Does The Pro Version Of Mars Smash 3D Make It Better?
Mars Smash 3D Pro ($0.99) by SixDead Entertainment doesn’t look as entertaining as its App Store page once you start playing it. You play a shotgun-touting guy who needs to rid Earth of invading Martians. That’s about as original as it gets. Everything else is downhill from there.
The whole selling point about this app is the “outstanding” 3D graphics. While they are 3D, they are far from outstanding. Mainly, this is due to the fact that the graphics appear stretched.
As a disclaimer, I’ve only tested this app on an iPad, so I can’t speak for if the same will occur on the iPhone. Being a universal app, though, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Equally as horrid is the gameplay. Two buttons on opposite ends of the screen control your movement; jump, and fire. Your character runs automatically.
Martians (looking suspiciously like the “Mars Attacks!” aliens) will advance toward you, so you’ll need to use your trusty shotgun to vaporize them into a blood mist.
As you run, you’ll need to jump gaps in the platforms, avoid jets of fire from pillars, and hop over spikes in the floor.
What I didn’t like about this was that dodging one hazard would set you on a course for hitting another one. Given your initial set of three hit points, dying is not that hard to do. Gameplay becomes really repetitive really quick.
There doesn’t even seem to be a goal for playing, aside from mindless violence.
Oh, and did I mention the monotonous squealing guitar soundtrack?
The “pro” version is free of ads, though in-app purchases still plague this app in the form of buying coins. Some coins can be earned through playing the game, though if you want to buy any of the weapon upgrades (starting at 5,000 coins), you’ll have to do a lot of playing to get there.
I’ll give the developer credit that the game looked enticing enough on its App Store site for me to give it a shot. However, the entertainment value of this game is just as real as Martians.
