We’re talking awayI don’t know whatI’m to write I’ll write it anywayToday’s another day to distract youGabbing awayBohemia’s space sim looks pretty okay

Taaake Onnn MaaarsTake On Mars [official site]!Ittt’s nooow ooouuutTake On Mars!I’llll beeee gonnneWith this sooong … [visit site to read more]

Bohemia Interactive’s Mars ’em up, Take On Mars [official site], is launching out of Early Access and into full game status on 9 February. It has a new trailer to mark the occasion which you can watch after the jump. The trailer focuses on the story mission which was recently introduced and deals with a The Martian-esque plotline where one person survives a descent into Mars’s atmosphere but they’ve lost connection to Earth. … [visit site to read more]

At first glance, Take On Mars [official site] seems like the closest thing we have to a tie-in game for The Martian. You could almost call it Mark Watney Simulator 2015, especially now that manned missions are in the game and let you do things like build Martian bases, grow crops, and drive rugged rovers over the desolate Martian surface. Hell, there’s even a mission where you literally have nothing to do inside your base except grow potatoes. It’s just a fecal-matter montage away from being the first act of The Martian.

But I am no Mark Watney. And the Red Planet is a much harsher, weirder place in Bohemia Interactive’s vision than in Ridley Scott’s. Mark Watney is nearly killed by flying debris during a Martian sandstorm. In Take On Mars, no storm is as terrifying and unpredictable as the physics engine.

… [visit site to read more]

In what can only be described as a Mars-a-thon week, we’ve witnessed not only the release of Ridley Scott’s book-to-film interpretation of The Martian, but also the news that science boffins have discovered evidence of water up there on the Red Planet. On the ball as ever, Arma makers Bohemia Interactive have now added to the Mars Madness by releasing a Power Update to their Early Access-residing space exploration and survival sim Take On Mars [official site].

… [visit site to read more]

What’s the point of going to Mars if we can’t asphyxiate beneath beige skies? Where’s the triumph if we’re all invincible? If I am not allowed to burst my own head by removing my helmet, I don’t even want to go to Mars. You might as well send a robot instead.

Arma makers Bohemia understand the need for peril, and for people to share that peril with. With the latest Take On Mars update, they’ve added “survival” bits and multiplayer to their Martian roving simulator. Is space-scurvy a thing? I guess we’ll find out.

… [visit site to read more]

Bohemia have accomplished what real life scientists and government funding bodies cannot – exploration and colonisation sim Take On Mars now features a manned mission. I hadn’t realised that the previous build of the Early Access version only allowed players to send a probe to the puce planet, but that’s no longer the case.

Today s update lands the first human marsonauts to Take On Mars. With access to a manned science buggy, featuring an interactive 3D GUI, one of their first objectives will be to explore the huge new Cydonia Mensae location, which spans 8×8 kilometer of Martian terrain. A 3D printer enables marsonauts to construct various parts, which can be put together via the Habitat Construction System to form buildings and installations.

The term ‘marsonauts’ dropped in among the other words makes me instinctively shudder, as if I were looking at a sea of human faces and suddenly spotted a Brundlefly.

… [visit site to read more]

Bohemia’s Mars-exploration sim, Take On Mars, has appeared on Steam’s ‘Early Access’ service – where early-version releases can be purchased and updated as development goes along – for the handsomely Martian sum of £8.99. Bohemia are hoping that a stint on early access will let them iron out bugs via exposure to the unblinking gaze of the internet’s infinite vigilance.

See the trailer below to figure out if you want to explore Mars in a simulation. (more…)