing to fix Mars 3D except maybe the one janky, inauthentic source port.
12:28 Like you, I have always enjoyed the level transition maps in games such as this or Doom or Heretic, etc. They can really add a lot to the overall atmosphere.
It's a fun little niche thing that has always stuck out to me. I remember being extremely bummed out when I realized Doom 2 didn't have such a map.
I've worked in game dev since the 1980's. The story and rumors behind Mars 3D at the time was that the developer was working on a new game engine in 1994 and was schedule to release the game in 1995-96. They were inspired by Doom, which is why there are a lot of elements of the initial ID Doom engine. It was showcased in a obscure Taiwanese tech magazine at the time and word traveled fast in the game dev community about (what was referred to as the new Doom engine killer). So apparently the rumors are that 3D Realms quickly jumped on it and threw tons of cash to the developer to gain 100% rights to the engine and tech, essentially killing the Mars 3D game.
Do you know if Mars 3D's engine had any ties to the Build Engine? I assumed it did throughout the video, though I actually don't have any surefire evidence. The Build Engine illegally made its way over to Taiwan in 1994, with Rock 'n Shaolin, so I don't think it's off the table.
I personally feel word wouldn't have spread far from an obscure Taiwanese tech magazine, though I guess it was a different time back then. This is probably a big ask, but do you know which specific issue of that magazine it was in? I doubt I'd be able to read it, but it would be a good point for research and a fun little bit of history.
@@marriedtomychair Word didnt spread like nowadays. Gaming was not the beast it is today. Back then it was focused on by nerds and geeks and a small handful of programmers. It was very niche. And things that happened overseas in the tech world, usually never became common knowledge in other parts of the world. It was very compartmentalized within borders and continents. I wish I could remember the name of the magazine, it was very long ago.
As for if the engine had any ties to the Build Engine, most said the Build Engine was a rebuild of the Mars3D engine. That they stripped it down and took out some parts to get a faster turnaround and get something out the door and into the market as soon as possible.
Oh wow. Hey thanks for providing a link to the website. Too many CZcamsrs either forget to do that, or just overlook it. I appreciate it.
I almost forgot this existed, and I realized... "Oh yeah, this is something that would make sense to see in a MarriedToMyChair video."
This just reminded me, I haven't played HacX.
Arrow keys / A / Z / Space bar was the default Build game control scheme btw, you could leverage the same criticism at Duke3d, Blood etc
I'm aware. I emphasized the controls to show how janky Mars 3D is to play at a fundamental level. FPS vets are keenly aware of those controls, but other people may need the reminder that the genre used to play like you're operating a deadly RC car.
Also worth noting that we also have patches to fix those games today. But there's nothing to fix Mars 3D except maybe the one janky, inauthentic source port.
At that time I didn't customize keyboard bindings. When I started to play Quake, and wanted to jump through the lava pit in front of the "Hard" difficulty teleport, I just looked up and fell into the pit, because A/Z were look up/down in Quake :D
Jet Hunter sounds like a colorful character from Fallout 2, not FPS action man.
Even before you mentioned the similarities with other first person shooters, I was looking at the green armored guys and thinking, why are fighting Doom guy on steroids?
Maybe the best way to deal with the crabs is the same way you deal with the rats in Blood, Zcrouch and hit them with a pitchfork.
The design of the enemies looks interesting if a bit all over the place. Bodybuilder Doom guys, blue commandos that shot lasers from their eyes, the creature from the Black Lagoon, the Star Wars super battle and torture droids, mechs, turrets, fish with human teeth, spider crab robots AND the Yautja/Predators. Not sure if all that works well together but I like the direction.
Even the ending with the aliens honouring you as the ultimate warrior is copied from something, it's the ending for Predator 2, whzn the Yautja ackowledge Danny Glover's character for beating one of theirs.
@@Cyclobomber Oh yeah, very true! Predator 2 was a good movie from what I remember, so they at least chose to copy something that was worthwhile.
@@TheCountM I liked Predator 2, that it moved the hunt in an urban setting and that it added some humour, Danny Glover as usual was a great cop character too.
@@Cyclobomber It is a very interesting setting for a Predator movie and it worked surprisingly well.
Yeah, Danny Glover was great in that movie, just like in the Lethal Weapon series!
I know this is unrelated, but I love your profile pic, Sylveon is always a joy to see
As an almost-greybeard-FPS vet I'm impressed that I've missed this! And a game collector in me makes me pissed that I missed the boxed version, it would've been a gem.
Sounds like you must've played a decent handful of FPS games. Anything particularly interesting or obscure that you would suggest?
@@marriedtomychair Sure. Most of the interesting stuff have already been covered by 'big boomer shooter tubers', but some that I've seen surprisingly little coverage of include gems like 'Requiem: Avenging Angel' (actually good), 'Neuro' (weird) and 'Psychotoxic' (one of the crown jewels of WTF). For older stuffs, none for some reason have covered 'Last Rites' yet - an FPS game where a team of four survives the zombie apocalypse - 10 years before Valve did it.
From immersive sim side of things, 'Boiling Point' gets too little love. It's basically a love baby of Deus Ex and FarCry 2 from the early 2000s, an open-world immersive sim set in a war-torn tropical country.
