Mars Colony Challenger

[rditto48801]

Since there are a few other Mars type games being mentioned, I figured I would mention one I know of.

Mars Colony: Challenger

The game has first and third person modes, and revolves around helping to set up outposts on mars.

Early steps of getting the life support system up and running and creating a breathable atmosphere and making sure there is a supply of oxygen and water kept on hand. Other steps include managing power (and occasionally cleaning solar panels), setting up weather stations to help provide early warning of storms, taking initial soil samples as a first step for finding possible mineral resources, and maintaining communications in hilly terrain with portable relays. You only have access to a basic map when out of communications contact with the base (and I think early on before the full comm system is setup).

Assorted types of food will able to be grown (hopefully before initial food stocks run out), starting with plants, and being expanded later with fish, mushrooms and worms, and even food from algae. Several types of algae allow for other things to be made, besides as a form of nutrients.

Towards the end, there will be mineral resources to be found via ground penetrating radar shots, identified via sample drills, and mined via augers and processed into usable minerals for use in useful repair parts and even chemical based fertilizers.

Rovers are available to help get around away from the base, but they need to be kept fueled (via Oxygen and Methane, which needs to be produced), and they need to be kept maintained should someone be a little careless in their 'off road driving'.

When out and about, things like radiation need to be kept track of, along with the power and oxygen levels of the EVA gear (including early on, before the base has a breathable atmosphere).

It is able to be played single player, but supports online coop with up to 4 players.

There is also a scoring system, which seems to take assorted factors into account, such as amount of time it takes to complete different phases, and how efficient assorted resources are used.

There are also three different maps, which have the same basic base, but increasingly hilly terrain that makes it a bit more tricky to get around and maintain communications contact.

The game has a few minor rough spots, but the maker HyperCat is doing a good job at patching it, and it is a fairly enjoyable game overall. It seems there are also plans to release a major update or even a new version sometime in the (hopefully near) future.

Although, the one bit of information most will want to know, is the price, which is $30. Some might consider it a little steep for an indie game, but I feel it is fairly worth it.

There is a playable demo available, plus a few videos show on the Steam Greenlight page for it.

http://www.hyperkat.com/ (the demo is located on their main page)

http://www.hyperkat.com/marschallenger.html

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=132730762&searchtext=mars+colony+challenger

Of note, most of the forums for HyperCat Games are private, and so don't even show up on their forum index unless one is logged in.