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Prepare To Die!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: May 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Hey, looky here -- another fantastic 2D shooter for Dreamcast! Twitch gamers have certainly had their hands, er, thumbs full with several titles on the console, and Mars Matrix is the best of the bunch.

Between Mars Matrix and Bangai-O, it's a toss-up, but whereas Bangai-O is a quirky, free-roaming 2D shooter, Mars Matrix sticks to the tried-and-true formula of the vertical scrolling shooter (a la Gunbird 2 and GigaWing), but is an exemplary example of this genre.

Basically, the explosions are set up by a Mars colony revolting, and the Earth army (you) moves in to squash the irksome rebels. You choose between two ships -- the Mosquito 01, armed with a spread shot, and the Mosquito 02, faster but armed with a more powerful, narrow laser. The havoc begins. Six levels of the most chaos-filled shooting bliss ever conceived. You will die, and die often, but you'll take a lot of Mars rebels with you. The graphics are more refined than Gunbird 2, the backgrounds more active than GigaWing, and the sea of enemy fire seeking out your pitiful Mosquito is more than daunting.

Did I say "pitiful?" Let me rephrase. The Mosquito is more than prepared for the challenge. As you destroy enemies, gold cubes are left in their wake. Pick enough of em up fast enough, and your ship's destructive potential increases, all the way up to Level 8, when you become a veritable fountain of death. Your ship is also equipped with a short-range, more powerful cannon attack (for those annoying enemies in close proximity) and the GHB. Aka The Gravity Hole Bomb. Oh yeah. When the GHB gauge on your screen is full, activate it. Your ship becomes surrounded with a glowing vaccuum, sucking up all enemy fire, and when it's full, you cut loose with a smart bomb that devastates everything on the screen, throwing the bullets back at the rebels. But take care using it, because the gauge recharges slowly.

If this isn't enough to get the twitch gamer in you going, Mars Matrix offers a 2-player mode where two pilots can lay waste to the Red Planet in tandem. And then there's the glorious Shop Mode. Picking up the gold cubes also nets you experience points, which you can then spend in the extensive Shop to buy more levels, ships, continues (you'll need em!), options like ship speed and GHB gauge speed, and even ship and background colors. Mars Matrix has the highest replay value of any shooter to date. It'll be a loooong time before you unlock everything. A Score Attack mode, an Elite Mode (a rearragement of enemies -- basically another separate game!) and a Demonstration mode (where you watch a CPU-controlled Mosquito navigate through the levels with inhuman precision -- VERY HELPFUL) are also available for purchase.

Mars Matrix is the best shooter on Dreamcast, and one of the best 2D shooters ever. Anyone remotely interested in twitch gaming, or getting their ego bumped down a few notches, is hereby required to try Mars Matrix. With the DC sadly on its way out, this may be one of the last great shooters. Don't miss it -- at the price (thank you Capcom AGAIN) it's a steal.

Probably the best Shooter EVER MADE!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've played this game in the arcades, and it has been one of the heaviest quarter munchers in many, many years. This shooter is absolutely amazing. The bullets will absolutely fill the screen and the "Mosquito" technique is a perfect idea.

The shooter market is slowly dying and this game won't single handidly bring it back to life, however, that doesn't mean that any gamer should be without a gem like this in their collection.

The game is insanely hard, but not frustrating, it manages to balance extreme difficulity and willingness to try again perfectly.

The graphics are rather old fashioned, harking back to the older days of shooters. The bosses fill the screen and bullets fly everywhere.

I felt that the sound was also quite good. The music stood out as being paticularly good for a shooter, but other then that, nothing amazing.

2-D Shooter fans rejoice!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Who says this genre is dying? Mars Matrix is really one of the best shooters I've played in I don't even know how long. Perhaps not since Raiden have I had this much fun with a shooter. Yes, it really is THAT good. The price has no reflection on the quality of the game... it just makes it that much better of a purchase! Get this game on Amazon as SOON as it comes in... another AAA game for the Dreamcast!

Here's how I'd rate it...

