[Review] Escape from the red planet

Escape from the red planet is a tower defense game developed and published by mobile developer, Frosty Pop. The game follows your attempt to defend a Mars base from the constant assault of Martians.

The core gameplay of Escape from the red planet is split between 25 levels of campaign missions. Don’t expect narrative depth, as they serve as a long tutorial; the various defensive buildings and enemy types being unlocked through progression.

Every mission begins with your builder standing alone next to the solar battery. This battery serves as both the point that needs to be defended and as your source of solar energy.  This solar energy being the resource that is spent on creating defensive buildings.  While the initial rate of solar energy is slow, it can be upgraded to be faster via solar energy through the button in the bottom right corner.

As you progress through the campaign missions, the more lanes you will have to manage. These lanes are represented by small gray dots on the floor of the environment and are where you place the various defensive buildings. The martians will also attack along these lanes

Approaching martians are displayed on the mini radar in the upper right-hand corner.  The radar displays the types of the martians, indicated by their size, color , and their distance away. It even shows how long it will take for them to show up on-screen, making it an excellent tool for timing your creation of defenses.

It’s important to consider, as time is actually the most important resource within Escape from the red planet.   This is due to the fail state for missions not being the destruction of your base, but from the Martians being within a certain proximity. This ensures that every Martian has a set time until it kills you.  All turrets fire automatically when a martian is in range while having a limited amount of shots, thus creating a sort of time based life cycle for them.

Lastly, the game has a unique mechanic that allows you to switch into a first-person perspective by clicking on your builder. When in this mode, you can fire your builder’s gun by clicking on the screen. You have a limited number of shots that recharge but take longer to do so if you empty the clip.

Unfortunately, you can not use your mouse to aim in this mode. Instead, you have to wait as the cursor slowly crawls over to the martian that is the closest to the base.   This is incredibly frustrating, as this basic functionality is possible in the game’s ‘last stand’ shooting gallery mode.

Escape from the red planet’s origin as a mobile game is readily apparent from a single glance at its setting menus. It consists of a pathetic amount of options offering only binary toggles for music, sound effects and whether the game is full screen. Sliders are greatly needed as the music is tuned too high, as altering its volume in your system audio mixer still leaves it being too loud when at 1%.  This could also be less annoying by increasing the variety of tracks, as currently it’s always the same uninspired track.

With its ugly graphics, strange gameplay quirks, and one note music score, Escape from the red planet is a game that’s likely best for everyone to pass on. The only expectation being individuals that are mobile game fanatics.