And finally, there is a section of the FPS market few dare to touch; Amiga FPS titles. Particularly 'Alien Breed 3D' and its sequel are surprisingly good. I have no idea how good Amiga emulation is and how these games run on modern systems. I haven't played them since the 90s, so there might be a good reason why people stay far away from them nowadays 😅
@@PenguinDT Good choices! Requiem and Boiling Point have both been on my radar for a long time, so I'll bump them up a little on my priority list.
I have also heard of Last Rites, as it made its way onto GOG a while back. I heard it was mostly a bunch of dark mazes, so that turned me off.
I've never heard of Alien Breed 3D before, which seems to prove your point about its obscurity. I will look into it.
@@marriedtomychair Glad to be oh help! Our convo made me interested in getting to play Alien Breed 3D again and though it is abandonware on an abandonplatform, it appears to have a fan-made re-creation running on GZDoom, called Project Osiris. It is freeware on itch, CZcams doesn't allow links but "project osiris alien breed" should bring it up.
@@PenguinDT Interesting. I will give Project Osiris a shot in the near future.
This is a good video, keep it up.
such underrated channel
1:16 "good kerning"
LOL
I see assets ripped from Doom, Powerslave, Tekwar, Duke, Dark Forces... at least
lol i remember those exact default tank controls in the build games. it was no wonder my brother and I always resorted to cheat codes
32:36
"Downtown where the folks are broke"
"You go downtown, Where your life's a joke"
"You go downtown, where you buy your toke and you go; home 2 Doom row!"
I'd like to play this game if there was a gzdoom mod...
33:00 Try attacking their weak point for massive damage, just like they did in famous battles in ancient Japan.
J E T H U N T E R
Yeah, that name is REALLY stoopid, isn't it?
Good Stuff
CV has to play this
4:40 I think legend of zelda kinda fits this theme
Sooo you're talking about the keyboard controls as if they're an insane alien configuration and not the bog-standard for 1990s FPS games. Even Doom had that keyboard layout.
Fastest I've ever caught a comment! Anyways, by today's standards, it is an insane alien configuration. While it may have been the standard for the time, it has aged staggeringly badly over the years. Today, nobody would play an FPS this way outside of being forced to, or because they're stubborn and prehistoric.
I riff on it largely because people might forget that this was how these ancient shooters played. It's why it's hard to come back to these without heavy modifications. Most other FPSes from back then have received community patches to force modern controls. Not Mars 3D. Though that janky source port might have updated controls. I'd be completely remiss, as a reviewer, to not mention that Mars 3D plays like I'm controlling an RC helicopter with a gun glued on the bottom.
I mentioned most of this in a brief segment I happened to cut from the video because I thought it was extremely superfluous, so I guess I'm my own worst enemy here. Since you're the fourth person to bring this up, I'm probably going to update my pinned comment later.
iirc A Z was also used to go up and down in descent
this sort of has a dark forces feel to it, could be on the same engine?
26:39 I’m guessing this line is some sort of reference to reincarnation, which is a popular religious belief in that part of the world.
at first i thought i'd seen this game before, but then i realized i probably just saw every part of the game that it ripped off from something else. Even the compass in the center is from the PC version of Powerslave.
do any of u have a tutorial on how to play this? preferibly as a video?
This is odd because it looks like its just using recolored assets from Doom and Nukem. Maybe even Dark forces? Its almost like one of the those "Pokemon Orange" games you see in a bin somewhere.
Pro Mars 3D when, Civvie?
@2:07 plasma rifle lol
Quality content have a comment for engagement
Lookin like HACX
I really don't feel like trying to beat this in 40:10
Hmmm, there's you, DWARS... who is that third person who knows this exists?
Probably you, as the viewer. Though I personally learned of this game from MarphitimusBlackimus and not Dwars.
There is the predator inside this game 😂
The compass is where you’re facing. It’s useless and they stole it.
Out of curiosity, do you know where they stole it from?
@@marriedtomychair upon looking back it wasn’t exactly the same but a it’s a round version of the square compass in powerslave. Has the exact same red dot with a yellow border in the center.
@@Butt_sects Huh, you're right, it does look incredibly similar. I guess it keeps in theme with this game having slightly modified assets from other 90s shooters. That's also a good reminder that I need to play Powerslave at some point.
Great job on the video but I hate it when you youngsters say ‘gibs’ instead of ‘jibs’
A Chinese made game with a lot of stolen content... well knock me down with a feather.
Grabs a feather to try knocking you down
Man, after a few minures I couldn't take your constant nagging any longer so I skipped through the video for it to change but it didn't. I couldn't imagine getting this upset about a mf fifty year old DOS game.
Pardon? I never got upset, and really only nagged about the controls, the fish, and some of the bad level design. My videos are about my experiences and thoughts on games, so I'll voice any qualms I have. The game is effectively an obscure knockoff anyways, so I'm surprised I had as many positive things to say as I ultimately did. If it's about my tone of voice, I just sound like that naturally. Can't do much about that.
Also, this comment is the most negative one I've ever received, which actually excites me in a way
"Kissu mai ace!"