GRAPHICS: 90% (hooray for pixels!) SOUND: 70% (sorry, the soundtrack is weak... it doesn't take away from the game though) CONTROL: 90% (I wish the vacuum was a bit easier to control, otherwise the controls are dead on) GAMEPLAY: 99% (shooter bliss! so many extras!) OVERALL: 95%

If you loved Galaga, Xevious, Truxton, Raiden....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

You will LOVE this game. It's really wonderful, with great and inventive play mechanics and a "shop" mode that honestly doubles your enjoyment of the game. It also posesses the one feature that matters most - PROPER PACING. This game doesn't start off impossible and get harder like most shooters (which is WHY the shooter is dying in the first place), rather it slowly builds and gives you a chance to get to know the various enemies and formulate strategies on the fly. It's a great, great game and a steal at the price. Thanks Capcom!

An ugly, but good arcade shooter.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: May 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you like the type of arcade shooters that fill the screen up with bullets and are impossibly hard, you'll probably like Mars Matrix a lot. I don't think it's quite on the level of the games made by Cave, like DoDonPachi, ESP, or Guwange, but it plays very smoothly. The graphics are more than a bit of a throwback though. The pixels seem big, and the special effects are unimpressive to say the least. Mars Matrix is fun, but it is not a cutting edge shooter. If you are into these types of games, you should have Ikaruga, Mars Matrix is a bit second rate.

Not beautiful, but loads of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: October 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I wish to make it very clear that if you are a slave to crisp, clean, detailed graphics and care nothing for the gameplay then you should not get this game. If you know a good game when it jumps in your face and don't care if it has less than beautiful graphics (and you like Galaga like vertical shooters) then you should do whatever possible to get this game.

This game is very fast paced. The ememies come at you pretty quickly, and their bullets can leave you with very little room to move. However, part of the greatness of this game is getting your ship out of a seemingly hopless situation and still getting loads of points. A really neat part of the game is the ability to gain experience points (more like cubes) and get a more powerful laser as you level up. It's not easy blowing up the enemy, avoiding their bullets, and gathering up the experience cubes from the vanquished all at the same time. Not easy at all.

The real beauty of this game is in the upgrade shop. There are tons of things you can buy to add onto the game. And these things are not easy to get. It takes a WHOLE lot of saved up points to afford even the cheapest items. There is so much to unlock that it will take you quite a long time to get them all. This increases the replay value ten fold.

The soundtrack is about the only thing that is wanting. While it does capture the frantic atmosphere of the game, it can be a little on the annoying side (in particular if you are not a fan of heavy metal). Even so, it is a small price to pay for such a fantastic game.

Closing Argument: If you are in the slightest bit a fan of vertical shooters, and don't mind if the game looks a little like an old DOS era game then this should be high on your list of games to pick up for your Dreamcast collection. It has all the stuff that makes a great shooter, and then adds some more to make it an extraordinary game.

A classic 2D shooter with smooth graphics and visuals

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Heres one you can't pass up, this is a great shooter with beautiful and smooth graphics, the game play is just as smooth to boot and lets not forget the challenge it brings, even on easy level, this game is difficult, the graphics are so smooth that at times the screen gets filled with bullets and laser blasts that if your not paying attention, you can lose site of your ship.

This great shoot'em up game scrolls from top to bottom, just like another classic shooter made for the genesis system (M.U.S.H.A.)but with graphics that outshine another classic for the NEO GEO SYSTEM, (VIEW POINT), but with this bad boy you will need your skills with the joypad to avoid all the nastys that are thrown at you, there are 2 ships to chose from, ofcourse both ships differ from one another thus so does the challenge, the red ship has great overall speed but lacks fire power, while the blue ship lacks the speed but makes up for it with fire power.

The replay value is here as well, this game will keep you busy trying to earn points to purchase and open other things in the game, not to mention the fun factor so you'll keep coming back for more, so if you love shooters, pick up this rare but wonderful title and do what Arnold says "GET YOU @SS TO MARS"!

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