CrisisOnMars

There’s an old saying that goes along the lines of, "Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should."

It’s a sage piece of advice which is particularly apt when sitting down with CrisisOnMars. Built solely for the purpose of showing off shiny graphics, gameplay takes a backseat - behind the backseat, close to the trunk where you can practically inhale the exhaust from the graphics engine.

More tech demo than full game, the lack of substantive gameplay leaves a recommendation out of the picture.

The objective is to collect a pre-determined number of glowing energy balls within the prescribed time limit. To begin with you’re riding in a fairly basic spaceship with limited speed and a tiny cargo hold, so you need to make regular trips to the drop-off points before you can reach your total number of energy balls.

Using the accelerometer, you have to guide your ship through 3D levels seeking out these desirable blue spheres. Picking them up is a matter of flying your craft directly through them. Speed is handled via a slider control on the right-hand side of the display.

As you progress you unlock sleeker and sexier rides, all of which possess slightly different handling. Each ship has three missions of increasing difficulty, with the final mission being a time trial where your aim is to gobble up balls in the fastest time possible.

Despite the presence of several high-tech fighter craft in your hangar, there’s no combat in CrisisOnMars whatsoever. No matter which of the ships you choose to pilot, the ultimate aim is simply to pick up energy balls. Needless to say, the lack of variety in the gameplay becomes almost painful after you’ve spent an hour or so gliding around.

There’s also no sense of danger, aside from running out of time. You can slam your ship into the side of a building at full speed and apart from slowing down to a complete stop, no other negative side effects occur.

Which leads us back to that initial criticism: this is a game built to show off an admittedly attractive and capable 3D engine. There’s no hint to the feeble gameplay contained within. CrisisOnMars literally only has one selling point: its visuals.

Which is a shame, because many parts of the the game handle well - particularly the controls. At times there’s even a sense of achievement on offer, especially when you manage to snag all of the spheres in a record time.

But it’s too limited for prolonged enjoyment, more a proof-of-concept than a legitimate release. Had developer ECA Games included alternative mission objectives then the relative simplicity of the early levels could be forgiven. Even a smattering of enemy units to duel with would have been welcome, but there’s nothing of the sort.